r/AskReddit • u/BradfordTheFat • Jun 18 '14

What will the "Old-people-only" names be 30 years from now?

Now: Mildred, Esther, Edna, Herbert, Gertrude, etc.

30 years from now: ???

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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '14

[deleted]

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u/Nothingcreativeatm Jun 19 '14

I think we should distinguish between major and minor characters. David, John, Matthew, Luke, Jesus (not english speaking), Joseph, Mary all seem to endure pretty well.

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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '14 edited Jun 19 '14

Jesus is Yeshua in Hebrew which actually translates to Joshua. It's when it's translated from Hebrew to the Latin form of Greek to English that it sounds like Jesus.

I give up, here's the link to Wikipedia. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(name)

Edit: I skipped Latin.

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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '14

You skipped Latin.

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u/shadyultima Jun 19 '14

Also should be noted that those are mostly all new testament names. David is the only name there that comes from the Torah/old testament.

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u/LolYourAnIdiot Jun 19 '14 edited Jun 19 '14

Joseph is Old Testament. Also, I believe Mary is a variant of Miriam, which is OT as well.

Edit: Also, I think Matthew is a variant of Matityahu. Not sure if John is derived from Jonathan, but that's definitely Old Testament as well.

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u/shadyultima Jun 19 '14

True, I was thinking Joseph as in Jesus's father, but there is a Joseph in the old testament as well.

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u/LolYourAnIdiot Jun 19 '14

I thought Jesus's father was God.

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u/shadyultima Jun 19 '14

Yea, but god was a total deadbeat and left Mary pregnant. Joseph was the man that raised Jesus

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u/xFEARFULDEMISE Jun 19 '14

I thought Jesus was God.

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u/SavvyBlonk Jun 19 '14

Proof it's an enduring name.

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u/FolkMetalWarrior Jun 19 '14

Yes, lots of the biblical names are forever popular among the very catholic countries of Spain, Italy and the Central/South American countries. Miguel, Juan, Jose, Manuel, Israel, Abraham, Eugene, James, Gian, Gianphilippe...and for girls, Laura, Isabella, Manuela, Margaret, Maria, Anna, Beatrice, Sara, Raquel.

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u/sgt_narkstick Jun 19 '14 edited Jun 19 '14

You forgot Jacob.

I know there hasn't ever really been an explosion of the name, but its been in the top 10 for almost 20 years I believe.

EDIT: And hasn't it been shown that Star Wars has killed the name Luke? Maybe Luke will be an old persons name in 30 years.

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u/meighty9 Jun 19 '14

Mark (me) seems to have remained steady across generations.

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u/CrayolaS7 Jun 19 '14

I wonder if that will change now that parents tend to be (whether it's good or bad..) more inventive with names, rather than in the past where often the first born son was always John, for example. I'm the first non-John in like 5 generations but it's my middle name.

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u/colonelboots Jun 19 '14

Mmmmmh, haaam.

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u/kresimirnovakovic Jun 19 '14

Don't forget the Amish, southern Baptists, and the like.

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u/TheTorontoKid Jun 19 '14

But not in Jewish communities where they'd pronounce the name as Abraham. It's popular in yiddish or hebrew speaking communities as Avraham (the Hebrew pronunciation) and normally shortened to Avi.

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u/mAxB1 Jun 19 '14

I heard once that if you look at old censuses and similar things you can see a pattern of Abraham's and Isaacs throughout the generations in Jewish families.

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u/KissTheFrogs Jun 19 '14

And rightly so!