Roger, a forgotten first name that could come back to the forefront?

Have you noticed that playgrounds are full of Léons, Marcels and even Louises? But even if old names are fashionable, not all of them manage to delight the hearts of parents in the 2020s.

Roger, a first name that is no longer popular

In France, we find occurrences of the first name Roger before 1900 but it was in 1925 that it was most popular since it was given by parents to their child 13,359 times. The fashion then waned before reaching a new peak in 1945 with 6,568 children named Roger that year. Between the 80s and the 2000s, few parents chose this first name, less than 100 little Rogers were born. Finally, since 2022, this old first name is no longer given at all.

However, there are many famous Rogers and parents always like to give their child a name that can inspire them to live great adventures. France has known the actor Roger Hanin (famous for having played Navarro on screen), England the actor Roger Moore (who played James Bond in the cinema). More recently, sports fans have been able to enjoy the performances of tennis player Roger Federer, and those who prefer television series have been able to appreciate the tribulations of the character Roger Sterling in Mad Men. However, nothing helps, Roger continues to be a name that falls into oblivion.

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A lack of love that can be explained by its sound and its warlike meaning.

The first name Roger, even if it is old and short, does not correspond at all to the trends of current first names where we find a lot of the sound a. Indeed in the top 20 of the most given first names in France in 2023 among little boys, we find Gabriel, Raphaël, Noah, Maël, Arthur, Adam, Lucas, Isaac, Gabin, Sacha, Aaron, Liam, Naël or even Malo. Only one first name in this list begins with an R, the first name Raphaël, and only one also ends with a sound in “é”, the first name Noé.

The different iterations of the name Roger, a retro name, also do not correspond to the new standards preferred by modern parents. In names derived from Roger, we find Rutger (with one or two t), Rogier, Rogge, Rogeric, Regelio or even Ruggero, names with very marked masculine sounds, almost warlike. Roger is a name of Germanic origin, there are few in the top current names, which in fact means “glorious lance” by the contraction of hroth (glorious) and gari (lance).

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