vintage first names no longer in use today or not popular anymore

[Tomasso]

There's author Gay Talese

One of the best dressed dudes in NYC.

 

[tonyb]

Talese's first name is an abbreviated form of Gaetano, or so I've been told.

A girl in my high school class was (and still is, presumably) named Gay. The word had at that point not taken on its now most common meaning, at least not in the popular lexicon.

My grandparents were Leo and Hulda, Joseph and Josephine.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Some family names that are "vintage" and not really used today (sorry if these have been repeated):

Doris
Lester
Mabel
Melvin
Ruth
Lillian
Fannie
Elma
Maurice
Charles (borderline common)
Gloria
Shirley
Jeremiah
Abraham
Ella

 

[Widebrim]

Talese's first name is an abbreviated form of Gaetano, or so I've been told.

True, which was also Guy Lombardo's real first name.

 

[cecil]

Ruth is a beautiful name.

Dolores
Ann without an e seems to have fallen out of favour by the '60s
Dulcie
Nell/Nellie
Gene
Ena
Una
Ada
Ida

 

[Widebrim]

^^Dolores is still around, but among Spanish-speaking people.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Fannie

Fanny seems to have been a popular Jewish name as well. Sadly, in my reading about the Holocaust, the name crops up a lot.

 

[Shangas]

How old are you Shangas? I grew up with several guys called Douglas, so kids born in the mid 1970s. It wasn't as common as Graham, Andrew, Nick or Nigel for my generation, but it was right up there! And all the girls were Sarah, Sally, Kylie or Catherine.

I'll be 24 in a few months.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

My second middle name is Cecil, in honour of my Grand Dad

 

[Dr Kilroy]

My second middle name is Cecil, in honour of my Grand Dad

I like it!

Personally, I am John James, which is not a very original combination, but also a very classic one.

Best regards, Dr

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I had an aunt named Fannie Elma. THAT is a vintage name! My living grandmother is named Doris Mabel. Her mother was named Mabel Compton (Compton was her MIDDLE name!) Mabel's mother was named Lora -- which I guess is timeless.

My paternal grandmother was named Lillian and my maternal grandmother's aunt was also named Lillian. I REALLY love that name!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

More names from my family tree that are no longer widely used:

Gladys
Barbara
Oliver
Job
Josephine
Betty Jane (my all-time favourite name!)
George
Earl
Ellis
Helen
Beverly
Edith
Ora

 

[LizzieMaine]

My uncle was an Earl, a name which turns up again and again in my family. I like to think it's a sign of past nobility, but more likely my ancestors swept the stables of an earl somewhere.

One of my concession kids at work is named "Zebulon," which always makes me think of either a biblical patriarch prophesying doom or a bearded mountain man with a jug of moonshine at his hip. Not the sort of fellow you expect to find shoveling your popcorn.

 

[djd]

I believe that Earl as a surname was used to designate someone who worked for in an Earls household. It's not a common first name in the UK at all - very American. Errol is a variant of Earl if I remember correctly

 

[Renault]

I always thought my grandpaw had the coolest first and middle name, Cassius Lee.

Renault

 

[Guttersnipe]

Prescott

 

[Shangas]

"Prescott" sounds like something out of the American Civil War!

 

[nostalgic]

Beryl (my paternal grandmother's name, also mentioned here though)
Ronald (maternal grandfather's name but he goes by Ron)
Zelda (I know it's been mentioned but it's my grandmother in law's given name but she had it legally changed to Sue!)
Rita
Paul (my dad's name)
Ezra (we like that name for a little boy )
Ira (I love this name but my husband says it's just too cruel to name a kid that along with an already obviously jewish last name [huh])
Edmond (husband's maternal grandfather)

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I've always loved my brother's first and middle name combo. Robert Lee, don't see it much these days.

Whenver I hear Ira, I think of the Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash.

 

[hatophile]

Robert Lee, or Lee as a middle name was fairly common in the South at one time, for obvious reasons. My grandfather born in Georgia was Romie Lee, and my father-in-law whose family was originally from Tennessee was William Lee.