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Baby names

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

Original poster

'Boring' or trendy name for DD?

36 replies

starshipsahead · 09/02/2022 10:29

Am torn between picking something beautiful and classic vs different and trendy.

Beautiful/classic names I love:
Alice
Emily
Charlotte nn Lottie

Slightly more different names:
Ottilie nn Ottie
Clementine nn Clem
Adeline nn Ada

I do like the more 'out there' choices but am worried that I've been swayed by current trends, especially with Ottilie, and that these names will be v popular soon and also therefore very dated in the future.

I equally love the classic Alice etc, and know it won't date. Should I worry about people blasting it as 'boring' or is that not the case anymore?

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RupertOscar1999 · 12/02/2022 10:58

I love the names Florence and Adelaide

singleBoysTo2MummiesXX · 11/02/2022 12:23

i love the name clam Wine

Jossbow · 11/02/2022 11:15

Give her classic name and use a trendy form day to day
Elizabeth - Betty/Lizzie/Beth/Liza/ Eli for instance

Enko · 10/02/2022 18:48

I find them all classic names the only one a bit out there is otille but even that is in the normal range.

Personally none of them excites me

midsomermurderess · 10/02/2022 18:38

Alice by miles. Classic, timeless, elegant.

DogsAndGin · 10/02/2022 18:36

I think they’re all classics! Love them all. I’m no use Grin

Pamlar · 10/02/2022 18:11

I love all your names except Adeline and Ada.
I would pick your fav from both lists and then decide when she arrives.
Personally I love Alice and Ottilie

WhoppingBigBackside · 10/02/2022 12:01

Ottile wasn't very popular until recently, so is likely to be a passing trend.

Alice has been consistently popular for decades, so there will generally be more of them in the population.

Pick the name you like, but bear in mind you will need to still like it in 50 years' time

toastofthetown · 10/02/2022 10:37

@RuthW

There are far more Ottilies than Alices if that helps.
I’m not sure where you are but that’s not the case in England and Wales. There were 1432 Alices in 2020 (ranked at 27), in contrast to 399 Ottilies (ranked at 122). While personally I know more young Ottilies than Alices, Alice is clearly significantly more popular nationwide.

OP, I’d just pick a name you love and not worry about dating. Almost all names date to some extent, especially girls names. The only girls name to be consistently in the top 100 since 1904 is Elizabeth. Every other name (even classic names like Emily, Charlotte and Alice) have ebbed and flowed in their popularity. Those names were out of vogue in the 1940-1960s and have been extremely popular in the last 30 years. I would expect in time the usage of these names to drop (especially Emily which already feels tired to me) and be replaced with other classic names which are are lesser used now.

KirstenBlest · 10/02/2022 10:36

Alice - like
Emily - ok
Charlotte nn Lottie - like

Slightly more different names:
Ottilie nn Ottie. Dislike both
Clementine nn Clem - Clementine is too much iof a mouthful and Clem makes me think of Phlegm
Adeline nn Ada. - both ugly and nothingy

FlamingoDust · 10/02/2022 10:23

Love Clementine! Personally I do think of classic names as boring but in the same way people would see my name choices as too 'out there'. Pick a name you love, that you think will suit your daughter through different stages in her life and don't worry about what others think

octoberfarm · 09/02/2022 18:55

Absolutely adore Adeline/Ada (was top of our list of we'd had a girl!), and really like Ottilie too.

LadyLolaRuben · 09/02/2022 18:42

Emily, beautiful, pretty, timeless. Good name at any age/stage of life

WithANameLikeDaniCalifornia · 09/02/2022 18:41

Adeline is alright. The rest are horrible and/or boring.

Kinko · 09/02/2022 18:38

Classic long names like Victoria, Elizabeth Catherine stay popular for a reason - there's a million nicknames which gives a person some freedom on how they want to define themselves.

Vicky, Tori, Liz, Beth, Ellie, Cathy, Cath, etc etc

Clementine - will be shortened to Clem.
Ottilie will be Otti.

Don't focus on the name focus on what the shortened nickname will be and whether you like that.

Bortles · 09/02/2022 18:34

Ottilie - someone once said an old woman carried on a sedan chair on here. Never been able to disassociate it. It's very frilly. Lavender and old lace.

Clementine and Lottie I like.

Luredbyapomegranate · 09/02/2022 18:29

I think it’s more that Alice, Emily and Charlotte have been done to death.

Adeline is lovely and pretty classic - Adelaide and especially Adela are other nice options.

Clementine is nice enough but very of the moment . Ottilie really is faddy and will date.

RuthW · 09/02/2022 17:55

There are far more Ottilies than Alices if that helps.

worriedmummyofboys · 09/02/2022 16:31

Alice or Charlotte for me

katielou987 · 09/02/2022 16:20

I love Alice it's elegant, timeless and very pretty x

scottishnames · 09/02/2022 13:14

Sorry - link to darkgreener graph here:
names.darkgreener.com/#ottil

scottishnames · 09/02/2022 13:12

Adeline is charming. Prefer it to Ada, which is very popular (38 rank in 2020).
Alice, Emily, Charlotte - perfectly nice. Classics for a reason.
Ottilie - suddenly trendy; graph here: Also, potential problems because of different pronunciations - though this may not bother you. forvo.com/search/Ottilie/de/
The original (German) is Ot-tee-lee-yah; the French and Dutch are Ot-tee-lee; the American is something like the German: English language people often say Ott-illy.

CoalCraft · 09/02/2022 12:28

Honestly I see so many "trendy" names that a classic is actually really refreshing.

It was so nice to meet a Baby Georgia and Baby Isobel when DD was born among the sea of much more unusual choices.

pinkgingham · 09/02/2022 12:19

I prefer your classic names. I actually know more Adas than Emilys or Alices!

RavenclawsRoar · 09/02/2022 12:15

I really like Adeline. I'm not a fan of your classic names list - I do like a lot of classic names but those three are a little bland imo.