Slightly 1970s, slightly upper crust suggestions

[rosiechristmas]

Hello

I am due in October, we don't know what we're having. We have a 4 year old Penelope and what I like about Penelope is the sort of 1970s Penelope Keith, Penelope Pitstop, Thelwell's Penelope, Penelope Mortimer vibe. (not the Kardashian connection which I was completely oblivious to until the midwife let me know at delivery!!)

I'm looking for a fairly classic name that has just a hint of upper crust, but not a Fenella or Araminta that would sound incongruous in most settings.

I like grown up names with cute nicknames.

Below are my current lists - a couple of these I can't get past DH so they are on the list more to show the style we are after.

We are planning not to name the babe until they are here and see what fits so looking for some more suggestions to add to the field from you clever ladies please!!!

On my list for girls is:

Susanna nn Suzie, Annie
Caroline nn Carrie
Jemima nn Mima
Josephine nn Josie

Boys:

Robin nn Bobby
Frances nn Fran
Jesse nn Jess (a bit of a wildcard this one I guess)

Thanks so much!

Many of the names suggested in threads like this seem to be the posters' pet names and not really meeting the brief.

The 70s were a time when people were using what I think of as "American prairie" names like Hannah, Jennifer, Susanna, Melissa, Rebecca and Abigail.

Actually think Victoria would be an interesting choice. It's been rather idle for a while.

I have a Mima, just be prepared EVERYONE calls her Meema. We're forever saying/writing 'Mima, as in Jemima'. I grew up with a Mima and just didn't see it coming, but I do not exagarate when I say everyone mispronounces it. Genuinely makes me regret the name because even people who are related to us read it incorrectly the first time and it's still stuck that way in their brains years later. Bloody irritating. Poor kid has a hard to pronounce last name too.

I do like that she's the only one we know, though I think every other girl in her class has a 4 letter name ending in a...so still doesn't feel that unique.

yeah, I'd assume Mima would be pronounced meema. Like Mina is meena.

In hindsight I totally see it, but as she's named for a family member who was only ever Mima like Myma it just genuinely did NOT occur to me till we were in the Dr's waiting room and they called her name totally butchering the first and last name and my brain said 'oh no baby I'm so sorry, this is going to be your whole life!!!'

I love Caroline.

I don't think Cami is a good nickname- I think of cami knickers.

I forgot Cynthia.

I alway think it's strange when people pre plan nicknames. Aren't nn's supposed to arrive more organically? They can often be a made up nn entirely unrelated to the given name or even a different name altogether.

I think it's been decided they mean derivatives rather than a nickname

Ie Nicholas becomes Nico rather than Pickle...

Laurence /Juliette

My dad's very posh early 1970s girlfriends in London were Sibylla and Venetia.

Laurence is a stellar name.

OP, if you're looking for adult 1970s names, then that would be the generation born in the 1930s and '40s, I'm guessing. I grew up in a posh-bohemian part of Sydney, and the grown-ups (mainly my friends' parents) were called:

Nora, Louise, Meg, Ruth, Jane, Gillian, Rosemary, Shirley, Frances, Lynette, Anne, Cynthia, Deirdre, Eileen, Carol, Jeannette.

John, Peter, Harold, Laurence, Anthony (Tony), Max, Mervyn, George, Raymond, William (Bill), Desmond, Douglas, Leonard, Alvin, Brett.

Posh boho mid century Sydney! What would the names be like for that demographic now??

Posh boho mid century Sydney! What would the names be like for that demographic now??

@Frogandfish Do you mean the current adult names of that neighbourhood? (Woollahra/Paddington, if you know Sydney.) Overwhelmingly Sophie, Kate, Hannah and Emma, and their menfolk Matt, Will, Ben and James. It's a very white neighbourhood, more so than in the '70s and '80s, and the bohemians have been priced out. I still live there part of the year and can't believe how many Sophies there are.

It's the feminine version of Laurent.

Maybe in France, but it's overwhelmingly used as a male name in the UK. Do you know any British Laurents?

So you're looking for more 50s names?
I thought Nicole was 90s?

Dorothy- Dotty would be my pick

Sally
Genevieve
Elizabeth
Mary
Judith
Amanda
Kaye
Joanna
Alison
Lisa
Ellen
Suzanne

Cecilia, Patricia, Cybill