Which of these names will date badly?

[LauraFaye88]

Vivienne
Clara
Maeva/Maeve
Ottilie

Zander
Theo
Jude
Noah

Thank you for any replies.

I know. Hence my post.

Try hard original 15 years ago now common as muck

Okie doke.

For sure, you'd have preconceived expectations of ages etc - I'm not sure why that matters though? I mean most names are age-signifiers (and often signify other things too) - does it really matter if people imagine you in a particular way before they meet you?

Particularly with age - if OP has a baby Ottilie or Arlo, say, and it dates them to a particular generation - I think it might even be nice/familiar, a part of your generational identity.

Tbh all of them will likely date to some extent as they have all rapidly risen, albeit some of them not to the Top 100 yet.

Vivienne (because it’s not super popular yet despite the celeb kid thing) and Clara (as it’s a bit more classic despite its retro trend) will likely date the least of your girls options.

All of your boy’s options will likely date badly imo unless they happen to stay popular- and it’s too early to tell yet. For example top boys names like Oliver and Jack haven’t dated badly because they have been popular for about 40/50 years now, so you meet middle aged ones too. Very few middle aged or older men with your boys names at the moment (apart from Jude Law who started whole Jude trend). Imo the best bet of those would be to stick Alexander on the BC and then it doesn’t matter if his nn “Zander” dates.

Your name being an age signifier isn’t important to some people- but for some it is and there’s plenty of ways to avoid it if it’s something the OP would prefer (either by choosing something that’s always been popular like Alexander or alternatively by choosing something that never has never been very popular).

Its just like name popularity in general- some people love having a popular name (for themselves or their kids) but others couldn’t think of anything worse as they hate the idea of two in a class/or at work. It’s a good job we are all different!

Personally I don’t care about popularity as such but am wary of names dating, in part due to the awful “Karen” thing (or Tracey, Kevin, Wayne etc - people stereotype/make assumptions, it’s unfair but I’d like to avoid that for my kids if I can).

Ottilie is already very dated I’d say. It’s also almost never pronounced correctly in the UK. Most are probably shortened to Tilly anyway.

Jude is the most likely out of your boy’s list.

I have an Ottilie. She’s in her mid 20s, and was named for my great grandmother’s sister who disappeared in WW2. No-one had heard of it when we named her, apart from the jazz singer Ottilie Patterson.

@Kolin , Babies called Ottilie in England & Wales since 1996 suggests otherwise.