Barbara

[user2468101214]

Due little girl April 2024

Always had a soft spot for the name.

I understand it's following the 'old granny' comeback trend.

(I may be thinking too deeply but can see this name becoming more popular soon due to new Barbie film)

Thoughts please? TIA

This thread has convinced me that I love it, OP. Go for it! It's a strong, powerful, beautiful name.

The age 40-ish Barbara I know goes by Bobbie which I think is cute (but she hates it).

Immediately makes me think of Jim Royle!

Edited to add that I do like the name though.

Cute...bit different, tired of hearing the same names over and over. Aww wee Babs!!

Barbara is beautiful. It’s one of my favorite names and it happens to be mine. The sound of it is timeless, eternal and holds a feminine strength like no other. Jaques Prevert’s poem, Barbara, expresses the depth of this name so well in both English and French

https://sancass.medium.com/barbara-4614f4ceb98e

I had a beloved aunt called Barbara Mary. She would be 80 now. I have known of no others under about that age. It’s due (overdue) a comeback. It might take off though and become really popular a bit like Grace did 20 years ago (another beautiful classic name that became very popular).

Barbara has a lovely sound. My aunt was Barbs though to lots of people. You might need to be prepared for that!

Barbara is beautiful. It’s one of my favorite names and it happens to be mine. The sound of it is timeless, eternal and holds a feminine strength like no other

But why is this so funny to me?

awful

Too funny. But oh no. Even with "wee" and even if you said it with an Irish accent, no, I can't go with Babs. And why should anyone accept Babs when they have a beautiful name like Barbara? It's almost sacrilege to diminish such a noble name. Barbara it is, and forever will be.

that is the best that can be done with the basic raw material.

Varya is an elegant diminutive

In Russia, sure. Not so much in Nuneaton.

Why not? Quite a lot of diminutives aren't the obvious UK ones.
Alexandra could be Sasha etc.

(I think Barbara might be more like Varvara in Russian.)

I would say no. Think of your (potentially) daughter not what's trendy.

My 80 year old mum is a Barbara and she hated/hates being called Babs or Barb or Barbie.

Your daughter may not be a 'Barbie Girl'.

Betsy is very lovely though. Not Betty.

Beatrix is also lovely.

In my experience you have to work quite hard to make an unusual diminutive stick, usually by introducing the baby by the diminutive from the start so that people either don’t realise or forget that Sasha is in fact an Alexander on the birth certificate. Whilst I am generally in favour of ‘Sunday names’ and a bit of choice for the future adult child when the diminutive is so far from the full name in the person’s everyday language I do wonder why you wouldn’t just give the diminutive as the legal name.

@ZoyaTheDestroyer , I have cousins with diminutives as first names. Other than one, I have no idea if they have the full versions on their BC. I don't think so.

The one with the long version on the BC never uses it unless necessary.
The names are things like Tim, Jon, Becky, Beth, Charlie.

@KirstenBlest but they are all very familiar diminutive forms and you could easily work backwards to know the full name, if given. I don’t think most people could reverse-engineer Barbara from Varya. Perhaps that is the point!

Not from my point of view. I like Barbara as a name.
Kitty short for Catherine/Christina, Kit short for Christopher, or Nell short for Penelope wouldn't be obvious unless you knew.

@user2468101214 are you having a girl? Will you go with Barbara?

@LittleMonks11 Your post proves the point of what the one legged man said “It’s all a matter of a pinion”. Betsy to me sounds awful and contours up visions of a rotund but jolly domestic worker, though I agree with your opinion of Betty.
Barbara appears to be on the cusp of coming popular again and if the OP likes it then there is nothing so odious about the name that we should tell her to think about her child. It’s not in the same category as Myra or Apple or Plum. Even names like Jezebel and Delilah are considered acceptable now.

I wonder if the posters saying how awful Barbara is would have said the same about Ivy, Edith and Olive before they made a comeback? I suspect they would. Fashion is a strange beast. To my ear (mid 50s) Barbara is more appealing than any of the granny chic names so beloved now. Maybe that's because I can remember when they were the names of very old (and not at all 'cute') old ladies?

I think it's cute.

Exactly.

Yes, and if she has a sister, Pamela.

I really like it. Patricia, Pamela, Pauline, Priscilla?