25 Names That Are Going Extinct

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40. Wilma
> Drop in popularity: -5,138
> Avg. rank 1880-2010: 77 (1,065 names given in avg. year)
> Avg. rank 2011-2017: 5,215 (27 names given in avg. year)
> Year of peak popularity: 1930

Track star Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. The 60s also introduced cartoon character Wilma Flintstone, wife of Fred Flintstone, to American households. But perhaps the most famous Wilma ever wasn’t even a person — it was a tropical cyclone. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma caused widespread damage in Mexico and Florida — and probably did damage to the name’s popularity as well.

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39. Kristi
> Drop in popularity: -5,259
> Avg. rank 1880-2010: 98 (1,073 names given in avg. year)
> Avg. rank 2011-2017: 5,357 (25 names given in avg. year)
> Year of peak popularity: 1972

Kristi has been declining in popularity since 1972, but that didn’t deter rock group Soundgarden from writing a song called Kristi. The song may have had some issues of its own; Kristi was recorded in 1996 but wasn’t released on an album until 2014.

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38. Sallie
> Drop in popularity: -5,314
> Avg. rank 1880-2010: 80 (379 names given in avg. year)
> Avg. rank 2011-2017: 5,394 (25 names given in avg. year)
> Year of peak popularity: 1881

Perhaps the most famous Sallie isn’t even a person — it’s Sallie Mae, originally known as the Student Loan Marketing Association. People generally don’t like having debts, so the link to the lending institution probably didn’t help the name’s popularity.

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37. Sheena
> Drop in popularity: -5,387
> Avg. rank 1880-2010: 86 (325 names given in avg. year)
> Avg. rank 2011-2017: 5,473 (25 names given in avg. year)
> Year of peak popularity: 1984

Sheena peaked in popularity in 1984, only seven years after the Ramones released their iconic song “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” and three years after Sheena Easton topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Morning Train (Nine to Five).”

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36. Rhonda
> Drop in popularity: -5,620
> Avg. rank 1880-2010: 57 (2,187 names given in avg. year)
> Avg. rank 2011-2017: 5,677 (24 names given in avg. year)
> Year of peak popularity: 1965

Rhonda, another Welsh name on our list, has been declining in popularity since 1965. That’s somewhat surprising as that same year The Beach Boys had a No. 1 hit with “Help Me, Rhonda.”