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Henry is already retro-chic in the US. It entered the top hundred in 2006. As for Lionel, hard to say. Maybe, maybe not. It entered the top thousand in 2010, after a an eight year absence, and has risen steadily since. On the other hand, for the vast majority of the years from 1880 through 1996, it was in the top thousand but mostly hovering in the three, four, and five hundreds and never was really popular.

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I don't like either name. I had a cat named Henry, and I loved that cat. He was named Henry because I like to give animals people names that I dislike for people. I think Henry just makes me think of a grossly overweight cruel tyrant because of Henry VIII. And Lionel I just can't take seriously. It's one of the three most foppish names there are, the other two being Nigel and Reginald.

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Except on a black guy. Black guys can pull off some names that white guys can't. That's why Lionel worked as the name for the character on "The Jeffersons" and it works for Lionel Ritchie. I work with a black guy named Dwight. Dwight is dorky on a white guy, but it's not dorky on the Dwight with whom I work.

This message was edited 10/9/2014, 5:45 AM