'Dated' names

[ConstanceL]

I often see on threads that people say don't use such and such name as it won't date well. But does it really matter if names are of their time? My (real) name was popular in the 80s, but not any more. But when I was little it was a popular name for little girls, and now I am heading towards middle age it is a name that many late 30s women have.

We are thinking about names for our next DC and I really like the name Aurelia, but I searched threads and a few people said 'it won't date well'. So I guess my question is, does that really matter? I've never had a problem with my 'dated' name - has anyone else?

My name reached peak popularity in the 1950s, however I was born in the 1980s. I always hated it as a child and complained that "people's mums are called my name". As an adult I now go by my middle name. It hasn't come back around yet into fashion.

What makes people think certain names will date while others won't?

I would have no clue whether Aurelia will date, I think it's very pretty but would never think to choose it myself as it sounds very Spanish/Italian and I don't have that heritage.

The only time I have heard it before it's recently started being mentioned on here is in Love Actually :) But she was Portuguese.

I was born in the late 70s but my name is more associated with people born in the 30s or 40s. As a child I hated having a name that was more of my parents generation... I've still only met one other my age and I'm 44 now. But I notice it is starting to come back into fashion again and I know of several under 10. Now I'm pretty ambivalent.... I don't love it but at least eg at work if someone says my first name everyone knows who they are talking about as there are so few of working age

Unless you either go for Elizabeth or choose something totally out there (while making sure it doesn’t fit into a current trend/sound) then dating is pretty unavoidable.

@toastofthetown has it nailed. Names date, like everything, it's mostly unavoidable, and not necessarily a bad thing. Some date more intensely than others, those with a sharper and taller bell curve. But even classic names date - if I said I was seeing Hannah, Jessica, and Emily you would probably imagine I was meeting women who are around 30 years old, that doesn't mean they are bad names.

Wished people would say their names I keep trying to guess!

It's hard to know what will date. There are a couple of girls dd age 15 knows called Margaret and Pamela. They loathe their names. I don't think Aurelia is on a par but it is a tad stuffy to me. Could you use something similar but a bit more modern?

I don’t think Aurelia will date, it’s not popular enough. Aurelia won’t be the future equivalent of Sharon or Tracy.

I don’t understand the mn obsession with this. Although I don’t have a dated name so maybe it’s easier for me to dismiss people’s concerns about having a dated name.

I think my name was boring when my parents named me and boring now almost 50 years later 🤣
Lisa

I think Margaret has taken longer to cycle round again because of Mrs T. Sometimes a name will evoke negative connotations so it needs to rest for a bit longer!

Yes, Mrs T has a lot to answer for! Ophelia is a bit more edgy.

Most names date a bit and that's fine. The names that might date badly are the ones that have come out of nowhere, never really been used widely before, and are suddenly mega popular. I'm thinking of names like Wren and Darcy.

Wren isn't mega popular yet I don't think but it feels like it's headed that way.

Trends fluctuate so fast. It’s impossible to guess what will become popular or fall from favour. You either choose “safety in numbers” by going with a currently popular name and know it will “date” your child as belonging to their peers group., or you pick purely based on what you like and to hell with it.

Talking about names that are associated with much older generations as being “dated” doesn’t really help because Enid and Malcolm could easily become next year’s new trend.

Aurelia is beautiful, classic, and I would say not popular enough now to date - unless it suddenly comes into fashion for a period.

What dates a name is not so much that it's massively popular, but that it suddenly stops being popular - boom and bust.

The name that is always rare, or consistently popular, doesn't date.

@germsandcoffee

I think my name was boring when my parents named me and boring now almost 50 years later 🤣 Lisa

God I'd love to be Lisa. I'm Jane Plain Jane at that!

I love Lisa! Years ago a friend of mine wanted to be called Lisa.

Surprised that someone upthread has put Maud and Nancy in the same category, I think Nancy is fun and lively but Maud makes me think of a shopkeeper in hair rollers in 1906s coronation street. Which is harsh on any Mauds I suppose.

I think Jane is a lovely name!

@germsandcoffee

I think my name was boring when my parents named me and boring now almost 50 years later 🤣 Lisa

I think Lisa is a pretty name. Dated but who cares!

I suspect the Avas will be saying the same 40 years from now.

I usen't to like my name. It's a tiny bit 80s but in other ways it's a a classic. I've warmed up to it now. It's short and sweet!

It's Amy ;)

I also think Wren, while not mega popular, fits well into the subgroup thing I was talking about earlier. It's a name that places someone in a specific category. Nature names are common, not in all... trying not to say classes because I don't think it's that simple, but it's probably part of it - but they fit in with willow and hunter and bear and the rest. In my head, anyway.

I'm not keen on Aurelia and think that it fits in with long vowelly names like Amelia, Olivia, etc and at some point they will fall out of fashion.

This generation's Tracey is Darcey.

I have a name that was unusual when I was born and a bit grannyish, It's popular now.

I didn't miss out by not having my name on tat, but if my name appeared on something, people would buy it for me and I ended up with duplicates.

I think it depends a lot on whether it was a name that suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Lots of Sarahs born in the 70s, but Sarah isn’t ‘dated’ like Karen, because it’s got a long history in the UK. Similarly I don’t think Olivia will ever sound really dated, whereas Esme perhaps will.

Not sure Aurelia will ever get that popular, it might be more like say Natalie, which has a bit of a 70s vibe, but is usable.

I used to know a Doris. It was an old lady name at the time but it didn't matter because she owned that name and made it beautiful by being an amazing person.

This is your child and go with the name you like. Other people's opinions and the potential opinions of the future are not your concern.

I only loosely follow celebrity news but I can’t help seeing Millie Mackintosh (from Made in Chelsea)? everywhere with her baby Aurelia. I did think that oh, if that’s her baby’s name, it must be currently trendy.

Fwiw, I don’t think it will necessarily date. I think we are looking back at a time when there were usually only 10 or 20 names that our parents chose from, hence the classes of Karen, Nicola and Tracey.
Nowadays, there is such huge choice and diversity of names, even if they are of the present time, they won’t date. A bit like Millie, Lucy and Ava from 10-15 years ago won’t