Margaret...

[Sybiltrelawney]

Expecting dd3 and starting to think about names. Dds 1 and 2 are Susanna (Susie) and Eleanor.

I love the name Margaret - it was the name of a lovely elderly Welsh lady who lived next door to my family when I was growing up. She was pretty much a surrogate grandparent, and I would love to give a child of mine her name.

I realise that it's not a popular name, and that many people will think it's dated/ugly, but to me it's classic and beautiful. I also love the nickname Maggie.

I actually wanted to call dd1 or dd2 Margaret, but chickened out both times - I'm worried I'll regret it if I don't use it this time round, given that this is definitely our final dc!

However, I don't want to saddle a child with a name that will lead to teasing or that she will dislike. And I know she'll almost certainly be the only Margaret in a class full of Lily's, Eva's, Ava's, Evie's etc.

I'm therefore wondering if it would be better as a middle name?

Other names we like are:
Beatrice
Josephine (Josie)
Tabitha
Eugenie

If we go with Margaret as a first name, then the middle name would probably be either Eugenie or Josephine.

I agree with you, Jackie. If you look back through English history, Margaret is up there with Mary, Elizabeth, Anne and Eleanor as names that have been used for centuries. It's a classic name, not really an old lady name.

I don't care for Ellie, Ava or Sophie type names either but Margaret imo isn't popular like other classic names like Elizabeth, Eleanor, Charlotte, Harriet, Alice, Catherine etc because it's frumpy and old fashioned.

I once new a Margaret who was in her 30's when I met her, she told me she hated her name but didn't want to be called Maggie as she thought was even worse. She was named after her maternal GM. I didn't disagree with her but obviously didn't let her know that.

Knew not new

@midsomermurderess

Princess Margaret was a notorious party girl who got up to all sorts and was always pissed. Particularly wild parties on the isle of Mustique IIRC.

I once new a Margaret who was in her 30's when I met her, she told me she hated her name but didn't want to be called Maggie

I imagine there will be many Mabels, Florences and Mildreds who will think in a similar way when they are in their thirties............

I'm sorry but I really don't like Margaret, maybe Maggie but not Margaret xx

Nope. She hated Margaret because it was dowdy and old fashioned. Her peers were called Kate, Jo and Samantha type names and poor thing was stuck with that.

I don't particularly like Mabel and I didn't suggest Mildred as that is terrible. Florence is pretty but will probably date.

We were talking about the classics.

Horrible, stuffy sounding name. Then again I think Edith and Violet are ugly names.
Your other girls names are lovely. But Margaret is bloody awful.
I think people are bringing back these old names in a middle class effort to be unique, but their children will sound stupid. Pick a nice name which works for a child and an adult. But not margaret.

I love Margaret and Eugenie!

I knew a Margaret growing up and she was always Margaret, and still is.
Megan isn't welsh for Margaret but was used as a diminutive.
I know a few Maggies who are now youngish grandmothers, and the name is becoming popular again as is Margaret.

Noooo - I knew a horrible Margaret. Yes I've known some nice Margarets, but the horrible one just sticks in my mind.

Margot?
Mara
Maya
Meriel

I actually really like it. I also like it shortened to Meg or Meggie.

Go for it.

Love it. It’s my DD’s middle name named after my lovely mum.

Margaret isn't granny chic like Florence, Violet and Mabel etc it's in the same boat as Marjory, Hilda, Mildred. I think it's frumpy and old fashioned.

We were talking about the classics.

I admit to being flummoxed. None of the names you listed above are 'classics' other than Margaret so I do not understand what you mean.

Hi 👋 I think Margaret is a great idea. It is irrefutably a classic, loads of exciting Maragets in history and literature and I don’t mean Mrs T! What about Margaret Beaufort, once the greatest heiress in England and later the strategic mind behind her son Henry Tudor’s capture of the throne?! Or our beloved Meg in Little Women? In that way very compatible with Eleanor. It may or may not be revived as part of the granny chic phase but it will always be a classic, grounded name with a nickname that will work whatever sort of person your lovely baby grows into.

Of your other names, I like Josephine, but not as much as Maraget. Beatrice has been rather overused in recent years and Tabitha is a bit of a groundless fad in my opinion. Eugenie will be associated with the work shy princess who is not the role model that Margaret Beaufort or Meg March might be for the right girl!

Good luck with your new baby

My mum is a Margaret and her mum was as well. I think it is a lovely name that has so many good options for nn. I think it is perfect timing, nice and classic but won’t be as as common as Elsie etc.

Margaret nn Maggie is great.

Love Margaret. It's beautiful and Maggie or Mags works well as nn

We had a dinner lady called Margaret and as (stupid) teenagers we would emphasise her name when at lunch as to us it sounded old and saggy (yes we were rude and idiotic). It was also the chicken in Big Brother 1 (?), anyone remember the 'Margaretttt cluckcluckcluck, Margeret cluckcluckcluvk'?!

Not to mention the obvious Thatcher connotations.

However, the above may not genuine reasons to dislike the name for you! I really can't see it's appeal.

It’s a frumpy old name not a nice old name.
Yes she could be in a class of Elenaor’s, Mary, Anne’s, Pearls and Margots.
Or she could be in a class of Indigo’s, Autuns’s, Ava’s, Scarlett’s, Daisy’s, Rivers and Suvannahs. Then she will look really dowdy.

Then she will look really dowdy

Or she will have a very classy name in comparison to the rest of her classmates......

ETA I can’t see how a name can make you look dowdy????

It can make you seem dowdy for sure.

It’s a very, very frumpy name. Not ‘classy’ at all, un-chic and inelegant.

With luck she'll be in a class of people who learn not to be judgemental about other people's names which are, after all, not the child's fault. Nothing frumpy about any name in and of itself. People just need to get over their assocations with it. When I first learned that the BBC had a presenter called Edith who is a lot younger than I am, I was amazed. I'm used to it now, it's fine.

That’s all irrelevant to the associations of a name. Connotations and judgment are two completely different things.

Why give someone for others to practice non-judgement? Just give her a nice one instead.

^ a name