The 100-year rule predicting our next top baby names

You’ve not heard the names Mildred or Betty for a while, but they are set to be popular in 2020 thanks to a 100-year “rule”.

There’s a saying that everything that was once old is new again.

Retro is big, whether it’s clothes or tunes or homewares. It’s also true when it comes to baby names. This generation of parents are always looking for new and unusual names for their offspring, and in some cases, that means going back through the record books.

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According to experts, ‘old-fashioned’ baby names are back for 2020. Picture: UnSplash

RELATED: ‘Newly minted’ baby names for 2020

THE 100-YEAR RULE

This theory figures that it takes 100 years for names that were once popular to come back in fashion. Most people – unless they have a deep connection to a name – don’t use names belonging to family members. But once a name is more than a few generations out of fashion, something else happens, it becomes niche, it becomes retro. And it usually takes about 100 years for that to happen.

So, with that in mind, what names should we be expecting babies of the 2020s to have?

POPULAR 1920s BOYS AND GIRLS’ NAMES

According to both Nameberry and US social security records, the top 10 most popular boys’ names of the decade were:

1. Robert
2. John
3. James
4. William
5. Charles
6. George
7. Joseph
8. Richard
9. Edward
10. Donald

Names such as Betty and Mildred could be in fashion again. Picture: UnSplash

For girls, the top names were:

1. Mary
2. Dorothy
3. Helen
4. Betty
5. Margaret
6. Ruth
7. Virginia
8. Doris
9. Mildred
10. Frances

While some of these are probably a bit too old-fashioned even to be retro (Mildred, anyone?!), you look further down the list and names like Evelyn, Anna, Florence, Billy, and Harry appear, all names that made Australia’s top 100 baby name list for 2019 along with others like Elsie, Clara, Eleanor and Theodore.

This article originally appeared on Kidspot and was reproduced with permission