I was looking through some old school photos the other day which not only brought back memories, but got me thinking on the people I went to school with and their names. Being one of the 1960's baby boomer generation, it seems that most of the names were definitely of that time and very rarely feature in the notices for new arrivals.
Consider these girls names from my schooldays:-
Alison, Anne, Barbara, Carol, Carolyn, Denise, Gaynor, Jackie, Jane, Julie, Karen, Kay, Lesley, Lyndsay, Marie, Michelle, Sandra, Susan, Teresa, Tracy and Wendy.
And these boys names:-
Alan, Andrew, Anthony, Brian, Carl, Christopher, Craig, Graham, Ian, Jason, Kevin, Lawrence, Martin, Mark, Peter, Paul, Stephen and Wayne.
I doubt whether many of these names would feature in today's new baby top 10 listings of names. It's funny how many names rise in popularity for a decade or so, then wane when a new crop of favourites become popular. It seems TV and film have a big part to play in naming your baby. In the 60's, songs, tv, character names or actors and actresses helped in the popularity of names. Michelle by the Beatles, the character 'Jason King' in Department X, Diana Rigg playing Tracy Bond in Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Nowadays, traditional names are still popular with a resurgence of Victorian names (particularly for girls) such as Martha, Beatrice, Florence. There's also the big influence again from tv and film.... Chardonnay, Chantelle, Madison, Alfie, Phoebe, Harrison.
And whatever happened to the names of my grandparent's generation? Will the likes of Mildred, Edgar, Dorothy, June, Margaret, Edna, Enid, Joyce, Walter, Harold, Ernest, Leonard, Ronald, Gladys, Gertrude, Edith, Pearl, Lena, Hilda and the unfortunate Fanny, ever be popular again? I doubt it somehow.
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