Old People Names

An old-school great-grandpa name, like Irving and Ernest, that may just be ready for revival. It's also a well-known name in Hungary and elsewhere in central and eastern Europe. As a surname, it's associated with jazz sax player Booker Ervin.

Sure, he'd probably get a certain amount of red-nosed teasing around the holiday, but a boy named Rudolph could probably take it. Besides, he's got other, more distinguished namesakes -- the great ballet dancer Nureyev, silent screen Lothario Valentino and 9-11 Mayor Giuliani.

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba—self-named for her hometown of Melbourne—inspired this now-dated name more associated today with a peach dessert and dietetic toast.

Occasionally heard in Ireland, small chance of success here.

Albertine and Alberta are old-fashioned feminizations ala Geraldine and Roberta. This is the kind of name that sounds very dowdy until a hip celebrity chooses it, at which point we don't know how we missed its coolness all this time.

Problematic, even if not for Dilbert.