To think Barbara is a lovely name.

[Misscromwellrocks]

A friend's daughter has just called her new daughter Barbara. A few people have wrinkled their noses, but I think it's a lovely vintage Enid Blytonish name.

AIBU?

I like it...it's a strong name.
My favourite vintage names are Ada, Valerie, Pamela, Edith and Joan.

The thing is we are babues for such a short amount of time and adults for most of pur lives so why not choose a grown up name?
There are some very cutsie names that sound great on a baby...but not so much on a 20 year old.
Old sounding names only sound old as they are retro

Makes me think of Barbara/Brabera in Flight of the Conchords. I think it's a name of a 50/60 yr old but not ready to return...if ever.

I like it. I know two baby and toddler Barbaras.

I really like it.

Try having it as a surname, very tedious, if you grow up in the U.K., but it's a quite common Maltese surname.

I am consequently very biased against it, sorry.

I bet if mumsnet had been around 40 years ago some posters on here would have been adamant that names like Violet, Maisie, Betty and Margo would never see the light of day again but they're all creeping back in amongst a younger generation.

Give it another thirty years and the playgrounds will probably be full of Gwens and Janets and Angela's while the Julie's and Vickys and Emma's are all in nursing homes.

My favourite ever colleague was called Barbara, so I like it because of her. But I don't think it is in the same geeky-cool category as Jean or Audrey or even Maggie (bit Mainstream)

For those saying Barbara is old fashioned, the name of a fat old woman or the name of the woman who organised the church jumble sale in 1978 I give you model Barbara Palvin.

I met 5 year old twins on holiday called Hilary and Judith. They were gorgeous.

My cousin has a two year old called Harold.

Wouldn't be my choice.

Definitely associated with older women.

Barbarella anyone😊

But in years to come all the Amys, Mias etc will be old woman names. I don't get why that's bad.
A bit ageist to say the least.
I can remember laughing as a young child when I disovered Granny's name was Winifred. But that was before the internet which has made it obvious that name popularity goes in cycles.
All the Storms, Poppys, Snows will be old and wrinkly eventually. We all age, if we survive long enough.

I know of toddlers Annette and Ian.

To me, if the name Barbara was a colour it would be brown. That’s how it appears in my head.

In my sons year at school there are a number of small Kevins, there is an Alan, Colin and a small Brian.

Sorry but I'm picturing the tiny little Kevins and wee Brian playing alongside big old Alan and his giant mate Colin.

Recently met a 12 year old Cynthia.

I can't imagine calling a newborn baby Barbara, but it is a good dog's name. I can imagine a big, jolly Golden Retriever called Barbara.

I wonder if the dislike of this name is connected how a people/language feel about the letter 'r'.

Oh, good point. My relatives come from countries that can pronounce the letter 'r' and I roll my 'r's as I say their name. It's a beautifully languid and sexy name to say.

I far prefer Barbara to all the nicknames that end in 'ie' that have dominated the name charts for so long (Victoria servant names is the best description I've heard of them) and I do find it funny how some people can't seem to understand how names go in fashions. The cutsey names have been fashionable for so long, grown-up names are due a revival. So roll on the revival of Enid, Frances, Margaret, Eleanor, Constance, Audrey etc.

Its a beautiful name....my mum's :)

Definitely better than all the Eleanor/Ellie brigade!

It's definitely not my thing but if you like it, that's all that matters. I remember finding out at secondary school there was a boy in my year called Bernard. Early 90s. My son has an Oswald in his year. Go on, OP, start the trend!

I don't like it personally but I can see why it would appeal

I know too many Barbara's still fit and well in their 70's and 80's to consider it for a new born. Name revivals tend to take off when the name has almost disappeared.

I love Blyton names too like Peggy, Betty, Dinah and Norah and names that I think of as jazz age flapper names. Daphne , Dorothea, Constance and Evelyn and Marguerite.

Nah, not pretty. I can't be doing with 'B' names, let alone names that have more than one B in them.

I'm not keen because I don't like the harsh sound of names that begin with B. And I also think that the nickname 'Barbie' might be brought into use...

But not my child, so anyone is free to use whatever name they like!

I think it’s horrible. It’s not old fashioned chic, it belongs with Susan and Lorraine