What do you think are the Sharon/Tracy/Michelle names of this generation???

I know 4 people that have had girls in the last 18 months and they've all called their daughters Isla.

I don't get why people get snitty about threads like this. I consider myself a socialist but I want my children to have stylish names, i.e. not the 00s equivalent of Sharon and Tracy - what's wrong with that?

I'm a child of the 80s and I went to school with lots of Sarahs, Rebeccas, Amys, Chloes, Kimberleys and Rachels. (One of those is my name by the way!).

I think Ruby, Lola and Scarlett are headed the way of Sharon and Tracy.

Awful thread . Typical MN though.

I really hate these threads.

I think it will be all the Kylie Keeley Kiran Kelsey Kinsey names

There were a lot of Michelles in the 80s ime,at least here. I'm one of them. There were 6 in my class in High School. Only one Sharon though. No Tracys but I did know one of my age,from elsewhere.

You're only 30? I'm just a couple of years younger than you and have never known a Sharon or a Tracey my age. I thought they were more names of the 60s and 70s than the 80s? I knew a few Michelles but they weren't the absolute most popular.

in my experience, the most common names look a little like this:
70s babies - Karen, Lisa, Nicola, Michelle, Sharon, Tracey, Deborah
80s babies - Sarah, Laura, Emma, Rebecca, Amy, Jade, Gemma
90s babies - similar to 80s plus Hayley, Kayley, Chelsea etc
00s babies - Ruby, Evie, Lily, Grace, Ava, Annabelle, Isabella

I like that my kids are much more open minded about names than I am. (In my case I'm an inverted snob and can't cope with overly posh names eg Tarquin Ptolemy Jago Orlando Tilly Jemima). I'm from that same Sharon/Tracy generation and it's true that the Sharons and Traceys tended to be wc or lmc and the Alisons, Helens, Nicolas, and Susannnahs tended to be mc. I grew up in a pretty white pretty monocultural area so these patterns were very obvious.

My kids, thankfully, are much more open minded. There are kids from all over the world in their class and from wildly different social strata. The list of names in their class is really beautiful, varied and amazing and there seems to be no intrinsic judgment about names. Maybe because class isn't so obvious to them? (shines rosy spectacles of progress).

When I was at school there were loads and loads of girls called Nicola....
and Julie.
And Jackie was popular. Presumably inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy

Lexi and kai,without a doubt.

About 3/4 of DD reception year of 2 classes has been named on this list!

flower names are pretty Sharon and Tracy are harsh sounding. Kelsey/Kelsie is a name I would suggest.

It doesn't matter whether you think a name sounds, or deserves to be 'Sharon or Tracey-esque' - it's not a question of using it as a class-based insult or deciding whether it is/was an upper class name once (Jade? Upper class once? I don't think so) it's about whether or not a name has become ubiquitous, and whether it defines an era. It's about whether people can have a pretty accurate stab at how old you are based on your name. Whether or not it was picked by parents who holiday in yurts and shop in Boden, or holiday at Butlins and shop in PoundLand is besides the point.

If there are likely to be several of them in each year group of school for five years on then trot then it is one of those names.

I think Grace and Lily

This is a really snobby thread.

Debbie was another name of the time. No one should be put off the Old Testament Deborah, which is a beautiful strong name, but the variant Debra was also quite popular with those who couldn't spell Deborah

My daughter and son's names are in the OP! I don't think they're Sharon and Tracey esque (obviously) but have gathered popularity since we've named them.

DD goes to a 2 form entry school and is the only one with her name. There are about 3 children with DS's name in the whole school.

I would definitely agree with Jayden, Kai, Alfie, Frankie being Darren-esque and Ruby, Scarlett, Gemma being Sharon-esque.

I think the prime candidate for Sharondom is Scarlett, and Ruby close behind.

I disagree that Sharon was ever a classic name, or Michelle either. In the US, they seemed to come out of nowhere and were very fashionable for a short few decades, then disappeared (Sharon moreso than Michelle). I think the same sudden arrival and almost complete disappearance happened in Britain (and Ireland). And maybe it was Grace Kelly's Tracey who popularised Tracey?

I don't know how Sharon first appeared, but I have a suspicion that the Beatles' 'Michelle' gave Michelle a boost.

I had a friend in the US who went to see The Snapper with her DH while pregnant and came out with the name Sheridan number one on their list of girls' names. Later, after they had their little Sheridan they eventually got around to reading the book and realised that the name they had misheard was Sharon ('Shardn' in Dublinese) .

Yummy -- I'm also Irish, and went to school with loads of Lindas, Lauras, Geraldines, Michelles, Sharons, Karens, Emmas, but also loads of Niamhs, Orlas, Grainnes, Eimears, Aislings, Fionas, Muireanns, Caitrionas; little Sharons are scarce on the ground but there are loads of Niamhs, etc., still (maybe not so many Grainnes?). I think the Irish names have become classics in Ireland. However, I think Siobhan and Sinead suffered a different fate, mainly because when they spread to the UK they landed in the same parts of Britain where Sharon and Tracey regined supreme.

Tracy was Grace Kelly's character in High Society - Lovely name. It should come back.

Jade was also a very upper class name back in the day and very pretty.

Evie is sooo common now but it's not really a beautiful sounding name at all.

I really love the name Tracey.

Sharon and Tracey were 'the fat slags' in Viz and typified a 'working class, feckless, white stillettos, trowelled on make-up, cheap alcohol and easy virtue' archetype, that would now be called chavvy. Lots of working class girls had those names, some behaved this way, many didn't but were tarred with the Shazza and Trey brush. Michelle wasn't quite in the same category.

That's a totally different thing from names that are merely overused.

I'd say:

Bella
Ella
Evie
Lola

Harvey
Finley
Jayden
Callum