Formerly Popular Names that Died Off, Female Edition
Why do some names seem to have eternal staying power, while others eventually fall out of favour?
This visualisation looks at female names that were popular at the turn of the 20th century, but would later fall out of the top 1,000.
Similar to the male name list published last month, many of these names instantly draw associations to them. People from English speaking countries will like view many of these as quintessential "old lady" names. Bessie is a stereotypical name associated with cows. Weirdly, there is no definitive reason that the name Bessie is linked to cows. It's a moostery. (Sorry.)
Unlike the male names from that same era, many of the female names dropped off a lot faster – many between the '60s and '90s – whereas many of the male names fell out of the top 1,000 ranking more recently.
What trends do you notice? Do you know any toddlers named Gertrude or Ethel?