Popular Boys’ Names in 1917 *and* 2017

Do you want to give your baby a name from 100 years ago that’s still usable today?  Here is a list of all the boys’ names that were popular (i.e. in the U.S. top 1000) in both 2017 and 1917!  You can also read my list of popular girls’ names from both years.

A: Aaron, Abel, Abraham, Abram, Adam, Adrian, Alan, Albert, Alberto, Alden, Aldo, Alec*, Alex, Alexander, Alfonso, Alfred, Alfredo, Allan, Allen, Alonzo, Alvin, Amos, Anderson, Andres, Andrew, Andy, Angel, Angelo, Anthony, Anton, Antonio, Arlo, Armando, Aron, Arthur, Arturo*, Asa, August, Augustine, Augustus, Austin, Avery

B: Ben, Benjamin, Bennett, Benson, Benton, Billy, Blaine, Bobby, Bradley, Brady, Brooks, Bruce, Bruno, Bryan, Bryant, Byron

C: Caleb*, Calvin, Carl, Carlos, Carmelo, Carson, Carter, Charles, Charlie, Chris, Christian, Christopher, Clark, Clay, Clayton, Clyde, Coleman, Conrad, Craig, Curtis, Cyrus

D: Dallas, Dalton, Daniel, Danny, Dante, Darrell, Darwin, David, Davis, Dayton, Dean, Dennis, Denver, Dexter, Dominic, Dominick, Donald, Douglas, Duncan

E: Eddie, Edgar, Edison, Edward, Edwin, Eli, Elias, Elijah, Elisha, Elliot, Elliott, Ellis, Emanuel, Emerson, Emery, Emilio, Emmet, Emmett, Emmitt, Emory, Enoch, Enrique, Eric, Ernest, Ernesto, Eugene, Evan, Everett, Ezekiel, Ezra

F: Felipe, Felix, Fernando, Finley*, Fletcher, Ford, Forrest, Foster, Francis, Francisco, Frank, Frankie*, Franklin, Frederick

G: Gabriel, Garrett, Gary, George, Gerald, Gordon, Grady, Graham, Grant, Gregory

H: Harlan, Harley, Harold, Harrison, Harry, Harvey, Hayden, Hayes*, Hector, Henry, Hezekiah*, Houston, Howard, Hudson, Hugh, Hugo, Hunter

I: Ignacio*, Ira, Isaac, Isaiah, Israel, Ivan

J: Jack, Jackson, Jacob, Jake, James, Jason, Jasper, Jay, Jefferson, Jeremiah, Jerome, Jerry, Jesse, Jessie, Jesus, Jimmy, Joe, Joel, John, Johnny, Jonas, Jonathan, Jordan*, Jose, Joseph, Joshua, Juan, Judson, Julian, Julio, Julius, Junior, Justin

K: Keith, Kendall, Kenneth, King, Kyle

L: Lamar, Larry, Lawrence, Lawson, Lee, Leland, Leo, Leon, Leonard, Leroy, Levi, Lewis, Lincoln, Lionel, Logan, Lorenzo, Louie, Louis, Lucian, Luis, Luke, Lyle

M: Mack, Major, Malcolm, Manuel, Marcel, Marcus, Mario, Mark, Marshall, Martin, Marvin, Mason, Mathew, Matt, Matthew, Maurice, Max, Maxwell, Melvin, Michael, Micheal, Miguel, Mike*, Milan, Miles, Miller, Milo, Mitchell, Morgan, Moses, Myles

N: Nathan, Nathaniel, Neil, Nelson, Nicholas, Nickolas, Nicolas*, Noah, Noel, Nolan

O: Oakley*, Oliver, Omar, Orlando, Oscar, Otis, Otto, Owen

P: Pablo, Parker, Patrick, Paul, Pedro, Peter, Philip, Phillip, Pierce, Porter, Preston, Prince

Q: Quentin, Quincy

R: Rafael, Ramon, Randall*, Raphael, Raul, Ray, Raymond, Reed, Reese, Reginald, Reid*, Rene, Reuben, Rex, Ricardo*, Richard, Riley, Robert, Roberto, Rodney, Roger, Rocco, Roland, Roman, Romeo, Ronald, Roy, Royal, Royce, Ruben, Rudy, Russell

S: Salvador, Salvatore, Sam, Samuel, Santiago, Santos, Saul, Scott, Sebastian, Seth, Silas, Simon, Solomon, Spencer, Stanley, Stephen, Sterling, Steven

T: Taylor, Terry, Thaddeus, Theo, Theodore, Thomas, Timothy, Tomas, Tommy, Tony, Travis, Troy

V: Van, Vance, Vaughn, Victor, Vincent, Vincenzo*

W: Wade, Walker, Walter, Warren, Wayne, Wesley, Weston, Will, William, Willie, Wilson, Winston, Wyatt

Notes:

• *Alec, Arturo, Caleb, Finley, Hayes, Hezekiah, Ignacio, Jordan, Nicolas, Oakley, Quincy, Reid, Ricardo, and Vincenzo were new and/or returning in 1917.  Frankie, Mike, and Randall returned to the top 1000 in 2017.
• 379 (37.9%) of the 1000 most popular boys’ names in 2017 were also popular in 1917.
• The initials with the greatest percentage of shared boys’ names between 1917 and 2017:
  1. O: 72.72%
  2. P: 70.59%
  3. W: 68.42%
  4. H: 65.38%
  5. E: 65.22%
• And the initials with the smallest percentage of boys’ names shared between the 1917 and 2017 lists:
  1. U/X/Y/Z: 0%; no shared names between 1917 and 2017
     
  2. K: 6.94%
  3. B: 25%
  4. C: 26.92%
  5. D: 30.65%

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Thoughts?  Are you surprised by any of these?  For me, it’s interesting to see how archaic many of these so-called modern baby names (especially the surnames) actually are.