everyone does the cats bum face when I say Barbara...

[ikeepchachachanging]

Name changed for this as will definitely out myself. Announced baby's name as Barbara to honour relative but have got lots of . One person says dd will get bullied.

AIBU to call her this? I think it sounds lovely!

I think it's a lovely name, for a baby, a child and an adult. I love babs too.

Congratulations on your baby girl.

A prod buttock maths teacher is a genteel kick arse one, for those who aren't Terry Pratchett fans!

And I love the name Dorothea too.

It's horrendous. IMO

I don't think anyone would be bullied for being called Barbara.. I think it's cute! Children's names are so diverse these days it's not like when we were at school and it was just the same few names mainly. If you search 'the Persian babe' on YouTube there is a very beautiful, intelligent & successful young British teenager on there who is a blogger. She is named Barbara and I can't imagine she was bullied, she seems happy with her name :)

I can't believe the reactions on this thread!

1. Congratulations on your DD!
2. Barbara is a perfectly nice name; feminine and "balanced", easy to spell and pronounce and carrying an air of easygoing competence.
3. I know half a dozen Barbaras aged between early twenties and early fifties, no kids but then I don't know all that many kids.
4. Certainly in Ireland it wouldn't raise an eyebrow at all. (An Irish spelling for it would be Bairbre if you're interested.)
5. Why would anyone want to choose an ultra-popular name for their child anyway?
6. Who the HELL expresses dislike of a name that has been given already?
7. Some names that seem to win great approval on this forum sound pretty ridiculous to me.

The more I think about it the more I really like the name. Enjoy it - and your lovely baby girl!

I like it! I wouldn't have thought of it but I definitely like it.

There's a v helpful woman in my HR department called Babs who helped me with something difficult to whom I am grateful, so positive association for me. Also makes me think of Barbara Hershey and Barbara Streisand (and the song Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce which is awesome).

Asked my very picky DH who has vetoed my favourite name and he said 'that's so cool'.

Your baby, your choice of name. I can't believe the negative reaction. It makes a refreshing change for me.

End of the day, what you call your baby is your choice, no one else's.

However I would probably make a cats bum face without realising, I can't picture the name with a baby or a little toddler or girl in primary school, I just really don't like it. Again though, that's meaningless as she's not my baby and I'm just a stranger to you! If you love it and are set on it, other peoples opinions are irrelevant.

I'm 27 and had a Barbara at school - Barbie. Everyone thought it was unusual but cool, I'm sure your dd will carry it off fine

I like the name Barbara more and more the more I think about it. It's brilliant!

It's really grown on me too actually - it isn't wet the way a lot of girls' names are, and actually doesn't come with any preconceptions on a child - by which I can't immediately tell what newspaper you read and what brand of coffee you drink, like you can with some names - it's a name your dd can really make her own. Congratulations OP.

I don't see how Barbara is any more dated than Audrey or Nancy, both names which get huge approval on MN.

It's along the same lines as Pauline and Sandra - it's a middle aged name approaching retirement. I do think people need to consider the bullying impact when they name their children - they're the one who has to deal with it, regardless of if you like the name...

Yes but someone is hardly likely be bullied for being called Barbara.

I went to school in the early eighties with teenagers called Elsie, Gertrude and Muriel. No one ever teased them nastily about their names.

Mad thread. The only Barbara I know is in her early 30's and v cool. European.

I think it has all the trademarks of a future trendy name, to be honest - it's old-fashioned, not unpleasing on the ear (Hrotsvitha probably isn't going to enjoy a comeback, for instance), and evokes a kind of 70's cool to me.

Incidentally, to the poster above who believed it means "beautiful stranger", I'm afraid it just means "foreigner" and comes from how the ancient Greeks mimicked foreign speech when they were taking the piss: "BAR BAR BAR BAR BAR BAR!!". Sorry! It's no less pretty a name for that though. I like it.

And seriously, a few years ago people were saying the same of names like Beatrice, Ruby and the suchlike, and now they're perfectly fine. Nobody is getting bullied. Just avoid Hrotsvitha, maybe.

My children have mad old-fashioned names though, so I'm in no position to criticise.

Also, children have the craziest names in schools nowadays, so they simply have no reference any more for "normal" names and "weird" names. The children in both my dd's classes have the maddest range of names among the Anglo-Saxon bunch, and then a wide range of non-English names as well. How on earth would they know to bully Barbara? When they're all called Penelope, Ruby, Olga, Rafi, Oliver, Eithne and Abigail? And they're the normal ones - I'd probably out my school if I named the "weird" ones. All of which have become perfectly normal to my children.

I once overheard a French lady talking to her little girl Barbara and it sounded so glamorous, made me realise it is actually a fabulous name. I am sure it will come back soon - ignore the haters!

I once overheard a French lady talking to her little girl Barbara and it sounded so glamorous, made me realise it is actually a fabulous name. I am sure it will come back soon - ignore the haters!

I know a lovely Barbara, nn Bobbie.
Anyway, it'll hardly stand out these days. I know an Amadea, Neveah, Breeze, Haze, two Angels, (one girl, one boy), Devon, Reggie, Cheyenne, Slade, Rossi, Iria.....
And this is a rural English backwater.

Neveah? Noooo! I thought that was an urban myth!

Apparently about 500 babies born last year were given the name Nevaeh.

Quite seriously, there is a boy at our local primary called Dikshit and the kids don't care.

Surname, that is. But still. It doesn't even register.

In 2010, Nevaeh was the third most popular girls' name in New Mexico.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevaeh