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Baby names

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

Original poster

Names most associate with the 1970s and 1980s

116 replies

Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo · 04/04/2021 22:20

A friend of mine (early 20s) has given names to her girls that I think are strongly linked to the 70s/80s and I found I really liked hearing them! Not sure if it is because they remind me of school days or because they sound refreshing as so rare to be heard on children atm.

What are your favourite distinctly 70s/80s names?

I like Lisa, Leanne and Stephanie!

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HarkAVagrant · 06/04/2021 16:43

Samantha, Sandra, Sarah, Rebecca, Louise,
Christopher. And I tell you what - I really like the name Gary. And Scott.
Practically every boy I knew in the 1980s was called Simon or Matthew.

MumofSpud · 06/04/2021 16:34

80s-
Nicola / Nikki (with a heart for the i !!)
Claire
Joanne
Samantha
Lisa
Sara /Sarah
Tracey
Rebecca

Firenight · 06/04/2021 16:29

80s school (so late 70s born)

Katherine
Sarah
Clare
Jo
Mark
Matthew
William

CrunchyNutcase · 06/04/2021 15:47

Ryan
Dean
Luke
Ben
Gary
Christopher
Matthew
Philip
Simon

Catherine and variants
Sara-Jane
Sarah
Nicole
Angela
Fleur
Claire / Clare
Rebecca
Abigail
Laura
Rachael
Caroline
Elizabeth
Tracey

HarkAVagrant · 06/04/2021 15:40

Samantha, Sandra, Sarah, Rebecca, Louise,
Christopher. And I tell you what - I really like the name Gary. And Scott.
Practically every boy I knew in the 1980s was called Simon or Matthew.

Edenember · 06/04/2021 15:35

@Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo strange because it’s completely out of step with the rest of my taste. But I can’t fight it. I quite like the idea of family/friends being confused by my choice if I used it.

jessstan2 · 06/04/2021 11:39

I like the name Natalie. My son's friend's sister is called that, it's a lovely name and it suits her (or did, haven't seen her for years and she's in her thirties now).

Crunchymum · 06/04/2021 11:03

Not seen Natalie mentioned?

I went to school with loads of them (I am early 80's born)

Also a fair few Kelly's and Kerry's, Keely's and Samantha's (plus Claire's / Sarah's)

Never knew a Stephanie though, think that is a lovely name.

Beseigedbykillersquirrels · 06/04/2021 10:23

Gemma, Deborah, Nicola, Rachel, Mark, Laura, Claire, Matthew, Richard, Stephen, Anthony, Christopher, Carl/Carly, Belinda, Joanne.

RhubarbFairy · 06/04/2021 00:21

Oh and Simon. Loads of Simon's.

My favourite pairing were best friends called Trevor and Simon, which in the 90s caused much hilarity.

RhubarbFairy · 06/04/2021 00:20

I was born in 1982 and most popular names in my year at school were:

Claire
Sarah
Emma
Louise
Gemma
Rachel

There were a couple of Cheryl/Sheryl's in my year too.

I went to an all girls school but of the boys I knew David was the most popular (I can think of three off the top of my head).
There was also
Shane
Lee
Darren
Ben(jamin)
Chris(topher)
Stuart
Phil(lip)
Stephen/Steven
Neil

@PetraRabbit, you've managed to list mine, DH and both our DCs name Easter Grin

PetraRabbit · 06/04/2021 00:09

Stephanie is beautiful. I love Claire/Clare. Sonia is another one I used to hear a bit when younger but not much now. Rebecca and Rachael I didn't like at the time but now appreciate. I find some of the boys' names of the time harder to love but the most popular were names like Robert, Daniel, Richard, Stephen, Matthew, Thomas, James, Ben, Sam. I find it interesting that Samuel, James, William and Thomas are very popular now, while Richard and Stephen are considered so dated. They're all true classics- nothing new or invented- so it's funny to see the gap in popularity.

There was definitely a class element to names even back then. Names like Kelly, Kerry, Kevin, Kelvin, Lisa, Jason, Karen, Dean, Lee, even to some extent Nicola and Gemma were in a very different social category to some of the others listed here, but also considered 'cool' at the time.

Original poster
Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo · 05/04/2021 22:59

@Edenember

I have an inexplicable fondness for Sarah and I’ve no idea why.
Me too. And Peter.
OP posts:
Santatizer · 05/04/2021 22:50

@PharrellHappy

Jennifer Alison Philippa Sue
Deborah, Annabel, too...
LilacTrees · 05/04/2021 22:20

I like names with the "air" sound in them. Sarah, Mary, Clare

Edenember · 05/04/2021 20:29

I have an inexplicable fondness for Sarah and I’ve no idea why.

Lahlahlah · 05/04/2021 19:28

Names from that time I love (probably because I spent years wishing they were my name !):
Samantha
Leanne
Hayley
Joanna
Kelly
Julia
Suzanne

The "cool" boys names from my era would have been:
Scott
Sean
Dean
Lee
Daniel
Matt

FindingMeno · 05/04/2021 19:16

Mark, Philip, Jason, Richard, Jonathan, Clint, Adrian, Stephen, Robert, Andrew.

FindingMeno · 05/04/2021 19:14

Kayleigh, Samantha, Annette, Julia, Karen, Michelle, Tracy, Catherine, Sharon, Caroline, Paula,
Susan, Alison, Deborah, Maxine, Louise, Amanda, Julie.

LilacTrees · 05/04/2021 19:04

I like Laura too

SellFridges · 05/04/2021 18:55

There were 12 boys in my secondary school form and four were called Richard, three were called John, and two were called Lee. Pretty much sums it up for boys!

A bit the same over the last twenty years with all the Jack’s and Thomas’s. You may as well call your child Boy IMO.

Chilldonaldchill · 05/04/2021 18:51

Clare
Nicola
Julie
Emma
Lisa
Laura

Ian
David
Neil
Stephen
Simon

FunnyWonder · 05/04/2021 18:09

Ha! There was a thread on here about names people irrationally dislike and I was busy thinking about all the names that get on my nerves. They were all from the seventies. In fact, most of them were the names of people I went to school with. I mustn't have liked them much!

Anyway, names I DON'T hate from that era and would love to hear again are:

Deborah
Jacqueline
Jennifer
Christine
Elinor/Eleanor

David
Jonathan
Michael
Adrian

All from the seventies rather than the eighties. I didn't notice what people called their children in the eighties as I was too busy being a very disinterested teenager!

LilacTrees · 05/04/2021 17:04

I like Anne-Marie

rosy71 · 05/04/2021 15:49

Sarah, Nicola, Joanne, Claire, Emma, Lisa, Louise, Karen, Kerry

David, Chris, Stephen, Mark