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W-Names: Where’s Waldo?
W-Names: Where’s Waldo?
Oct 6, 2024 10:41 PM

  Once upon a time, in the now distant past, popularity lists–particularly for boys–were teeming with names starting with the letter ‘W’.

  In 1920, for example, there were twenty-seven of them in the boys’ Top 500, including every conceivable appendage to the first syllable Wil. Aside from the eternal William, there were Willie, Willard, Wilbur, Willis, Wilbert, Wilfred, Wilson, Wilmer, Wilburn, Wilford, and Wilton, while for girls there were ten W‘s, topped by Willie at Number 74.

  By 1950, the  number of W-_boys had shrunk down to nineteen, but with many of the Wil_s hanging in, and in that year only five girls remained: Wanda, Wendy, Wilma, Winifred and the surprisingly persistent female Willie.  The 1980 Top 500 saw most of the fustier boys’ names having retired, leaving only seven stalwarts and just Wendy and newcomer Whitney among the girls. Currently, there are a mere five _W-_guys remaining in the Top 500—William, Wyatt, Wesley, Waylon and Warren, and one lone girl—Willow.  There are a few others in the bottom half of the list, including Wilson, Westin and Winston, and the rising Willa.

  But I’m sensing that the tide is about to turn, with a renewed interest in both the vintage _W-_names–many of which have that trendy Western feel– and some fresher options that are attracting attention.  From the starbaby perspective alone, we’ve seen Rainn Wilson’s Walter, Jenna Fisher’s Weston, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Willa, Billie Piper’s Winston and several Willows, to name a few.

  Here’s a rundown of the _W-_names I see on the frontier of this resurgence :

  REVIVABLE GIRLS

  Wallis

  Wanda

  Wilhelmina

  Willa

  Wilma

  Winifred

  Winnie

  NEWER GIRLS

  Waverly

  West

  Willow

  Winter

  Wren

  Wynn, Wynne

  REVIVABLE BOYS

  Wade

  Walden

  Waldo

  Walker

  Wallace

  Wally

  Walter

  Walton

  Ward

  Warner

  Warren

  Watson

  Waylon

  Webb

  Webster

  Wendell

  Wesley

  Weston

  Whit

  Wilkie

  Willem

  Willie

  Wilson

  Winslow

  Winston

  Woodrow

  NEWER BOYS

  West

  Wheeler

  Wilder

  Willoughby

  Wisdom

  Wolf

  Worthy

  Wyatt

  Wylie/Wiley

  Wynn

  Do you have any _W-_names on your list?

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