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Baby names

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

Original poster

Doreen

32 replies

Kawaiiko · 06/11/2009 18:25

Not pg yet but wanted to know - is Doreen among the older names that are making a comeback?

It's the middle name of my dearly beloved and sadly missed grandmother. I used to think it was awful, but I'm warming to it.

It was her middle name but she used it in preference to her first name, Eda. I like Eda and always thought I might use that, but it would be a bit odd when she hated it so much!

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MrsVik · 08/11/2009 16:04

I'd use it as a middle name so you can honour your grandmother (sorry for your loss, by the way), but as a first name I'd call it adventurous.

Dory is quite sweet however! Maybe you could have Doreen on the birth certificate and call her Dory all the time.

Good luck with TTC!

skidoodle · 08/11/2009 02:34

This is why God invented second names.

nappyaddict · 08/11/2009 01:38

I like Edie, Eda, Ada etc.

Not keen on Doreen but like Theadora and Dorothea.

hester · 08/11/2009 00:11

OH yes, I love Dorcas.

moshchops · 08/11/2009 00:05

I prefer Dorcas myself

muminthemiddle · 07/11/2009 23:59

Personally I do not like Doreen. At a push you could you it for a middle name but with a more modern/younger sounding first name.

mathanxiety · 07/11/2009 22:14

No, it doesn't seem to be on the radar at all. Would you consider Dora (despite the chirpy little explorer) or Thoedora? Edie is back though, and very nice, imo.

discountmum · 07/11/2009 16:14

No.

MrsWoolf · 07/11/2009 15:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Kawaiiko · 07/11/2009 13:28

Hmm, I guess I expected a reaction like this It's not really my cup of tea either, but I really would like to remember her. A girl couldn't ask for a better Grandma

I like the Dory/Dorie suggestion, hester, thanks for that. It's very sweet. I think it's also pronounce-able (and doesn't mean anything awful) in Japanese too, which a plus as dh is Japanese.

Thanks for the support anyway, tethersend, but I think you were the only positive reaction! I would be said to give that name to a future dd and then have her hate it, especially as she will never be able to know first-hand just how super-duper her Great-gran was.

Have to agree with becklespeckle about not going with Eda, though. It's not a name that anyone in the family associates with her - it was common knowledge that she hated it!

Now, just got to wait a couple of months till we're ready to start properly trying! Thank you for all the kind thoughts - seen some quite harsh comments on other threads in this topic so I'm quite touched.

OP posts:
duchesse · 07/11/2009 11:37

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! How about Dora as a less dated compromise?

PuppyMonkey · 07/11/2009 11:31

No-one else will have it cos it is bloody awful. Sorry, no disrepect to your relative and all that, I'm sure she was lovely. It is not on its way back. It is the name of someone who works in the canteen.

MamaLazarou · 07/11/2009 11:25

This granny-name revival has gone TOO FAR!

TheBlairSnitchProject · 07/11/2009 09:44

It's awful. Sorry

My great Aunt is a Doreen (pronounced Dur-eeen cause I come from Yorkshire) and i've always hated it

tethersend · 07/11/2009 09:39

Love love love Doreen!!!!

And no-one else will have it (unlike Ruby etc)

It means something to you, no other babies will have it, it's not a made up name- it's perfect

doubleexpresso · 07/11/2009 09:29

Sometimes it can be pronounced 'Dreen' iyswim. Don't like it either way, but nice to call baby after much loved grandmother. Perhaps middle name, or Reenie ?!

blithedance · 07/11/2009 00:08

How about Doris? It's near enough to be "named after" and I think it's prettier, like Charis.

confuseddoiordonti · 07/11/2009 00:06

Lovely thought behind it, naming your possible DD after your grandmother, but I think Doreen is horrid - sorry! I quite like Dory though, good suggestion hester!
Good luck with the baby making though x

hester · 07/11/2009 00:02

PS. Best of luck getting pg!

hester · 07/11/2009 00:01

I like Eda, Ada and Edie - a lot.

Doreen is not great, but could you shorten it? Dorie/Dory is sweet. Wasn't there a musician/singer called Dory Previn, married at one time to Andre Previn?

becklespeckle · 06/11/2009 23:56

Its fine for a middle name but I wouldn't use it for a first name, not sure it is on its way back in yet.

I like Eda much better though but I know what you mean about using a name she hated, my lovely Gran hated her name (Emily) which I love and I really wanted it for DD but it did seem odd to use a name she didn't like so I didn't in the end.

katnkittens · 06/11/2009 23:36

No!!! 'Tis my MILs name. As much as I love my MIL, it is still a name I very much associate with old ladies. I can't see anything 'pretty' about it at all, sorry.

weepootle · 06/11/2009 19:56

No!

MaggieMonday · 06/11/2009 19:55

Doreen not Victorian I have just realised. My g&t stronger than I thought.

MaggieMonday · 06/11/2009 19:54

MrsWoolf, What else does your Oxford say about names and class from this era. TO me, all Victorian names are just Victorian names, but to my Mum's generation they are still either 'one' or the 'other' iykwim. It's an interesting subject, but there's the risk of being labelled a chavhunter. Or something like that. It's interesting imo.

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