Staying one generation ahead of "cool"

[NicknameMustbeBetween4and30Cha]

So, we all know the current wave of trendy vintage "cool" names being revived (Ada, Vera, Beatrice, Wilfred, Stanley, Albert, etc), but the problem is that kids don't appreciate how cool their names are! It's just their name to them! And by the time they're in their 20s and 30s and old enough to appreciate it, these names will all be done to death and boring. The new Clares and Emilys and Johns and Davids.

So what we need is a baby name that is not even close to being cool yet, but will be in 25 years. The cool names of the next generation! So that when my child is in his/her 20s, everyone will just be starting to think what a cool and unique name it is!

Any ideas?

My DD’s middle names are after family members, Anne, Jane, Emma, Margaret.

If they’d have been boys, they would have been Lucas, Andrew, Stephen and Peter.

Lucas seems a bit out of place on that list now, good job I got all girls

My name is Grace (nickname Gracie) Uncool when I was a child and a name that's popular for under 5s now that I'm an adult. If you're worried about coolness then maybe use a name that doesn't conjure up images of how old you are? I mean a name like Katie or Emma could be 0-100+.

It makes me giggle hearing CBeebies version of topsy and Tim referring to their friend Tony as if it's totally normal to hear a child of the 2010s be called that...

Id go 1985 chic. Dont go further back than grandparents. Go forward. But not too forward.

Gemma
Lisa
Kirsty
Adele
Jodie
Nicola

Paul
Peter
Steven
Richard
Philip

I want to call my little girl Nuala - (nu-la) apparently it’s really old fashioned in Ireland and not yet “granny chic” just old fashioned. But in 20 years should be more unusual!! Plus I just love the name. It’s so pretty

Keith

I think the next popular cool names will be Audrey, Patricia, Marlene, Stephanie. Not sure about boys, maybe Gerry, Peter, Brian (possibly not).

Nuala is lovely! When I was little (early 90s) one of my teachers first names was nuala and Ive loved it since then.

I also love Veda, from My Girl.

Ahaha Keith will never be cool

Barry
Alan
Kevin
Brian
Colin
Dean

Pamela
Joanne
Lindsey
Carla
Andrea
Tanya
Melanie
Sharon
Karen
Nicola
Tracey
Debbie
Stacey
Lisa

I agree OP in theory but the problem is that the child will probably hate their name for the first 15-20 years of their life, and it will only become 'cool' once it becomes popular for newborns

For girls, things like Claire, Jennifer, Samantha, Michelle, Diane, Angela

For boys, Stephen, Andrew, Richard, Robert, Nick, Pete, Martin

I could get on board with Carla and Tanya actually but my aunty Karen has a daughter called Joanne so I don’t think they’re the same generation

Am I the only person that thinks Elaine is lovely? lol

Maybe the 'trend' won't go forward to the 70s at all, but will go back further into history.

Nurseries of the future might be filled with Ethelreds and Herewards

I agree OP in theory but the problem is that the child will probably hate their name for the first 15-20 years of their life, and it will only become 'cool' once it becomes popular for newborns

I think it's only the adults who find such names boring.

Agree with mellongoose, the Middle Ages probably provide a rich, unmined seam of names - Guinevere anyone? Cuthbert? Bede? (I know a Bede!)
My personal favourite girls name is Sharon. Beautiful name, but sadly unusable because of the connotations today.

Gary
Lorraine
Derek
Martin
Gillian
Susan
Caroline
John

I wouldn’t use a single one of those .

My toddlers are Greg and Mel ( for short) Does that make me cool?

Seriously though, we just like names popular when we were at school and like the idea their names go with ours.

I like Jenny.

Gary, Simon, Martin, Vincent, Keith, Michael.

Maybe the 'trend' won't go forward to the 70s at all, but will go back further into history.

Nurseries of the future might be filled with Ethelreds and Herewards

That sounds much more interesting! We could start a mumsnet movement to drive the trend. We all make a pact to use such names for our next children, and we all agree to aggressively promote them to anyone who posts a thread on the babyname forum?

Janet and Roy haven't been mentioned have they? I know a baby Gary, and also an adult Adeline, which I love. I know several cats called Keith, it's a great cat name.

I like Beowulf but it's not going to catch on!

Thought of some more older generation grandma's: Marge, Rita, Madge, Sylvia, Joyce, Jessie, Connie, Dot, Reenie ( from all those names ending in -reen) Sometimes the full name travels better through time and sometimes the shortened form!

I also have known a few Phils who had been christened Phyllis or Philomena!

I think it'll be names that were very popular around 20-25 years ago

Natalie
Emma
Nicola
Laura
Lauren
Melissa
Gemma

slightly "older" names include: Lisa, Mandy, Tanya, Fiona, Angela

When we are grandparents, our names will begin to creep back, and when we are great-grandparents, they will become really popular. For me (50-something) that implies names like Cla(i)re, Jane, Alison, Karen, Michelle, David, Mark, Andrew, Robert, Stephen.

I think the very next lot of formerly "old-fashioned" names to become popular again will be names of people who are now about 70 or 80, so not quite as old-fashioned as Ada and Vera and Albert seem now, but names like Alan, Brian, Raymond, Roy, Frank, Joyce, Sheila, Pamela, Mary, Irene, etc. To me a lot of those still have a rather stuffy, stodgy feel but I'm sure they will become very interesting to young parents in about 10 years' time.