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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Margaret, Morag or Jean?

142 replies

soundsystem · 20/07/2019 17:24

Margaret would get shorted to Margot, Greta or Peggy, depending on which best suited her.

Morag would just be Morag. (Though DD1 has suggested she might call her Morag the Toerag)

Jean might become Jeannie.

Give me your thoughts, please!

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CarolDanvers · 20/07/2019 23:16

I don't like any of them. Please don't. One is my Mum's name and she's often not very nice so...

Parsnippy · 20/07/2019 23:16

Margaret is lovely.
I don't like Margot.
I like Jean.
Margaret Jean is good.

Sophronia · 20/07/2019 23:14

All of them are great! I find it hard to choose, but Jean Charlotte sounds great.

julensaor · 20/07/2019 23:13

I don't really like them and you obviously like a hard R sound, but Morag is really not nice (yes toe rag). Peggy is just awful, Peggy brings to mind an old Irish woman scrubbing pans and shovelling cowshit (Irish myself, so not a race thing). Jean and jeannie is the nicest. Greta is also ok.

Peachbubble · 20/07/2019 20:15

Margot, Greta or Charlotte are better choices imo

LottieLucie · 20/07/2019 20:06

Charlotte Jean sounds better than the other way.

Howtotrainyourhamster · 20/07/2019 19:56

Really don’t like any of them!

I do really like Greta though, as a stand-alone name. It has a hint of old glamour. The others are old lady and not in a glamorous way. The only Morag I’ve ever known hated her name!

Badabingbadabum · 20/07/2019 19:41

I considered Jean and Margaret for dd2. I also really liked Joan bit it is just too close to my own name! Don't like Morag unless it is said in a Scottish accent.

But as a Pp pointed out, you'd have to change the middle name for Margaret - Margaret Charlotte does not work!

Chickenwing · 20/07/2019 19:39

Those names are all terrible. Are you having an 80 year old?

Flooopers · 20/07/2019 19:34

I suspect that within the next two years 87% of newborn girls will be called Margot.

wishingyouluck · 20/07/2019 19:31

Not keen on any of these personally, and I do like some of these older names making a comeback. Margot is quite nice on its own though.

IVflytrap · 20/07/2019 19:27

In order of preference, and going a bit off-piste, I'd put them:

Jean (Jeannie is sweet!)
Margot (prefer this as a standalone name)
Greta (this can also be a standalone name. Thunberg is a good namesake at the moment)
Morag (it's OK)

Don't like the nickname Peggy, or the full name Margaret.

As for the, "ew, they make me think of old women" type comments... there's nothing wrong with old women. Plenty of babies are named after their grandmothers, to the point where the names will sound current to OP's children. My grandparents didn't understand why Emily or Jack were in fashion in the 90s - such old-people names to them. And yet here we are.

BrendasUmbrella · 20/07/2019 19:08

I totally called it that once the cutesy Cath Kidston pastel bunting retro name craze was starting to die down, the ugly retro names would start to trend. The Mauds and Ediths are the slightly dicey middle ground. And once the Jeans and Peggy's are done, it will time for the New Sharons to rise...

midsomermurderess · 20/07/2019 19:06

Jean, definitely Jean. It's so refreshing after all the frilly, little girly names that abound. It makes me think of a sort of 1930s gutsy independent woman. Not simpering and babyish. Even Jeanie is so much preferable to drippy Emily and its permutations.

diddlediddle · 20/07/2019 19:05

Love Margaret nn Peggy but it definitely doesn't work with Charlotte.

Jean is also great so I'd go for that.

FrancesHolmes · 20/07/2019 19:00

Yes to Charlotte or Margot as first name.
No to all the others. Not a fan of Morag but Margaret, Peggy and Jean/nie are just dreadful. I'm early 50s and they are names of the generation above me and conjure up ageing or dead maiden aunts.

wheelywheelynice · 20/07/2019 18:53

Such dreadful, ugly names

daisypond · 20/07/2019 18:51

I like them all but I particularly like Margaret and Jean. All of them are refreshingly not twee and cutesy.

missyB1 · 20/07/2019 18:47

Love Peggy (would just name her that rather than Margaret). Also love Jeannie rather than Jean.

Flooopers · 20/07/2019 18:45

Jean/Jeannie - like this one

Don't like Margaret but some of the nicknames can be nice.

Morag is a truly dreadful name though. So ugly.

youllhavehadyourtea · 20/07/2019 18:43

Morag is ace OP. Really strong name intergenerational name.

My neighbours are Morags - both different generations - time there were some more baby Morags around.

HotChocolateLover · 20/07/2019 18:34

Are you giving birth to a 70 year old woman?! These names are awful OP. Please don’t inflict of them on your daughter. What’s wrong with Charlotte as a first name? There’s far too much of this ‘trying to be different’ when coming to be names. There’s really no need.

BarryMcguigan · 20/07/2019 18:32

Margot is a stand alone name and I think it's silly to be used as a nickname. It's also increasingly popular with 5 born in the last 18 months that I know of
Morag isn't my cup of tea
Go for Jean

AlphaJura · 20/07/2019 18:29

I like Jean

Apolloanddaphne · 20/07/2019 18:29

Morag, Jean and Margaret were all my friends from school. I am 56 now and so those names conjure up for me slightly plump middle age women (ie me). I cannot imagine them as names for a baby now.