Boring vs trendy name?

[slippersandprosecco]

I'm naturally drawn to both classic names that are often tarred as being 'boring', but also more trendy names like the old lady names (Edie, Ivy, Ada etc) that I worry will date a lot.

Current classic/'boring' favourite is Alice, current 'trendy' favourite is Edith nn Edie. Any thoughts on which subset of names is better, or which is better between Alice and Edith?

I love both Edith and Alice, bit think Edith with nn Edie are my favourites. Alice ends up often as Al or Ali, which I'm less keen on. Both are classics and not hugely popular, but not different enough to be too controversial.

Sorry edith is a granny name- and not in a good way. Alice will always be associated with the books. If I had a daughter now i like Vivienne nn viv or liv.

Is association with the books for Alice necessarily a bad thing though?

Just Google cs Lewis

CS Lewis didn't write Alice...

Oops it was Lewis Carroll Google him.

I like Edie, but there are 3 in my son’s class at nursery and another 4 in the year below….

@HandforthParishCouncilClerk yes this is my point about the trend for old lady names at the moment- they're massively popular and will probably date over time

If dating is a huge concern then I would go for Alice. If you look at the name chart for Edith then you can see that in 20 years it’s gone from being used under fifty times per year to over 600. In general if you want to avoid dates names, avoiding names with which a sharp spike up is sensible. When I was younger Edith most people wouldn’t touch the name Edith with a barge pole, and after the peak in popularity I imagine it will go back to being the same. Whereas Alice has been popular for so long that even if it’s popularity does fade, I imagine it will feel more like Sarah which is a bit dated but not unusable.

I like Alice and Edie, but I hate the name Edith. Have you considered Meredith with the nickname Edie?

I think we fall into all sorts of traps writing names off as ‘boring’, ‘wet’ etc.

And trying to second guess fashion and evolving taste / popularity. So what if our names are identifiable with the decade we were born in?

‘Classic’ names like Charlotte were reintroduced as ‘old lady’ names, there wasn’t a seamless line from the Brontes via the 1950s to now.

Choose the name you love and would look forward to calling your child, and as long as it isn’t obscene or unpronounceable or a joke when paired with your surname, use it.

I'm a 35 year old Alice and definitely not wet, don't know whether to be offended by some of these comments

@MarianneUnfaithful I'm 61 and there was always a Charlotte in my class. The Sarahs and Emmas came later but were used in hyphenated names on the 60s when every class had a Sarah-Jane, Emma-Jane, Sally-Ann or Mary-Ann.

Great Gran 1880
Eleanor
Grace
Isabel
Alice (were the sisters)
Husband's sister was Helena

Grandma's cohort 1910
Alice
Evelyn
Edith
Mabel
Ethel
Grace
Celia
Elizabeth
With a few Marinas, Alexandras thrown in

Mother's 1936
Shirley
Silvia
Barbara
Patricia
Joan
Marion
Anita
Elizabeth
With a few Daphnes, Antonias, Dianas thrown in

Mine 1960
Susan/nah
Caroline
Deborah
Jane
Helen
Julia
Heather
Alison
Joanna
Elizabeth
With a few Cressidas, Drusillas, Annabelles, Lucindas thrown in

DD's 1998
Eleanor
Cicely
Francesca
Alice
Imogen
Rose/ie
Isabel
And every variation resulting in the diminutive of: Milly, Molly, Tilly, Ellie. And a few Octavias, Christabels, Jemimas, Olympias thrown in.

It all.goes round and round. Those that endure the most timelessly seem to be: Helena, Eleanor, Alice, Grace, Elizabeth.

I really don't like Alice (I think it's a horrible sound to say) so I definitely prefer Edith.

Funny isn't it, people's views are so different. Alice I like. I like Ava, Evie type names but not so much Edith. It's on a par with Hilda for me. I don't think it's great being a teenager with an old lady name. There's a Margaret in dd's year and she hates it. They're all trying to be cool. Can you imagine a cool Edie? Maybe.

@Mugsen I think the grass is always greener. I have a very unusual name (Cressida genre). DD has a very simple, classic name. I wanted simple and classic; dd would like something much more unusual.

Alice is a more consistent classic. Edith is very on trend at the moment.

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@Mugsen I think the grass is always greener. I have a very unusual name (Cressida genre). DD has a very simple, classic name. I wanted simple and classic; dd would like something much more unusual.[/quote]
Yes I guess having the opposite kind of middle name might help. So that you could choose through different phases of life. I do know an adult with a common birth name who has changed to a much fancier one. A bit like Cressida. I guess it makes her more interesting to those who don't know. Exotic almost.

@Mugsen dd tried that with her middle name when she changed schools for 6th form but kept not answering to her middle name and anyone she knew already used her original name so she reverted.

Edith is absolutely not a classic name. I think people are saying "classic" on here as a sort of synonym for "lovely." I actually think Edith IS lovely, but it's not remotely classic. A classic name is one that is never massively in or out of fashion, like Elizabeth or Charlotte or Lucy or Julia or something like that. Edith was a very popular name in the 19th through early 20th century, and fell right out after that. If you'd called your child "Edith" when I was a kid, people would have thought you were a bit odd---it would have been like calling your child "Brenda" or "Maureen" right now.

Alice is genuinely classic---it's been used relatively steadily for decades. I don't think it's a boring name at all. I'd say it's conventional.

OP, if you want to avoid both "boring" and "trendy," go for something which is a known name but has never been particularly common, like Rosaline or Paloma or something like that.

I think they are both great but I think there both classics. My 18 year old has a friend called Edith (Edie) and I think it was a bit interesting/trendy then but very mainstream now.
I prefer Edith to Alice personally.

they're not there

I'd say any name that is easy to spell correctly on being first heard is fine.
Can you imagine the number of Rosey-Maes having to say that's spelt Rosey with ey on the end, hyphen,may spelt Mae.

I really like Alice because I know Alices of all ages, whereas Edith does seem to be having a spike in popularity at the moment. If I heard of somebody called Edith, I'd guess she was either an elderly lady or under five. (I know there are exceptions, like Edith Bowman...)

There's a gardener called Alys Fowler. I quite like that spelling. Mind you, I'm guessing that it has the same pronunciation as Alice, could be quite different I guess