My 90-year-old mother's friend, also 90, recently lost her sister-in-law. Her name was Maxine. I've been watching for Maxine's obituary in our newspaper this past week. I've spotted two or three Maxines in that time, but not the Maxine I was searching for.

I soon realized that Maxine is another of the old names lost in popular culture now. And indeed, it doesn't show up on the Social Security list of most popular girl names in the 2000s. But in the 1920s, when most of the Maxines in our obit section were born, Maxine was the 84th most popular girl name.

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