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 couldnt imagine calling my DD that, it sounds too old fashioned for my taste. Why not use it as a middle name.

I've been watching Gotham recently and I was really struck by how odd Barbara seems on Jim Gordon's 30 year old wife.

I think it's cute.

my mum is a Barbara.

people call her "Bah". which I think is sweet.

she's also the loveliest woman in the whole wide world and it's a beautiful name and I'm not the slightest bit biased.

Could you use it as a middle name? My mum died a few years ago, and if I'd had a girl, I'd have liked to use her name, but it's a bit old fashioned and neither I nor my DP like it. So we compromised and decided to use it as a middle name. Then I had a boy anyway!

I think it's quite pretty. Given the weird made up shit people are calling their kids I can't imagine bullying for names is much of a thing anymore.

I think my resting bitch face would automatically contort into cats bum face at this, I personally don't like it but would try my best not to let on.

My friend was called Barbara and changed her name by deed poll as soon as she left home.
She was bullied at school and also hated the meaning of the name which was barbarian, she couldn't understand why her parents wanted to name a baby that.

One of the characters in Marvel Agents of Shield is called Barbara, but it took me ages to realise as they use Bobbie as a nickname.

DD is in the nursery at an international school - we are expats - and there is a 3yo Barbara in her class.

My middle name is Barbara. After my mum. I hated it when I was younger, cherish it now my mum is no longer with us, but joke that it is manly (barb... Said with a low tone usually).

Nicknames aren't great, often giving off 'carry on' connotations, and doesn't sound as pretty/flowery in my opinion as some other old fashioned names.

But then again my daughter's middle name is Mabel and I've had similar reactions to you about it, but at least it's only a middle name.

At the end of the day if you like it, it's your choice, but I'd vote for middle name rather than first name.

Tiredofsleep Aw FWIW I think Mabel is a gorgeous sweet name!

If you are having second thoughts OP, think of it as a middle name, then you get best of both worlds, baby has own identity through own name, but still in honour of a relative?

I would think of a Barbara as slightly older than my parents.

She also will get, I can thoroughly assure you, throughout school boys saying brightly as though it's a totally new idea "did you know you can say you name as "Baa- Bra do you get it... Bra!!" which is boring from the second time of telling. If she's un lucky enough to meet anyone like my bil she'll still be hearing that from people in their 40s.

I think my issue is that, to me, it isn't a child's name and I don't like the abreviations. Babs, Barb, Barbie, at all. I don't like names that scream either "baby name" or "not a baby name" iyswim.

I like Sylvia though-there's a Sylva in ds's class, which I also like.

Sorry but I think it's awful. As a middle names maybe if you want to honour someone but not as a first name. It's as bad as Gladys or Mavis. It's not pretty, it's quite harsh sounding and 'Babs' is just as bad.

I'm not a fan of 'Granny chic'.

Barbarian was just ancient Greek for foreigner, wasn't it? That's not a terrible name origin.

It's about a generation ahead of the naming curve -- when your DD has children all of her friends will be naming their daughters Barbara because it will be old enough to count as "vintage" rather than "dated". If I met a Barbara I'd expect her to be in the 55-75 age range.

So there's absolutely nothing wrong with the name, but people will have trouble separating it from the connotations it has for them. Is that a problem? That's for you to decide, thinking about what you want for your DD.

It's unusual these days but will no doubt be very fashionable again at some stage in the next 30 years.

It's a proper name and it's one you love so tell the cat's bum brigade to bum off.

It's a sort of solid, middle-class name. Sorry if that puts you off! I thnk of Barbara Good from the sitcom, the Good Life , it's very sweet. (Channelling Felicity Kendall) Stuff from the 70s and 80s is coming back into fashion. Apparently.

It makes me think of the Royle family (sorry!) - otherwise it's fine, far worse names out there.

I really like it, people are fucking rude if they can't hide their feelings when telling them your baby's name.

Again, assuming you want honest response I don't like it. It is a 1940s/1950s name like christine, susan, patricia, janet. Its just not very pretty as a name.

Sorry I too think it's just too old for a baby. Babs sounds even worse.

It's the kind of name I can imagine a North London hipster couple giving their daughter. They'd also have a son called Clive.

And whatever happens in hipster land then filters down to the slightly less hip.

Agree it IS a proper name ,unlike one i was reading about on a thread the other day that came from Game of Thrones which sounded not only extremely daft but also difficult to say AND spell

I don't think for a moment she'll be badly bullied. Honestly, the names in the schools round here are SO diverse that it just doesn't happen like it used to. And I think it's probably actually too old-fashioned to resonate in any way with little kids as a funny name. If you like it, you should go for it. It's not an awful name at all.