What happened to normal conventional names?

I have a total soft spot for the honour names. I wanted Clemency if DS1 was a girl.

I went to school with names like Hannah, Gemma, Rebecca, Louise, Sarah, Kate. You hardly hear these now! I agree with you op- it has got a bit ridiculous.

I was very surprised to meet an 8 month old Peter last week. It's never been a name I gave much consideration to, but it was really lovely! His mum joked she wanted to guarantee he'd be the only one in the class- except for teachers!

When my DCs were born everyone seemed to be called Josh, or Hugo or Isla. All lovely names and while I thought 'Isla' was out there at the time, it's pretty mainstream now.

I think I would raise my eyebrows at 'Charm' but it would grow on me.

You clearly aren’t up with current names, no. Kyle was extremely popular throughout the 90s (inside the top 40) before dropping sharply in popularity in the early 2000s, so there are enormous numbers of adult Kyles around, but vanishingly few babies. Jenna has never been a popular name.

Slightly off topic but I don't think I have met a Kylie under the age of 50. It's a pretty common name for Australian women of a certain age. I have met quite a few. My neighbour in the UK fits the demographic perfectly.

Well, not really. The child needs to like it too eventually!

I didn't say Kylie.

Thanks, yes I did mean Kyle. I haven't met a Kyle in person, I am sure a Kyle can be a lovely person..It's just not a traditional English man's name to my mind.

I’m all for unusual names. I can’t think of anything worse then naming my child Jack, Oliver, Charlotte or something equally boring

To be fair, I have only ever met two Kyles, both over thirty. There does seem to be considerably less variety in boys names than in girls names. I would say that most of the men I know are called either David, Matthew, Joshua, Adam, James, Patrick, Stephen, Michael or John. There is a bit more diversity in the baby groups I attend, but James is still by some way the most popular, , as it was in my class at school too. I would have thought it might have changed in the intervening years but, at least in our area, apparently not.

Never has a truer comment been posted. I’m genuinely shocked to see so many people saying they prefer charm to George or Charlotte.

Anyone who frequents the name board knows that saying you’d name your child something like charm is usually met with horror on here

Interesting. I’m 25 and went to school with a lot of Kyle’s.
I don’t think I’ve met a Kyle OVER the age of 30 though

I assume that was a typo given the pairing with Jenna, also perhaps invoking a little unconscious snobbery about the kind of chav parents who name their kids after vacuous celebrities! Although, I have never met anyone under the age of thirty called Kyle either, if that helps. As far as I am aware, the fashion for 'old lady' names for baby girls has been going strong for about three decades now so the idea that most people give their babies 'wacky' names these days, unlike in the good old days, seems pretty bizarre to me. If you looked at a class register taken from any point in the last twenty years I think you would see a plethora of Olivias, Lilys, Mabels, Amelias and graces but very few Princess Glitter Unicorns or whatever certain posters on MN seem to think these thoughtless modern mums are all naming their babies now!

Charmaine?

She said Kyle.

I have never actually met a Kylie in real life, of any age and it has never featured on the list of top 100 baby names in the UK, so I am unsure where you got the idea that it had ever been a common UK baby girl name, let alone recently!

@Everlore ah I'm not up with the names people are choosing. I thought it was all Kyle and Jenna these days so Mabel and Elsie are really lovely to my ears.

Given that, by far the most common girls' names in our baby groups are Mabel and Elsie, I think you have your wish.

Isn't that the name of toilet rolls?.

Yes I wish we could go.back to the names from a hundred years ago. They were far nicer.

most random names are actually lovely and normal after a bit of time getting used to them. The ones I have a problem with are “blue’ which isn’t a great name anyway: but then it’s spelled ‘bleu’ like French word. No one is going to read that kids name correctly their entire life , why do that to a child?

I have a 17-month old and, in the baby groups I attend, the vast majority of the babies have what I consider pretty 'traditional names. James is by some distance the most common boy's name we come across and Mabel, Elsie or Grace by far the most common girl's names, all lovely but hardly unconventional! I can only speak for the area we live in but I do not think that my sample group is less representative than yours or could be used to argue that people all give their kids such 'old-fashioned' names these days any more than one could extrapolate from your friends' name choices that everyone is giving their kids wacky names now.
i am a firm believer that, if you love a name, whether that be James or Jupiter, you should use it, regardless of what other people think and that asking for opinions from anyone, even family and close friends, is always a bad idea. There is no name which will be universally popular, and it cannot be wrong to give your precious baby a name you have chosen with care and love, even if someone else turns up their nose at it! I would have advised your friend not to announce the name until their beautiful baby is here and the name is a fait accomplis. By that time people are usually too polite to comment negatively and they will learn to love the name because it belongs to your perfect little one!

Charm reminds me of toilet rolls

I thought of my friend Charmaine.

Hahahahahaha 🤣🤣🤣

Im sorry but I feel the opposite if
we are going to sneer at more way out names I internally eye roll at yet another Olivia / Eve / Amelia / Emily/ Isabel. Run of the mill and nothing special ruined by over use. Boring.