Of all the baby decisions you’re presented with during pregnancy, choosing a name for your little one is by far the hardest. Will it suit them? Will it work when they’re older? Have any of your friends already nabbed it?
Like many mums-to-be, we both scoured the internet for name inspiration, and now, there’s a new list to help you land on a favourite. Care company Lottie.org has revealed the top 20 vintage baby names that are making a comeback. Combining data from online sources Nameberry, Mother & Baby, Fatherly and Parade to create a comprehensive list of vintage or old fashioned names, Lottie utilised genealogy portal Forebears.io, to input each individual name to discover the global popularity, amount of people bearing the name and countries where the name is most popular.
Ranked in order of global popularity, Patricia takes the number one spot, with over 5.6 million people bearing the name today. Popular in the sixties thanks to pop culture icon Cilla Black, it means “noble” or “patrician”. Anita, which is of Spanish origin and means “grace”, comes in at second place with 5,478,714 people sharing the name whilst the first male name to make the list is Samuel, in third place. With Hebrew and biblical origins meaning ‘heard of God’, 5,008,096 people bear the name today.
Whilst they didn’t make the cut, two of our four children have old-fashioned names – Gemma has a Mabel and Hannah an Atticus – and Rita, in at fourth place, was on Gemma’s husband’s name list. You can see the full top 20 below, as well as the top 5 vintage boys and girls names. We hope it gives you some inspo!
Top 20 Vintage Baby Names
| Rank | Name | No. of people with the name | Worldwide popularity ranking | Associated gender |
| 1 | Patricia | 5,611,684 | 59th | F |
| 2 | Anita | 5,478,714 | 61st | F |
| 3 | Samuel | 5,008,096 | 69th | M |
| 4 | Rita | 4,548,661 | 77th | F |
| 5 | Martha | 4,232,701 | 84th | F |
| 6 | Barbara | 3,977,274 | 96th | F |
| 7 | George | 3,950,011 | 98th | M |
| 8 | Esther | 3,566,497 | 116th | F |
| 9 | Diana | 3,553,640 | 118th | F |
| 10 | Gloria | 3,346,290 | 132nd | F |
| 11 | Ruth | 3,343,758 | 133rd | F |
| 12 | Francis | 3,278,211 | 139th | M |
| 13 | Frank | 3,082,995 | 157th | M |
| 14 | Oscar | 2,924,810 | 170th | M |
| 15 | Irene | 2,707,999 | 197th | F |
| 16 | Edward | 2,636,584 | 204th | M |
| 17 | Julia | 2,633,946 | 205th | F |
| 18 | Margaret | 2,552,758 | 214th | F |
| 19 | Walter | 2,494,319 | 221st | M |
| 20 | Albert | 2,450,754 | 226th | M |
Top Five Vintage Boys Baby Names
| Rank | Name | No. of people with the name | World popularity ranking |
| 1 | Samuel | 5,008,096 | 69th |
| 2 | George | 3,950,011 | 98th |
| 3 | Francis | 3,278,211 | 139th |
| 4 | Frank | 3,082,995 | 157th |
| 5 | Oscar | 2,924,810 | 170th |
Top Five Vintage Girl’s Baby Names
| Rank | Name | No. of people with the name | World popularity ranking |
| 1 | Patricia | 5,611,684 | 59th |
| 2 | Anita | 5,478,714 | 61st |
| 3 | Rita | 4,548,661 | 77th |
| 4 | Martha | 4,232,701 | 84th |
| 5 | Barbara | 3,977,274 | 96th |
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