In July, Eleanor of British Baby Names shared a 100-year-old newspaper article called What’s in a Name?
It said that a “correspondent of leisure” had kept track of all the female names that appeared in the Marriages and Deaths column of the Glasgow Herald during the second half of 1913. He spotted a total of 208 different names (shared among 3,500 women) during that time. The two most popular? Margaret and Mary. The next-most-popular were Elizabeth, Agnes, Janet and Isabella. The least popular were the 73 that appeared only once, including:
| Ailsa Alys Anchoria Carina Carmen Cassa Celia Clarinda Clementine Daphne | Diana Easter Elvina Estella Helga Herminia Honor Illma Inez Iris | Lavinia Livonia Lucinda Sadie Sybella Tooze Una Veir Vera Zoe |
If this anonymous name-tracking correspondent were alive today, he would definitely be a baby name blogger. :)
Which of the above names do you like best?
Source: “What’s in a Name?” Western Daily Press 10 Jan. 1914: 7.
Ummm – Diana, of course! :)
Oh my darling, oh my darling…
I’d like more infomatiion about Anchoria, Illma, Tooze and Veir.
I’m personally drawn to Illma, Daphne, Herminia, And Helga
Clementine, Daphne, Carina, Estella, and Iris… *sigh* lovely.
Cool article!
If there’s one lesson from this … it’s to choose a name that nobody else does, because in 100 years time it will sound SO COOL.