Honorific Names: Baby Boomers

Hello, readers!

One of my favorite "types" of names is the honor choice - naming one's child after a family member, friend, or personal hero. Being in a close-knit family myself, I love the idea of including a nod to those that matter most when picking a name for my future child (sorry, Mom, not yet).

Honorific choices used to be fairly straightforward - a father Joseph might have a Joseph Jr, or a mother Nicole might have a son Nicholas - but these days, variety is in demand. Plus, if five cousins want to honor Grandma Mary with the fourth generation, there can be fighting within families (if you don't believe me, read more advice columns).

This blog post series is designed to spark conversations about honor names - do you think an honor name should be a straightforward Junior or III? What's more important, seeing a familiar name on paper or recreating it altogether? Does naming a child something that means the same thing as another name count? Your answers may vary!

I've divided the posts by generation - now that Baby Boomers fall closer to the "grandparent" category, they'll be included first. I've listed the top 20 names for each gender during the 1950's (the middle of the generation date range), along with two sets of names: other popular variants of the name, and name variants that aren't in the current US Top 1000.

Boys:

1. James - "supplanter" or "holder of the heel"
Current contenders: Jacob, Jake, Jamie, Diego, Jay
Below the charts: Giacomo, Akiva, Jago, Seamus, Jem

2. Michael - "who is like God"
Current contenders: Miguel, Mitchell, Micheal, Mikael
Below the charts: Misha, Mickey, Mika, Mitch, Mykolas

3. Robert - "bright fame"
Current contenders: Roberto, Bobby
Below the charts: Rupert, Robbie, Berto, Hopkin, Robin

4. John - "God is gracious"
Current contenders: Jack, Ian, Juan, Evan, Owen, Sean, Ivan, Giovanni, Shane
Below the charts: Jens, Yanick, Keoni, Giannino, Jovan

5. David - "beloved"
Current contenders: None other than David!
Below the charts: Daveth, Dewey

6. William - "resolute protection"
Current contenders: Liam, Billy, Will, Willie, Guillermo
Below the charts: Willem, Pim, Gwilym, Vilko, Illiam

7. Richard - "brave ruler"
Current contenders: Ricardo, Ricky
Below the charts: Rico, Dickon

8. Thomas - "twin"
Current contenders: Tomas, Tommy
Below the charts: Toma, Teoma

9. Mark - "warlike"
Current contenders: Marcus, Marc, Marcelo, Marco, Marcel
Below the charts: Marek, Mars

10. Charles - "free man"
Current contenders: Charlie, Carlos, Carl
Below the charts: Chaz, Karol, Kalle, Chip, Carlo

11. Steven and 20. Stephen - "garland" or "crown"
Current contenders: Esteban, Stefan
Below the charts: Stefanos, Etienne, Stevie

12. Gary - "spearman"
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Geary, Gearing, Gerrins

13. Joseph - "God increases"
Current contenders: Jose, Joey, Joe, Yosef, Yousef
Below the charts: Joss, Giuseppe, Ze

14. Donald - "proud chief"
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Domnall, Donnie, Donal

15. Ronald - "ruler's counselor"
Current contenders: Ronnie
Below the charts: Reginald, Reynaud, Reinhold, Reino

16. Kenneth - "handsome" or "born of fire"
Current contenders: Kenny
Below the charts: Kennet, Kenith

17. Paul - "small"
Current contenders: Pablo
Below the charts: Paolo, Pavel, Paulus, Pavo

18. Larry - "from Laurentum"
Current contenders: Lawrence, Lorenzo
Below the charts: Lars, Larkin, Lorencio, Laurent

19. Daniel - "God is my judge"
Current contenders: Danny
Below the charts: Dan, Danko

Girls:

1. Mary - "bitter"
Current contenders: Mia, Maria, Molly, Miriam, Malia
Below the charts: Meike, Mariska, Ria, Marietta, Moira

2. Linda - "beautiful"
Current contenders: None other than Linda!
Below the charts: Lindy, Linette, Lynna

3. Patricia - "nobleman"
Current contenders: None other than Patricia!
Below the charts: Patrice, Patrika, Pattie

4. Susan - "lily"
Current contenders: Lily
Below the charts: Susannah, Suzanne, Suzette, Sukie, Shoshana, Zuza

5. Deborah and 7. Debra - "bee"
Current contenders: None other than Deborah!
Below the charts: Devorah

6. Barbara - "foreign woman"
Current contenders: None other than Barbara!
Below the charts: Varvara, Varya, Basia, Bara

8. Karen and 15. Kathleen - "pure"
Current contenders: Katherine, Catherine, Kate, Katie, Katelyn, Catalina, Kaylee, Kailyn, Kaia
Below the charts: Katya, Kitty, Ekaterina, Kateri, Catriona

9. Nancy - "grace"
Current contenders: Anna, Hannah, Anika, Anya, Annie, Ana, Grace
Below the charts: Anouk, Anais, Ninon, Anita, Annetta

10. Donna - "lady"
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Donella

11. Cynthia - "woman from Kynthos"
Current contenders: None other than Cynthia!
Below the charts: Kynthia, Cinzia

12. Sandra - "defender of men"
Current contenders: Alexandra, Alexa, Alexia, Lexi, Alessandra, Sasha, Alexis, Alejandra
Below the charts: Sandrine, Zandra, Sanya, Aleka, Alexandrine

13. Pamela - invented in the 16th century, "all honey"
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Pamelia, Pamelina

14. Sharon - "plain, expanse"
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Sharona

16. Carol - "free man" (see Charles)
Current contenders: Charlotte, Charlie, Caroline, Carly
Below the charts: Lottie, Carola, Carlotta

17. Diane - "divine"
Current contenders: Diana, Dayana
Below the charts: Dinah

18. Brenda - "sword"
Current contenders: Brenna
Below the charts: Brenn

19. Cheryl - invented in the 20th century
Current contenders: None at all!
Below the charts: Cherie, Cherette

20. Janet - "God is gracious" (see John)
Current contenders: Jane, Joanna, Johanna, Gianna, Giovanna
Below the charts: Ivanna, Siobhan, Jovana, Jean, Joan

Here are some great articles about honor names from other writers:
Named after Grandma
The Namesakes Everyone is Hunting For
6 Great Reasons to Use Family Names
9 Creative Ways to Honor Loved Ones With Your Child’s Name
Family Names: Why They’re Most Important for Parentless Parents