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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

370 replies

ikeepchachachanging · 29/04/2015 16:28

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

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

OP posts:
SmillasSenseOfSnow · 30/04/2015 00:00

I like it because of that adorable young red-haired Barbara in the I Found the Gown TV programme.

SmillasSenseOfSnow · 30/04/2015 00:01

It might be because of the way it sounds in her very heavy Boston accent though. Baahbra.

BeaufortBelle · 30/04/2015 00:01

I'm doing a cats bum face at the unkind comments

Bluepetra · 30/04/2015 00:02

Babs Sad

AvaCrowder · 30/04/2015 00:09

Just like we have had a generation of naming our children after grandparents, at some point their will be a generation of Janet, Sheila, Brenda, Lynn.

If all you have is to take the piss out of somebody's name you have nothing.

BarbaraManatee · 30/04/2015 00:31
Grin
GoringBit · 30/04/2015 00:44

Names go in and out of fashion - my grandmother (born in 1910 or so) hated her middle name, saying it was old-fashioned. It was Emma.

Also, there's so much variety in names now, I think people generally don't bat an eyelid at an unusual name, unless it's very out there.

AliceLidl · 30/04/2015 00:50

I quite like it.

There is a Barbara in a book I've loved since childhood.

If you didn't want Babs you could always go with Bee/Bea.

NormaStits · 30/04/2015 04:28

It's not old enough for the retro resurgence thing yet so it just sounds frumpy and it will be an old lady name to their generation. it makes me think of late 50/esrly 60s women so it will be your child's generations granny name.

I know a Barbara in her early 30s and she hates her name. People shorten it to Barbie which I'd just as bad in her opinion.

I understand your wish to honour a relative but perhaps make it a middle name?

drbadbride · 30/04/2015 06:54

I'm dismayed by the ageism and lack of imagination displayed by many of the posters in this thread. Why is having the same name as an "old lady" such a terrible thing? Do these "old ladies" go round eating children or something?

And why the obsession with only picking "fashionable" names? If you want to mindlessly follow the herd, then good for you, but why look down your nose at folk who opt to do something different?

OP, Barbara is a lovely name.

fatlazymummy · 30/04/2015 07:00

drbadbride what about the posters on here called Barbara who have said they actually hate their name ? There's been quite a few of them. You don't normally get that reaction on name threads, and that would be enough to make me think again.

saffronwblue · 30/04/2015 07:03

I like it and can't imagine how or why your dd would be bullied. She will stand out in her class of Ellies, Evies and Millys. (all nice names but so many around).
Go for it.

Fabulassie · 30/04/2015 07:19

I am taken aback by the strong negative reaction to Barbara. It's a pretty innocuous name. It may not be currently popular, but it's a standard name. I mean, it's not like Kunegunde or Brunhilde or something like that.

Rebelheart · 30/04/2015 07:23

It's awful! I am half a century and it was old-fashioned in my day. I know two 50 year old Barbaras and always thought, what an unfortunate name.

drbadbride · 30/04/2015 07:25

fatlazymummy I've got no problem with people who simply dislike the sound of a name. It's the insistence that something associated with an older generation is automatically inferior or undesirable that hacks me off. And I'm not that old myself!

People's tastes are different. Personally, I think Barbara sounds nice. And I know a couple of people of my generation (30s-40s) called Barbara, so it's really not that unusual.

IHeartKingThistle · 30/04/2015 07:36

FFS she will not get bullied! Children have NO IDEA which names are old fashioned and which are 'cool' and what's more they couldn't give a flying fuck.

Shakirasma · 30/04/2015 08:16

My 12 yo DD goes to school with a Barbara. Nobody bats an eyelid.

Nothing wrong with it all, will she bollocks get bullied!

RingforJeeves · 30/04/2015 08:32

My mother's name is Barbara. She's 66, and she's always hated it passionately. It was seen as a bit of a naff name even when it was at peak popularity when she was young, and in her 66 years it hasn't come back around again even briefly, whereas names like Margaret, Mabel, Ethel etc. have had a little resurgence every decade or two before coming back with a bang.

My mum was teased horribly in her youth, and from then on she's been fighting a constant battle against people calling her Barbie, which she hates even more than Barbara. She always assumed changing her name was too difficult, but she's recently looked into it and found out it's not quite the nightmare she imagined, so she's seriously considering it. At 66. That should tell you how much she loathes it.

Honestly it's an ugly sounding name, and those don't tend to ever become popular again. For every 'old' name that comes back around, there's a half a dozen that have died off forever, and I suspect Barbara is one of those.

I think it would be a fine middle name though. You could still honour your relative, but if your daughter hates the name (which is highly likely, I've never met a Barbara who likes her name) she can avoid using it.

FeijoaSundae · 30/04/2015 08:36

Your DD won't be bullied for being called Barbara. She might be teased a bit, like many children are for a myriad different reasons, but she is extremely unlikely to be bullied. That is a hysterical response.

Barbara is just fine. I am 41 and was given a name a generation ahead of its time. Now, you can't move for little girls with the name, and I much prefer having a fresh-sounding name, instead of being just another Jennifer/Karen/Rachel/Lisa/Nicola.

Fearofsluggies · 30/04/2015 08:38

Haven't had time to read full 8 pages, but know a very cool 30 something called Barbara, she was lovely as a teen and not set back by name at all!

Honestly, look at the trends - tons of kids now called by early 20th c names - Elsie, Lily, Rose, Edith, daisy etc - we keep saying how Audrey, Linda, Hilary, Maureen, Valerie will be the names to keep you ahead of the pack! Already happening in London, know if a v smart baby Thelma.

TooSpotty · 30/04/2015 08:48

I want to know what a Prod Buttock Maths teacher is!

There have also been Barbaras on here who like their names. It hasn't been unanimous at all.

Names are such a personal taste and we should all have the manners to keep our views to ourselves when talking to parents. In this thread, my child's name has been slagged off and also used as an example of a preferable name. Another child's name has been mentioned as the sort of name that babies aren't called any more, and no one has ever blinked at it in real life.

Lots of unfashionable names are perfectly nice names that will be 'rediscovered' by a new generation and just need re-evaluation. I don't personally think there's anything that wrong with the sound of 'Maureen' in itself for example. The 'een/ene' names will probably have their day again.

SpiritOfTheRitz · 30/04/2015 08:48

I don't think she will get bullied. Children don't know that a name is old-fashioned - though the possible connection with Barbie dolls might put me off.

My DD is at school with lots of children whose names I had never heard before - sometimes I even have to ask if it is a boy or a girl she is talking about. But to DD they are perfectly normal, just her friends' names.

Incidentally I have known 2 Barbaras of DD's age. I think one was Polish, not sure about the other, though I know she had a non-British parent. It sounded odd to my ears at first, but then I got used to it.

MsRinky · 30/04/2015 08:59

I have a lovely friend called Barbara, she is 42. Everyone calls her Roo though - her big brother called her Rhubarb when she was little.

grannytomine · 30/04/2015 09:00

My eldest is 40, when I was in hospital when he was born all the other boys were either Karl or Jason with one Timothy. Woman was admitted to the ward, she was quite poorly, husband arrived and told her he had registered the baby as Alfie, she was hysterical. We all sympathised, agreed that she would get off if she killed him. Such a popular name now, when I help out at school there are loads of Alfies and Archies and it always makes me smile when I remember her, by the way she had a Karl and wanted this one to be a Jason.

Wannabe2015 · 30/04/2015 09:04

It's cute and quite cool IMO.

Kudos for choosing what you actually like, rather than just following accepted trends.