According to the BBC and Gurgle.com, some first names are disappearing from the UK’s population. the study looked at the last 100 years worth of registered first names.
Names like Gertrude, Edna, Ethel, Irene, Ada, Norah, Olive and for boys, Norman, Walter, Percy, Harold, Ernest, Herbert and Clifford are not in vogue any more.
Baby Gertrudes and little Normans are down to single figures in recent birth registrations. Some names have evolved or been tweaked to make them more trendy, Alfred shortened to Alfi and Lillian has become Lily. The media and celebrity seem to have been a big influence in these changes.
Some names don’t seem to have dipped in popularity, Thomas, Jack and William have remained in vogue for 200 years.
We have a few traditional names in the family, Alfred, Agnes, Earnest, Fredrick, Ivy, Lillian, Marjory, Maud, Nora, Stella and Winifred are a few first names that I guess wouldn’t be the most popular now, should we use one of them to keep the name alive?
Gertrude would get my vote, as that was my Gran’s name. By contrast I’ve just been listening to Shuggie Otis, who is the son of r+b guitarist Johnnie Otis – it’s obviously not ruined his chances of producing great music either! Check out “Here come’s Shuggie Otis!”