Rachel

[trainboundfornowhere]

I’m wondering what others think of the name Rachel? It’s not a name I had even considered till a few nights ago when I dreamed I had twins called Rachel and Ellen so I wondered what others thought?

It us a constant source of surprise to me that people can't see the bigger picture when it comes to names.
Do they really think that 20 years ago anyone would be declaring Percy or Agetha 'gorgeous'?!
And arguing that named like Rodney, Sharon etc will never make a comeback?
Certain names are tied to decades, that's for sure. My eldest was born in 1993, the era of one-syllable boys names. Everyone was named Sam, Josh, Tom, Ben etc. Personally I think a 30-year-old Josh looks a bit silly, but there you go.
Likewise the first era of -ie girls names. I work with loads of Sophies, Katies and Rosies, which sound very infantile names for professional women to me.
All girls now seem to be either ridiculous cutesy shortened names or the most ugly 'old lady' name as it it's a competition.
Posters always say that by the time all the Evies, Ellies and Posies are adults the names will not look silly but I disagree as I think the first era of cutesy names look ridiculous and the adults have nowhere to go with them as their actual name is Josh or Rosie.
I think the critical thing to remember is you are not naming a baby, you are naming a person who will carry that name for ever.
So every time I see someone describing a name as 'cute' I cringe as they are not looking beyond babyhood.
Rachel is a proper name with biblical origins- it might not be as 'cute' as Kiki, Evie or Lola for a toddler but it will certainly suit anyone over 15 a lot better than some silly nickname that was fashionable at the time.

It's my name and as per my user name, I really love it. I'm 55 and haven't really met that many Rachels/Rachaels during the course of my life, maybe ?10.

I don't disagree with you @toastofthetown. It's more I think that there are only a small number of girls' names that wouldn't be dated to any particular period, so if that's the goal then there is only a tiny handful of names to choose from.

My daughter loves being a Rachel. She was the only one she knew for a long time and all of a sudden there are three in her school year. We know a couple of lovely adult Rachel/Rachael people too.

No-one shortens it and gets away with it, she loves her whole name.

Love the name, as it's mine! Wouldn't change it.

Hi, pleased to meet you. Love my name - mid 30s

Lovely.

I'm Rachel, often shortened to Rach, and I love my name.

A very sweeping statement to say we all hate our name.

Thank you for your replies. If it is a girl as (DH and I have chosen not to find out) then definitely going with Rachel. We had half heartedly agreed on a girls name that neither of us disliked but didn’t love either. I mentioned the dream to him and he asked if I liked Rachel and Ellen. DH then said he liked Rachel too and both of us prefer it to our first name choice Felicity.

You just made me laugh OP, my two girls are Rachel and...Felicity!
Both grown-up now and no complaints about their names, which they both seem to like and both names suit them too.

It's a classic name and glad to see you are considering the correct spelling. Rachael is a misspelling (presumably because people mix it up with Michael?) that has become popular for some reason and Racheal is just an abomination.

Really like it

I don’t think this is a universal experience!

Rachel is like Catherine, Anna, Frances, Sarah etc - it’s just a very classic nice name

Also Rachel is quite unusual these days, so it couldn’t really feel dull