Baby names!

In the 70s I called our firstborn Chloe. when I first got together with my second husband it turned out his first, 2 years older than mine, was also Chloe. It was a very rare name in the 70s, nobody could spell or pronounce it - we got Cleo and something that sounded like Schloer, and often spelt Chole ("Oh, I knew there was an H in it somewhere" - yes, but not an O before the L, just try saying it!"

Thirty years later ands everyone was calling their little girl Chloe. But ours are in their 40s now, and have "youthful" names.

Over thirty years ago an 11-year-old girl I was teaching said "I think it's WICKED to call a baby something like Margaret" (pronounced with great disgust). I told her gleefully that it was my middle name.

Names for babies that will become adults one day: my mother, in the 50s, said she thought it was awful to call a baby Wendy because she regarded it as a baby name and a grown-up Wendy would just look silly.

And what seem currently like hideous old ladies' names must once have been thought nice for a new little girl. In Victorian novels and dramas the beautiful young daughter of an aristocratic family was likely to be the Lady Agatha.

My dog is called Gertie. After our house number (Basil Brush's friend was Dirty Gertie from Number Thirty). Haven't seen that coming back, though I was quite surprised I hadn't noticed at the time that the little sister in ET is called Gertie!

Gosh there are some lovely names on this thread ! I must say I like the traditional names myself but a name that suits the child is best ( expect you’d need a crystal ball for that one ! ) The last time I was in London I passed a small child who had been caught short and was urinating in the gutter watched over by his very smartly dressed and posh mother. His name apparently was Paris. It still make me laugh as he didn’t match my vision of a Greek hero

My daughter is Alice ?

A good reminder, MissAdventure.

Just reminding people that as the forums are open and able to be seen by anyone, you may want to be careful about posting identifying details.

I think that Frank Lampard and Christine called their baby daughter Patricia (same era as Barbara).

Nvella

Oh really? Maybe it’s making a comeback then

Sarah 65 - David Mitchell and Victoria Coren called their daughter Barbara

We chose Joann for our daughter as spelt in the Collins English dictionary (Joanne was the French way to spell it apparently ). We then had to explain there was no e, no a, no h in it! It turns out only Americans spell it this way ?‍♀️
I thought we could not go wrong with an English name. ?
Our son’s 3 letter short name was always lengthened to a much longer name and our second daughters name was spelt with an f in the middle instead of ph. All were given a traditional middle name to use instead if desired.
Our GS was called Teddy for his first five years and asked to be called Edward when he went to school ! It was very hard for us older folk to change back to his given name?.

I agree with others - it's up to the parents!! We had a 'shortlist' when each of ours were born but didn't name them until they arrived. We changed our eldest son's name as we realised (after I'd called my parents) that our children would have the same names as a couple we were good friends with!!

My daughters are called Kaya and Danika her twin is Martyn. My granddaughter Alanna, Elsbeth and Charlotte. My grandson is Harry and to our surprise the only one in his class! So we have the mix of traditional and unusual. My son’s partner is Raffaella and her son is Camden. Plenty of time yet to choose

I have a Harriet, a Maisie & a Nell in my close family.
My MiL was Gladys. Heaven forbid that becomes popular again. How any parent could look at their babe and decide to saddle her with that ....
FiL called her 'Glad'. ?

It’s funny how things come around, all my old aunties names are back in fashion
Laura
Harriet
Eva
Elsie
Lily
Evelyn
Nell
Ginny
Daisy

Aunties Eileen and Marjorie don’t seem to have had much of a comeback though

Love the name Ivy (Conker, a few posts up). My DD has said if she has a daughter she will call her that, it’s probably still a few years away though so she might change her mind by then, hope not.

When I was at the park at the weekend, there was a little girl called Barbara, that’s unusual now

I automatically dismissed any name suggestions that my mother made (for my four) as I thought they'd be far too old fashioned. Of course, now they're back in favour for my grandchildren.

It is true Sara65 that we grow into our names and when I first heard our DGD telling someone her name, it was a precious moment.

My name is short. One syllable and so was my surname which is truly one of the reasons I changed to my husband's name - to get an extra syllable.

One of my GDs is named Annabelle, but likes to be called Annie. My Mother born in 1908 was named Annie and hated it and liked to be called Eva. Few people seem like their own name.

I have to laugh when I read about teachers and children having trouble writing 'made up names' .

How would they cope here with Te Rongopai o Kahurangi (that's just the first of several names, not including surnames)

Maruata-ranginui-te-Opotoki; Tanenui-o-Tepakanga and so on.
All these children with traditional Maori names have no difficulty at all to writing their full name, which may include up to 6 family names as well as the one they are typically called by.

It makes 'Kyelely' also in the class, look very mundane.

Oh, yes, Hannah and Alice. I also had a whiskery old aunt Mabel (who wasn't really an 'aunt', but a friend of my great aunt). We thought they may have been 'more than friends'! .

Patsy70

Agree with your choices you, we have several of them

Grammaretto

I agree to some extent with what you’ve said, but don’t you find people seem to grow into their names, I really can’t imagine any of my children/grandchildren being called anything else

My DGDs are Madeline (Maddy), Megan, Gabrielle (Gaby) & Matilda (Tilly), which I love. I also like: Florence, Flora, Elizabeth, Charlotte (Lottie), Harriet, Annie, Sophie and lots more that I can't think of at the moment.

Then there are the unisex names such as Robin, Jo, Chris and Pat so that you can't be sure from a letter whether you are speaking to a man or a woman. I quite like that ambiguity. It stops people judging you right away perhaps?

We know a Stanley who is starting university this year, so it had not gone away altogether.

Rhymes can be a problem and any girl name ending ie or y can be a bit too cute for some buxom young ladies.
Polly, Daisy, Rosie, Bonnie... for little girls it's one thing but then they grow up.