Old favorites are disappearing, and a sound may be the culprit

If you met a woman named Courtney, you wouldn’t blink an eye. If you met a baby named Courtney, though, you would be astonished. At least you should be, because the baby name Courtney is nearly extinct.

Courtney is just one of the familiar names teetering on the brink of oblivion. I’ve identified over a dozen once-popular names that still sound “normal” but have become scarce. Each has lost at least ¾ of its popularity since the turn of the millennium, was given to fewer than 100 babies last year, and is still trending down.

The Honor Roll of Disappearing Names:

GIRLS
 Courtney (99 born last year)
 Pamela (88)
 Toni (87)
 Dominique (70)
 Carrie (53)
 Kirsten (51)
 Tanya (45)
 Justine (44)
 Candice (28)

BOYS
 Craig (88)
 Dwight (53)
 Kirk (52)
 Stuart (37)

Here’s the visual history of those names, courtesy of the NameGrapher:

The common theme that leaps out from the list is the dominance of the hard-stop consonant sounds: B, D, G, K, P, T. 11 of the 13 names start with those sounds, and all of the boys’ names end with them. In contrast, NONE of the current top 10 names for boys or girls start with hard sounds, and only Charlotte ends with one.

On the flip side, many past hits with smooth sounds are hanging on surprisingly strong. For instance, of the top 10 girls’ names of the ‘90s, the one that has remained most popular is the smoothest-sounding, Emily. (The one that has fallen the farthest is the hardest-sounding, Brittany.) Even my own 1960s-era smooth name, Laura, still ranks in the top 400 for baby girls. Nothing can totally hold back time or fashion, but for now a soft sound can at least help a name find a soft landing.