Over 20 years working with name labels has taught us a thing or two about how parents choose to name their children. During this time, we’ve observed that baby name trends tend to be cyclical. Most recently, we’ve seen the resurgence of many vintage names we might previously have associated with older generations, such as Florence and Arthur.
This got us thinking. What about the names that haven’t experienced a comeback? Are there some hidden gems that have been lost in time?
So, we conducted some research. We analysed ONS data from the last 120 years to uncover beautiful, traditional names that are at risk of dying out entirely.
Names set to become extinct:
| Girls | Boys | |
| 1. | Freda | Cecil |
| 2. | Rosina | Leigh |
| 3. | Bessie | Claude |
| 4. | Millicent | Maurice |
| 5. | Winifred | Percy |
| 6. | Marian | Martyn |
| 7. | Nichola | Frederick |
| 8. | Jemma | Graeme |
| 9. | Jayne | Aubrey |
| 10. | Gwendoline | Walter |
All the names identified featured in the top 100 most popular names in the 20th Century, but were registered 150 times or fewer in 2024, according to ONS’s latest baby name data. This means they each accounted for 0.02% or fewer of the babies born that year.
Are these names going to make a comeback?
As things stand, these names are set to become extinct this generation. However, if rediscovered, we think they could offer plenty of appeal to modern parents looking for unusual yet traditional names.
For instance, we know that mums and dads are increasingly favouring one syllable names that are short and snappy. So, names such as Freda, Percy, and Leigh are all great options for expectant parents looking for names that fit with this trend.
Meanwhile, names like Millicent and Winifred offer charming, less common alternatives for parents looking to use popular shortened names, like Millie and Winnie.
For those who want to embrace the trend for vintage-sounding names, Rosina and Bessie are beautiful alternatives to the more common Rose and Betty, both of which have risen in popularity in recent years.
Methodology:
The research involved analysis of ONS baby name data spanning from 1904 to 2024. Here’s how we identified the beautiful names at highest risk of dying out:
- First, we identified names that consistently appeared in the ONS Top 100 baby names from 1904 up to 1997.
- We then cross-referenced these historically popular names with the full list of names registered from 1998 to 2024. A name was considered statistically ‘extinct’ or ‘near-extinct’ if it appeared in the historical Top 100 but recorded fewer than 150 registrations in the most recent 2024 ONS data.
- A final selection of girls’ and boys’ names was chosen based on their beauty, which considered factors such as their meaning and origin, their potential shortenings, and links to current trending names.
Want to find out more about names? Discover our latest baby name predictions for 2026 and beyond.
