LONDON - TRADITIONAL baby names like Ruby, Olivia and Joshua may have enjoyed a revival in recent years, but many old favourites stubbornly refuse to come back into fashion.
Research for a baby website has listed the once-popular names that have suffered the most spectacular fall from grace over the last 100 years.
Top of the boys' list was Norman, which has seen a 99.85 per cent decline in popularity since 1907. The name, which means 'north man' in Old German, grew in popularity after the Norman conquest in 1066.
Walter and Percy came second and third on the list of endangered names.
The biggest faller among the girls was Gertrude, derived from the Old German for 'spear maiden'. Edna, Ethel, Irene and Elsie also made the top 10.
But the survey found that not all names are vulnerable to changing tastes.
Thomas, last year's second most popular boy's name, has been in the top five for at least the last 200 years. William has also been in the top 10 for two centuries.
For girls, Elizabeth has been among the favourites for at least 200 years.
Other names have enjoyed a revival under a different guise.
Olive, number seven on the list of declining names, has a direct descendant in Olivia, third most popular last year.
Some old-fashioned names have grown in popularity thanks to celebrity parents. Singer Charlotte Church called her baby girl Ruby in 2007 - the name was number two on last year's top 10.
Sarah Stone, editor of www.gurgle.com, the mother and baby social networking site that commissioned the study, said some names could disappear altogether.
'Not so long ago it seems we all knew a great uncle Harold or auntie Irene, but sadly it seems these names could soon be lost forever,' she said.
