At what point is it actually cruel to give your child an old woman/ man name

Maude is just awful!

Yes, you're right. Don't know why I think that, maybe from a book

@woodhill

That was possibly Hamble. (Play School)

Was it a rag doll in Play school perhaps or something like that.

So, really, OP, you mean you will voice this opinion to your DC who will then repeat it in school to children with similar names. You will instigate this bullying because you dislike these classic names.

Yeah you picked the wrong names 😂… those are back in fashion because they’re from long enough ago where all the originals are dead/dying (sorry)

Right now it would be cruel unusual to name your child Karen, Sharon, Christine, Kevin, Keith etc…

I literally would not bat an eye lid at the names you’ve written.

Would you prefer Chantelle, Kylie etc? Fanny would be the only name I'd ever rule out as an old name.

For the posters saying ‘better than XYZ name trend I don’t like’ (usually against more modern names), I think that misses the point. There are name trends that people do and don’t like and it’s just a matter of taste, not that one is objectively better than another. You don’t need to make petty digs at names other people have chosen for their children because someone has criticised names that you like. No one can guarantee what their children will think of their names by the time they are old enough to have an opinion. People name their children names that they love in the hope their children love their names too

Maude is grim (makes me think of toads for some reason) but I can’t see anything wrong with the other names that you mentioned even though I wouldn’t choose any of them. I don’t like the name Alice but I don’t think it’s an ugly or embarrassing name, I just don’t like it. It’s a perfectly nice name for a child. So many children now have the names that we thought of as old person names when we were kids that they have become of their generation too. They won’t find them weird at all. I admit I do find it weird meeting women in their 20s called Molly because I always thought of that as an old lady name, then remember teaching lots of little girls called Molly 15-20 years ago called Molly and wondering how it was going to work as they got older because it’s so ‘cutesy’. Still find it weird on that age group but there’s loss of them so it’s not weird to them.

I can't bear frumpy, geriatric names either, but it's up to the parents isn't it. Not my business.

Mary is timeless - literally biblical.

Are you quite old yourself OP? The only person I know to comment negatively about these names are old enough to remember them being the names of their contemporaries or parents.

I'd rather my child be called Arthur, Malcolm, Edith etc than Mason, Aidan, Jayden, Kayden or Okayden like every kid in my area the past 5 years. It comes down to personal taste

I have an “old lady name” it was in the 80’s and it’s still an old lady name now. I used to dislike it, but that’s just because it was more unusual. Now I don’t mind it, and tbh always received compliments about it. It’s a name mentioned a few times in this thread, and is often suggested as an old fashioned name, which it is.

Not everyone is always going to like what you call your kids, such is life, and what I think is terrible , is someone else’s favourite.

Just like clothes names come in and go out of fashion. How is it cruel to follow that fashion like thousands upon thousands of others? Besides which I think Mary is a beautiful name. Maude? Not so much, but each to their own.

I know of an Iris and its not considered an old name. OP you are letting your opinions run away with you. If you don't like a name don't use it but don't criticise the kids who do have them.

Literally ALL of the names you listed are names that I absolutely love...so much so, that both my daughter's have 3 of those names (and they are 29 and 31, so I was obviously ahead of the curve OP 👍)

As someone has already pointed out, the names you picked are not 'old lady' names...they are beautifully, timeless, classical names, that simply drift in and out of fashion 🤷‍♀️

And as others have said...names like Pamela, Barbara, Sharon (my school friends, in fact, so I'll add 'Audrey' into the mix 🤦‍♀️🤣) these are the sort of names that would sound out of step on current class registers!

I've always loved Mary. I'd love Susan and Susie to come back.

im quite liking thse types of names now

in despicable me the girls are called margot agnes and edith i think theyre quite sweet

And why would a child be bullied by another child for their "old fashioned name" unless an adult had told them that it was old fashioned. No child would have a clue.

Sad.

im living for the day we have tracey, debbie and sharons running around again

"Iris" is a lovely name.

*popstar not popular

I am wondering whether OP ever bullied someone because of their name because what a strange thing to think of.

Does that mean popular Mabel should change her name?