Nicola, Claire, or Laura

[diddlediddle]

Which do you prefer? I think they're all due to come around again.

Laura is my favourite as although it was very popular in the 80s it feels like a name which has been used over a longer period of time.

My great grandmother had Laura on her birth certificate and she was born in 1883. Being Welsh she was known as Lowri day to day (at the time it was quite common for Welsh people to have an English name on their BC and use the Welsh version day to day).

Nicola and Claire feel a bit more strongly associated with the 70s/80s to me but I'm sure they will come back around. Same as other 80s names like Samantha, Danielle, Kirsty, Ashleigh and Stephanie.

That's a nice anecdote. Yes I've always liked Laura and agree it's more classic... Laura ingalls Wilder etc.

Personally for me, they're not ready to come around again. I am in the typical child having age bracket and these were all amongst the really common, boring names when I was at school. I'm sure they will come back around but the names that are currently having a resurgence are typically from a fair bit longer ago. I wouldn't expect to see much of these for another decade or two.

I think @CaffiSaliMali is right and Laura is more of a classic name. Similar to Sarah. To me it is a classic which was a bit overused in the 80's but you could get away with using again now.

Nicola sounds more dated rather than a classic. I personally quite like it though, as I know a lovely Nicola.

I'm not keen on Claire purely because every other girl at school was called Claire, so it's a bit "meh" to me.

I'm sure they will come back around as people from my generation become grandparents.

Laura's absolutely lovely. I've taught 3 in the last 5 years and each time they have been such lovely children and the only ones in their entire school.

Also love Claire. It's still quite a popular name around my way so I certainly wouldn't attribute it to the 70s or 80s.

I quite like Laura and agree it seems more classic.

Laura of the three.
I don't like Nicola but I adore Nicole.
All Claire's in know are awful.

I agree with pp, Nicole is much nicer than Nicola

Not my cup of tea at all, any of them. They sound like the boring girl in class.

I have to agree with @Joswis sorry!

I prefer the Clare spelling, feels less ‘lumpy’ to me. All nice names but due to bad experiences with at least 3 of them I couldn’t ever call a child of mine Laura.

Laura is lovely and more of a classic than the others.
Also prefer Nicole to Nicola.

Laura. It's a really lovely name.
Quite like Nicola but prefer Nicole.
Claire is pleasant but meh.

Agree that Laura is a classic - Lauren feels more specifically 80s/90s to me.

I think Claire suffered a bit from being the 'Rose/Grace/May' ubiquitous middle name of the 70s/80s. I knew 4 Claires at school and every third person had it as a middle name, along with Jane and Louise.

It's like the 1970s came calling. Where I work every second 40-something woman seems to be Clare/Claire.

Laura is lovely. And one of the chic-est women I ever met was a French lady named Claire...

Nicola - meh....

Wow. I'm a Clare and my sister is called nicola. We are twins!

None

I like Laura the best and to my ears it sounds more like a classic (similar vibe to Alice, Charlotte etc) and harder to pin down to a single decade when it was most popular

Claire and Nicola both very 1970s but I can imagine Claire having a revival as it is a very pretty name

I not keen on Nicole. Prefer Natalia or Natasha.

I have always liked Laura.
I can see Claire coming back.
Nicola and actually even more so Nicole are dated

Laura is a classic. It's a beautiful name that has a very long use historically (that unfortunately had a huge popularity boom in the 70's/80's, but it's never gone out of use). Laura is similar to Sarah in that it's traditional enough to still use as a first name now imo.

Clara has already made a comeback so I'm sure the similar Claire (which has an equally lovely sound and meaning) will make a comeback soon. Whether Clara or Claire is the more popular version of the name just depends on trends (and Claire followed the soundalike/lookalike trend of Louise, Diane, Marie, Julie, Nicole etc of the 60's/70's).

Nicola (or Nicole) is more dated because it wasn't quite as widely used historically - but because the boys version of the name (Nicholas) is a classic, I'm sure Nicola will eventually make a comeback in time too.

My favourite of the three is Laura.

One of those is my name and I have cousins named both the others. I like them all actually but they are totally my generation names for me.

Laura is timeless with a very long history. All of the Lauras I've known have been class acts

I like Nicole and Lauren as opposed to Nicola and Laura.
Clara is now popular and think takes the place of Claire.