Popular names when you went to school

Perhaps my own (disliked) name will come back into fashion, probably not in my lifetime.

Can imagine it being used as a trendy middle name actually, but neither of my two GD’s have been blessed with it.

In my kitchen I have a tea towel that covers my toaster when it’s not in use and it was made in 2010 when GS was at nursery school, when they drew a picture of themselves and their names were printed underneath. There some lovely girls names - lots of Isabelle’s, a couple of Tilly’s and Georgia’s, Beatrice, Hannah, Honor, Antonia, Freya, an Elsie, Grace and a Doreen. Boys are, among others, a clutch of Charlie’s, a Finn, Gabriel, two Henry’s, a bevy of Benjamins, a Sebastian and a couple of Jude’s. Interesting to see the changes in fashion for names down the years.

Oh, that sounds strange to me.
Twins called Natalie and Natasha, I've known.

Crispian was a twin, his sister was Christabel.

Annette, Ann, Avril, Christine, Christabel, Cynthia, Carol, Deborah, Diane, Doreen, Estelle, Fiona, Geraldine, Gillian, Hazel, Heather, Inez, Jean, June, Judith, Judy, Janet, Janice, Joyce, Jennifer, Lillian, Linda, Lois, Marlene, Mary, Margaret, Marylyn, Maureen, Moira, Myra, Norma, Pamela, Pauline, Patricia, Philomena, Renee, Rita, Roberta, Rosemary, Sandra, Sheila, Una, Virginia, Vivienne, Wendy, Yvonne.

The boys were the usual John, Michael, Geoffrey etc., the most unusual boys name at school was Crispian.

I've enjoyed trawling through my book of names, using it as memory jogger. Lovely to remember the children of my childhood.

We used to sing a song about a girl called Kirsty Moore at school, at some point.

Little Kirsty Moore was a sickly babe, and t,was feared she'd not live looong!
So they did a little spell, for to make the babby well, and it seems it was a bit too strong!!

Is a boy at our grandson’s nursery called Ernest and a little girl called Edith. A neighbour’s daughter and SiL have called their little girl Ada.
Certainly a blast from the past these days.

I went to 9 schools no I wasn't expelled in 2 countries.
In NZ there were a few Maori names and Scots and Irish and a few unisex names.

So we had a Ngairi, Shona, Aine, Kirsty, Lesley, Gretchen, Robin, Lindsey, Alasdair, Niall.

I loved naming my pets and dolls!

I think Nova is an excellent name, but it must have been pretty "out there" when it was given, compared to now.

MissAdventure

My mum told me my name was almost Mona, as a reference to what a miserable child I was.

I was never sure if she was serious.

My mother called me Calamity Jane.

I was nearly called Muriel 😯

You're terrible, Muriel!

We had a Gay at college, but no one thought anything about it .

I was born in 1958 and had lots of Jane’s, Jennys, Susan’s and Anne’s . Plus Jackie’s , Elaine’s , Julie’s , Wendy’s and Elizabeth’s .
With the boys , it was John , David , Steven or with a ph . Paul , Peter . Tim, Richard , Christopher, Mathew .
My DS born 1990 was named after my dad , grandad and great grandad . When he started nursery there were 3 of them and 4 in his class in primary school. I didn’t realise it was such a popular name .
My DD also has a popular name which has lasted through many decades .
I was at school with a Nova , she hated the name and felt she was expected to be extroverted and exotic , which she wasn’t , so I was always wary of very unusual names .

My mum told me my name was almost Mona, as a reference to what a miserable child I was.

I was never sure if she was serious.

Had a friend at school called Gaye, just the one, imagine that name became tricky as she got older. As in ‘are you Gaye?’
Btw is totally lighthearted no offence meant
🫢

Tracey was very popular.
I also knew a Terri, which I was quite taken with.

Witzend

I particularly remember a Penelope, one of the new intake in the kindergarten (as it was called) year below me.

Her name was on a label next to her cloakroom peg, and I thought what a weird name Peen-lope was. 😂
It was a while before I actually heard anyone say it!

I wanted to call one of our DD Penelope but Penelope Pitstop was popular on TV at the time.

MissAdventure

I knew a couple of Gays.

We had a Gaynor at our school.

I knew a couple of Gays.

I particularly remember a Penelope, one of the new intake in the kindergarten (as it was called) year below me.

Her name was on a label next to her cloakroom peg, and I thought what a weird name Peen-lope was. 😂
It was a while before I actually heard anyone say it!

There were four Susan's in my class all through school so always considered that the most popular name, with Linda also popular.
I always wanted a normal name like that instead of the unusual one I have.

A couple of the girls with the more unusual names in our school were not British, one was Greek, another American because her father was posted to an airbase nearby.

I'm thinking about my mums friends names, now.
Joycie (Joyce) joanie (Joan) while my mum was Jeanie (Jean)
Dolly, Carole...

Sago

Bernadette, Theresa, Mary, Jane, Catherine,Clare, Paul, Joseph, Vincent, Benedict, Peter, Christopher and a very exotic Theodora!

It was a Catholic school.

I recognise all these from my school too!
Same reason...

MissAdventure

Nicola is still a nice name.
I've never considered knickerless as associated with it.
Unlike "some people"

I still like it but yes, that did come to DH's mind.
As Witzend said ^Though what that says about his wayward teen years I really don’t want to know^…