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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

OP posts:
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Romilly70 · 18/08/2010 14:43

Don't like:
Brenda
Beryl
Doreen
Noreen
Maureen
Margaret
Doris
Phyllis

do like (from this thread)
Maud
Sybil
Agatha

Cannot understand the attraction of:
Ruby
Olive

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:40

Sarah is biblical Blush it was my late sisters name --30-

PosieParker · 18/08/2010 14:39

No idea, but it was very popular when I was a child...names go in fads.

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:38

I know a dog called Barry. I bet none of you can beat that.

Also, a guinea pig called Alan

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:38

Isnt Sarah victorian?

YunoYurbubson · 18/08/2010 14:38

I know a little baby Reg. Gorgeous.

We can't all call our children James and Lucy you know.

StealthPolarBear · 18/08/2010 14:36

ah :)

PosieParker · 18/08/2010 14:36

"Old lady chic is virtually over" what a wonky thing to say. Perhaps some people just like the names and aren't persuaded by a fad, just like a name that happens to fit in with the times. When I was at school there were loads of Janes, Sarahs, Catherines and Claires.

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:35

how pleasant posieparker but no, I have none of those

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:34

it is funny:)

my husband is in love with johnny marr, so maybe he is in love with being fed up:o

Pfishofplight · 18/08/2010 14:34

Gladys
Ida
Blanche
Barbara
Sheila
Patricia
Alma

PosieParker · 18/08/2010 14:32

I am imagining lots of mothers on this thread with Daniels, Emmas, Emilys and other dull as shite names.

I love

Elsie, Mabel, Maude, Maggie, Gertrude, Ruby (although done to death), Olive, Minnie etc etc.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 18/08/2010 14:29

SPB
J'en ai marre
He plays guitar

hilarious indeed Grin

Tethers - no, not Herts. You can stop fretting Grin

SingingBear · 18/08/2010 14:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

purplefish · 18/08/2010 14:20

Well all I can say is they are waaaay better than some of the names I hear nowadays!

tummytickler · 18/08/2010 14:17

I am a Beryl lover, and a Joy lover, and an Angela lover, an Enid and Ethel lover!
I cannot see why they are hated so much, I really can't!

purplefish · 18/08/2010 14:16

welliemum, you have said exactly what I was going to put Sad

My opinion is that a anme is a name and if you love it, then use it, if not then don't! Most children really grow into their names and 99% of the time, they simply couldn't be called anything else!

My nan is an Iris Violet, which would have been classed as an old lady name when i was younger, but it is pretty!

moragbellingham · 18/08/2010 14:16

Old lady chic is very now, and virtually over.

Potential namers(?) should be thinking of looking back to the forties and fifties and getting in there quick!
Beryl, Joan, Phyllis, Gloria etc.

I'm just trying to put people off as I don't want my DDs names becoming REALLY popular!Grin

StealthPolarBear · 18/08/2010 14:14

pleasde explain the pun

PawMum · 18/08/2010 14:12

I really like old fashioned names so don't find this thread at all offensive.

frogs, my mum was desperate for me to call my third philomena:o it was a boy though...

tethersend · 18/08/2010 14:03

That is actually freaking me out. You weren't at school in hertfordshire, were you?

Headbanger · 18/08/2010 13:59

I do sort of think that folk who only associate those names with old women must have a pretty limited frame of reference Grin. For instance, lots of them (Edith, Ethel etc.) are Anglo Saxon names that remind me of myth & legend & romance etc. Edith makes me think of Edith Wharton. And Edwardian names like Beryl etc. make me think of strong-jawed beautiful women campaigning for women's suffrage whilst still rocking bloomers and a bonnet. Cora is the name of the heroine in The Last of the Mohicans. Blance was John of Gaunt's first wife. Beatrice is a funny, feisty, sexy heroine in Much Ado About Nothing.

People that can only think of their Nanna just don't read enough in my view

Disclaimer: I have chosen an old-fashioned name for my potential baybee, I admit...

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 18/08/2010 13:53

Goodness - do you think we know each other IRL?

We couldn't have been the only teenage girls to have come up with this (ahem) hilarious pun, surely?

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 18/08/2010 13:51

Indeed, tethers Grin

StealthPolarBear · 18/08/2010 13:51

I like Edith - would shorten it to Edie

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