Vintage Names

Vintage names are the old-fashioned charmers of the early 1900s that feel wonderfully fresh again — the “grandma and grandpa” names, once thought hopelessly dated, now climbing back to the top of shortlists. Naming experts call this the hundred-year rule: names tend to feel tired for a generation or two, then return sounding characterful and new. That cycle has brought back a whole wave of them. For girls, think Hazel, Nora, Ada, Pearl, Mabel, Clara and Edith; for boys, Arthur, Leo, Otis, Walter, Ezra and Theodore. They carry a cosy, heirloom warmth — the sense of a name passed lovingly down a family — while sounding perfectly at home on a child today. If you want something with roots and story rather than a passing trend, here are real vintage baby names making a comeback, each with its genuine meaning and origin.