Once more this year the list of most popular names—particularly for girls—is vowel –heavy, with six of the top ten names starting with A, E, I or O, and five more filling out the top twenty.

　　As a result, naturally, there are fewer consonant-starters visible, some letters practically non-existent.  One of these is F, with only a single  representative, Faith, in the top 100, and a grand total of nine girls’ names out of the whole list of top 1000.

　　If we look back a century—testing the 100-year rule–it was a very different story, with 31 girls’ and 34 boys’ names starting with this initial.  Several of them were versions of the same name (variant spellings are nothing new!); for instance, Freda, Frieda, Freida and Freeda all made the list—but not the current Kahlo-influenced Frida.  Florence—no longer visible on today’s list–was represented in 1910 by Florance, Flora, Flossie, Flo, Florrie and Florene, and Frances (which hangs on at #802 today, with Francesca at 470) showed up in such variations as Fannie, Fanny, Francis, Francisca and Frankie, and there were three spellings of Fay/Faye/Fae.

　　Among the more unusual choices that made the girls’ list a hundred years ago were Fairy, Floy and Fronie.On the 1910 boys’ list Francis and Frances both appeared, and, with the same root, there were Frank (the highest at #8), Francisco, Franklyn and Frankie, and in the Fred (#22) family, Frederick, Freddie, Fredrick, Frederic, Federico and Fritz.  Also up there were Forest and Forrest, Floyd, Freeman, Foster, Felton, Fulton, Florian, Ford, Fay, Finis and Farris.

　　The only F- names whose popularity has survived over the course of the century are Faith and Frances in the girls’ column, and the more numerous Fernando, Frank, Fletcher, Felix, Frederick/Fredrick, Felipe, Francis, and Frankie for boys.  One big change evident on the current list is the trend towards Celtic/Gaelic names starting with F–Finley appears for both genders, Fiona ranks at 313 for girls, and for boys, there are the increasingly popular Finn and Finnegan.

　　What are some other names that could shore up the F-list?  Here are some possibilities that didn’t appear on either the current or the 1910 list:

　　GIRLS

　　FABLE

　　FANCHON

　　FANIA/FANYA

　　FANTINE

　　FENELLA

　　FEODORA

　　FERGIE

　　FIA

　　FIFI

　　FIONNUALA/FINULA

　　FIORELLA

　　FLANNERY

　　FLAVIA

　　FLEUR

　　FRANCA

　　FRANÇOISE

　　FREDERICA

　　FREYA

　　FRITZI

　　FUCHSIA

　　BOYS

　　FARRELL

　　FENN

　　FERGUS

　　FERRIS

　　FIELD

　　FINIAN/FINNIAN

　　FIO

　　FITZ

　　FLANN

　　FLINT

　　FOLEY

　　FOX

　　FRANZ

　　FRASER

　　FRISCO

　　FROST

　　FYFE

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