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Fashionable names

(263 Posts)
Beswitched Fri 07-May-21 09:05:56

A friend's dd has just called her new baby Susan. My friend is very unhappy with the name, thinking it's very dull and dated.

Personally I love the name and think it's far nicer than some of the names that are considered cool and edgy nowadays - Olive, Ethel etc

What 'dull and dated' names would you like to see revived? I also love Jane and Judy.

Gingster Fri 07-May-21 18:57:17

Most of my friends are called Susan , or Christine. I think I have 6 closish friends who are called Susan. I have 4 Christine’s. I don’t know anyone with my name although it’s not that unusual.
I love all the old fashioned names that babies are now being called .... Ivy, Edie, violet, lily, daisy, , Arthur, Archie, Ted, Charlie, Sidney. So sweet!
Can’t stand names that are made up.

Casdon Fri 07-May-21 19:11:35

It must go in cycles of about 10 years or so - no Susans, Jeans or Carols for my age group, but Julie, Deborah, Karen, Joanne, Beverley, Lorraine, Lynne and Angela ruled the school register.
I don’t know any babies or children with any of those names, maybe in another 20 years they will be back.

GoldenLady Fri 07-May-21 19:15:11

I love the name Susan.

My 4-month-old great-granddaughter is named Reese. I gather that is fairly common now, for both boys and girls. Maybe the actress Reese Witherspoon had something to do with it.

Sara1954 Fri 07-May-21 19:19:33

I was called after several old relatives with the same name, I quite like it, my daughters both have close friends with the name, and there are Sara’s in both my grandchildren’s schools, so it doesn’t feel dated.
One of my colleagues had a baby last year, and they decided not to tell anyone what they were planning to call her, so that they couldn’t be influenced, I thought that was a good idea.

varian Fri 07-May-21 19:47:41

I have also found this government website that gives the most popular girls and boys names in every decade since 1880, it is quite interesting www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1880s.html



2
www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1880s.html

varian Fri 07-May-21 19:48:21

I think this is an American govt site

kittylester Fri 07-May-21 20:07:40

MerylStreep

I’ve lead a very full life and met I don’t know how many people but I’ve only met one woman with my name, and she was a neighbour. It’s Geraldine. Are there any here?

I have a friend called Geraldine and was at school with another one.

harrigran Fri 07-May-21 20:15:53

I had a friend and a work colleague called Geraldine.
My family have a lot of royal names, the males anyway.
My eldest GD has two old fashioned names.

janeainsworth Fri 07-May-21 20:20:02

One of my DDs is Susan so obviously I’m biasedsmile❤️
I narrowly avoided being called Roberta, which was Mum’s choice. Apparently she was horrified when Dad came home from registering my birth and I was plain Jane.
Meryl I like your name. Another one I like is Bernardine.

Callistemon Fri 07-May-21 20:32:21

I loved the Susan books by Jane Shaw when I was young.

Checking to see if they are still in print, I found 'Susan Rushes In' for £371.21 on Amazon shock

MerylStreep Fri 07-May-21 20:37:07

Thank you Jane I’m just eternally grateful that my father didn’t get his way: Ethel. Apologies to all the Ethels ?

GagaJo Fri 07-May-21 20:37:34

I love the name Olivia and would have given it to a 2nd daughter, if I had one. I also like Esme.

I really like the boys name Ethan.

All quite old fashioned.

Callistemon Fri 07-May-21 20:42:24

MerylStreep

Thank you Jane I’m just eternally grateful that my father didn’t get his way: Ethel. Apologies to all the Ethels ?

There's not a lot you can do with Ethel!

I had a school friend whose glamorous mother was called Elise. We all thought it was very exotic but then my friend told me her mother was actually called Elsie but changed the letters round a bit grin

CanadianGran Fri 07-May-21 21:45:05

It seems to me that great-grandparents name are on the come-back, the next generations too close, so 3 generations back.

I know a baby just named Millie Rose, and think it is sweet. However, when we were having our children, my MIL was Nellie, her sister Millie, and another sister Mary, we teased that they sounded like dairy maids. The names have come back again.

So I may have to wait to be a great-grandmother before I hear anyone naming a baby with my name.

Beswitched Fri 07-May-21 22:01:29

Susan goes to school is one of my favourite comfort reads. I still have my childhood copy. I have bought others on Abe books for quite reasonable prices.

Sara1954 Fri 07-May-21 22:09:11

All of my grandchildren and nieces and nephews have ‘old fashioned’ names, or ‘maids’ names as I call them.
I think they are all so pretty, but I can’t really see the names of my youth making a comeback, all the christines, Carols, Jackies, Tina’s, or even less likely Maureen and Audrey.

Beswitched Fri 07-May-21 22:22:40

Sara1954

All of my grandchildren and nieces and nephews have ‘old fashioned’ names, or ‘maids’ names as I call them.
I think they are all so pretty, but I can’t really see the names of my youth making a comeback, all the christines, Carols, Jackies, Tina’s, or even less likely Maureen and Audrey.

Audrey is back on fashion now.

And I imagine our parents felt the same way about Lily, Ivy, Freddie and George as we do about Jackie, Michelle, Trevor and Nigel. All names eventually become vintage and cool.

grannyactivist Fri 07-May-21 23:56:17

I love that my youngest granddaughter has a fairly unusual modern name, but her middle names were given in honour of her two great-grandmothers. One of the names is fairly timeless, but the other is really old fashioned yet gaining in popularity.

One of my grandsons has an old fashioned Saint’s name - and I absolutely love it, but other family members, including his parents, call him by the diminutive. There is only one name in my whole extended family that I dislike and it was chosen by the mother in opposition to the father’s wishes.

B9exchange Sat 08-May-21 00:09:04

Having a new baby GD last week called Olive I was very surprised by the OP. Olivia I have come across frequently, but Olive not so, it doesn't appear in the list of baby names on that website Varian quoted for the last decade. Do you have little Olive's in your family?

nanna8 Sat 08-May-21 00:16:53

When I was at school there were 5 Susans in one of my classes. There were 7 in the year level. My cousin is Susan,too. They were all pretty brainy girls, good at maths. I could imagine that name coming back. The youngest ones in our family are called Leah, Isla and Noah. I like all those names, especially Isla.

absent Sat 08-May-21 06:47:46

My mother was quite put out by our choice for absent daughter. "That," she firmly stated, "is an old woman's name." She was a little taken aback when I pointed out that the old women in question were once babies. Absent daughter has since changed her name and meanwhile the one we gave her, that we thought was fairly unusual, has become very popular.

Sara1954 Sat 08-May-21 07:12:18

Beswitched
I must admit, I’ve yet to come across an Audrey, but I know of several Olives, at my granddaughters nursery there is Norman, and I heard a little girl in the park being called Barbara.

Calendargirl Sat 08-May-21 07:35:42

I don’t think Gladys, Doris, Ethel, Phyllis, Bertha, Edna will make a comeback yet, but perhaps they are already out there.

In more ‘modern’ dated ones, I would put Sheila, Maureen, Joyce, Marjorie, Brenda, Joan, in that category.

A friend has a GD called Cora, not keen on that.

I have heard of an Enza, which sounds like a disinfectant.

An old name I like and never hear is Dulcie.

NotAGran55 Sat 08-May-21 07:40:46

My dad’s sister was called Queenie which I love . I have never heard of another one .

Calendargirl Sat 08-May-21 07:49:01

NotAGran55

My dad’s sister was called Queenie which I love . I have never heard of another one .

My mum had a friend whose daughter was called Queenie. She would be born in the mid 1930’s I imagine, probably around the time of the Coronation of George V1.