Baby Names Losing Popularity in the 21st Century

What was popular or trendy 10, 50, or even 100 years ago often isn’t popular now, while other trends cycle back into popularity every few years or decades.

The names were then ranked in order of lowest percent change between the two datasets to uncover the baby names that are losing popularity in the 21st century.

2000-2019 average babies born per year: 20.4 – 1980-1999 average babies born per year: 266.1 – Percent change: -92.35% Dewayne, a variant of Duane, Dwayne, and Dwain, is an anglicized version of Dubhán, an Irish name from the word “dubh,” meaning dark or black.

Dewayne

2000-2019 average babies born per year: 62.5 – 1980-1999 average babies born per year: 1310.5 – Percent change: -95.23% A form of the male name Christopher, Christy hit peak popularity in 1975 and has been on the decline since.

Christy

Alton

– 2000-2019 average babies born per year: 14.4 – 1980-1999 average babies born per year: 188.4 – Percent change: -92.38% This decreasingly popular boy’s name stems from an Old English surname that literally translates to “town at the source of the river.”

– 2000-2019 average babies born per year: 14.8 – 1980-1999 average babies born per year: 312.3 – Percent change: -95.26% Adrian is a form of the name Hadrianus, which meant “from Hadria” in Latin. Adrian remains a relatively popular name for boys, but hasn’t cracked the top 1,000 since 2000.

Adrian

– 2000-2019 average babies born per year: 23.4 – 1980-1999 average babies born per year: 306.8 – Percent change: -92.39% Although they’re considered two separate names today, in the Medieval Ages Robin was considered a diminutive of the name Robert.

Robin

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