'Dated' names

Better to have a name which dates you correctly than one which dates you as twenty years older than you actually are - speaking from experience as an 80s Helen.

Aurelia is on its way up so if you’re going to use it now is the time. Don’t use a very popular name on its way back down. I wouldn’t name a 2022 baby Jack or Grace for this reason.

My name seems to be given to about 10-20 babies every year in the whole of England and Wales.

The downside as a child was that I was the only one, so if I got in trouble I couldn't say it was one of the other Fays

@toastofthetown thanks for that link- 4 babies in 2019 with my name - can confirm it hasn’t had a resurgence yet 😂😂

@Gwenhwyfar my name is old fashioned and definitely never coming back! Thanks Mum (not).

@MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake
Seems to be a bit of a love/hate kind of name. The people in my life that like the name seem to really love it but there have been a few 'what were you thinking' comments. My MIL for example enjoyed bringing up how much she hates it all through my pregnancy

Wow, that is leftfield, @Sindel, especially if you're in the UK. I know it's quite a popular name in the US so wouldn't stand out so much there. I have to say if I would be surprised to be introduced to baby Trevor. I don't think I consider it an 'old man' name though, more a 50 something's name.

You can never trust a Nigel. More shifty spiv than true geek.

Maybe not every name will come back into fashion but most do. Some die out and are back in 50 years, others take less time or more time. My point being that I always thought 'datedness' seemed like a strange reason to not choose a name.

I had my first child a few months ago and named him Trevor. I'm sure some will be rolling there eyes at me on here because it is still considered an 'old man name' and while it may be true that most Trevors alive right now are in their 60s I love it because it's not popular or too weird and it suits him. DP and I both love it.

I mean the name is bound to come back at some point so maybe I can be the trendsetter

I think Nigel could come back, I've met other geeky type named babies recently. Like Rupert, Ralph, Edmund, Benjamin.

I have a dated name that ties me to the early 80s and I don't honestly care. However, I have chosen more classic timeless names for my children because that's my taste.

Depends what you like. If you don't care that everyone else thinks the same thing as you at the same time and can reconcile with the fact that inevitably your choice has been influenced by fashion trends and other people's opinions then that's fine, no big deal

Susan
Tracey
Adele
Claire
Sharon
Gary
Nigel

Do they? If you look at the list of top names since 1904 there are quite a few that might not come back any time soon

Looking at the top 10 names for boys and girls for 1904 all of them have come round.

Looking the next 90 names there are about a handful that I don't know anyone under 50 or even 80 with that name e.g. Ethel, Hilda.

I have a popular 80's Name and I'm not bothered by it. Haven't really met loads of them, although there's always one around somewhere. Now I work in an international company, so not everyone is English so names matter less as the tree are some very "dated" names the Chinese give themselves as their English name. Sometimes people have real trouble with my name if they aren't European, but I can't say I think about it much.

Aurelia = or ray liah
I’m glad you clarified that as to my mind it kept thinking Oral ear

@SalsaLove pop groups/artists around in the 80s and 90s realise they can only make money from come back tours, then if they are successful start doing proper touring. I've been to some concerts and I'm surprised at the number of teens to 30-somethings who are also there.

Then again my 3 year old said recently her favourite artist is someone who is about 70.

All name s come back into fashion at some point and all become unfashionable at some point.

Do they? If you look at the list of top names since 1904 there are quite a few that might not come back any time soon

[quote RedWingBoots]@SalsaLove gosh didn't know you were so young. They were on tour in the UK in 2016. [/quote]
Oh wow. I saw them in the 80s and thought I stood a chance with Simon LeBon. Still can’t believe he married that gorgeous model instead of impossibly chic me. 🤷‍♀️

You can guess my age to within about four years by my name, and it was incredibly overused in a time and place that had a far smaller 'naming pool' than now, which meant that I shared it with large numbers of my cohort, and a good chunk of the rest of us were called a very similar name (same first syllable of two) that people often confuse with it. That was weirdly depressing and felt very generic.

It is, however, definitely true that a 'dated name' is only a name that hasn't had long enough to cycle back into fashion yet -- it's always interesting to see the often ill-disguised horror of grandparents at the names their grandchildren are given, because, being a generation older, they are at a different point in the naming cycle, and more likely to remember people of their parents and grandparents' generation called by those names.

I admit that I will be secretly aghast when the cycle turns and babies are being called Bernard, Nigel, Gary etc.

@SalsaLove gosh didn't know you were so young. They were on tour in the UK in 2016.

I wouldn't worry about a name being dated tbh All name s come back into fashion at some point and all become unfashionable at some point. No matter what name you pick it's highly likely that there will come a time in LOs life where its fashionable and then a time where its not.

Only thing I'm not a huge fan of is names that are cutesy for a baby but ridiculous for an adult. Think Jamie Oliver naming his son Buddy Bear good thing he's the son of a celebrity and will never have to work because imagine job interviews with that name

[quote RedWingBoots]@SalsaLove you are obviously a chic French woman whose age no-one can work out.[/quote]
Until I mention that my first concert was Duran Duran 😆

I know a Cornelius too.

@Bettybantz, the names you list are classic names. Other names popular at that time like Leeanne, Danielle, Michelle and Joanne don't sound as nice now as they might have done then.