Some years ago, we bought a baby name pamphlet that was published in 1938. We thought it might be interesting to see which names were included in such a listing then that have since fallen out of favor.
The first one that caught our eye was:
Bozo (Christmas child, Slavic)
Hoo-boy, and we thought our parents had done us wrong by sticking us with Stanley (our first name, and we don’t use it).
The prospective parents who originally owned this booklet had the following names checked in pencil, signifying, no doubt, that these were the names they were most seriously considering for their pending bundle of joy:
Boy: Blair, Court, Denis/Dennis/Denys, Derrick (this was checked and circled), Dirk, Fabian (!), Gail/Gale, Jock, Kim, Krispin, Michael, Peter, Robert/Robin (Robin was circled here), Shawn, Terence/Terrence/Terry
Girl: Claudia, Denise, Diana/Diane (Diane was circled), Fern, Haldis, Jill, Kirstie, Melinda, Pamela, Penelope, Sandra, Thais, Tina, Trine
Trine? Thais?
Haldis??
Were those common names of the time, or were the then-prospective parents who owned this pamphlet going out of their way to select an unusual name?
We’ve scanned and posted the entire pamphlet, with the check marks still visible, for you to peruse, gentle readers. It’s your chance to experience new parenthood, as it was 72 years ago.
