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Are you pregnant or planning to be soon and the question of first name is already bothering you? Here is a rule that will allow you to choose a fashionable first name with certainty (or almost).
Pregnant or planning to be, you are already thinking about the name you will give to your future baby. But how can you be sure not to make a mistake and give your child a name that will be fashionable? There is a rule that you may not know about.
The rule of 100, a rule to ensure a fashionable first name
This rule is delivered by a first name expert, Sophie Kihm. According to her, it is a rule linked to dates, ultimately quite simple. “It takes on average a century for a first name to experience its full cycle of popularity. So once a first name is in decline, we expect it to follow the 100 year rule.”. In summary, according to the expert, “first names take around 100 years to come back into fashion“.
Search for the perfect first name among those given a hundred years ago!
If we follow Sophie Kihm’s logic, these are first names worn by people who lived a hundred years ago that would be fashionable. Or in the 1920s and 1930s! To help you, you can consult archives, whether newspapers from the time or question those around you. These first names were also listed in the Official First Names 2024.
Louis, a popular first name for little boys
For little girls, the top 3 lists the first names Marie, Jeanne and Jacqueline. As for the boys, we find Jean, André or Pierre on the first steps of the podium. If for girls, none of the first names is currently ranked among those most given, the rule seems to work for boys with the first name Louis, very common in the 1920s and which finds itself in sixth position in the top first names which will be given next year.
Slide: Top first names 2024: what are the trends among future parents?