Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

old man/old lady names - which are nice and which are duff?

51 replies

oysterpots · 20/05/2009 10:17

Seems like the names of our grandparents' generation are coming back in fashion but judging by some of the threads on here people have really strong opinions on the names that are lovely and those that really shouldn't be revived.

Which do you love and which do you hate? I'm a big fan of lots of them - Arthur, Violet, Percy - but I'm not so keen on some of the harder sounding names, like Ivy, Reg...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
pippylongstockings · 20/05/2009 22:03

My nephew is called Wilfred after his grandfather - it was bone of contention as my DP and I chose it as a name before we had kids and when said nephew was born he was going to be called Elliot but then 3 weeks later they stole our name!!!

Our DS1 is called Hector.

My grandad is called Walter but DP wouldn't go for it for DS2 - so we have a Woodrow, which I find a bit american really but stuck with it now

I love Olive as a girls name.

lottiejenkins · 20/05/2009 21:56

Mrsmcdreamy when i was pregnant with my ds i told my husband i wanted a "death column name" he was horrified until i explained what i meant! My ds is a "Wilfred" partly after Wilfred Owen and partly because we wanted an unusual name!
The really weird thing was that we didnt find out that Wilf was deaf till he was two and a quarter... the first guy my late dh worked for was a deaf man called......................Wilfred!

scotagm · 20/05/2009 21:41

Ds is Archie and now secretly coveting a Stanley (never did i think I would want this!) Also taken with Seth and Ellis (my grandads name). Boys names are fab.

Girls - who would have thought it but now have a secret liking for Ethel - but also Lola - so who knows.

TheCrackFox · 20/05/2009 21:01

Girls

Betty
Iris
Violet
Sylvia

Boys

Stanley
Sidney
Buster

Binkster · 20/05/2009 20:53

Pearl is lovely too. And I'm determined to have a baby 'Walt' one day, but my OH doesn't like it!

tummytickler · 20/05/2009 20:45

Oh i have an Amos aswell as a Pearl and Iris - i didnt know he was 'old man cool' .

I have thought of a couple more that i forgot to add above:

Gwendolen
Morag

halia · 20/05/2009 19:45

Girls: Mabel, Ada, Freda, Margaret (NN Peggy, Margot or Madge)
Boys: Amos, Seth, Hector, Alfred,

btw nellie is nn for Eleanor or Helen

try 1920's - 1940's books for inspiration for names.

BottySpottom · 20/05/2009 19:30

Tempted to have another boy just to call him Herbie Hector

LtEveDallas · 20/05/2009 19:29

Love Martha, Mabel, Maude, Enid, Edith, Ada
also Seth, Saul, Amos, Donald, Dennis

(strangely had a conversation tonight with my 77 yr old mum and she HATES all of them...... but then she likes Claire, Carole, Stephanie, Donna, Brenda, Valerie, Brendon, David and Bill - all of which I think of as 70s names and dont like!)

piscesmoon · 20/05/2009 19:23

I can't think of any that I like-except Martha.

mrsmcdreamy · 20/05/2009 19:14

Like:

Ruby (Granny-in-law)
Nellie nn. Nel

Love:

Audrey
Violet
Dorothy

Love:

Wilfred nn. Wilf

I know it's gruesome, but I love trawling the death notices in the papers for lovely name inspiration

wastingmyeducation · 20/05/2009 17:42

Ooh, Edith.

tummytickler · 20/05/2009 17:32

I love these names. We have an iris and Pearl, and for dc5 we like

Hilda
Jean
Winifred
Dorothy
Joan
Peggy
Mary
Myrtle
Ethel
ENid
Margot
Mildred
Agn es
Alma
Frieda
Bess
Phyllis

Loads more i will have to find my list!

For a boy we love
Cedric
Percy
herbert
Walter
Desmond

sparklycheerymummy · 20/05/2009 15:02

yes I am not sure about hilda. Violet - I love!!

Original poster
oysterpots · 20/05/2009 15:01

Hector - good, Hilda - BAD

I like Freda too, but it may just be my love of Frida Kahlo...

OP posts:
nooki · 20/05/2009 14:54

I know a baby Violet and a baby Quentin - both needed some 'getting used to', but they've grown on me, actually.

dizzydixies · 20/05/2009 14:34

I love

Violet
Beatrice
isa
Pearl

Hector
Arthur nn Art
Hugo
Herbert nn Herb/Herbie

Lio · 20/05/2009 14:07

Love Joan, can't see Olive coming back.

sparklycheerymummy · 20/05/2009 13:59

I know a baby Hilda...... maybe it will grow on me.

wastingmyeducation · 20/05/2009 13:52

Ooh, I love Iris but would be very silly with our sn.

Peggy is a nickname. For Margaret I think.

Binkster, I love Clement! I might sneak it in as a middle name if we ever have another boy.

I like Lily and Olive, but Lily is incredibly popular and any girl of this generation called Olive is going to spend all her time correcting people calling her Olivia. Like Emily's of my generation being called Emma.

TitsalinaBumsquash · 20/05/2009 13:51

I love,

Delilah
Violet
Grace
Rose

Charlie/Charles
George

gloomysue · 20/05/2009 13:51

My Grandma and her sisters were Geraldine, Freda, Dorothy and Joan which I think are all great names.

bluebump · 20/05/2009 13:47

I like Iris but then my nan is called that. I was going to be a Martha too oysterpots.

nooki · 20/05/2009 11:58

For boys I love

Arthur
Quentin

For girls I love

Violet
Mary
Martha

Original poster
oysterpots · 20/05/2009 10:25

Ooh, Peggy's great! I like Dorothy too, nn Dot or Dolly. And Pearl. And I was going to be Martha... wish I had!

Cor, those boys names are lovely Binkster.

OP posts: