Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Barbara is a lovely name.

317 replies

Misscromwellrocks · 02/01/2020 20:16

A friend's daughter has just called her new daughter Barbara. A few people have wrinkled their noses, but I think it's a lovely vintage Enid Blytonish name.

AIBU?

OP posts:
TigerOnATrain · 02/01/2020 21:58

@olivertwistwantsmore

that's your opinion!

FINALLY you get it.

These are peoples OPINIONS. People are giving their opinions!!!

You know, what the OP asked for.

You seem to be getting angry and irked and sniffy that people are giving opinions you don't like.

Maybe AIBU is not the place for you

.
Have you thought about joining netmums?

Jessica7689 · 02/01/2020 21:55

To me, it isn’t just that Barbara is dated - I actively think it sounds ugly.

There are plenty of other dated names which I think sound beautiful - e.g. Mabel, Irene, Vera.

Geraniumblue · 02/01/2020 21:55

There seems to be about 100 year gap in girl name fashions. If you look at what was popular 100 years ago, I can see that many of those names are coming back again (apart from perhaps Gladys and Doris) - maybe because they don’t have any living associations. Barbara isn’t old enough yet.

Russellbrandshair · 02/01/2020 21:54

It’s hideous

GeorgiaGirl52 · 02/01/2020 21:54

It is old-fashioned and sweet as long as it isn't shortened to "Barbie".

Weffiepops · 02/01/2020 21:54

It feels dated but still nice

Jessica7689 · 02/01/2020 21:54

I think it’s awful. I just don’t like the sounds in the name.

Though I love the Eastern European equivalent - Varvara. I think that’s beautiful. It’s pronounced Var-varra, so three syllables, rather than Bar-bruh.

Original poster
Misscromwellrocks · 02/01/2020 21:52

I remember a time when Lily was considered a drab middle aged name. My mother who grew up knowing lots of Oliver can't understand the renewed popularity of the ns8.

OP posts:
Londonborncatty · 02/01/2020 21:51

Awful name, ugly sounding. It’s not that it’s not in fashion, it’s just not appealing at all.

olivertwistwantsmore · 02/01/2020 21:50

@dayswithaY

It's also quite difficult to say, like making a long drawn out noise

Wtaf? 🙄 do you have a speech impediment? Or do you just find polysyllabic names tricky? 🙄

ofay · 02/01/2020 21:48

I like Lydia, I think it's timeless.

olivertwistwantsmore · 02/01/2020 21:48

No, you didn't use it, @tigeronatrain, but I wasn't speaking specifically to you when I said that people were being rude. 🙄 Someone used it up thread.

But your saying 'get a grip' because I said posters were rude was also pretty rude.

You say that Olivia and Lily have come back into fashion because they are 'nice names' but that's just your opinion; names are very subjective.

Bouncingbelle · 02/01/2020 21:48

Yuck. Horrible name with no nice ways to shorten it.

Nora, however, I love. Tho we mercilessly teased a girl at school whose middle name was Norah, named after her grandmother. Who wasnt called Norah Hmm but Honor.

dayswithaY · 02/01/2020 21:47

If names were colours Barbara would be dark brown.

It's also quite difficult to say, like making a long drawn out noise.

BertrandRussell · 02/01/2020 21:47

Victoria and David Coren-Mitchell’s daughter is called Barbera.

Original poster
Misscromwellrocks · 02/01/2020 21:46

Yes to my ears names like Jackie, Michelle and Liz sound very dated, but in another couple of generations those names will have the old lady chic that names like Edie, Milly and Alice have today.

OP posts:
honeyloops · 02/01/2020 21:46

We have a vile Barbara in the family too, Clappy. I hope for your sake yours isn't the same as ours! I'm not a huge fan of the name anyway but I can see that style of name coming back in.

NotMeNoNo · 02/01/2020 21:45

I have a young Italian colleague called Barbara, she is lovely and it sounds beautiful pronounced with her accent. Names are truly what you make of them.

OhTheRoses · 02/01/2020 21:44

My mother's best friends from school were Barbara, Anita and Marion. I have a delicious picture of them with bouffant hair and and capri pants in Sorrento circa 1958. They were deliciously glam. Auntie Barbara still sends me a £5 Boots voucher on my birthday. I'm nearly 60. Auntie Barbara was utterly lush and is still divine Grin. She and mother used to buy stiletto winkle pickers from Mondaine in Bond Street - mother still has hers.

Barbara - it has a certain style; rather like Sylvia who was mother's other friend.

Twillow · 02/01/2020 21:41

Vintage not in a good way.

Babs1953 · 02/01/2020 21:41

I'm called Barbara. I don't think it is a bad name and due for a revival. I think I'm a nice person. Doris is a worse name to have!!??

Tumbleweed101 · 02/01/2020 21:41

I like it - it's my mum's name!

5foot5 · 02/01/2020 21:40

I like it! I know someone in her mid twenties called Barbara and she doesn't fit any of the old lady stereotypes.

Zaphodsotherhead · 02/01/2020 21:40

I think it depends on the age of the observer.

To me (nearly 60), Barbara was friends with my mum, so it's an older lady's name. To my kids' generation, it's an unusual name. Names like Jaqueline and Deborah (girls I was at school with) are therefore 'mum's friends' names to my kids and it will be the generation after them that use them as names for their children.

I look forward to my grandchildren naming their children Carol, Karen and Derek.

TheFuzzyStar · 02/01/2020 21:39

Horrible

Swipe left for the next trending thread