Vintage Boy Names
Names that reached the U.S. top 300 before 1960, from forgotten favorites to names back in style.
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ford by a cliff | 139#1,352 | Down 8 rank positions in five years | 1925 | ||
Counsel ruler through Ronald; bringing victory through Veronica | 204#1,067 | Steady | 1947 | ||
Lion | 2,583#138 | Up 58 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
Ruler of the world, through Donald | 89#1,795 | Down 73 rank positions in five years | 1946 | ||
Grey | 111#1,549 | Up 180 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Will and protection; also a rare shortening of Bilal | 18#5,234 | Down 1,577 rank positions in five years | 1947 | ||
Famous in battle, through Louis | 736#433 | Up 64 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Grey, through Lloyd | 63#2,237 | Down 206 rank positions in five years | 1926 | ||
Traditionally supplanter or heel-holder, through James | 38#3,158 | Down 207 rank positions in five years | 1959 | ||
Place of alder trees | 133#1,387 | Up 483 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Freeholder | 909#359 | Up 55 rank positions in five years | 1933 | ||
Twin through Thomas; innocence, simplicity, or the end in Hebrew | 65#2,206 | Up 139 rank positions in five years | 1959 | ||
Army man | 58#2,368 | Up 6 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
From Leicester; older river name plus camp | 103#1,641 | Down 108 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Noble and famous | 165#1,223 | Up 87 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
My God is Yahweh, through Elijah | 8,837#13 | Up 41 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Samuel, Samson, or Samantha short form; fire in Persian | 428#647 | Up 8 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Well born, through Eugene | 63#2,238 | Down 578 rank positions in five years | 1937 | ||
Possibly gracious or dear; historically associated with soldier | 6,072#44 | Up 15 rank positions in five years | 2024 | ||
Camp, fortress | 107#1,588 | Up 34 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Middle town or mill town | 125#1,440 | Down 162 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Blind; also used in honor of the Cecil family | 119#1,486 | Up 161 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Help | 8,126#20 | Up 24 rank positions in five years | 2024 | ||
French form of Claudius, possibly linked with Latin “lame” | 40#3,043 | Down 276 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Honoring God, through Timothy; also a form of Dietmar | 37#3,229 | Up 251 rank positions in five years | 1960 | ||
Will or desire, combined with brave or firm | 47#2,759 | Up 44 rank positions in five years | 1915 | ||
Exalted or venerable | 3,958#81 | Up 74 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
People and army | 122#1,464 | Up 45 rank positions in five years | 1922 | ||
Hostage or pledge | 21#4,768 | Down 1,162 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Fuller; one who treads wool | 4,204#78 | Up 128 rank positions in five years | 2022 | ||
Will or desire | 170#1,195 | Down 254 rank positions in five years | 1888 | ||
Row of houses by a wood | 102#1,653 | Up 62 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Possibly related to Dewi and David; surname origins vary | 28#3,869 | Down 278 rank positions in five years | 1898 | ||
Bright | 6#10,862 | Down 2,704 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Grove of trees | 24#4,297 | Up 616 rank positions in five years | 1884 | ||
Short form of Edward, Edmund, Edwin, or Edgar | —Unranked | — | 1959 | ||
In the Charles family; probably man | 87#1,827 | Down 26 rank positions in five years | 1920 |
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Sources & methodology
Meaning summaries use Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and referenced name histories. Each name’s detail page includes its sources.
Vintage membership uses historical U.S. rankings. This selection includes names now outside the top 1,000, names that have climbed back into the top 300, and names quietly in use between those groups. Rankings and counts come from official SSA birth records. “—” means fewer than five published applications for that sex and year.