Eek!

[sayga.livejournal.com]

I'm looking on the Social Security site under 1000 most popular names in the 1920s (the search by decade). Here are some scary names on the list.

Girls:
Fairy
Cherry
Raymond (yes, for a girl)
Mammie
Dimple
Blossom
Mafalda
Pinkie (imagine the parents--ooh, she's such a CUTE newborn baby, all wet and pink and...say, let's name her Pinky!)
Santa
Easter
Floy
Pansy

Boys:
Manley
Dorothy
Furman
Wm (no, that's not a typo--465 people in the 20s were named Wm)
Ivy
Virgle (I imagine it's Virgil, but Virgle looks like it'd rhyme with burgle)
General
Margaret
Early (wow, he was born 5 weeks early...let's name him Early)
Loyal
Jewell
Royal

After looking at those names, I start to feel like kids named Mykynzy and Aleightheeia are going to turn out ok.

PS. Hayden is on the list, #844 with 619 babies name that in the 20s.

Comments

[swansong19.livejournal.com]

Manley!! Little House on the Prarie, anyone?

[julieannie.livejournal.com]

and Royal too!

[p-inkjeans.livejournal.com]

Um. Margaret, Jewell, Dorothy and Ivy were BOYS' names???

[sayga.livejournal.com]

yep!

[heyitsrebecca.livejournal.com]

I *think* Santa is a legit name for hispanic girls... but I'm not entirely sure.
The rest.. eww ewww ewww

[sayga.livejournal.com]

yeah, I'm sure it's not Santa-as-in-Claus. :P also on the list (but boy's side) were Santo and Santos. I think Santa would be the feminine version.

[julieannie.livejournal.com]

I would not feel comfortable naming my child Saint. I know they will be little devils.

[x-lostinyou.livejournal.com]

No no no no. Raymond, on a girl!?! NO. That's my grandpa's name, future son's middle name. ICK on a girl.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

well, you might have to forego Raymond and name your child Furman instead.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

The boys' names - what?!?! lol


I love Cherry and Blossom for girls.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

Just not together, LMAO.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

Cherry is weird to me. Blossom is really okay, I was just surprised to see it on the top 1000 names.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

Wm is an abbreviation for William, so I think that probably has something to do with that.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

I wondered if it was. But how do you pronnounce Wm? Or you would always just say William? So why not name the kid William? If the parents are too lazy to write the whole name on the birth certificate, they should really pick a shorter name! :P

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

You have to remember that times and customs were different. I don't think it was "laziness" - it was just something that was done. Wm is used on headstones a lot, especially on older ones. I think they probably just called him William.

You also have to note that maybe people said "William" and the registrar or whoever put down "Wm" because it was a normal abbreviation, so that is what happened to be recorded for the SSA.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I suppose literacy rates would have been lower back then too

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

Also, you have to remember that this list is from the 1920s. Times were different, trends were different. Some of these probably weren't odd back then.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

oh, i know a lot of them weren't odd back then. that's kind of my point, that they seem weird to us but were popular/common back then. maybe there were other folks during that time thinking "you shouldn't name a kid THAT!"

i know i tend to think that weird names are new and in the 20s, everyone was named joseph or christopher or mary or rose. it was interesting to me to see there was a lot of diversion from classics, even then.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

Yeah that really is interesting. Thanks for sharing that =)

[maude.livejournal.com]

I'm embarrassed to admit...I like Ivy for a boy. A lot.

[hemsky83.livejournal.com]

I like Floy

[cuidate-mucho.livejournal.com]

General is cool. I knew a ballet dancer named General...and he was coo.

[itcouldbelove.livejournal.com]

those are AWESOME, hahah. my favorite is santa. whew, whatta world.

[monroehips.livejournal.com]

I honestly have to say to you that most of those names truly disgust me. What are people thinking?!

[secret-x-stars.livejournal.com]

i think in the 20s, no-one really gave a shit about names. just name the kid something and get on with life.

i'd figure that, anyway. :)

[krosp.livejournal.com]

Not so much names, but I imagine they weren't as interested in the legal documentation of names on birth certificates. They probably didn't hold as much importance back then as they do now, so in a sense it doesn't matter what you write on the certificate... but what you call the child would still be very important, if that makes sense

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Manley. lol. You can certainly tell daddy wanted a boy!

[poespretty.livejournal.com]

what kills me, is that even for 1920, some of these names are pretty strange. and that MULTIPLE people used them. enough people actually, for them to make it into the top 1000 (I know it's not like the top 100 but still). weird.

[hitzpink.livejournal.com]

I love the whimsical feeling of the girl names! Fairy, Cherry, and Blossom. I don't think they're much worse than the trendy names of today.

[fairycoppie88.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Dimple! I didn't think it was a name used in America! I've been loving it ever since I read The Rice Mother, and it's a guilty pleasure of mine (but the girl named Dimple in the book was malaysian). It's funny because I can't find that name in any of the name sites I usually search in...
But the boys names are horrible! Royal, Loyal? What are they, dwarfs?!

[monalyssasmile.livejournal.com]

I actually know someone who is pregnant and is planning on naming it Loyal if it is a boy. Her girl name is just as bad with Cana (cay-nuh) so it's a lose lose situation for that child.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Actually, my great-grandmother was named Easter, so it wasn't just a name in the US (she was born in Italy).

A lot of the odder names or misspellings might be translations from foreign languages, too. Like I said, my great-grandmother's name was Pasqua (Easter) but the customs people at Castle Garden wrote her name down as Esther by mistake.

[arbus.livejournal.com]

my 94 year old grandmother is friends with a woman named pinky and thats her full name. i dont know how old she is exactly, but 1920 sounds about right. i really kind of like the names pansy and blossom. dimple? thats hilarious!

also, i know a guy named royal who is in his 50s, its the first and only time id ever seen it and thought it was obnoxious. i cant believe its on a top list!