To be clear, by “oldest name” I mean a name belonging to old people, not a name that is itself very old.
After I published my analysis of whether Garys are going extinct, I saw a lot of people commenting that the names closest to extinction were probably mostly held by very old people. That was a natural next step with my dataset, so here we are!
How I did the math
I detailed the process in my article about Garys, so I suggest you hop over there if you want the gritty details.
In short, the U.S. government produces estimates of the share of people born in year X who will still be alive in year Y. It also produces data on how many babies with a given name are born in each year.
By combining these two datasets, we can estimate how many babies with a specific name born in year X are still alive in 2025. Then, we can use those numbers to find a weighted average age for that name. (One big flaw this doesn’t account for immigration, but I haven’t found a way around that)
Oldest names in the U.S.
Using this method, the oldest name on average is… drumroll please… Myrtle!
The average Myrtle is estimated to be 84 years old in 2025, and more than two thirds of Myrtles are 80 or older.
Eleven other names have average ages above 80, and they all intuitively sound pretty old to me. Ten of these names are predominately female which makes sense–women tend to live longer than men, and parents tend to give female babies more trendy or faddish names than male babies.
Are old names more at risk of extinction?
Three of the twelve oldest names also appear on the list of names closest to extinction. That’s not a coincidence – there’s a clear correlation between the decline in a name’s popularity and how old it tends to be:
One thing I liked about this scatterplot is how neatly you can use it to divide names into groups.
Newly expecting parents: try looking in “dated and dusty” for the next potential “newly discovered classic”
What about my name?
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Good cat names
You picked the top 12 instead of top 10 because of those last two names, in that order, didn’t you?
I picked 12 because that’s how many had an average over 80, but those two were a fun little accident
I blanched at that observation.
Ha ha ha ha ha I didn’t think of them together; I guess I’ve seen enough and don’t need to Seymour!
🤣
Enjoyed the article and also to find my name getting outdated, which is the usual up and down with trends that change over time. Names like clothing will make an eternal circle and come back once they are outdated. Someone rediscovers them and everything changes again.
This is fun data!
Am I to infer with that twelfth name that these are children who were named Dick by their parents, rather than children named Richard who then chose Dick as a preferred nickname? If so, how strange!
The decline of Bill as a given name fits that pattern. Parents might now be selecting William. It seems a little strange to me that one would give their child a perceived nickname as a given name. Then again, it also seems strange to me to name one’s son to match his father’s name, yet I know that was once common.
Yes! This is people who have the legal name Dick, not Richard. I want to do another analysis of “nicknames as full name”, as I also find it a bit odd.
Haven’t seen August and it’s derivatives since the 1800’ in my genealogical studies. I guess a few of them were still being born in the 20th.
Haven’t seen a young Bruce in a while not to mention the alternative my parents had for me was Alfred III. Francis and Frances seemed to have faded away, not to mention grandfather Gerald and grandmother Josephine.
My mother will turn 100 in January. Her given name is Lola Jeane. Her mother’s name was Pansy, her mother Serenna. My father’s mother’s name was Effie Josephine.
I love those names, especially Pansy.
I looked at this to see if my MIL name Rachel who will be 103 in July Still going strong in health and name
My name has always existed in a weird state between real but so rare as to be unknown by most folks. I know that it has dropped off the charts of US baby names and I don’t see it making a comeback anytime soon. I’m fine with it now, but boy did I hate it as a kid.
I have never personally known another girl/woman with my name. I have seen or known of some, fewer than six.
One of the original Mousketeers had your name.
I was named after Shirley Temple and I’m 76. My father’s mother was Myrtle and she would be about 130 if alive. Definitely a couple old names!
I know a couple who recently named their son Otis. My mother’s name Marlene is fading, while my aunt’s name Sophia seems to have made a comeback.
My maternal grandmother was named Charlette Wilhelmina. I’ve seen the name Charlotte revived among young girls, but not Wilhelmina!
I noticed when I was a kid that many women of my mother’s age had names ending in the schwa (uh) sound: Edna (my mother), Clara, Bertha, Rita, Priscilla, Zelda, Donna, Patricia, Lorilla, Lula, Emma, Willetta, Dora, Rebecca, Marla, Carla, Paula, Darla, Eula, Julia, Nina, Sarah, Alma, and so on. Some of those names are still around, but most have been pushed out by names ending in the “ee” sound.
Too bad I’m Linda and born exactly when that name was popular. My daughter’s name is Ruth after her grandmother. Not many of them. BTW I hated the name Linda. My mom wanted to call me Jackie after my dad who was a 3rd in line John so was called by the nickname Jack. Dad said no daughter of his would be named a boy’s name.
My parents’ names were Ethel & Seymour!
Mom and dad – Lois and Lawrence, grandparents – Clarence, Elizabeth; Thomas and Delphia… miss the names of Claudia, Irma, Preston, Grayson, Braxton.
My parents named were Orland and Petronella Evangeline. His parents were Orlando and Charolette.
Never met another person with same names. Though there are people in usa named same.
My Grandmas, maternal and paternal Katherine and Katia, Grandpas, Leonard, Jacob, Toma.
Some of my favorite friends’ names when I was a child 1939-1953 were Frieda, Loraine, Arlene, Gloria (3of these) Patty, and Lois. In my teenage, Lora, Eileen, Sandy, Loretta and Helen.
My name: Catherine Margaret
Hi! This is a really cool analysis. I’m commenting on behalf of a group of expectant parents who are wondering if you’d be able to share the full “dated and dusty” list. Maybe Carole and Grover are ripe for a comeback 🙂
Thank you! Stay tuned, I’m next working on an analysis of names that are coming back into style!
I’m Janet Lea, brother John Curtis, and older (deceased) sister Joyce Marie. Mother was Edythe Mignon & Dad was Curtis Oliver. Grandparents: Anna Mae & Charley, Glenola Inez & William.
I have 2 grandaughters (who are cousins) named Beulah, ages 4 and 7. I guess nobody told their parents that the name was on the way out.