It’s pretty obvious that the first initial letters of names move in and out of fashion. The last several years have seen a rotation of vowels—A, E, O, I– as favored name-starters. But there have been instances, too, of ending sound name trends as well, which aren’t quite so apparent. Case in point:
In the early decades of the twentieth century, in addition to name trends like the birth of the flower name craze—Rose, Violet, Lily, Daisy, Hazel and Myrtle— as well as gem names like Pearl, Ruby and Opal, and the month names of April, May and June, there was an infatuation with girls’ names ending in ‘s’. Appellations such as Doris, Phyllis and Lois were seen as ultra-poetic and romantic, having an appealing classical feel—but it was a fad that faded fairly quickly. Today’s most popular list , for example, shows only two female names ending with the S sound in the Top 100 (Alexis and Genesis), while in the years from 1900 to 1930, there were five times that number. Some of them still sound terminally dated today:
Dolores
Doris
Gladys
Lois (maybe)
Phyllis
…while the other half are either ripe for revival or already back:
Agnes
Alice
Beatrice (ice-endings produce an S sound too)
Florence
Frances
Other s-ending names somewhat further down on those early twentieth century lists were:
Avis
Bess
Clarice
Eunice
Iris
Janice/Janis
Leatrice
Mavis
Mercedes
These days, we’re noticing the emergence of interest in a whole raft of sibilant-ending names. Some are recent imports, some are newly revitalized oldies, others are unusual nature or place or word names. Taken together, with their fresher feel, they are beginning to start a trend of their own.
The up-and-coming s-sound-ending names include:
Alannis/Alanis
Amaris
Amaryllis
Anais
Annalies(e)
Ardis
Arliss
Artemis
Bliss
Carys/Karis
Charis
Chloris
Corliss
Damaris
Dilys
Ellis
Eos
Glenys
Glynis
Hollis
Ines
Isis
Lettice
Lillias
Lotus
Lourdes
Memphis
Nerys
Neves
Norris
Pallas
Persis
Reese
Solstice
Tallis
Tanis
Thais
Venice
Venus
Wallis
Plus a few boys’ names that have tiptoed into the girls’ section, such as James, Jules
Do you see this as a trend? Particularly like any of the names?