View Message

Bessie's high point in the USA was 1889, but it receded rather slowly and was still among the 100 most common names until 1928.

---

Obviously there are great individual differences in exactly how people come to like or dislike names; the "ageism" thing is a general social factor, not meant to describe how everybody's mind operates 100% of the time.

---

And for a name to be strongly revived, it of course not only has to be old enough to be "retro" instead of just "old" to people in their 20s, but it has to fit in with the fashionable sounds of the time. At the moment the -a ending for girls' names is more popular, and Cora, Viola, and Clara fit that. We also are probably moving into an appreciation for the "long I" vowel again, with names like Isaac, Isaiah, and Violet coming back already. Beatrice is very interesting to me, because a lot of young women on baby name discussion boards seem to like it, but there is actually little sign of it really being revived yet. Perhaps this is one of those names that women like a lot more than men at the moment, and fathers veto it when mothers suggest it.

---

I really expect Florence to come back in about another decade. I think the huge recent success of Cadence will get people interested in the -ence ending, and it will be the right time for young parents to think that it's a "cool" name again. :)