Is Vivienne going to be faddy?

Makes me think about Pretty Woman straight away, Hollywood prostitute 😬😂

I absolutely love it. Was on my list for my second child (but he was a boy). We’re in Kent / SE London and haven’t heard it here for our DS’s peers (he’s 3) or any of their younger siblings. Only thing that puts me off a little is Viv. Vie is nicer, in my opinion, if it must be shortened, but you’d have to work hard to get people to use it.

I class it with Clara, Margot and Olive .All great names but very on trend in the last 10 years or so. I am not sure how classic it is; I knew a couple or Viviens when I was young , neither had the redundant NE.

Me too.

To my ears Vivi-en sounds very pretentious and Vivi-un or Viv sound the opposite. I'm not keen.

My dd is almost 2 years old, we named her Vivian after my mother and we call her Vivi for short. I don't know any other babies/toddlers by that name and that's what we wanted, an old fashioned underused name.
The other option was Elsie but when we met her, Vivi suited her better.

I don't really hate Tommy or anything, but I know of three kids that are only given the name Tommy (worse in one case, Tommie). Will never understand how that's preferable to a classic name that comes with the choice!

Also, never even made the Vera/Veronica connection before. You learn something new every day!

Cannot believe I had to scroll so far for this! (And it is **the only reason I was reading the full thread)

Thanks! Yep the spelling does make me want to stress the last syllable too.

I'm glad names like Vivian, Lilian, Marian are coming back (actually not sure if Marian's coming back, but it should!) - they're nice names.

Totally take your point about Arlo. Went from the odd random American historical figure to every playgroup, as you say.

Yeah, it's just pronounced the same as Vivian in English. I know what you mean, though, the spelling makes me want to stress the ending.

I know Arlo has old roots, but it went from being virtually unknown to there being one in every playgroup very quickly. It's one of those names that the older generation don't even recognise and you have to explain it to them the first time they come across it. Vivienne's not like that.

I work woth someone who is a Viviane.

I've seen it on here a lot. Seems to be well liked. Never actually met one. To be honest i don't really know how you say it. In French i can kind of guess but in English is it just like Vivian?

Arlo is an older name than people give it credit for. I would guess Vivienne would date a bit but no more than Esme, Evelyn, Elsie, Ivy, Ava etc. I actually don't think there's anything wrong with a name dating though, or signifying that you belong to a particular generation.

I am obviously of a certain age but can't hear the name Vivienne (Vyvyan) without imagining Ade Edmunson's character in The Young Ones!

Sorry!

My name is Vivienne and I’ve never liked it! I’m 62, it almost always gets shortened to Viv. I barely ever hear anyone else called the same name. It always gets misspelt too.

it'll be interesting to see how it's placed when they finally release the last lot of baby name stats.

I’m 48. The only one I’ve ever known with this French spelling.

The biggest issue for me is that I grew up in the 80’s, so in “The Young Ones” era. Primary school kids in North West England at that time did not know about Vivienne Westwood or even Vivien Leigh, despite spelling difference. But all the lads in my brother’s class 2 years ahead knew about Vyvyan from The Young Ones.

Any young Vivienne is freed from that stigma, but I still dislike hearing the full version of my name, and always ask work colleagues, etc not to use it. I know the likes of the dr’s surgery, bank, etc will. I can just about manage that.

I think so on the basis that I know 2 in their 70s, one in her 40s and then three under the age of 2 (and I probably only know about 10 children under the age of 2). Also, I found myself a few years ago thinking "ooohh, if I had a DD now, Vivienne & Susannah would be on my list" when they hadn't been anywhere near it 15 years ago when I had my DC. Something must have triggered that thought!

Looking up the popularity figures, there are fewer than 200 a year being born, and the trend seems to be stagnant. Interestingly, it's by far the most popular of the spelling variations these days.

I haven't heard of a single young Vivienne round here (and we do have plenty of Margot, Iris, Audrey, June type names, though we're not super cutting edge and hip). The youngest Vivienne I've met would be approaching 40 now. My main association is still with Vivienne Westwood. It feels sort of high fashion, no-nonsense. No old-lady frumpiness to it.

Nothing like Arlo, which came out of nowhere. (Random thought - I bet at least one of us on this thread will end up with a son-in-law called Arlo, which feels weird!)

Fab name.....I like Valerie too.

I like it. Also Vanessa. I think Vivienne goes with Honor.

It's in the space of male names claimed as female names and lost to men nowadays along with:

Evelyn
Hilary
Lindsay

Not my fave, lots of people would mispronounce (VIVienne or ViviEN or VivEEEEN) and its a bit chavvy in the schools I have worked in.
But if you like it, please ignore me

I know two Vivienne's and I love the name. It invokes glamour to me.

One is three, she's Vivie and it suits her to a T.

Its lovely. Arlo is a terrible name.

I only know of one Vivienne, that is my friends little girl, I would say it's quite rare tbh

There's a 6yo VIvienne in my sons class. She's gets called VIvi

A lovely name, wouldn't consider it faddy. I see it as similar in style to Genevieve and Madeleine. Very feminine and strong. Definitely not like Patricia or Barbara.

What is vowely-liquidy? 🤔