On trend names and attitudes towards them

[cathf]

Inspired by a thread a while ago, I find attitudes to names interesting on this board.
Someone asked what the next round of fashionable names would be and the general consensus was 1960/70s names such as Karen, Gillian, Paul etc.
I actually disagree, as I think we have the 1940s/50s names to come yet, but I digress.
Anyway, it set me thinking, as posters were saying how awful the 70s names were and they could never imagine they would be popular again.
However, I wonder if the posters who always proclaim such names as Albert, Elsie, Betty etc as georgous would have been so enthusiastic before that kind of name became a 'thing'?
Imagine if someone posted in 1980 they were going to name their baby Arthur? You would assume that it was a family name and there was no choice.
Our ears do get accustomed to hearing familiar names, don't they?

I think our ears do become accustomed. I remember around 10 years ago my mum worked with a young Esther, and i thought it was so old fashioned. Now I absolutely love it!

Trendy names become boring, then people really get tired of them.

Agree with Dragon. Fashionable names (often described as 'lovely for a reason') become dull from overuse and start to sound dated.

Yes names follow fashions just like clothes and music.

There’s a name that was non existent a decade ago I now know 6 under 6s with it!

I think hearing names more makes them more familiar and more liked. And 20 years ago it would’ve been much harder to imagine a baby Albert or Evelyn, whereas now it’s easy because there are loads of them.

I think Irene and Susan are due a comeback. Susan especially is a lovely name and I know loads of 60 somethings called Sue so almost due for “naming her after my grandmother” baby Susans

Maybe Carol, Irene and Anne as well

I think the generation with them before need to mainly die out. My grandparents generation were all Arthur and molly and Alf and Elsie. They mostly passed away around the turn of the millennium.

So for the next next big thing just check the obituaries!!

I think sometimes a name sounds lovely because it is unusual. But when they are popular you go off it.
I have always liked Esther and know two adult ones.

I still don't like Arthur and Betty, but I do like Albert and Elsie.

I think perhaps it just doesn't occur to people to use a name until for some reason it starts making a comeback.

You mean the Arlo, Theo, Teddy, Freddy, Archie, Alfie, Noah, Leo or the
Isla, Sophia, Lola, Olivia might come to an end? Hurray. But what's next .. I think more individual unique names are to come. Different spellings and more double barrelled names

Heaven preserve us!

I went to school in the 70s and there was one boy called George. I felt so sorry for him, all the cool kids were Darren and Tracy.

If I was naming a child now I would go for Catherine or Max. I do like Stephen and David though, they are due a comeback.

I remember being shocked when I heard Lily Allen had called her daughter Ethel as it was such an old fashioned name. I don't think I would now. It's similar to Mabel, Peggy, Pearl, etc which are all fairly common. On the other hand, when an old lady asked my daughter's name (a top 30 name which no one would say was old fashioned nowadays) she exclaimed how odd it was that all these old names were coming back into fashion.

I can't get used to old fashioned names, whenever I hear a George, Mabel, Betty all I can think of is old people not cute little children!

I think the royals brought George back to trend

I’ve always loved the name Arthur but it is a family name, so point proven perhaps op.

I can see names like Anne and Pamela making a comeback. Less so Irene (unless it is the Eye-ree-nee pronunciation) and Phyllis.

Lily’s Allen’s choice of Ethel still stands out to me as being incredibly ugly, even amongst the other “old people” trendy names.

deptford

My grandmother (just turned 80) simply cannot get over all the little Lily’s and Ivy’s...they are “old lady names” in her mind

I think it was William and Harry's births that started the old people names trend. It would have been unthinkable to use William at that time otherwise. It was all about nice sounds then - if you think about the names in isolation Sharon, Darren, Karen, Julie do sound nice. Timeless classics are safest surely? Rebecca, Rachel, Catherine or do they have a timeline too? I shudder at the Margarets and Ethels though, they were horrible first time around!

I think names ending in the Ron/REN sound are harsh and ugly though.

There’s def a trend for prettier sounding girls names now. More end in ‘a’ than in the 60/70/80s.

Boys names are becoming more feminised with more ending in vowel sounds.

Sarah

I disagree that boys names are becoming more feminised. More and more of the vowel ending male names are being used for girls.

@passwordfailure I think David is already having a comeback ! I've met about 5 baby David's this year at baby groups !

Yeah I definitely think you just get used to hearing names that after a while they sound normal. I'm not really keen on a lot of the older names that have come back recently - like Albert and Margot ! I don't think I'll ever get on board with those lol. But some of the older names are nice, too popular though!

I wonder when the 90s names will make a come back, like Jennifer, Stephanie, Amanda ! Lol

I wonder if there will ever be any more baby Barry's?! :)

Another one who was shocked at Lily Allen with her choice of Ethel, followed by a much trendier Marnie!

I was at dd's school this week and saw the new reception class and heard some of their names. There is a Peter and a Gary. Not normally heard these days in little ones.

I was ahead of the game with ds as he's a 15yr old Oliver which was not popular when I had him in 2003. He was named after a cat

I think hearing other people use a name can give you the courage to use it. I have always found the names Karen, Alan and Angela lovely. I wouldn't use them at the moment because they are unpopular, and ultimately my dcs have to live with the public opinion on their name, not me.

Some names never really date.

I am probably a lot older than most on here, so names like Mabel, Florence and Violet conjure up the wizened, whiskery old great-aunts I knew as a child, so could never have imagined using them for my own dds. Ditto the likes of Albert for the whiskery old great uncles smelling of pipe tobacco.
Younger parents will not have those connotations.
One name that's been popular in recent years - Ruby - always conjures up for me the adenoidal, half-witted kitchen maid in a typical Agatha Christie - the one who 'saw something but didn't want to get mixed up with the police' and ended up strangled in the broom cupboard.