The Top 10 extinct girls’ names

Names that have dropped out of the official records since the turn of the century

Glenys and Neil Kinnock; Glenys is on the list (Shutterstock / David Fowler)

This all started when I came across the work of Algernon Newton, who painted wonderful pictures of London houses and English landscapes. Even by 1943, when Enid Blyton published the first of the Five Find-Outers books, the name Algernon had become a comic archaism (as in Frederick Algernon Trotteville).

Anyway, this set me off on a voyage of discovery, and I ended up with two top 10s, of extinct girls’ and boys’ names. The boys’ list will come next week.

I used the Office for National Statistics dataset of babies’ first names in England and Wales, 1996-2020, and the Scottish records for 2020 and 2021. The ONS dataset has a peculiar feature, which is that it omits names that are recorded only once or twice in a year, on grounds of confidentiality – the lowest score for any name is three. Therefore, I have defined as extinct any name that doesn’t appear in the dataset since 2000, or in the recent Scottish records.

1. Chastity. Nominated by Allan Holloway, John Oxley and Andrew Paterson.

2. Deirdre. To the surprise of many current Deirdres, the name was last recorded in 1999, when there were three. Nominated by Steven Fogel.

3. Ermintrude. Nominated by Alex Burghart and the Marquis of Madeley. Marcus Leaning said he worked with one in the 1980s, known as Ermin.

4. Evadne. Nominated by Pernille Rudlin, whose own name also scores zero.

5. Glenys. As in Kinnock. Thanks to Molly Pinner, who nominated Glynis, also extinct.

6. Hortense. French, but once posh British. Thanks to Harvey.

7. Lilias. Scott’s grandmother.

8. Margery. Variant of Margaret; there were three Marjories in 2020, but this spelling, which used to be common, is now extinct. Thanks to Ian Stevens.

9. Mervyn. Mervyn Pike was a female Conservative MP, 1956-74, who featured in my Top 10 Unisex Names of MPs (thanks to Oliver Kamm for reminding me). As a boy’s name, Mervyn is rare but not quite extinct (there were four in 2017).

10. Senga. Agnes backwards used to be popular in Scotland. No more. Thanks to Robert Wright.

Also extinct, although never well known: Alwynne (Jonn Elledge’s grandmother); Blodwyn (thanks to Helen Barrett); and Corbyn: “A popular girl’s name in the early Victorian period but fell out of favour,” said Allan Holloway (it is still a rare boy’s first name – there were four in 2020).

Boys’ names adapted for girls by adding “–ina”, which used to happen more in Scotland, are mostly extinct: Donaldina, Hughina, Jamesina (Jamesina Anderson was a Glasgow city councillor 1945 to 1962: thanks to James Dawson), Murdina, Neilina (thanks Margaret Caldwell) and Williamina (Barry Havenhand’s mother). Thomasina survives: there were four in England and Wales in 2019, but none in Scotland 2020-21. “I knew of an Arthurina Arthurson, in Shetland, which seems a tough start in life,” said David Alston.

Endangered: Ambrosia, last recorded in 2012; Bertha (nominated by Fran Pickering) 2017; Dorcas 2018; Doreen 2019; Elfrida (my grandmother) 2017; Gertrude 2013; Honoria (from Benjamin Lewis) 2016; Maureen (from Scope Davies) 2019; Muriel 2010; Myrtle 2018; Nigella 2015; Olwyn (from Andrew Freer) 2018; Phyllis (from Chris Jones and Mollscroll) 2018; and Unity (from Siobhan O’Neil) 2011.

Not quite extinct (these are the numbers recorded in 2020): Alexandrina 3; Araminta 10; Ariadne 22; Beryl 3; Brenda 9; Carmel (Svenja O’Donnell’s great aunt) 5; Charity 4; Denise 4; Doris 9; Edna 8; Enid (as in Blyton, enjoying a bit of an antique revival) 41; Ethel 17; Euphemia 8; Gladys 3; Hilda 9; Joyce (Indolent Knave’s grandmother) 13; Karen 16 (declined from 76 in 1996); Marigold 9; Marjorie 3; Maud 7; Maude 5; Mavis 22; Mildred 6; Noreen 6; Norma 5; Patience 7; Philomena 14; Portia 4; Prudence 14; Queenie 11; Shirley (asked after by Shirley Madin) 8; Thora 10; and Wilhelmina 11.

Not extinct at all: Alma: there were 153 in 2020; Audrey 143; Blossom 130; Evangeline (nominated by Graham Fildes, citing “Evangeline – A Tale of Arcadie”, by Henry Longfellow) 113; Myra 75; and Winifred 83.

Honourable mention (again) for Henry Peacock, who told me about the remarkable names given to people in honour of battles, mostly in the First World War, in which a relative died. These were mostly girls’ names, such as Sommeria, Arrasina, Verdunia, Monsalene and Dardanella, although Verdun was a surprisingly common boy’s name. More than 1,600 children were given names related to the Great War.

Thanks to Alan Benzie for pointing me towards the Scottish records, and to Adam Behr, who found this US names aggregator, which uses information from the Social Security Administration.

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Next week: Extinct boys’ names.

Coming soon: People who broke the thing they were in charge of for the greater good, starting with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk