Elaine

[trueblueari]

Opinions on Elaine?

Too old fashioned or due a comeback?

I'm very sorry OP but I think it's hideous...really whiney and ugly.

I have an Elena. Weirdly, people don't seem to connect it with the name Elaine. Different vibe, maybe?

I know a gorgeous Elaine in her 20s.

I love it

Just keep seeing Catherine Tate as Elaine Figgis unlucky in love

Goodness me who would have thought that the name Elaine would have generated such negative comments.
I think that as adults we worry too much about how names will be perceived by other adults when this shouldn’t matter at all.
Children have no such perceptions and unless we foist ours onto them they just accept names for what they are .
If you love Elaine OP go for it - you will never please everyone whatever you choose. As someone who was landed with a name that is two a penny in my age group I would nowadays have much preferred to have been given a less common name. In years to come your daughter may be grateful that you chose a name that was a little different.

Won't Elaine disappear into all the Ellas, Eloises, Elise, Eleanors, Elenas, Helenas etc?
I think it is OK, but like a lot of names, too many in one age group tends to make them dull.

No not a fan. To me it’s up there with Yvonne, Linda, Sharon, Tracy etc...

I like it. I prefer Elena. But I called my dd Sabrina so maybe I just like slightly dated names!

It's my name and I am 31

Didn't realise so many people hated it but I like it and it gets a lot of compliments in Europe where I've moved to. Sounds beaut when the French say it

Carrot I used to live in France and loved hearing the name Irene with a French accent there (Ear-Wren is my closest approximation!)

Don’t like Elaine at all - very outdated.
Elena is nice.
There are lots other similar names:

Eleanor
Ellen
Ella
Elodie
Eloise
Elise
Lanie/Laney
Delaney
Lena

I like it! I read a really good series by Robert Jordan with a main character called Elayne, I like that spelling too.

My daughter is called Elaina. I'm not keen on Elaine.

@AvonCallingBarksdale my next door neighbour is iris and I still can't pronounce it... yi-ri... I think. And im in switzerland, so we get a german, French, Italian combination of it 😁

Elaine's friends are Yvonne, Sandra and Linda.

The thing about names owned by women in their 50s isn't that 'woman in 50s' is a bad association, it's almost the opposite, that those women are very much alive and kicking. We know who they are and have difficulty dissociating the name.

All those 'granny chic' names are from the 1900s (Elsie, Evie, Violet) to about 1930 (Ava, Betty, Marnie - adult actresses / character in the 1940s - 1960), so associated with nostalgia, past generations and a few famous individuals - not everyday, living people.

I do think there's something awkward about the sound of Elaine, also Yvonne, with the emphasis on the second syllable and rather 'mannered' drawn-out ending. Most British names emphasise the first syll. Like Eleanor. While Elena (continental pr.) has a neater ending.

I do think there's something awkward about the sound of Elaine, also Yvonne, with the emphasis on the second syllable and rather 'mannered' drawn-out ending. Most British names emphasise the first syll. Like Eleanor.

This exactly. Yes, it's old-fashioned, but it's also not a great sound and that's one of the reasons it hasn't started to make a comeback like other names of that generation. It's a pretty whiny sound, the stress on the second syllable is just depressing!

Elaine
Yvonne
Leanne
Doreen
Maureen

all of which I would happily bet on not having much of a comeback at all.

I thinks it's ok but it is my name I'm not in my 50s, I'm late 30s. A pp mentioned the name Alaine, I had a friend at school called Alaine and most people pronounced our names the same.

Not all names come back ...

Elaine's friends are Yvonne, Sandra and Linda

And Lorriaine..

Lorraine.

There's nothing wrong with any of them. I really like Linda.

I like Elaina

Elaine is bloody awful and dated. I know an Elaine. Has teeth like a witch doctors necklace and never stops yapping total shyte. She's a bore and a drag me down.

It’s so weird to see your own name written down so many times.
I don’t love it and don’t think it’s due a comeback

There's nothing wrong with any of them

Very strongly a particular demographic - working class/ lower middle class.

I prefer names that don’t have strong class associations.