My friends say my husband and I have chosen 'cruel' names

[BooksBooks]

My husband and I are expecting our first child together in early June this year and we're both a mixture of nerves and excitement. We are both fans of traditional names and so have decided on Arthur for a boy or Edith for a girl (we've decided to wait until the actual birth to find out the gender). I think these names are really sweet and could work for both a child and adult. Both our families have said they love the names, however when I mentioned it to my friends they started laughing and told me it was cruel to name our child something so old fashioned as they'll be ridiculed at school. My husband and I don't see where they're coming from but I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions on this?

Your friends don’t have kids right? Because those names are quite popular atm.

In other news, are these really your friends?

Hilda is such an old lady name, forever etched in my mind as Hilda Ogden. I guess if you’re not familiar with certain characters (eg Olive from On The Buses) then names don’t have the same negative response. If I mention a name that I think is awful because it’s so frumpy my young adult kids don’t see them in the same negative way.

@BellePeppa , Elsie makes me think of Elsie Tanner, and Ivy is Ivy Tilsley, but those names were #9 and #11 last year.
Violet is Violet Carson (Ena Sharples), Audrey is Audrey Roberts, Alma is Alma Sedgewick, Ida is Ida Clough ...
but those names often come up on here, so why not Hilda. I think it's a pretty name and sounds happy.

I know an older lady called Hildy, I don’t mind Hilda but prefer Agatha and Agnes.

Lots of old fashioned names have come back I know kids with names such as Edith, Martha, Mabel, Maude, Arty (Arthur), Wilfred, Alfred, Rupert -all old fashioned names. My daughter is Amelia which was an old fashioned name for a while!

My daughter was going to be Arthur
you don’t want to know her last name 😂

My grandparents were Leslie and Peggy (Margaret). I haven't heard of anyone naming their son Leslie. My other grandparents were Alice and Joseph and certainly Alice is back.

Prefer Eden to Edith

I know several Arthur's and Edith's under 12. Nobody bats an eyelid. Honestly, very standard names these days...

Will everyone please stop it Slightly guilty myself (Edie rather rhan Edith) SORRY- but really? Call your new little one whatever YOU Like and little one will grow into it. Not like you are being stupid and calling the child Stawberry or Tornado or something!!!!!

Your friends are jerks. My son has a friend named Arthur and is called Artie. Edie is a cute nickname for Edith. Even if you don't use nicknames, you name YOUR kids what you want. In 10 years if those friends are no longer in your life, and you don't name your kids what you want, you'll regret it.

In my class I have a Gertrude, an Edith, an Edie, an Elsie, an Ida, two Stanley’s, two Arthur’s and a Fredrick; your choice of names are not at all unusual.

I’m genuinely surprised to see Gertrude!

My friend's new niece has just been named Gertrude, so maybe it's coming around? The mother in that case is Hungarian I think, so it may be viewed completely differently there.

I like it because I went to school with a very fun Gertrude.

I have 2 kids Adaline (almost 5) and Abraham (almost 2).

Arthur is in the top 5 boys names, super popular. They must be very behind with what names are ‘in’.

Arthur and Edith sound like two young children, and the names won't stand out.

Torn/Tornado doesn't show on Darkgreener but Strawberry does. I'm curious as to whether all 3 were in the same school class.

KirstenBlest - I HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE.

I'm only joking. DC have completely ordinary names.
What would you say to someone who said that they were naming their baby Tornado or Strawberry?

I think I'd probably say 'Oh, that's a bit different.'

Edith and Arthur are on trend. So no one will laugh.

Edie and Artie are really cool modern nicknames.

It's your friends who are out of touch.

I love the names. Traditional names are making a comeback.

My son's good mate is called Arthur, a really smiley boy with blond surfer hair, plays sports at a very high level , they're away skiing at the moment. He's one of the 'coolest' kids in the year. Edith is a really nice name. Your friends are very out of touch.

Someone who would say this is not a friend! And they are wrong. The names are both gorgeous. Cross them off the Christening invite list.

Folks - baby is about eight months old by now so probably called Arthur. Or Edith. Or yunno, Kylie.