Goodbye to old-fashioned baby names

Percy, Norman, Edna and Gertrude are just a few of the classic British names that could soon be consigned to the graveyard of history. That’s the verdict of a new study which suggests that many popular baby names of years gone by are quite literally dying out with the passing of an older generation.

Research commissioned by mother and baby social networking site gurgle.com has revealed the most popular baby names in 1907 are no longer in vogue today. So it's goodbye to the likes of Norman, Gertrude, Ernest and Olive, the names of many our great-grandparents and grandparents.

Names on the decline

1) Norman and Gertrude
2) Walter and Edna
3) Percy and Ethel
4) Harold and Irene
5) Ernest and Ada
6) Herbert and Norah
7) Clifford and Olive
8) Frank and Agnes
9) Arnold and Elsie
10) Leonard and Mabel

Albert, Sidney and Fred on the boys side are also fizzling out, alongside Margaret, Annie and Florence for the girls.

Surprisingly, Richard, the UK’s most popular name 200 years ago, could soon be heading the same way, as it too is on the boys’ endangered list.

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Richard is an endangered name. . . You mean I could soon be the last Dick in town?


Sorry.

Got carried away. Just about to go on my hols, you see.

*packs suitcase, gets coat*

Enjoy your holidays everyone! And if Cordero shows up muttering about bad weather in Galicia, you ain't seen me, right?

I have scans from a book with English popular names going back to the 1700s and a Word doc. of names popular in the 1600s. I can probably find the original website again, but if anyone wants either the scans or document as a reference, i'd be willing to share