The Vintage Baby Names Making a Big Comeback

Photo by George Marks/Getty Images

by Pamela Redmond Satran

Every year, the US government issues a list of the names that are making the biggest leaps up the popularity list.  And there, among the reality TV-inspired Daleyzas and Jayceons, sprinkled in with the new-fangled Jurnees and Zayns, is a collection of vintage names that for a range of reasons have suddenly become hot.

Sometimes, the inspiration is a film or television show, as with Marjorie and Game of Thrones or Walter and Hank from Breaking Bad.

A name’s choice by celebrity parents can make it go from sleepy to sizzling too, as happened with Olive after it was used for their daughter by Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Here, 40 vintage baby names making big leaps up the popularity list.  The +number indicates how many places each name moved up the US popularity list in 2013. And the second number is the name’s standing on the popularity list.  Please note: Only those names in the Top 1000 are tracked.

girls

Marjorie, +735, to 910

Mabel, +338, to 707

Rosie, +235, to 883

Leona, +176, to 734

Alma, +154, to 701

Mercy, +143, to 854

Hattie, +138, to 570

Millie, +124, to 598

Dorothy, +115, to 808

Beatrice, +102, to 593

Pearl, +80, to 677

Anastasia, +79, to 257

Vera, +77, to 422

Felicity, +76, to 579

Mae, +74, to 674

Olive, +73, to 291

June, +70, to 362

Frances, +70, to 693

Sadie, +69, to 50

Rosemary, +68, to 533

boys

Enoch, +178, to 836

Harvey, +176, to 616

Cassius, +172, to 760

Clyde, +160, to 999

Samson, +129, to 671

Theo, +129, to 666

Gilbert, +112, to 885

Thaddeus, +105, to 797

Otto, +89, to 696

Francis, +86, to 506

Roland, +77, to 665

Lionel, +74, to 733

Reuben, +72, to 896

Hank, +58, to 626

Frederick, +46, to 492

Augustine, +45, to 955

Uriah, +34, to 539

Walter, +34, to 342

Franklin, +33, to 495

Ephraim, +32, to 972