names like edie, ivy and ida, herbert, albert,

[joko]

these sorts of names, in the uk, tend to be associated with old people, as did, until  relatively recently, names like george, arthur, harry etc.

is this the same in america or do they have another crop of names associated with older generations?

[Buenchico]

(Part 1 of 2)

:If you'd have asked this question 100 years ago, the answer might be rather different to now. At that time the UK and the US would have had very different cultural identities, so the prevalence of certain names in one country would not necessarily be reflected in the other.

With the advent of film, radio and TV, the two countries may have moved closer together (er, that's culturally not geographically, of course!).

Many parents select names for their children based upon those people who are in the public eye as, say, filmstars. (They may even do this subconsciously). There are, for example, a lot of people named Kylie or Jason who were born shortly after 'Neighbours' was first aired in this country!

Since we watch so many of the same films and TV programmes as our trans-atlantic cousins, we are now tending to choose many of the same names as are chosen in the US. So, while there used to be many differences in the names of older members of the population, this might not be so noticeable now or in the future. (Although, we of course, have more Asian names and the US have more Spanish names)

[Buenchico]

(Part 2 of 2):

At present, I would expect that a survey of the names of older US citizens would probably have more biblical names (e.g. Jeremiah) than you would find in the UK, due to the much earlier 'secularisation' of British culture than that of the US.

If you're looking to future trends, I've just reached to the back of my (very) untidy desk to find a newspaper cutting, dated2002, listing the most popular names for newborn children in the UK.

The top 20 boys' names (in order) were: Jack. Joshua, Thomas, James, Daniel, Lewis, Matthew, Luke, Harry, Oliver, Ben, Samuel, William, Joseph, Callum, Ryan, Adam, Benjamin, Ethan, Cameron. (interestingly, we seem to be going back to biblical names!).

The top 20 girls' names (in order) were: Chloe, Emily, Megan, Jessica, Ellie, Sophie, Charlotte, Lucy, Lauren, Hannah, Katie, Olivia, Amy, Rebecca, Bethany, Holly, Molly, Caitlin, Emma, Georgia.

For comparison, the top 100 boys' and girls' names, for the period 1999-2002 are listed here:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=210527

This doesn't answer your question directly but it tells you what the answer will be in 70 years time!

Chris

[jno]

Here is the current US list, Robert and Mary first.

[spudqueen]

Just heard today of a new baby being called Violet, another 'old' name coming back?!

[nicola_red]

I suspect the parents that spudqueen refers to are Corrie viewers! :-)

also, I have a colleague who named her baby Arthur recently, which surprised me.  But I guess these names are making a comeback.

[joko]

I suppose there are connotations with these sorts of names - here they imply old people, elsewhere not.

I think connotations seem to hugely influence the choice of name. even if its a really nice sounding name.

I know a guy whose girlfriend wants to name his son Igor!! In her country its a common, popular name and doesn't have any connotations, but here... it means...well...Igor!...the hunchback from Frankenstein! 

I know that the name Myra (a perfectly nice name) fell into almost disuse after Myra Hindley -at least in this country, although Ian is too common a name to be only associated with Ian Brady.

Mind you, Jack, is more peopular than ever at the moment...I suppose 1896 is too long ago...

I wonder how many German children were given the name Adolph over the last 60 years?

I wonder how long it takes these sorts of names to 'recover'?

[B00]

Dunno joko....but I bet you can count the number of Judus's on one hand!

Great Q btw!