Kimberley, Michelle or Deborah

[herewegoroundtheblueberrybush]

Which of these do you prefer for a baby girl?

Other options are Wendy or Amanda.

I don’t enjoy my name which is on your list because no one spells it correctly like EVER and I hate having a name that sticks out / is uncommon. Oddly, I also don’t like it being shortened- think it reminds me of another girl I knew and don’t want to be reminded of her. I had to borrow a work badge in a temp job and got such joy from being called Wendy! Michelle would be my second choice.

I was a child in 1965 and names like Jack, William, Harry, Sam, Tom, Daisy, Edie, Molly etc were considered old fashioned names and rarely used, yet were hugely popular by the time I had kids. Someone has to go first to bring names back

Hmm, that's quite an interesting list. I wonder if you should explore other names from the 70s before shortlisting?

Not many 42 year old women with those names. Think they would mostly be a good ten years older or more. 80s babies were more Laura, Lucy, Sarah, Kelly etc.

I think Amanda is the least dated of the options but I personally have a soft spot for Kimberley.

Use Laura then! There’s a Laura at my DC’s primary school. Makes a change from all the Evies, Amelia’s and Olivia’s.

Ive always thought Kimberley was ugly and clunky.

Deborah is the best out of those three.

Deborah stands out as being more classic than the others. I've always thought it sounds sophisticated. No more babies for me, but it would make my shortlist.

Laura
Deborah
Louise

Much better than Ada Ivy Violet etc etc which dated quickly first time round and will again.

These surely aren't great-grandmother names yet? Only just, possibly, grandmother, I would have thought?

They are names of my age group 50s so I think will be beginning to be used as middle honour names.

Nah we're all called Claire, Louise, Sarah, Victoria, Katie/Katherine/Catherine or Laura.

OP's names are a bit older - would be late 40s/early 50s now.

When I hear Kimberley I think of the way Victoria Wood used to say it in her sketch.

I’ll add to the list of 70’s girls names. Rachel, Helen, Kerry, Carla, Trudy.

There is a Michelle in teenage DD's class. Lovely girl, lovely name. Lots of options to shorten to Micki, Misha, Shell, Shelley,

Kimberley has always sounded very American to me. We are in Ireland and there are biscuits called Kimberley (always part of the trio of Kimberly, Mikado and Coconut Creams), these days they only come chocolate covered and are delicious. Kim is a nice diminutive though.

Not so keen on Deborah though Debbi is quite sweet.

Wendy alway seemed so exotic to me as a child, knew one, she was beautiful.

Amanda is grand, Mandi, Mandy - how does it work with your surname?

These names are definitely due a comeback.

Terrible!

Cripes they're all awful, definitely of a certain vintage but not in a good way 🙄

Very very 80s, op. Saying that, though, there are a few little Catherines popping up where I live, and one girl whose full given name is Kathy!

I'm a child of the 70s so couldn't make myself like any of them. They aren't due a revival yet, too soon.

I raised an eyebrow at first but actually, thinking about it, why not? Deborah especially sounds classy and cool to me, and Debbie would be cute on a little girl. It feels like most under-10 girls here are called Isla, Ada, Eva and Ivy. Your list sounds fresh by comparison. With the possible exception of Wendy, which I don't really like.

Nooo really bad.

I think you’ve picked the five worst 1960s/70s names.

Deborah is hideous and basically child abuse.

she would always be called Debbie. Urghhhhhh

I'm 57 and those are names of people my age. The pp who asked if thought it was 1965 wasn't far off. Sorry. They're all quite dated.

If I had to pick one it would be Amanda.

Amanda ok nick name Mandy. But everyone will be surprised to meet baby Mandy not 40 year old Mandy.

also drug references

Nah we're all called Claire, Louise, Sarah, Victoria, Katie/Katherine/Catherine or Laura.

OP's names are a bit older - would be late 40s/early 50s now. Edited

There were plenty of Michelles in the 80s. National Records of Scotland show that it was the 10th most common name in Scotland in the ‘80s taking all baby names from 1980-1989. Deborah was no 37 and Kimberley was 49.