Too old fashioned?

[fluffysprout]

Happy Easter everyone!

Me and DH are expecting a daughter in July, and today we were asked by SIL if we had a shortlist. Silly us, as we did tell her. We got told our names are “old fashioned” and setting our daughter up to be bullied. Me and DH are both genealogists by profession, so our names do come from our family trees, anywhere from 2-5 generations ago. I can’t see her point and I think she’s being a bit dramatic so any opinions would be appreciated, a fresh set of eyes would be useful.

Here is our shortlist.

Mary,
Josephine,
Christina,
Rosina,
Elizabeth,
Alexandra,
Alice.

Mary and Josephine are our top two but we’re still fond of the others.

They're fine, @fluffysprout . Your SIL can can name her own DC.

Half of DD’s classes sound like a roll call from a old people’s home to me so any of those names will fit in fine - though I wouldn’t say any are off the scale old fashioned.

Christina Rosetti?

I don’t think I’ve met any little Christina’s or Rosina’s (plenty of Rosie’s), but the others are perfectly standard names. There are lots of Josie's around our area

I can't see why she would be bullied for any of those names, all very nice and classic rather than old fashioned, and not faddy.

I know a Rosina, will a sister Christina.

Gorgeous list of names.
Rosina/Rosalie would have been my choice for a girl.

Christina Rossetti is a heroine of mine and I know a Christina who goes by the nn Christie which is lovely

I like the vast majority of the names on your list! They are largely traditional and classic, rather than 'old-fashioned'. I would say that 'old-fashioned' covered things like Beryl and Mildred, as well as some of the names that I've heard bestowed on little ones in recent years... in any case, they are better than some of the, erm, modern names I came across while I was teaching.

You could go the whole hog and christen her Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, like the late queen! She would sound very respectable 😁

Ignore SIL! Our DD has an “old fashioned” name. Whenever we tell people it they usually say “oh I had a lovely great aunt/great gran/elderly female relative with that name!” Or “I haven’t heard that name in a long while!”
We wanted something traditional but uncommon.

I don’t like Rosina (it was a great-grandmother’s name, i never knew her), but the other names are all really lovely.

They are mostly popular so ignore her

Rosina is a bit random, Rosanna is much nicer I think, but other than that I like them. Although Christina will likely be Chris so depends how you feel about that

She won't be bullied for having any of those names. They are all nice names.
I don't think children tend to be bullied for tenor name now anyway especially in a city where every school has a huge variety of names.
But also hasn't your sister in law realised that older names are very popular now.

I know a little Elizabeth and a little Alexandra. Their sister's middle name is Alice.

I think these are all perfectly lovely names and you should use whichever you want. Josephine makes me think of Little Women!

Mary,
Josephine,
Christina,
Rosina,
Elizabeth,
Alexandra,
Alice.

What a lovely list! I have a 1year old Alexandra and just love the name (obviously!)

Josephine and Elizabeth were both also on the list and if we have another daughter it would be between those 2 names I think!

Mary Josephine is a gorgeous name.

I love Christina. Seems quite timeless to me.

I work in a primary school and have taught children with all of these names in the last 5 years except Mary and Rosina. I have taught 2 Marias and several Rosas. None of them have been teased for having old-fashioned names. In fact I've never heard a child being teased by peers because of their name. We live in a multicultural society and there is a huge variety of names being used. The children really don't care what their classmates are called.
Call your baby whatever you like.

All lovely names and certainly not old fashioned. Tell your sil she’s behind the times.

Josephine is my fav but I love all of them except Alexandra.

Your SiL is odd 😂. I have an Alice and can confirm no name bullying has ever occurred. They’re all lovely names and quite popular around here. If you’re somewhere where most names are Lily-Mae, Darcey-Mae, Madison-Mae etc then people may see your list as missing a hyphen… 🤷‍♀️

A child would be bullied for being called Alice or Mary or Elizabeth? What kind of world does your SIL live in? (We had a Josephine as an outlier name in my year when I was 15 back in the Pleistocene but nobody batted an eyelid!)
And these aren't old fashioned names; they are simply names that have been around for ever. Growl.

They are all lovely, classic names. Of course she won't be bullied.

As you’ve all deduced me and SIL have two different styles. Without naming her son, her style would be names like Atlas, Rowan and Mason. As for Mary being a Catholic name, we’re both from Catholic families living in Ireland so we’re all good there! I’m glad to know I wasn’t going insane as to my shortlist being normal. I just couldn’t see her point at all, particularly about being bullied over a name.

Love Rosina and Alexandra. Less keen on Mary and Josephine. They

Alice was my girls name but I had sons so that is my favourite
The only one I don’t like is Christina

All of those names are popular and/ or completely normal right now. Your SIL is completely out of touch. Possible exception - Christina.

And you need to tell your SIL that children don't get bullied because of any trait or detail pertaining to themselves.

Children are bullied because bullies are miserable or insecure or have never been trained to be kind.

You cannot bully proof a child.

I love classic names and your list is right up my street.

I don't see Rosina as being classic exactly, but it's pretty and would grow on me.