Is Rebecca timeless or dated?

[Candleflamingbright]

Just that :-)

[1066vegan]

@Bitchbadgerplease maybe we should be talking about pronunciation as well as spelling. It wouldn't have crossed my mind to say Ree-becc-er; I've only ever heard Ruh-becc-er.

[doritosdip]

Rebecca is timeless but Becky is not

[Hypergear]

Sounds dated to me, not a fan

[Electrical]

bitch it’s re-bec-ah, nor ‘er’.

[TheVanguardSix]

Timeless. I have a 9 year old Rebecca.

[Bitchbadgerplease]

electrical I understand that , but It's a very similar sound and almost identical in some accents.

vegan true. It's definitely been said as Ree in he circles I've moved in.

[ethelredonagoodday]

I'm also a Rebecca who frequently gets called Rachel! Apart from that, I quite like it, and the various shortened versions.

[grandmasterstitch]

@Bitchbadgerplease it's definitely not ree beck er it's ruh beck ah. If I introduced myself as Reebeccer I would sound like a nutter

[headlicehelp]

Timeless but I really hate becky which is a likely shortening so I couldn't use it.

[DaisyDando]

I like Rebecca very much. I know an adult Rebecca who insists on Bex and I find that very cringe.

[SallyWD]

I've already posted but want to post again! I love Rebecca anyway but love it even more because it's so refreshing in a sea of Islas, Avas, Evies, etc. I actually love all this names listed but it seems all little girls now have those names.

[lottiegarbanzo]

I've never heard the Re pronounced as Ree, ever. What accent is that?

I'm fairly RP but have lived in quite a few places. Not been listening for it I suppose but do think 'Ruh-BECK-uh' is normal.

[gossipgirl28]

Dated and boring sorry

[SalmonOfKnowledge]

A bit dated but that is not a bad thing in my opinion. It's a bit harsh.
Jillian is dated but a fresh choice if you see what I mean.
Lots of names that aren't in use at the moment are pretty. Melanie is another example. Rebecca is just a bit sharp.

[3rdNamechange]

Beautiful , but not keen on Becky

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Timeless.

BookMeOnTheSudExpress summed it up for me.
I think people are confusing "had a run of popularity 30 years ago" and "dated". Dated would be something that was never a classic to begin with.

4000 years old, as bridgetreilly said. Yes, it's biblical. She was the wife of Abraham's son Isaac, and the mother of Jacob and Esau.

I love Daphne Du Maurier's book Rebecca and the Hitchcock film version. Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair is one of the greatest characters in English literature.

Good classic name. Go for it!

[Bitchbadgerplease]

grandma lottie I've lived in a few places in the north. Ive worked with 3 Rebeccas as an adult (thinking quickly, there may be more) and went to school with 4 that I can think of. Two were in my class. As an infant I remember being taught how to say one another's names and definitely was the 'ree' sound. It's maybe softer than that in speech but I'd never have thought of it as a 'ruh' sound. It's not a rule I made, I'm just going off experience.

[lottiegarbanzo]

What? Why are referring to me as grandma?

[lottiegarbanzo]

Ohhhh, you're addressing Grandmasterstich (Grand Master Stitch) and me together, without a comma. Ok.

My view is that to say 'Ree' you have to emphasise that syllable. You can't say Ree without pausing on it. Whereas I think it's always the second syll. that's emphasised, the 'bec'. So you can say Re, as in Reh-BECK-uh, rather than the ruh (like small letter 'r' on it's own) sounds I think is usual but I'd expect to hear 'reb' not 'reeb'.

[Bitchbadgerplease]

Sorry lottie my fault with the enboldening incorrectly
Okay seems the circles I move in are the exception, which can only be a good thing!

[InFiveMins]

I don't mind Rebecca, but I can't stand the shorter versions - Becky, Bex, Bekka, etc.

[Mummyvictoria1]

My Rebecca is Re beck ah sounding :) I'm from Edinburgh.

[couchlover]

Timeless - its a lovely name

[pantsville]

Found all the Rebeccas of Mumsnet

It is very dated. Doesn’t mean it’s not a nice name.

By the way, where I live, plenty of people pronounce it a bit like “Ribecca”, so not quite a ree sound at the start, but I understand what that poster is saying.

Mind you, I don’t know any Rebeccas who don’t go by Becky either.

I saw a post on here recently saying something like when the child introduces herself, all her peers will say “that’s my mums/aunties name” so it will seem more dated in that respect.

I have a very dated name myself. All my peers were Claire, Vicky, Becky, Jess, Nathan, Luke, Jamie... doesn’t mean you can’t use these names now but thinking on 30/40 years down the line when the person shares a name most common amongst pensioners, that could be worth taking into account

[MyuMe]

It is timeless and lovely

But I don't like the nicknames.

Becca Becky Bex etc