Is The name Emily a good example of a name being a "modern classic"? What others would you put in that category?

[hcarter8]

Currently on our dds name right now and it has me wondering, is there any such thing as a modern classic name?Our second choice is Emily which my dh loves but I don't love although I definitely don't dislike it. . I don't think it's as old as a name like say Elizabeth or Sarah but I'm aware Emily is obviously an old name which has been around since the 1800s (Emily Brontë and Dickinson) so it does have a couple of historical namesakes.

Despite this i always thought if it as more of a "modern classic" in the way that it only got rediscovered and became popular in the last thirty years. According to a lot of naming websites Emily, was the number 1 name in the US/UK/Australia in the 90s/00s, it’s sliding down the charts now and will probably never be as popular as it has been over the last 25 years again. Not that it’s necessarily a bad things and it doesn't take away that it's a lovely name but I just wouldn’t class it as timeless.
I would put names like Olivia, Isabella, Lily etc in the same category, they are very old names but stopped being used for a good hundred years and now sound young again.

What other names would you class as modern classics?

Emma
charlotte
alice
anna
grace
rose
julia
sophia
eva
clara
lucy
hannah

Anna
Charlotte
Elizabeth
Philippa
Alexandra
Julia
Florence
Victoria
Alice
Emma
Grace

So few names are really fashion proof or timeless.

The only names I can think of that give no clue to the age are Sarah and Anna. Maybe Kate and Lucy.

Catherine
Anna
Victoria
Julia

Emily is a lovely name. I’m too old too have children now but I love the name Emily ❤️

What about
Charlotte
Grace
Emma
Violet
Sophie
Ruth
Anna (Marie)

I used to love Lucy until Lucy Letby. She made me hate the name 🤬

Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, Katherine. Not modern classics, timeless classics.

Zoë fits this category. Never been huge enough to go out of fashion. Could be 2 or 20 or 50 or 90. Naomi too.

Names go in and out of fashion.

When I was a child, I had a friend called Grace. This was a very old fashioned name and chosen because of religious connotations.

My daughters know lots of girls called Grace, their age, or with Grace as a middle name.

Sarah was also fairly old fashioned and religious when I was at school, and was sliding out of fashion again for my daughters’ age mates.

So few names are really fashion proof or timeless.

I agree. Some of the names we think of as timeless are old names which have come back into fashion. But they may have been seen as unfashionable for many years in-between.

When I was at primary school in the 80s, my mum was surprised that a few of my peers were called Emily. She thought of Emily as an “old lady name”. This baffled me as it sounded young and modern to my ears.

On the other hand, Rose, Florence and Julia sound classic now, but I don’t think I’ve ever met one who was the same age as me.

Emily is not timeless - it was super popular in the late 1990s with about 7000 girls names Emily per year, I think it was THE most fashionable girls name at the time

Now less than 2000 girls are name Emily and it is starting to feel quite dated.

Most names come and go
Emily, Charlotte, Philippa, Naomi, Zoe,Emma, Jessica, Sophia, Sophie, Verity, Catherine, Alice, Rose, Annabel , Anna, Isobel, Isabelle, Lucia, any of these fit your brief.

I only know a couple of under 30s called Sarah although half my class in the 1970s seemed to be calked either Sarah or Susan .

I have a name mentioned in this thread a lot although most of the ones I have met are born mid 60s . I would have said names like Rebecca, Rachel, Alice , Elizabeth and Deborah were classics but they all sound quite old fashioned now . The classics are probably Katherine, Eleanor, Emma/Emily, Lucy , Isabel, Charlotte, Sophie because these are all names that I know both children and adults of all ages with.

I thought Hannah was biblical.

I think for this I’d be looking for names that could be any generation…so I know people in three generations who have the following names:
Alice
Elizabeth
Anne
Katherine
Lucy
Olivia

Sarah, for example, I know no children of school age or younger (I’m sure they exist); Lily, I know no one in my generation (born in the 80s).

Lucy, Hannah, Rebecca, Emma, Emily...this is based on the fact that I know people with these names of all ages (baby to mid 50s!)

Some Biblical names have vanished, presumably never to be seen again (Boaz). Some have been consistently popular throughout the ages (Elizabeth). Some were popular for a long time but are now dropping off (Mary, Hannah). And some had a long period of not really being popular but are now back in vogue (eg people are often surprised that Phoebe and Ethan are Biblical).

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the term 'modern classic' for Emily as, like you say yourself, there are some pretty famous historical examples. Sure, it might have dipped in popularity over time, before becoming very popular again in the 90s/00s, but there are a fair few old ladies around called Emily too. It's not like it disappeared completely.

Names naturally dip in and out of usage but a classic is a classic. I don't think they need to be defined by era. I mean, Sarah really isn't very popular these days, but it obviously still has classic status.

For girls I'd say the following are all obvious classics, despite all being more or less popular at different points in time:-

Elizabeth, Victoria, Anna, Hannah, Emma, Emily, Sarah, Sophie, Lucy, Catherine, Grace, Rose, Rebecca, Rachel, Olivia, Alice, Eleanor

There are no doubt some obvious ones I'm missing but those names are never 'out' of fashion even when they're experiencing a less popular spell as they're always around to some degree.

Boys equivalents would probably be James, Jack, Thomas, Samuel, Daniel, William, George, Edward, Charles, Joseph etc. They're always in use throughout the generations.

Jessica
Emily
Edith
Sarah
Grace
Cordelia
Hannah
Charlotte
Daisy
Isabella

I'd say Emily is just a classic, along with other classic names like Elizabeth and Lucy and Sophie.

Old names now currently trendy would be Elsie, Phoebe, Eva, Olivia, Isabelle.

Eleanor, Connie, Josie and Mary are underused.

Charlotte
Alice
Lucy
Hannah
Clara
Anna

I am very old. My mother really wanted to call me Emily because it was so "beautiful and unusual" She was persuaded not to because it was so dull and old fashioned.....!

I think classic can come in different forms and Obviously these are just my perceptions.
Classic but modern: Emma. Hannah. Jessica. Lucy. Alice. Isabelle. Amelia.
Classic but also dated: Rachel. Jennifer Sarah. Victoria. Rebecca Laura. Catherine. Faye. Christina.
Still Classic but also not used in abundance. Martha. Cynthia. Tiffany. Lydia Madeleine Dorothy. Teresa.
Classic but neither modern nor dated : Olivia, Sophie Eleanor. Alexandra Abigail Emily Charlotte. Elizabeth. Florence.
Classic and Old fashioned: Anne.Margaret. Josephine.

I think you’re exactly right with Emily, it sounds young again. Many millennials and younger with that name.

I think similar names are:

Eleanor
Sophie
Grace
Catherine (Kate)

Oh I haven't let her put me off.
She's just one piece of shit floating in a whole sea of Lucys, and overshined by my angel baby Lucy lost in 2007.

Phoebe
Daphne
Rosemary
Johanna
Josephine
Lavinia
Mabel
Mary
Eloise
Eliza