Betty

Began as an English pet form of Elizabeth. By the eighteenth century, it had separated from its parent name and appeared independently in local vital records. American parents later adopted it as a standalone legal name, sending it up the national charts well before the Great Depression.

A Betty tends to be pictured near a rotary telephone, pencil poised over a fresh notepad. The cadence belongs to the era of metal recipe boxes and linoleum waxed to a hard shine. With an average age of 77 today, the name sits primarily with baby boomers and the Silent Generation, who together account for 89 percent of living bearers. It reads as a name that will not send an email when a two-minute phone call can settle the matter.