Parenting

92 Classic Names That Will Still Be in Style When Your Baby Turns 60

ParentingPublished Feb 23, 2015
By Laura Wattenberg
vintage baby

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.

More from The Stir: 19 Surprising Scientific Facts About Naming Babies

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:

  1. Alden
  2. Alfonzo
  3. Angus
  4. Anton
  5. Benedict
  6. Byron
  7. Calvin
  8. Clark
  9. Clayton
  10. Coleman
  11. Conrad
  12. Dallas
  13. Denver
  14. Edgar
  15. Elliott
  16. Evans
  17. Felix
  18. Grant
  19. Harris
  20. Jay
  21. Jefferson
  22. Judson
  23. Jules
  24. Julius
  25. Leander
  26. Lionel
  27. Mahlon
  28. Malcolm
  29. Marshall
  30. Murphy
  31. Neil
  32. Nelson
  33. Noel
  34. Oscar
  35. Preston
  36. Raphael
  37. Reuben
  38. Rocco
  39. Simon
  40. Solomon
  41. Sterling
  42. Thaddeus
  43. Theodore
  44. Theron
  45. Ulysses
  46. Van
  47. Vance
  48. Vaughn
  49. Victor
  50. Vincent
  51. Wesley
  52. Winston

More from The Stir: 20 Forgotten Victorian Names to Put on Your Baby Name List

Timeless Girls You Might Have Overlooked:

  1. Adela
  2. Amalia
  3. Antonia
  4. Camilla
  5. Camille
  6. Carmen
  7. Caroline
  8. Cecilia
  9. Celeste
  10. Clare
  11. Claudia
  12. Coral
  13. Corinne
  14. Elisa
  15. Eloisa
  16. Eve
  17. Georgina
  18. Greta
  19. Gretchen
  20. Helena
  21. Hope
  22. Iris
  23. Johanna
  24. Josefina
  25. Libby
  26. Lucia
  27. Luisa
  28. Lydia
  29. Magdalena
  30. Marianna
  31. Martina
  32. Miriam
  33. Naomi
  34. Nina
  35. Petra
  36. Portia
  37. Priscilla
  38. Rhea
  39. Susanna
  40. Veronica

This article originally appeared on Baby Name Wizard.

Is your baby name on this list?

For more great baby name ideas, visit Baby Name Wizard.

Image via Soloviova Liudmyla/shutterstock; DNF Style/shutterstock

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