If you could shop for baby names in the grocery store, parents would all flock to the produce aisle. Everyone's looking for the freshest, most colorful options. Yet baby name shopping is a future-looking business. The name you choose has to stand the test of time, sounding as good thirty years from now as it does today.
That means "shelf life" may be as important as freshness. What would be the naming equivalent of a jar of honey — long-lasting and eternally appealing? The answer is names that have already stood the test of time for generations. Names like James and Elizabeth don't go in and out of fashion like hem lengths. They're timeless, and happily, they're not alone. You can find timeless names at all levels of popularity, even some with the potential to surprise.
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All of the names below have been given to at least 5 American babies per year every year since 1900, without any sharp popularity peaks that would date them. [For you hard core name geeks, my criterion was SQRT(maximum normalized frequency)/SQRT(minimum normalized frequency) ≤ 3.] These names are all over the style map but they're all timeless, and not a James or Elizabeth in the bunch.
Timeless Boys You Might Have Overlooked:
- Alden
- Alfonzo
- Angus
- Anton
- Benedict
- Byron
- Calvin
- Clark
- Clayton
- Coleman
- Conrad
- Dallas
- Denver
- Edgar
- Elliott
- Evans
- Felix
- Grant
- Harris
- Jay
- Jefferson
- Judson
- Jules
- Julius
- Leander
- Lionel
- Mahlon
- Malcolm
- Marshall
- Murphy
- Neil
- Nelson
- Noel
- Oscar
- Preston
- Raphael
- Reuben
- Rocco
- Simon
- Solomon
- Sterling
- Thaddeus
- Theodore
- Theron
- Ulysses
- Van
- Vance
- Vaughn
- Victor
- Vincent
- Wesley
- Winston
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Timeless Girls You Might Have Overlooked:
- Adela
- Amalia
- Antonia
- Camilla
- Camille
- Carmen
- Caroline
- Cecilia
- Celeste
- Clare
- Claudia
- Coral
- Corinne
- Elisa
- Eloisa
- Eve
- Georgina
- Greta
- Gretchen
- Helena
- Hope
- Iris
- Johanna
- Josefina
- Libby
- Lucia
- Luisa
- Lydia
- Magdalena
- Marianna
- Martina
- Miriam
- Naomi
- Nina
- Petra
- Portia
- Priscilla
- Rhea
- Susanna
- Veronica
This article originally appeared on Baby Name Wizard.
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