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Original poster

Girls names, are these a bit too "old lady"?

142 replies

Pickledegg · 20/03/2008 22:11

Florence
Clara
Elsie
Celia / Cecelia
Mabel

This is my shortlist of girls names. I love them (obviously!), but some people have said they're a bit too "old lady".

What do you think?

Any you particularly like /object to?

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saggers · 21/03/2008 09:23

I like Mabel.
A friend has called her DD Florence. Like it now.

cadelaide · 21/03/2008 09:24

All lovely.

Brangelina · 21/03/2008 09:25

Florence I don't like, but then the person I knew always had it shortened to Flo. Also, I used to teach in France and it was very popular there.
Clara is OK
Elsie and Mabel are very Upstairs Downstairs, with the emphasis on Downstairs
Cecilia is better than Celia but better still is Cecily.

I liked Esther, wanted it for DD but was overruled. Ditto Edie though not Edith.
A couple f names that are really popular here are Ida and Ada, both of which I dislike intensely but DP thought were nice.

Heifer · 21/03/2008 09:25

Only like Clara I'm afraid, and would agree that I think they are too old lady...

pointedegg · 21/03/2008 09:39

Florence - yes, old lady but very on-trend with certain peoples
Clara - lovely
Elsie - yes yes old ladee!
Celia / Cecelia - dunno really
Mabel - yes ol

horsish · 21/03/2008 09:48

I like them all except Cecilia which for some reason I have always felt had a gyneacological ring to it.

TheMaskedPoster · 21/03/2008 10:07

I worked with a Cecelia years ago - she was Norwegien (I think) and was known as Ce-Ce. She was absolutely lovely. Therefore I love that name.

vInTaGeVioLeT · 21/03/2008 10:12

i like old lady names

dd is Molly and everyone said it was an old lady name[didn't care] it really suits her [13 now]

on shortlist for ds [if he'd been a girl!] were - violet & lola-rose

my cousins dd is myrtle

i also love betty martha cicely gwen

GO ON USE OLD LADY NAMES!!!!!!

Mum2b2BabyRoo · 21/03/2008 10:16

I like all of them except Mable - out of all of them that is the old lady name!

hattyyellow · 21/03/2008 10:19

Florence very popular - I know four Florences under 5.

I love Clara, reminds me of the Nutcracker. Not so keen on Elsie - that's very old lady to me.

Celia I think could be very distinguished - I can imagine her going onto be something very impressive!

Mabel lovely too. I really wanted it but DH had a cat called Mabel as a child so vetoed it.

Trolleydolly71 · 21/03/2008 10:23

Message withdrawn

MadameCh0let · 21/03/2008 10:31

Anna, that is interesting point about servants, because most of our age group (I'm talking roughly here) don't distinguish between the classes when it comes to Victorian names, but my parents who are in their mid sixties and still remember the names of their parents helpers do distinguish. When I was pg they gasped in horror at names such as Ruby, Millie, Tilly, but they were OK towards Beatrice, Florence and Annabel. I think it's good though that names are divided class-wise on their second run.

btw I think that nowadays Elsa short for Elspeth is absolutely fcuk FFo posh. Nobody could say that was below stairs, ha ha.

Buda · 21/03/2008 10:42

Not keen on Elsie or Mabel although Mabel can be lovely as a second name. Someone I used to know called her DD Eleanor Mabel Rose - I thought it was lovely.

Elsie reminds me of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street YEARS ago!

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 21/03/2008 10:50

I'd vote for all of them except Mabel

mejon · 21/03/2008 13:39

Like them all except Elsie. The Welsh version of Mabel - Mabli was on my shortlist for DD and if we ever have a DD2 I shall do my very best to make sure she is named as such!

Alishanty · 21/03/2008 13:50

I really like Clara and also Mabel. Suggested them but dp wasnt having any of it. A name I thought of the other day was Elsa rather than Elsie.

Megglevache · 21/03/2008 13:56

Message withdrawn

jeanjeannie · 21/03/2008 14:16

Love Clara....and I think old ladies names rock! We've got an Iris.....only other one we've met was 78..!

Calisteregg · 21/03/2008 14:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Klaw · 21/03/2008 14:45

knew someone once who was known as Celie

found out later it was short for Cecelia

realise Martha is getting more popular but that's dp's mum's name and I don't reckon he would want to use it!

gracepaley · 21/03/2008 15:02

my dds both have old lady names, although not the ones you mentioned.
Old lady names ROCK.

tummytickler · 21/03/2008 15:04

i like old lady names too. We have a7 yr old called Iris and a 3 year oldcalled Pearl.
Other shortlisted names were Dorothy, Mabel, Hilda and Maude.
My cousin has a dd Elsie and i know a couple of Florences - not old lady at all any more.

Cecelia is beautiful.
Clara is elegant and classy.

Lovely names

kerala · 21/03/2008 15:19

Love old lady names! Though find that real old ladies think we are mad to be resurrecting them. My friend's granny was horrified that she called her daughter Elsie - her outrage at the choice were practically her last words before she died.

Particularly keen on Esme and Elspeth personally but they are all nice.

jocat · 21/03/2008 15:36

Chose Elise for my daughters middle name and love it. Florence is becomming more popular round this way. I love all your choices older names are so nice the boys have had it going on for a while (met a stan 1yr the other day - how cute?!)so its time the girls caught up.

easylife9 · 21/03/2008 16:29

love all the names you've chosen, i know a two year old called Mabel and she has a little sister called Kitty...