Mumsnet Talk

Just out of curiosity really (I don't actually have any babies requiring names)

There is a revival of older names here, but I wouldn't know if a French name for example, would be considered an older person's name or not.

I was sat musing this through Les Mis the other night. Could Fantine be the equivalent of Ethel in France?

And everywhere else too. What are the old man and lady names of other countries? And are they also being revived?

I love Ilona, but it's considered very old lady (not in a good way) in Hungary.

I've got a Harry, my parents back in Sweden laughed at me when we told them his name as its really only an old persons name there. (But old people's names are very trendy there, so I was spot on, lol)

IME all countries have generational trends in names.

Ah it's really pretty too and unusal. Are you in Hungary?

Isn't it funny how if you have no reference point or have never heard a name before it doesn't come with any preconceptions?

Grandparent-vintage names are popular in a lot of (European) countries right now.

Your point about preconceptions makes it hard to find names that work in two cultures/languages. Even if you find a name that both sides of the family can pronounce and spell, it's often the case that a perfectly nice name in one country is a horrible out-of-style name in the other.

My friend in Sweden has called her son Erling , which I believe is very old fashioned. Probably the equivalent of Albert/ Bernard/Wilfred

Old fashioned names are coming back in Russia too!

My husband laughed me out of the house when I suggested Liesl when I was pregnant. I still like it, but it was very old fashioned when we had DD. Still is.

Leni seems to be back in fashion over in Germany at the moment, and the past 10 years has seen almost every child called Anna, Maria, Sophia or a combination of those.

Oh I should have given examples- Zina (Zinaida) is maybe like Maureen or something, or Ulyana which is like Betty! Both Moscovite hipster names

These names all sound rather lovely and striking.

I really liked Claudia for DD (we're in Germany) but over here it is seen as really dated - a sort of equivalent to Linda in the UK.

I also liked Ingo for a boy but apparently only beer swilling 50 year olds are called Ingo

I think it's really interesting how you have absolutely no name associations in a country not your own. I always remember an MNer with a french husband saying he thought the name Keith was really exotic because of the "th" sound

Granny chic is definitely not in in France. People on here often post about wonderful exotic French names like Aurore that sound like a forty-year-old librarian to me

Fantine is almost unheard-of as a name BTW. Never met one, never heard of one IRL.

I find this all this interesting. And to me French girls names always sound wonderfully feminine and pretty.

DH has plenty of Aunties and Uncles named:
Rolande, Claude, Josiane, Yolande, Annette, Charles, Henri, Gérard...definitely no Granny chic going on in France.

My 17yr DD1 has a very good friend, Aurore, who is the furthest one can imagine from a 40 year old librarian *cuillere

I don't know about other countries but I have an Italian friend who was going to call her baby Deborah if it was a girl which I think would be quite unusual for a newborn! She ended up having a boy and gave him a very Italian name.