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We like to think that creative or unusual names are part of a recent baby-naming trend. But unlike the citizens of some other countries, Americans have always been able to choose whatever names they want for their children, and they've always taken advantage of that freedom. The Social Security Administration has records of baby names going back to 1880. On their website, you can see the top 1000 names for any given year. In 1916, John and Mary were the most popular boy and girl names. Solid? Sure. Boring? Yep. Here are 40 of the best names from much further down the list for that same year.
Boy (Rank) | Girl (Rank) |
|---|---|
Vernal (914) | Versie (914) |
Foy (942) | Wava (992) |
Edd (556) | Lue (673) |
Burdette (877) | Larue (757) |
Loy (660) | Eulalia (696) |
Finis (965) | Mozelle (447) |
Brown (953) | Bennie (623) |
Lacy (543) | Hulda (546) |
Rollin (599) | Dortha (525) |
Loyal (678) | Dimple (895) |
Ivory (696) | Pinkie (749) |
Lemuel (489) | Myrtis (543) |
Major (499) | Marvel (592) |
Durward (524) | Vada (445) |
Urban (611) | Dovie (484) |
Otha (615) | Ouida (699) |
Early (761) | Easter (678) |
General (775) | Queenie (846) |
Chalmer (973) | Neoma (816) |
Worth (823) | Fairy (898) |