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Baby names

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

Original poster

"Old Lady" names which should never see the light of day ever again

385 replies

MrsSchadenfreude · 11/03/2010 21:21

In my opinion. I give you:

Ethel
Enid
Edna
Doris
Maud(e)
Hilda
Ena
Elsie
Gladys

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Lovecat · 11/03/2010 23:36

Beryl
Pearl
Ruby
Doris
Ena
Nora
Ada
Hilda
Maude (sorry, but vomit vomit vomit!)
Ethel
Agnes
Nancy
Margaret
Gladys
Beatrice
Hortense
Lilian (I like Lily, funnily enough, but not Lilian!)
Rosemary
Doreen
Gwynne
Bernice

And yes to the poster who said about boys names girlified - I would hate to be born female into the Lawson family, it seems to be their tradition to feminise the father's name for the daughter - Nigella, Domenica - yuk!

ScreaminEagle · 11/03/2010 23:24

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houseworkhater · 11/03/2010 23:14

You could argue that a lot of names were once considered "old lady" names.
I remember being aghast when a friend chose the (at the time) tebbibly old lady name of Emily!!! Now it is seen as very acceptable.

edam · 11/03/2010 23:05

I've got a friend called Thelma. Now there's a name you don't hear very often these days. No idea what her parents were thinking, given she's at least 40 years younger than any other Thelmas I've ever heard of.

Megletwantsittobesummer · 11/03/2010 23:00

I love old lady names. Especially Myrtle .

TheCatAteMyGymsuit · 11/03/2010 22:57

Some of these are cute. Others, not so.

Maude - sophisticated, charming.

Elsie - what's not to love? (if you ever read what Katie Did).

Joan, Jean: I predict a revival (Joan from Mad men), Jean Louise (Finch) in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Seberg = chic

Dorothy - smart and sassy a la Parker & Fields.

Biggest comeback imo will be Enid Blyton stylee revival of Dick, Anne, John, Peter (sensible) type names.
Nice topic but why do I even give a fuck? Am not having any more kids .

thesecondcoming · 11/03/2010 22:57

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MaisietheMorningsideCat · 11/03/2010 22:56

Agnes
Senga (who'd have thought you could make an already awful name even more awful simply by reversing it)
Euphemia
Gladys
Maureen
Margot (always that awful Leadbetter woman, despite what anyone says)

Clary · 11/03/2010 22:53

I rather like Maud. And Ethel. DOn't know any tho so maybe I'm alone

I love Agnes and Mabel but no-one else does (except you Mrsvwoolf!) so guess it's just as well DS2 wasn't DD2 (as a former colleague remarked! ) seeker and piscesmoon you have failed me!

Phyllis is my MiL's name and she dislikes it so much she always uses her middle name. I don't mind it actually.

allyfe · 11/03/2010 22:46

Thought of another - Hillary.

Ivykaty44 · 11/03/2010 22:45

thesecondcomings dp has great taste along with thesecondcoming having even better taste in names two of those names are on my dd2 birth certificate

tortoiseonthehalfshell · 11/03/2010 22:45

I know loads of little Noras, it's really fashionable amongst the American yupster set.

Intrigued that you all hate Phyllis. Was my deceased grandmother's name, I think it's soft and pretty. Like Phoebe.

Ivy is great. I'm culling ideas from this list for HDD2, to be honest.

piscesmoon · 11/03/2010 22:45

I know a Hilda my age and it sounds really odd when she introduces herself-I would find it an embarrassment.

piscesmoon · 11/03/2010 22:44

Elizabeth is in every generation-it can't make a comeback-it has never gone away!

angelene · 11/03/2010 22:43

Re Joan as a middle name, there is the very very cool Polly Jean Harvey which is nearly the same

I would have said Reenie but I saw a card for a Reenie on CBeebies the other day!

edam · 11/03/2010 22:43

I quite like old lady names. My great-aunt was called Hilda and she was fab. I saw her just before she died and she said 'I've had a lovely life with lots of naughty fun and now I'm ready to go and meet all the people I love that went before me'. She only gave up going out dancing every week at the age of 95!

Mind you, have to admit she hated her name and changed it to Penny whens she finally had to go into an old peoples' home.

TheCrackFox · 11/03/2010 22:42

I think Elizabeth is going to make a massive comeback.

thesecondcoming · 11/03/2010 22:42

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piscesmoon · 11/03/2010 22:41

Ivy is another one that seems to be making a comeback and is on my list.
Mary is a classic and so is Jane and Ann, or Anne.

allyfe · 11/03/2010 22:40

I also like Maude! Enid reminds me of the worst witch, so I find it hard to think of anything else. My gran was Violet and HATED it, and that is getting rather popular, and her sister was Elspeth - known as Elsie.

I'd say Barbara, and i agree with some of the others like Bertha, Norma, Edwina etc.

Ivykaty44 · 11/03/2010 22:39

Jane and Joan are both going to make a comeback along with Mary-Jane and Mary-Ann

piscesmoon · 11/03/2010 22:37

I might like them better if the old ladies themselves had ever liked them. I know an Elsie and a Freda who have always loathed them-the Elsie so much so that she never tells anyone her name and goes by a nickname.

Ivykaty44 · 11/03/2010 22:36

Pearl - its not so much the name as I alway think pearls a stripper

I really like Winnie and Dotty

and Ivy hich is really 1920's

TheCrackFox · 11/03/2010 22:34

Norma

Melody4 · 11/03/2010 22:30

I used to know a little girl called Dorothy with dark plaited hair and she was just like a Dorothy. I think it is a lovely name!

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