Old Fashioned Name Generator

Vintage, old-timey names from the 1850s to 1940s

Real-World Names & CulturesPart of: real-world name generators500 names

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Generate old fashioned full names that sound like they came off a 1910 census page: Walter Pemberton, Mabel Crabtree, Clarence Whitaker. Victorian, Edwardian, and early-20th-century first names paired with period-appropriate English, Scottish, Irish, and German-American surnames.

About old fashioned names

Old fashioned names are the ones that peaked in the English-speaking world between roughly 1850 and 1940 and then fell out of use: Walter, Clarence, Ernest, Elmer, and Horace for men; Mabel, Ethel, Gertrude, Myrtle, and Beulah for women. Many were virtue or Biblical names carried over from the Puritan and Victorian eras (Prudence, Ezra, Obadiah), others were Germanic revivals popular with the Victorians (Bertha, Wilhelmina, Rudolph), and a large group were diminutives used as given names, like Hattie, Lottie, Effie, Minnie, and Nellie. The surnames that go with them are mostly English, Scottish, and Irish, with the occasional German-American name, and they tend to be longer and more specific than modern ones: Hollingsworth, Abernathy, Satterfield, Pettigrew.

The effect depends on the pairing. A short dated first name with a long surname (Otis Lancaster, Ida Merriweather) sounds like a shopkeeper or schoolteacher from a small town; a grand Biblical first name with a plain surname (Jedediah Crowley, Hepzibah Wilmot) feels older and more rural. Some names, such as Hazel, Violet, Theodore, and Arthur, have come back into fashion, while others like Elmer and Gertrude still sound firmly old-timey.

These 500 full names match what you would find in census records, church registers, and old newspapers, useful for historical fiction, period games, and anyone hunting for a vintage baby name.

How to choose old fashioned names

  • Match the name to the decade: Prudence, Obadiah, and Hepzibah read as 1850s or earlier, while Mildred, Elmer, and Gladys are firmly 1900 to 1930; check the US Social Security name lists by birth year if accuracy matters.
  • Use the nickname forms (Hattie, Lottie, Effie, Ned, Clem) for warm or working-class characters and the full forms (Harriet, Charlotte, Euphemia, Edmund, Clement) for formal or upper-class ones.
  • For a vintage baby name that still works today, pick from the names that have already started to return, such as Hazel, Violet, Theodore, Arthur, Cora, and Silas, rather than ones that still read as elderly.
  • Pair short first names with long surnames or the reverse (Ezra Brewster, Wilhelmina Tanner); two long names together can feel like a parody rather than a person.
  • Search the full name before using it in published fiction; some old-fashioned combinations belong to real historical figures or to living people with an unusual name.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as an old fashioned name?

Usually a name that was common in the English-speaking world from the mid-1800s to around 1940 and is rare among people born after 1960. Walter, Clarence, Mabel, Ethel, and Gertrude are classic examples; many Victorian Biblical, virtue, and Germanic names also qualify.

Are these names from real people?

The first names and surnames are genuine period names, but the full combinations here are assembled for this generator, not copied from any real or living individual. If you publish a name, a quick search is still a sensible check.

Which old fashioned names are coming back in style?

Hazel, Violet, Iris, Cora, Adelaide, and Eleanor for girls and Theodore, Arthur, Silas, Felix, Jasper, and Ezra for boys have all climbed the charts again. Names like Elmer, Gertrude, Beulah, and Myrtle remain firmly vintage and are mostly used for characters.

Can I use these names for historical fiction or a period game?

Yes, that is what they are designed for. The pairings follow what you would find in 1850s to 1940s census records and newspapers, so they fit Victorian, Edwardian, frontier, and interwar settings in the US, Britain, and Canada.

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All 500 old fashioned names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 43 names

  • Abner Twitchell
  • Abraham Fothergay
  • Absalom Grice
  • Ada Crenshaw
  • Ada Penhallow
  • Addison Pike
  • Adelaide Forsythe
  • Adelaide Throsby
  • Adeline Fulbright
  • Agatha Fell
  • Agatha Pruitt
  • Agnes Wadsworth
  • Albert Pinchback
  • Alberta Crump
  • Alberta Moody
  • Aldous Quincey
  • Alfred Thornbury
  • Alma Partridge
  • Alma Shackleford
  • Alonzo Fairweather
  • Aloysius Finch
  • Alphonse Brandt
  • Alvah Pettibone
  • Alvin Tillman
  • Ambrose Fennimore
  • Ambrose Kendrick
  • Ambrose Sillitoe
  • Amelia Grimwood
  • Amos Fairbrass
  • Amos Whitfield
  • Annabelle Hoyt
  • Ansel Greer
  • Antonia Brightwell
  • Araminta Crewe
  • Araminta Pogue
  • Archibald Greenleaf
  • Arnold Wickersham
  • Arthur Hammersley
  • Augusta Doolittle
  • Augustine Crocker
  • Augustus Farleigh
  • Augustus Hawthorne
  • Aurelia Blount

B: 27 names

  • Barnaby Cobb
  • Barnaby Ruddock
  • Bartholomew Cripps
  • Bartholomew Shelby
  • Bartlett Sayre
  • Basil Rennick
  • Bathsheba Royle
  • Beatrice Oxley
  • Beatrix Lampard
  • Benedict Cromwell
  • Benjamin Tallis
  • Bennett Oakhurst
  • Berenice Pollard
  • Bernadette Hollis
  • Bernice Calloway
  • Bertha Pickering
  • Bertram Haskell
  • Bertram Lisle
  • Beryl Holloway
  • Bessie Talmadge
  • Bessie Vickers
  • Betsy Kettleworth
  • Bettina Lodge
  • Beulah Hargrove
  • Birdie Hollings
  • Blanche Ackerman
  • Blanche Kinsley

C: 38 names

  • Calpurnia Wade
  • Calvin Rathbone
  • Caspar Rudd
  • Cecil Hopkins
  • Cecily Marchbanks
  • Celia Bramwell
  • Chauncey Dodd
  • Chester Dunbar
  • Chester Ridgeway
  • Clarence Oddie
  • Clarence Whitaker
  • Clarice Mumby
  • Clarissa Nunn
  • Claude Birdwell
  • Claude Ravelle
  • Clem Bratton
  • Clement Ashby
  • Clementine Hadley
  • Clementine Hough
  • Cletus Embry
  • Clifford Stanhope
  • Clifton Pyle
  • Clyde Bellweather
  • Clyde Eastwood
  • Columbus Dowd
  • Conrad Wheelock
  • Constance Hale
  • Conway Pettingill
  • Cora Bellamy
  • Cordelia Sayers
  • Cordelia Spratt
  • Corinna Blaxland
  • Cornelia Twombly
  • Cornelius Fairbanks
  • Cuthbert Rawley
  • Cyril Wainwright
  • Cyrus Langley
  • Cyrus Pemberly

D: 18 names

  • Daisy Ravensworth
  • Darius Wilberforce
  • Delbert Crouch
  • Della Woodruff
  • Delphine Amory
  • Denholm Plaskett
  • Desmond Keating
  • Dewey Lattimer
  • Dinah Crossland
  • Dolly Winchcombe
  • Dora Tewkes
  • Dorcas Appleby
  • Dorothea Sinclair
  • Dorothea Voss
  • Dorothy Kemble
  • Dorsey Halstead
  • Drusilla Peach
  • Dulcie Pratt

E: 57 names

  • Earl Tewksbury
  • Ebenezer Fletcher
  • Edgar Sackville
  • Edith Hollingsworth
  • Edmund Harrowgate
  • Edna Purcell
  • Edna Sprague
  • Edwina Colfax
  • Edwina Sparrow
  • Effie Nightingale
  • Effie Whitstable
  • Egbert Swales
  • Elbert Duckworth
  • Eldon Wilcox
  • Elias Dunmore
  • Elias Kettering
  • Elinor Fludd
  • Eliza Crabbe
  • Ellis Pomfret
  • Ellsworth Gant
  • Elmer Satterfield
  • Elmer Scoggins
  • Eloise Wimberly
  • Elsie Pinkerton
  • Elspeth Gaskell
  • Elvira Hinch
  • Emmeline Grayson
  • Emmett Saltonstall
  • Emmett Scholes
  • Emory Deverill
  • Enid Fothergill
  • Enoch Wakefield
  • Enos Harrowby
  • Ephraim Loomis
  • Ermintrude Clack
  • Ernest Babcock
  • Ernest Whitworth
  • Ernestine Gallagher
  • Esmeralda Quin
  • Estelle Rutherford
  • Esther Glover
  • Ethel Danforth
  • Ethel Musgrave
  • Etta Mawson
  • Eudora Tibbs
  • Eudora Yates
  • Eugene Farrow
  • Eunice Farnsworth
  • Euphemia Lark
  • Evangeline Stott
  • Evelyn Mortlake
  • Everard Pilkington
  • Everett Ashdown
  • Everett Mallory
  • Ewart Nash
  • Ezekiel Mudge
  • Ezra Brewster

F: 17 names

  • Felix Halloran
  • Ferdinand Sanderson
  • Fern Lumsden
  • Ferris Wick
  • Fitzgerald Noyes
  • Flora Pennyfeather
  • Flora Wentworth
  • Florence Kimball
  • Florian Dace
  • Florrie Dunthorne
  • Flossie Ridpath
  • Floyd Ellsworth
  • Floyd Henshaw
  • Frances Mowbray
  • Frances Talbot
  • Franklin Oakes
  • Frederick Mosby

G: 17 names

  • Gaylord Brisbane
  • Genevieve Roundtree
  • Georgia Lindley
  • Georgia Varley
  • Georgiana Tupper
  • Geraldine Lovelace
  • Gertie Pollock
  • Gertrude Lockwood
  • Gideon Leavitt
  • Gideon Ransome
  • Gilbert Fosdick
  • Gladys Aldridge
  • Godfrey Parrish
  • Goldie Cavell
  • Granville Purdy
  • Grover Ingram
  • Gwendolyn Mather

H: 36 names

  • Hamilton Frick
  • Hannah Rutledge
  • Harlan Cobbett
  • Harold Ogilvie
  • Harriet Blackwood
  • Harriet Fordyce
  • Harriet Spode
  • Harriet Tallmadge
  • Harvey Pemble
  • Hattie Mayfield
  • Hattie Mosscrop
  • Hazel Runyon
  • Henrietta Doyle
  • Henrietta Quimby
  • Hepzibah Wilmot
  • Herbert Plunkett
  • Herman Grimshaw
  • Hester Colby
  • Hester Fairlie
  • Hilda Crane
  • Hiram Dunning
  • Hiram Pettigrew
  • Hollis Gantry
  • Hollis Ravenscroft
  • Homer Vanbrugh
  • Homer Witherspoon
  • Honora Blaylock
  • Horace Abernathy
  • Horace Bonfield
  • Horatio Bledsoe
  • Hortense Livingston
  • Hortense Lydiard
  • Howard Duffy
  • Hubert Macready
  • Hugh Pomeroy
  • Humphrey Dearborn

I: 17 names

  • Ida Merriweather
  • Ignatius Boothroyd
  • Ignatius Rowe
  • Imogen Radley
  • Inez Jennings
  • Ione Farraday
  • Ira Beauchamp
  • Ira Bigelow
  • Irene Bagley
  • Irene Spottiswoode
  • Irma Sheppard
  • Irving Beasley
  • Irwin Penrose
  • Isadora Lumley
  • Isobel Cawthorne
  • Ivy Castellan
  • Ivy Pendergast

J: 13 names

  • Jasper Winthrop
  • Jedediah Crowley
  • Jefferson Goodbody
  • Jeremiah Foote
  • Jerome Havelock
  • Jessamine Tilly
  • Jonas Pettifer
  • Josephine Bickford
  • Josephine Wragg
  • Josiah Thatcher
  • Josie Cadwallader
  • Judith Ambrose
  • Julius Haverstock

K: 1 name

  • Kezia Marple

L: 41 names

  • Lavender Poole
  • Lavinia Cresswell
  • Lavinia Sedgwick
  • Leander Coyle
  • Leland Chamberlain
  • Lemuel Bradstreet
  • Lemuel Carmichael
  • Lenora Battersby
  • Leona Chilcott
  • Leonard Shipley
  • Leonora Baskerville
  • Leopold Vance
  • Leroy Tibbetts
  • Lester Bascomb
  • Letitia Middleton
  • Lettice Harcourt
  • Lettie Fairbrother
  • Lillian Pickard
  • Linus Crossley
  • Linwood Carver
  • Lionel Hastings
  • Lloyd Kitteridge
  • Lorenzo Habersham
  • Loretta Higgins
  • Loretta Pinfold
  • Lorraine Copeland
  • Lottie Underwood
  • Louisa Bettencourt
  • Lowell Pennington
  • Lowell Stroud
  • Lowry Benbow
  • Lucas Bramley
  • Lucian Greaves
  • Lucinda Cotton
  • Lucius Brannigan
  • Lucius Fenton
  • Lucy Hardcastle
  • Lula Braddock
  • Luther Mumford
  • Lydia Strickland
  • Lyle Kittredge

M: 39 names

  • Mabel Crabtree
  • Madeline Crewe
  • Mae Whitlow
  • Maeve Thistlewood
  • Marcus Thorold
  • Margery Bowes
  • Marguerite Sayer
  • Marian Stebbins
  • Marianne Pruett
  • Marjorie Fitzgerald
  • Martha Endicott
  • Matilda Ramsey
  • Matilda Sherbourne
  • Mattie Ashford
  • Maude Sutherland
  • Maurice Cartwright
  • Mavis Bartlett
  • Maybelle Strang
  • Maynard Cosgrove
  • Melvin Coddington
  • Mercy Tolliver
  • Merle Haverford
  • Merritt Landon
  • Mildred Askew
  • Mildred Pruett
  • Millicent Oakley
  • Millie Throckmorton
  • Milton Goodwin
  • Minerva Lusk
  • Minnie Harrington
  • Minnie Holyoake
  • Miriam Ludlow
  • Montgomery Harte
  • Morris Lathrop
  • Mortimer Slocum
  • Mortimer Sneed
  • Muriel Lovejoy
  • Myra Colquhoun
  • Myrtle Winslow

N: 9 names

  • Nathaniel Coolidge
  • Nellie Fenwick
  • Nellie Threlkeld
  • Nelson Whitlock
  • Newell Bancroft
  • Newton Garside
  • Nora Hemingway
  • Norbert Quail
  • Norman Peabody

O: 16 names

  • Obadiah Hatfield
  • Octavia Briggs
  • Octavia Rudge
  • Odette Marchant
  • Olive Beckwith
  • Oliver Wrathall
  • Opal Bradshaw
  • Opal Tinsley
  • Ophelia Ransom
  • Orlando Spurgeon
  • Orson Cleghorn
  • Orville Buckley
  • Osgood Treadwell
  • Oswald Tremaine
  • Otis Lancaster
  • Ottilie Marsh

P: 13 names

  • Pansy Hawkes
  • Pearl Ashworth
  • Pearl Boswell
  • Percival Radcliffe
  • Percy Blakely
  • Philippa Dace
  • Philippa Dobbs
  • Phineas Trotter
  • Phoebe Trumbull
  • Phyllis Barlow
  • Priscilla Moxon
  • Priscilla Tuck
  • Prudence Whitcomb

R: 23 names

  • Raleigh Dunstan
  • Ransom Whitley
  • Reginald Thackeray
  • Reuben Latimer
  • Reuben Tuttle
  • Rhoda Mainwaring
  • Roderick Mabey
  • Roland Kirkpatrick
  • Rollo Blanchard
  • Rosalie Stubbs
  • Rosalind Pettibone
  • Rosamund Gilchrist
  • Roscoe Dalrymple
  • Rosetta Pym
  • Royce Tennant
  • Ruby Eldridge
  • Ruby Sledge
  • Rudolph Garrison
  • Rufus Pendleton
  • Rufus Tollemache
  • Rupert Sterling
  • Ruth Cavanaugh
  • Rutherford Kell

S: 20 names

  • Sadie Holcomb
  • Sally Vickery
  • Samuel Windle
  • Sebastian Hargett
  • Selma Henderson
  • Seth Marlow
  • Sherman Twining
  • Sidney Bramble
  • Silas Hawthorn
  • Silas Newcomb
  • Solomon Pike
  • Sophronia Dell
  • Stanford Hibbert
  • Stanley Dudley
  • Stanley Pursglove
  • Stuart Lofthouse
  • Susannah Cotterill
  • Sybil Ashcroft
  • Sybil Kerridge
  • Sylvester Bainbridge

T: 16 names

  • Tabitha Hargreaves
  • Temperance Rook
  • Thaddeus Culpepper
  • Thaddeus Whitmarsh
  • Thelma Burroughs
  • Theodora Delaney
  • Theodore Vane
  • Theodosia Clegg
  • Thomasina Reeve
  • Thora Maplin
  • Thurman Applegate
  • Tillie Dawes
  • Tilly Wardell
  • Tobias Ketch
  • Tobias Wrenfield
  • Truman Blythe

U: 3 names

  • Ulric Blackstone
  • Ulysses Chandler
  • Ursula Penhaligon

V: 13 names

  • Velma Dillingham
  • Vera Lightfoot
  • Verity Cobham
  • Verna Baldwin
  • Vernon Bickerstaff
  • Vernon Haggerty
  • Victor Standish
  • Vincent Goodall
  • Viola Montague
  • Viola Starkweather
  • Virgil Crandall
  • Virginia Ellery
  • Vivian Grosvenor

W: 20 names

  • Walden Pratchett
  • Wallace Thorne
  • Wallis Greatorex
  • Walter Pemberton
  • Warren Tillotson
  • Wendell Orme
  • Wendell Prescott
  • Wilbur Hatch
  • Wilbur Ogden
  • Wilfred Tubbs
  • Wilhelmina Tanner
  • Willa Goodridge
  • Willard Tuckerman
  • Willis Kingsley
  • Wilma Rhodes
  • Winifred Crouch
  • Winifred Stoddard
  • Winnie Calhoun
  • Winona Fisk
  • Wyatt Bramhall

Z: 3 names

  • Zachariah Fenn
  • Zebulon Huxley
  • Zelda Fairchild