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Baby names

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

Original poster

Is this name too old fashioned?

42 replies

ForeverOptimistic · 24/02/2009 13:00

Bertha. Is it due a comeback? Sounds a bit like Martha and Martha is very popular now. Do you think Beth could be used for short?

It is my late grandmothers name.

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Original poster
ForeverOptimistic · 24/02/2009 13:17

I don't think I could use it if it conjures up such negative images for most people. I do love Beth but dh really doesn't like Elizabeth and our surname is too short for Beth on its own. I also really like Elsbeth but I was thinking it sounds a bit made up. I don't want Elspeth as I lisp when I say it.

OP posts:
LinneyTuckandMingMingToo · 24/02/2009 13:16

Bertha is a terrible name, sorry.
There was a cartoon strip called Big and Bertha about a fat girl and her big black dog and that springs to mind.

Flightattendant27 · 24/02/2009 13:16

Oh thanks Ruby

woodenspoon2 · 24/02/2009 13:15

I know what you mean, FO, but I think some names are retrievable and others are not. For me Martha just has a different feel and sound and different associations. Someone was floating "Hilda" a while back and that to me also seemed not worth resuscitating

LuLuBai · 24/02/2009 13:14

ForeverOptimistic I still think that about Florence I'm afraid . Every time another friend announces the birth of little Florence I wince all over again.

It was actually my great grandmother's name, and my grandmother was Edith. Personally I'm not reviving any of my family names.

rubyslippers · 24/02/2009 13:12

Grace was her carer

Grace is a nice name as is Bette ,,,

pinkmagic1 · 24/02/2009 13:12

I don't wont to upset anyone but the name immediately brings to mind a fat, ugly women. Beth is much nicer imho.

Original poster
ForeverOptimistic · 24/02/2009 13:11

Point taken MrsMattie, but did you think the same about names like Martha, Beatrice and Florence too? 10 years ago they would have made me shudder and yet now I know quite a few little girls named Martha, Bee & Flo and I quite like them.

OP posts:
Flightattendant27 · 24/02/2009 13:11

Wasn't that Grace Poole?

MrsMattie · 24/02/2009 13:09

Bertha is vile. Really 'orrid. If it makes a comeback I'll be very surprised.

LuLuBai · 24/02/2009 13:08

ForeverOptimistic if you like it then use it and your DD can make it her own. I was the first time a friend called her DD Martha (after her grandmother too, as it happens) but she is such a great kid and having subsequently met other mini-Marthas I like it.

Woodenspoon is right, - it was used to describe fat girls - "Big Bertha". But any name can be used tomake a nickname from so I don't think that matters. Look at all the generation of Richards who happily called themselves 'Dick' without raising any eyebrows. Most people described as a 'complete dick' were not christened Richard.

OrmIrian · 24/02/2009 13:07

Berthe is nicer I think. Pronounced with a hard t I beleive.

woodenspoon2 · 24/02/2009 13:07

You would have to be fantastically beautiful or cool to make that name work. Mad woman point a good one. Bette?

Original poster
ForeverOptimistic · 24/02/2009 13:06

Hmm... I always think "fat" too even though my grandmother was not. "Big Bertha" rings a bell. Could Beth be used as an everyday name? Not even sure of the meaning of Bertha.

OP posts:
Tinker · 24/02/2009 13:04

Big Bertha and Black Pudding Bertha immediately come to mind.

rubyslippers · 24/02/2009 13:02

it makes me think of the mad woman in the attic from jane eyre

it isn't a pretty name IMVHO

woodenspoon2 · 24/02/2009 13:01

I don't know why but it feels like a fat girl name to me. No disrespect to your grandmother. I don't think it will come back but I suppose Mabel did.

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