Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[Inkstainedwretch]

After an absence of several decades, Old Testament names seem to be back in fashion. I've encountered kids named Caleb, Joshua Omri and Jeremiah recently.

 

[GHT]

I've encountered kids named Caleb, Joshua Omri and Jeremiah recently.

Omri would have the "You Kneek" brigade wetting their pants, not only is it unusual, it's a monarch's name.
Many years ago, our friends called their first born son, Adam. Their elderly neighbour, on hearing the name said that she didn't really care for modern names. "You've not heard of Adam & Eve, have you?" Adam's mother asked, politely. "Oh dear," said the old lady, "what was I thinking?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

My nephew is named Caleb, and he was born in 1993. I used to have a Zebulon working for me at the theatre, who was born around the same time, and one of my longest-term theatre kids is named Eve, born in '94. So that Old Testament thing is at least a couple of decades old around here. Interestingly, none of these kids come from families that are in any way religious.

There are a lot of great Bible names that never get used. Zerubbabel, Jehonadab, Zipporah, Mahalath...

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine

Oh, better not "Zipporah". Reminds of the german "Zippo"-lighter.

 

[vitanola]

i note the return of very old fashioned girl's names of late; Lily, Flora, Alice, Rose, Anna, Bessie, all popular in the '80's and '90's. In another generation I suppose that Edna, Dolores, Dorothy, Shirley, and Marge will be back in fashion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I had aunts named Hazel, Mildred, Ruth, and Edith. I await the next generation thereof.

 

[vitanola]

I had Mildred, Esther, Rose, Bertha, Irma, Olga, Belle, and Dolores. Including the cousins of that generation there was Yetta, Tillie, Pearl, Gussie, Anna, Lena, Lillian, Frances, Emily, Katarina, Patricia, Florence and Hazel. Oh, forgot Muriel and Blanche!

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother's a Patricia -- born on St. Patrick's day, no less. My grandmothers were Winona and Florence. My grandmother Winona also had a sister named Florence. And her kitchen stove was a Florence. She also had a brother named "Elmer," not to be confused with glue or Fudd.

My father's name was "Floyd." Now there's a name you don't hear little kids being called anymore. And his father's name was "Irving," which you rarely run into unless you're talking about a Canadian gas station.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Both of my grandfathers were named "Albert", as was one of my great grandfathers, very popular in the early 20th century. Another of my great grandfathers, for whom I am named, was "Matthew", which while popular today, was not so much in 1895. But he married my GG mother, "Edna", so it sort of evened out. Another GG mother was "Lovie Mae", but contrary to popular belief, she married one of the Alberts, not "L'il Abner".

 

[ChiTownScion]

Father and paternal grandfather were both named John Nicholas. Tracing back the paternal line back to the 1640's there's a John (Johann), Nicholas, and/ or Lawrence (Lorenz) in about every generation. Mother was named Elizabeth as was her mother.. but that didn't seem to go back any further. My name (Thomas) doesn't seem to appear in any family lineage.

 

[vitanola]

The men of my Parent's generation (1910-1930) were John, George, Phillip, Anthony, William, Theodore, Joseph, Bodhon, Woodrow, Charlie, Bernie, Ed, Artie, Irving, Jerome, Seymour, Herbert and Sidney. Of my grandparent's generation; Bodhon, Simeon, Joseph, Frederick, Francis, Charles, Bernard, Max, Henry, Leland, Meyer, Morris, Leslie, Hyman, Franz, Thomas, Hyman, Julius and Harvey.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Believe it or not, my mother and her twin sister (b. 1922) were named Dotsey and Dimple. These were not uncommon names for girls in Texas in the 20s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My father had a sister named Elizabeth, and there are few others scattered in the lineage, but none of any great distinction. I've also got a Sarah, a Winifred, a Clara, a May, an Estelle, and a Wilhemina in my lineage. Given that we are almost wholly Scotch-Irish by way of Nova Scotia on every side of the family that I've been able to document (except for Irving, I suspect he must've snuck in from the Bronx or something), I have absolutely no idea what the deal was with Wilhemina.

The most common name in my family tree is Clifford. My great-grandfather and grandfather bore that name, and so does a cousin. We also have several Earles -- not nobleman Earls, but Earles like Uncle Earle who could fart to music and got laughs at Thanksgiving by dropping his partial plate in the gravy. My other Uncle Earle was semi-famous as the merchant sea captain whose ship was sunk by a U-Boat during the war, and who spent six weeks on a raft with his surviving crewmen until they arrived in Guiana. The whole adventure led many to question his choice of career, because, as Grandpa Irving might have put it, Earle and water don't mix.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
She's here all week.

 

[tonyb]

My maternal grandparents were Leo and Hulda. On my biological father's side it was Joseph and Josephine.

I've looked into earlier generations and have forgotten most of what I learned, partly because I never knew those people so the interest was more academic than personal, and partly because my grandparents on my mom's side left me sensing that my poking around in the family history might disclose matters they would rather leave buried.

Turns out they had good reason to think that.

 

[Zombie_61]

...My grandmothers were Winona and Florence. My grandmother Winona also had a sister named Florence. And her kitchen stove was a Florence...

She wasn't conceived on or in that stove, was she?

Apparently, my family didn't go for fads when it came to naming their children. Dad's name was Alexander, and his siblings (the ones I've met, anyway) were named Carl, Richard, and Marie. On a side note, Dad was taken in by an aunt after his parents were killed when he was 14 years old, so they may have actually been cousins rather than brothers and sister. Mom's name was Catherine, and her brothers were named Anthony and Joseph. Biblical, perhaps?

My older brother was named Peter. He was the product of Mom's first marriage, so he might have been named after his father. My older sister is Audrey, and I have no idea where that came from. She was adopted, but I don't know how old she was when that happened so she may have already been named. I was also adopted, but as an infant so Mom and Dad were free to saddle me with whichever name they felt was appropriate. So I was named after Dad, but I'm not a "junior" because I have a middle name and he didn't.

Speaking of which, my middle name is Gary. No one else in my family has that name that I'm aware of, and one day when I was still quite young I asked Mom about that. "Oh, you were named after one of my favorite actors." When I asked, "Oh, Gary Cooper?" she replied, "No, Cary Grant." I never bothered to pursue it further.

 

[Stormy]

I don't think anyone wants to admit it, but the "American Dream" is long gone. May ye R.I.P.

 

[PeterB]

Speaking of old names, Theodore is not common nowadays. It seems that every newborn's name begins with a K, such as Kayden, Kaily, etc. Where I live, the Indian community maintains names such as Lionel and Albert, but they are being replaced by newish names. Matilda is still quite common for girls.

 

[HudsonHawk]

My paternal grandmother was Lois, and she had a sister Florence, who went by "Flossie". They had a brother Ernest, of whom I was always said to be a spittin' image. I didn't see it when I was younger, but now that I'm getting to be the age he was when I knew him...yeah. Which isn't so bad, I remember him being a pretty cool guy. Getting back to the 19th century, there were numerous Frances and Elizabeth, in fact my GG grandfather Paul (who's father was also a Paul) who was captured at Gettysburg and walked back to Florida after the war, married an Elizabeth and when she died, married her sister Frances. Frances kept her confederate widow's pension up until the 1950s, I believe.

 

[HudsonHawk]

And speaking of Biblical names, I grew up with a "Josephus" and a "Hezekiah" and we actually had a girl in school named "Jezebel". I also had a huge crush on a girl named Mildred, who we called "Misty", and there was a girl who we only knew as "Bubbles". I have no idea what her real name was, and that may have been it for all I know. Also, I've known more than a handful of girls with the real given name of "Peaches". Must be a Southern thing.