If you are anything like me, you pay  lot of attention to names you encounter in your research. Because I spend so much time researching, I frequently come across funny names-  whether those be amusing first and last name combinations (Yesterday I saw a baptismal record for a Hugh McGlue!) or entertaining sibling name combinations (like twins named Maude and Claude). I’ve also noticed that many older names have been making a resurgence in popularity among the newest generations. For example, the top three names for American girls in 2009 were Isabella, Emma and Oliva.

According to the Social Security Administration’s Popular Baby Names website, Isabella name was reasonably popular toward the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century and then gradually dropped off in popularity until it wasn’t even in the top 1000 girl names beginning in the 1950s. Some people might attribute its sudden resurgence to the popular Twilight series whose main character is Isabella (though she goes by Bella). However, Isabella was on a steady rise beginning in 1990 and reached the #14 spot in 2002, three years before Twilight was published.

Emma was incredibly popular in the 1880s and 1890s, when it was consistently in the top 10. It gradually dropped in popularity, but has stayed in the top 1000 names, and in 2002 it was back in the top ten again. Olivia has been fairly popular since the 1880 and has really spiked in the last twenty years.

If you are interested in tracking the popularity of names, the Popular Baby Names website is an incredible tool. If nothing else, it can be amusing to watch the near disappearance of names like Eunice and Angus. Maybe they’ll be the next top names?