Mid-Century Modern
June 26, 2009
There’s something in the water.
While I’ve had my eye on Bernard and Rosemary, other unlikely candidates such as Lois, Calvin, June and Theodore are popping up on baby name message boards with some frequency. SJP chose Marion Loretta for one of her girls, and Appellation Mountain coincidentally featured Clyde, Marjorie, and Florence in the past three days. Fellow blogger Onomastitrix calls her daughter Bonnie, among other things. What do all these have in common, you ask?
They were all top picks in the 1950s.
Most will likely find these names tired. Mother or even grandmother names, they’ve past their prime, hit middle age, and are for all intents and purposes, not ready for a comeback just yet. However, they do have that coveted element of surprise. They avert current conventions of “old-lady-chic” or newly coined cutesy names.
The boys’ list represents a kind of geek chic. The girls have rather a kitsch quality.
Below are some possibilities from the top 200 in 1950. Their rank then and now are follow in parenthesis. Maybe you can just honor your mother directly without altering it from Mary to Maren.
Girls
Anne (84, 499)
Barbara (4, 758)
Belinda (174, 747)
Betty (26, NR)
Beverly (31, NR)
Bonnie (33, NR)
Carmen (186, 262)
Claudia (126, 417)
Constance (85, NR)
Dolores (139, NR)
Diana (47, 137)
Dorothy (35, NR)
Edith (150, 806)
Eileen (91, 760)
Esther (162, 274)
Florence (190, NR)
Glenda (87, NR)
Gloria (31, 431)
Gwendolyn (113, 586)
Irene (92, 636)
Jacqueline (55, 152)
June (137, 863)
Lois (83, NR)
Loretta (120, NR)
Louise (109, NR)
Lucille (180, 615)
Marianne (192, NR)
Marion (198, NR)
Marjorie (121, NR)
Martha (32, 617)
Mary (2, 97)
Nancy (6, 379)
Paula (54, 681)
Priscilla (169, 416)
Regina (143, 688)
Roberta (96, NR)
Rosemary (101, 754)
Sally (78, NR)
Shirley (19, 911)
Susan (5, 712)
Vivian (138, 207)
Yolanda (179, NR)
Boys
Albert (55, 372)
Alfred (96, 787)
Arthur (46, 363)
Bernard (109, 940)
Bruce (26, 476)
Calvin (105, 228)
Clarence (95, 938)
Claude (177, NR)
Clyde (136, NR)
Frank (29, 278)
Frederick (75, 523)
George (20, 153)
Gilbert (144, 728)
Gordon (108, 946)
Gregory (25, 236)
Guy (179, NR)
Harold (45, 737)
Harvey (147, NR)
Howard (63, 903)
Jerome (103, 616)
Johnny (50, 246)
Kenneth (15, 136)
Kent (182, NR)
Lawrence (33, 427)
Leon (119, 502)
Lloyd (107, NR)
Louis (67, 351)
Paul (18, 155)
Philip (53, 378)
Ralph (52, 868)
Randolph (162, NR)
Raymond (31, 215)
Rex (196, 799)
Roger (27, 463)
Roy (51, 497)
Theodore (99, 297)
Timothy (32, 108)
Vernon (134, NR)
Wallace (198, NR)
Walter (40, 393)
Above: The Cygnet, a children’s replica of the 1958 Swan Chair by Arne Jacobsen
