Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Names from a different generation

101 replies

Tailbetweenlegs · 28/06/2021 20:40

I met a woman who was late 40s/50 called Emma recently, and also know an Isobel around this age. I also can remember meeting an Amy who would be about 70 now. I was just thinking that this is quite unusual-these names are much more common in my own generation (late 20s) whereas people in their 40s-70s now are more commonly called Sarah, Paula, Karen, Amanda, Sue etc. I think it’s nice to have a name that makes you sound much younger than you are (on paper I’d assume that an Emma,Emily, Amy was much younger than 50). Not that there’s anything wrong with being older of course/having a name that is associated with a generation, but I think it would be nice to use a name that is unusual in an age group so there aren’t tons around yet it’s still a familiar name.
I suppose in the sixties names like Emily, Emma and amy would have been old fashioned granny names (I’m guessing they were popular in the 19th century-Emily bronte, little women, Jane Austen). So what do you think I could call a baby girl now that could end up being a name that is ahead of its time/just beats the “cycle” of names (not sure how long this is). I like the name Lisa and Karen (probably not brave enough to use-but would probably be very unusual now and i think the bad association/meme will disappear soon).

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
careerchangeperhaps · 01/07/2021 13:53

I think 1930s/40s/50s names might be the next generation's popular names. So:

Barbara
Joan
Beryl
Valerie
Jennifer
Gillian
Eileen
Elaine
Marion
Marjory
Doreen
Sandra
Diane
Pauline
Susan
Linda
Christine
Janet
Patricia
Frances
Carol
Mary
Sheila
Judith / Judy
Anne
Jean
Maureen
Carolyn
Brenda
Pamela
Daphne
Lesley
Jacqueline

Keith
Kenneth
Robert
Paul
Mark
Alan
Dennis
Geoffrey / Jeffrey
Colin
Graham
Ian
Malcolm
Derek
Raymond
Douglas
Roy
Peter
Ralph
John
David
Anthony
Leslie
Gordon
Francis / Frank
Stuart
Nigel
Neil

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread