Popular Girls’ Names in 1917 *and* 2017

With the new Social Security Administration name data available, I thought it would be fun to compare today’s popular baby names to popular names from 100 years ago.  So, here is a list of girls’ names that were in the top 1000 lists for both 1917 and 2017!

A: Ada, Adaline, Adelaide, Adele, Adelina, Adeline, Adrienne, Aileen, Alice, Alicia, Allie, Alma, Amalia, Amanda, Amelia, Amy, Ana*, Anastasia, Andrea, Angela, Angelina, Angie, Anna, Annabel, Annabelle, Anne, Annie, Audrey, Aurelia, Aurora, Ava

B: Barbara, Beatrice, Bella, Belle, Bonnie, Bridget

C: Callie, Camilla, Camille, Carmen, Carolina, Caroline, Carolyn, Catherine, Cecelia, Celeste, Celia, Charlie, Charlotte, Chloe, Christina, Christine, Claire, Clara, Clare, Clarissa, Claudia, Clementine, Cora, Corinne, Crystal, Cynthia

D: Daisy, Dana*, Daphne, Deborah, Delilah, Diana, Dorothy

E: Edith, Eileen, Elaine, Eleanor, Elena, Elisabeth, Elisa, Elise, Eliza, Elizabeth, Ella, Ellen, Ellie, Elsa, Elsie, Eloise, Emelia, Emilia, Emily, Emma, Emmie, Esperanza, Estella, Estelle, Esther, Eva, Evalyn, Evangeline, Eve, Evelyn, Evie

F: Faith, Faye, Florence*, Frances, Frankie

G: Genevieve, Georgia, Gloria, Grace, Gracie, Greta, Guadalupe, Gwen, Gwendolyn

H: Hallie, Hannah, Hattie, Hazel, Helen, Helena, Hope

I: Irene, Iris, Isabel, Isabella, Isabelle, Ivy

J: Jacqueline, Jane, Jenny*, Jessica, Jessie, Jewel, Joanna, Johanna, Josephine, Josie, Joy, Joyce, Judith, Julia, Juliana, Julie, Juliet, Juliette, June

K: Kate, Katherine, Kathleen, Kathryn, Katie

L: Laura, Laurel*, Lea, Leah, Leila, Lena, Leona, Leslie, Lila, Lilian, Lillian, Lillie, Lilly, Lily, Lina, Linda, Lola, Louisa, Louise, Lucia, Lucille, Lucy, Luella*, Lydia, Lyla

M: Mabel, Macie, Madalyn, Madeleine, Madeline, Madelyn, Mae, Magdalena*, Maggie, Magnolia, Margaret, Maria, Mariam, Marianna, Marie, Marilyn, Marjorie, Martha, Mary, Matilda, Mavis, Maxine, Melissa, Meredith, Millie, Mina, Miriam, Molly, Monica, Myra

N: Nancy, Naomi, Natalie, Nathalie, Nina, Nola, Nora, Nova

O: Octavia*, Olive, Olivia, Opal*, Ophelia

P: Patricia, Paula, Pearl, Phoebe, Priscilla

R: Rachel, Ramona, Rebecca, Regina, Renee*, Rhea, Rosa, Rosalie, Rosalyn, Rose, Roselyn, Rosemary, Rosie, Ruby, Ruth

S: Sadie, Sandra*, Sara, Sarah, Savannah, Serena*, Sofia, Sonia*, Sophia, Sophie, Stella, Stephanie, Susan, Sylvia

T: Teresa

V: Vada, Valeria, Valerie, Veda, Vera, Veronica, Victoria, Violet, Virginia, Vivian, Vivienne

W: Willa

Z: Zelda, Zoe

A total of 270 girls’ names in the 2017 top 1000 were also in the 1917 top 1000.

*Ana, Dana, Laurel, Sandra, and Serena were new/reentries in 1917.  Florence, Jenny, Luella, Magdalena, Octavia, Opal, Renee, and Sonia returned to the top 1000 in 2017.

The initials with the greatest percentage of shared names between 1917 and 2017 out of all the popular names with the initial in 2017:

1. V – 73.33% of names in the 2017 top 1000 starting with ‘V’ were also in the 1917 top 1000
2. O – 55.55%
3. C – 46.56%
4. F – 45.45%
5. E – 43.66%

And the initials with the smallest percentage of 2017 names that were on the 1917 list:

1. Q/U/X/Y – no shared names between the 1917 and 2017 lists
2. T – 5%.  Just one shared name (Teresa) out of twenty ‘T’ names for girls
   
3. K – 6.41%
4. Z – 13.33%
5. B – 15.79%

In terms of raw numbers, ‘A’ and ‘E’ are tied for the greatest amount of names on both lists (31).  ‘M’ follows at 30.

---

Thoughts?  Any surprises?  I’ll post the boys’ names later, so stay tuned.