Oh how baby names have changed over the decades. From John, to Wayne to Matthew and now Oliver. While Kylie, Susan, Jessica and Michelle have all been replaced with Charlotte or Olivia. Has your name practically became extinct?
According to McCrindle throughout the 1960s, Sharon was a Top 10 name, even becoming the second most popular name for two years in the mid-1960s. However, by the late 1970s the name had dropped towards the end of the list and has not appeared in the Top 100 since 1983. Kylie followed a similar path, and even got to first position on the girls’ list in 1973, but has not been in the Top 100 since 1990.
For boys, Wayne was a Top 20 name in the 60s, but the 1970s saw it decline and by 1987 it was out of the Top 100 and is currently in the extinct zone. Darren rose to prominence over a similar period and reached 10th on the list in 1966 and while the name lasted in the Top 100 a little longer, by 1990 he also had disappeared. Brett was also a Top 20 through most of the 1960s, declined in popularity through the 1970s and 80s and last appeared in the Top 100 in 1992.
Jessica was Australia’s most popular girls’ name for 16 years from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s. In the mid 1990s, approximately one in every 30 girls born in Australia was named Jessica. Less than 20 years after it was at number one, Jessica did not even make it into the Top 100 in 2019.
From the mid 1990s until 2003, Joshua was the most popular boys’ name in Australia. Not since the dominance of David in the 1960s or Michael in the 1970s has a boy name had such a popular run. However, since then, the popularity of Joshua has been consistently falling. In 2019, Joshua was ranked 39th.
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