Conventional wisdom holds that baby names tend to follow the Hundred-Year-Rule, cycling back after a century has passed. But with everything speeding up exponentially in modern life, and with the great interest in all things mid-century, we’re thinking maybe we should change that to the Fifty-Year-Rule.

　　Which prompts us to a close look at the Top 1000 names of 1962.

　　At first glance, the Top 10 are not very inspiring—mostly classics for boys: Michael, David, John, James, Robert, Mark, William, Richard, Thomas, and Jeffrey, and for girls names very much of the period: Lisa, Mary, Susan, Karen, Linda, Patricia, Donna, Cynthia, Deborah, and Sandra.

　　But digging deeper into the data, we find an interesting mix of revival possibilities—all of them missing from today’s Top 1000, and most of them gone for decades. Towards the lower end we find vestiges of a still earlier time—names like Percy and Virgil, Myrtle and Minerva— as well as nickname names that have been lost to time, some ethnic choices no longer prominent here, plus more archetypal midcentury names which might possibly be ready to return.

　　VANISHED VINTAGE NAMES

　　Girls

　　Agnes * (already celeb-sanctioned)Celestine

　　Cornelia

　　Delia

　　Dinah

　　Dora

　　Dorothea

　　Elvira

　　Etta

　　Eugenia

　　Flora

　　Geneva

　　Georgina

　　Gladys

　　Ida

　　Leticia

　　Lucinda

　　Marjorie

　　Minerva

　　Muriel

　　Myrtle

　　Pauline

　　Portia

　　Rowena

　　Viola

　　Winifred

　　Boys

　　Augustine

　　Benedict

　　Chester*Clement

　　Cleveland

　　Clyde*Cornelius

　　Dudley

　　Edmond and Edmund

　　Floyd

　　Hiram

　　Homer*Judson

　　Kermit

　　Leander

　　Lemuel

　　Morris

　　Norris

　　Percy

　　Roscoe

　　Rudolph

　　Ulysses*Virgil

　　MORE MIDCENTURY-ISH–AND MISCELLANEOUS

　　Girls

　　Anita

　　Avis

　　Beverly

　　Carolina

　　Clarice

　　Fonda

　　Gail

　　Helene

　　Jill

　　Kay

　　Loretta*Lorraine*Marsha

　　Mavis

　　Maxine*Patrice

　　Rita

　　Rochelle

　　Rosalind

　　Roxanne

　　Thea

　　Tina

　　Yvonne

　　Zelda*

　　Boys

　　Booker

　　Boyd

　　Clifford

　　Dion

　　Doyle

　　Galen

　　Jarvis

　　Kenton

　　Lowell

　　Merlin

　　Murray

　　Neal and Neil

　　Parrish

　　Perry

　　Robin

　　Stewart/Stuart

　　Terence

　　Wallace

　　Willis

　　A TOUCH EXOTIC

　　Boys

　　Christophe

　　Domingo

　　Federico

　　Gregorio

　　Lars

　　Leif

　　Pasquale

　　Vito

　　NICKNAME NAMES

　　Girls

　　Nickname names

　　Dolly*Dottie

　　Frankie*Ginger

　　Kitty

　　Mamie*Mimi

　　Minnie

　　Mitzi

　　Nellie

　　Patsy

　　Peggy

　　Penny

　　Polly

　　Roxie

　　Boys

　　Archie*Barney

　　Chet

　　Chuck

　　Fred

　　Freddie

　　Fritz

　　Hal

　　Jed

　　Mack

　　Ned

　　Ted

　　Tim

　　Tom

　　*Used by at least one celeb

　　So which of these do you think could come back—at least into the Top 1000? Any of them already on your list?

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