Revealed! The most popular baby names of the past 100 years (and only one name has been consistently on-trend)

Old-fashioned baby names have been having a moment of late. But despite some new parents opting to give their babies monikers which nod to eras gone by, there’s just one name that has successfully spanned the generations, sticking firmly in the most popular baby names lists for the past 100 years.

Family history website Findmypast has compared the most on-trend names for babies being born in 1911, 1939 and 2015 and revealed that William has been continuously popular for the past century.

As the only name that made it onto the top ten lists of all three periods, for both male and female monikers, it’s proof that trends in baby names really do go out of style.

Using data compiled from the 1911 Census and the 1939 Register and official survey results from 2015, the family history website deduced that while popular boys names have remained relatively unchanged, girls names over the years have been more influenced by fashion.

The research revealed that while the most popular names for baby girls included Doris, Edith, Alice, Elsie and Dorothy back in 1911, by 1939 these had all dropped off the list to be replaced with names such as Sheila, Valerie, Maureen and Barbara.

Then as fashions changed again, the 2015 results reveal a whole new collection of names du jour including Ava, Amelia, Isla and Poppy.

Do you like old-fashioned baby names? Let us know @YahooStyleUK

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