Let’s talk about Ann…

[KAM4]

Just for context I’m not pregnant but did have a baby this year so often think about baby names still. My middle name is Ann (I know it’s a common middle name for a certain generation) and I have aunts on both sides (one Anne & one Ann).
I find it funny to think of both my grandmothers choosing such a simple, one syllable name for their new baby girls when we give names such time and thought now, to choose something so simple (& at the time, common, seems so odd). It makes me wonder if Ann as a name is dead?
I do occasionally hear of names like Mary, Catherine, Margaret (Maggie) for babies but never of Ann.
I think of glamorous actresses like Ann Margaret and think it sounds classic & cool double-barrelled but am I wrong to think it’s just too simple to make a modern comeback on its own?
PS: I know Annie and Anna are still popular but they have that extra syllable so are different to me.
PPS: no offence to any Ann/Annes out there, it’s my middle name also so I feel it’s partly my name too!

The lowest-effort name ever is George.

Anne is fine.

I agree Anne (with an e) and Jane will make a somewhat of a comeback in the next decade or two. Mary, Margaret and Catherine will likely always be used in larger numbers (even currently) as they have more variety/contemporary sounding nickname and diminutive options, but imo Anne and Jane will get there too - there are just too many interesting historical figures, literary or film characters named Anne or Jane for it not to happen (I must admit I can’t think of many with the Ann spelling so that might make that one more limited).

Great name. Simple. No pronunciation issues. Not twee. Will carry the wearer from baby to adult. Can be a rock star, nurse, artist. Classic, saints name, queen's name.

I really like Anne. I definitely prefer it with the e. I am not sure whether it looks more balanced, or is in my head from Anne if Green Gables, but it feels naked without the e somehow.

I probably prefer Anna though. Especially if we used Annie as well and gave her options.

I think you’re right that it’s seen as too simple. It’s one of those names that’s good for double barrel names or as middle name, sort of like May, you don’t seem to get many stand alones.

I love the name Anne but far less keen on Ann.

I also like Ellen, which hasn’t been popular recently despite Ellie and Ella being so, and Sarah.

I think Peter, Jonathon, Nicholas and Christopher are due coming back round too.

Anne with an e feels a bit too much like Annie 'we've got Annie' vibe to me

I'm an Ann and I've never liked it. It was old-fashioned when I was growing up and was everyone's mum's middle name, which made it desperately uncool. Everyone always misspells it with an 'e' (which I'd prefer, tbh), and it's just dull. No idea why my mum chose it. I'd have loved to be an Anna, and in retrospect I wish I'd reinvented myself as Annie at uni or something!

Middle names are useful in large organisations (eg NHS, education) to distinguish between individuals.

My name is Anne. I love it. I know most Ann's are spelt the shortened but i think that looks very 'unfinished'. I have spelt a lifetime spelling my name and it is repeatedly misspelt as the shortened version which drives me nuts! It is often spelt wrongly by work, colleagues and people i have actually spelt it to, more than once sometimes. If people hear it, they almost always spell it the shortened way.

I love Ann

I love Ann, prefer it to Anne and Annie.
I like Jane and Jill too.

Of course, as-long-as-possible is currently the fashion, so the modern equivalent is Annabellina-Mae.

I like Anne.
I also like Mary and Ellen and Jane.

I think Anne and Jane will make a comeback eventually. Annie and Janie probably will first though.

I really like it!

I like it as a first name. Most of the ones I know are Ann, of whom only one is not Welsh.
I know a couple of young Annies.

I'm of the generation where every other girl was a Something Anne, so it seems like a filler middle name. The Anne-with-an-Es tended to be mean.

The current fashion is for multiple-syllable frilly vowelly names, so Annabelle and other Ann- names are probably used instead.

I find it funny to think of both my grandmothers choosing such a simple, one syllable name for their new baby girls when we give names such time and thought now, to choose something so simple (& at the time, common, seems so odd).

I find it weird that you assume because previous generations liked different names that they put less care and effort into choosing their baby's name than you. Very arrogant.

It's my middle name. Definitely not a filler or lazy choice - it was the name of my paternal grandmother who died when my dad was a young child. It was a very special name for him and my only regret about is that I never met her.

@AndyPandyismyhero , quite a few of the Something Ann(e)s I know had a grandmother called Ann(e). It's just that it was so popular as a middle name anyway.

@KAM4 , I'd be happy to name a child Ann. I like it because it's not fussy, and won't get shortened.
I think people can overthink the names they give their children.

I like Anna.
Ann is better than Anne.
I like Annalise or Annalie.

I'm 35 and it's my middle name and my mums, I like it! But it hadn't occurred to me as a middle name for my (non existent and no plans to have) children, though now you've said I probably would consider it (for the never to exist children!).

I’m not sure where I said they put less care or effort into their baby names? I do know that my mother, my grandmother’s first child, was named by a nun at the hospital and so Ann my aunt may have been the same. It’s a simple, no frills name and in that way (& in the way that it may not have even been picked by my grandmother herself) is very different to how most babies are named today. That’s not to say that my grandmother didn’t love it, I’m simply commenting on how tastes have changed.
I don’t massively appreciate being called arrogant, this is just a simple chat about baby names, quite unnecessary.

I've got a very 70s name that I've cursed my Mum for all my life, one change of vowel would have completely changed it for the better. So for that reason alone I'd say Anna is a much softer sound than Ann. Or Annie/Anya.

@SpanielPaws , Julie? I think it's pretty. I think every Julie I know apart from one is a Julie Anne.

@GameofPhones , we had a few duplicated full names at school.
I can think of at least two. One wasn't a 'top 10' first name, but the middle names and surnames were very common ones. Not the actual names and I've used more 'current' names but something like Elliot James Smith and Lily Rose Taylor. I think the girl's name appeared in other school years too.

I have two middle names, chosen to honour my grandmothers. However, I was called Anne rather than my granny's name Annie because my parents thought Annie was old fashioned. That was in the 1950s.

As far as I can remember, in 40 years of teaching I have never taught an "Anne" or "Ann," and have only known one "Ann", who was also born in the 1950s. Plenty of Anna, Annie, Annabels... though.