What was THE popular boy and girl name when you were growing up?

[TNDemo]

I don't mean what the statistics show as the most popular in a certain year, I mean from your own personal experience. For me it was Debbie for a girl and for a boy it would be a tie between Steve, Mike or John.

[AlCzervik]

1. in the town i grew up in it was Vinnie and Angie.

[maveric]

19. Italiano neighborhood?

I lived on the line that seperated the Italian section from the Irish section.
One side had Vinnie, Tony, Dominic. The other side had Kevin, Francis, and Thomas.

[AlCzervik]

28. the majority of the city was Italian with a few irish thrown in for

good measure.

[ronnykmarshall]

2. My brother's name Michael

I know so many guys named Michael. I even married one.

My name isn't uncommon, but I've haven't met that many "Ronnie/Ronny's".

I was almost named David and Mark. But my mom wanted to name me after my uncle.

[SmokingJacket]

3. In college everyone was David or Jen.

When I was younger it was Mike, Steve, Tracy, Michelle, and Jennifer.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Barbara

There were always at least 3 Barbaras in my grade school classes, and one time there was 5! Hard to know who you were talking to, because for some odd reason, none went by nicknames. Don't remember having more than two boys with the same name in any of my classes.

[Aristus]

5. When I was growing up, it was Doug and Deanna.

mid-eighties.

[Maddy McCall]

6. I live in Mississippi. Doesn't matter what the real name is.

There are tons of people here called Bo, Bubba, Jr., Trey, etc.

Lots of girls nicknamed Sissy, too.

When I was a kid, there were many Michaels and lots of Amys.

[HEyHEY]

7. Chris / Jennifer

[Kali]

8. Rick and Cheryl or Debbie

[MN ChimpH8R]

9. There were a lot of Mikes, Steves and Marks among the guys

and a lot of Cathy/Kathys and Laurie/Loris to be found among the girls.

I think I was in the last generation where there was always a Mary or two in each class.

[Benhurst]

10. Vlad and Elisabetta; but then

I'm a 500-year-old Romanian from Transylvania.

:evilgrin:

[XanaDUer]

11. "Scott".

NOt sure of girls' names.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

12. Guys - John or Josh, Girls - Jenny

Seriously, if I have a memory that's a little fuzzy, the girls' name in relating the memory to somebody else always turns out being Jenny.

[Rising Phoenix]

13. Jen and Mike

[mia]

14. Mary - in first grade all the girls seemed to have Mary in their names

Maryann, Marybeth, Mary Catherine, etc....

Catholic school in the 50's - I remember asking my mother why I wasn't named Mary too.

[Lady President]

15. Boys-- Chris, Sean Girls-- Jennifer, Melissa

[SW FL Dem]

16. I always had several Susans in my classes

For boys it was Michael or David. Susan has pretty much disappeared but Michael and David are still in the top 20.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Linda (my name), when I was a young girl...

There were always two others Lindas in all of my classes.

[Tallison]

42. I love

the name Linda, ever since hearing the Paul McCartney song. Two of my ex-BF's moms were named Linda; would have definitely named a daughter that. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

45. Awww, thank you. n/t

[FuzzySlippers]

18. Ramses for boys. Nefertiti for girls.

[XanaDUer]

33. LOL!

:rofl:

[rasputin1952]

20. Rasputin...

:D....:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. The boys were mostly Bill or Steve, and the girls were mostly Carol or

Linda.

My own real name was in the top fifteen during the 1950s.

[libnnc]

22. in western North Carolina

in the 70s there were truck loads of Mistys and Dawns (even Misty-Dawns) my mom and I used to joke about the "foggy morning" girl names

for the guys I guess the popular names were Dale, Travis, and Dwayne

oh and how could I forget THE most popular -- Daryl

[Blue_In_AK]

29. That's funny, I almost named my daughter Misty Dawn

but ended up with Heather Mist instead (year 1972). She's still a "foggy morning" girl, though. It's foggy in the morning a lot in California -- I was a hippie, she was born at 6:00 a.m. I had no choice.

[Zuni]

23. There were a lot of Bryan/Ryans for guys---Jen/Kristen for girls

this is in Maryland 1980s

[LibDemAlways]

24. You can pretty much tell how old a person is

by the names that were popular when they were born:

My parent's generation: Betty, Shirley (after Shirley Temple),Lucille, Virginia, Dorothy, Ronald, Ed, Robert, Richard

My generation: Nancy, Debbie, Cindy, Cathy, Mike, Steve, Chris, Jim, Mark

My daughter's generation: Madison, Ashley, Caitlin, Sarah, Josh, Jacob, Zak. With names like "Sierra" and "Dakota" in vogue, seems like people are in a "my kid's name is trendier than yours" pissing contest.

[SmokingJacket]

26. Trendy = Will one day be dated.

I say, stick with classics or the truly odd: John or Balthazar, or Catherine or Aquamarine.

[Arugula Latte]

30. I've noticed a class-based trend.

It seems like a lot of upper-middle class to upper class people are going with classic, simple names such as Sam, Jack, Tom, Charles, Will or Anna, Alice, Jane and the like.

The less affluent often pick trendy names like MacKenzie, Kaylie, Tanner, Dakota, etc., etc.

Of course, there are loads of exceptions on either side.

[fricasseed_gourmet_rat]

44. Yup. That's very true.

I went to an all-girls' private high school that was full of names like Anne, Sarah, Elizabeth, and (my name) Caroline. Girls named Stacy and Heather were few and far between.

[Not_Giving_Up]

25. Heather and Stacey/Staci/Stacy/Stacie for girls

Jason and Michael for boys.

[Arugula Latte]

27. Jenny. Also lots of Kathys. For boys, lots of Steves.

I wound up marrying a Steve.

[deadparrot]

31. Girl: Katie in whatever form (Catherine, Kathleen, etc.) and Laura/Lauren.

For a boy...John and Daniel.

[barackmyworld]

32. we must be similar ages (I'm 20)

also Christina was big.

[deadparrot]

34. I'm 18...

Yup, there were a couple Christinas (in various forms) throughout grade school. :)

[skygazer]

35. We must be around the same age

Because that's exactly what I was going to say as soon as I saw the subject line of your post. Debbie for a girl definitely - every other girl was named Debbie (or Debi or Debby or Debbi) and I would have said Steve or Mike for guys but yeah - John was in there too.

[TNDemo]

43. I have a friend who was named Debbie and

was in a dorm with only one phone per floor. There were 32 girls on the floor and 18 of them were named Debbie. Of course they got calls for "Debbie" from people who didn't know the last name.

I am getting too close to 50 for comfort. Eek! See if these names populated your classes too:

Brenda
Janet
Linda
Cathy
Becky
Vickie
Teresa
Karen

Greg
Mark
David
Alan
Paul
Dennis
Tommy

[swag]

36. Boy: Chris. Girl: Julie.

[Fleshdancer]

37. Courtney and Taylor n/t

[swag]

38. That explains a lot, namely this:

[BamaGirl]

39. Mine

which is Lori. There were five Lori's in my algebra class. :eyes: It was ridiculous. There were also several Amy's. Hmmm, boys...I knew a lot of Brian's and Steve's. Still seem to know way too many Brian's lol.

[yellowdogintexas]

40. Linda, Ann , or Mary Something

Mary Ann (several of those)
Mary Lee
Mary Margaret
Mary Elizabeth
Mary Frances
Mary Florence
Mary Jane
Mary Sue
Mary Catherine
Mary Louise (several of those)
Mary Carol
Mary Eleanor

there were seven Lindas in my grade in school, and it wasn't that big a school. There were a bunch more Lindas in other grades too.

Several named Ann or Anne also.

In the South, girls get called by both their names quite often anyway.

Lots of Roberts and Bobby
James
John
Steve
Bill

and the old time guy names, like Elmer, Earl, Lloyd,Floyd,Glenn,
Frank,

no Scotts, Justins, Benjamins, Christophers, and not too many biblical names.

[Left Is Write]

41. Probably Debbie and Mike.

I always knew lots of Debbies and Mikes.