Through the Ages

The Galleries

Through the Ages

Thirteen galleries, each opening onto the names people truly gave in that age. Choose a gallery to step inside.

Gallery IThe Modern Age1880 to todayThe age of birth records. Every name given to at least five American babies in a year since 1880 is counted here, so each name's rise and fall can be seen year by year.Gallery IIVictorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914Flower and jewel names, virtue names, and the great revival of medieval names.Gallery IIIThe Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837Georgian England, the young United States, Napoleonic Europe and the new republics of Latin America.Gallery IVThe Colonial Americas1500 to 1800Settler names from Spain, Portugal, France, England and the Netherlands, and the virtue names of the Puritans.Gallery VThe Renaissance1400 to 1600The names of Florence and Venice, Valois France, Spain's Golden Age and Tudor England.Gallery VIThe High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450Names from tax rolls, charters and chronicles across medieval Europe.Gallery VIIThe Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100Old Norse names from sagas and runestones, and Old English names from charters and chronicles.Gallery VIIIThe Early Middle Ages400 to 800Frankish and Gothic kings and queens, the saints of Ireland and Wales, and the first Christian kingdoms.Gallery IXAncient Rome750 BC to AD 476Roman personal, family and surnames, many still in use today.Gallery XAncient Greece800 BC to 146 BCThe names of poets, philosophers, heroes and queens.Gallery XIThe Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100Hebrew, Aramaic and early Christian names, the foundation of naming across Europe and the Americas.Gallery XIIThe Celtic World800 BC to AD 800Gaulish and British names of the Iron Age, and the early names of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.Gallery XIIIIndigenous AmericasFrom the earliest records to todayPersonal names documented among the Indigenous nations of the Americas.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.