Girls names that won’t come back…..

[Rincoe]

Barbara
Gertrude
Muriel
Mildred
Majorie
Eileen
Geraldine

I don't like Eileen, but my little girl is Joan. We call her Joanie and JoJo sometimes.

I know a very stylish young London couple who have named their daughter Agnes. She is a beautiful little girl and it suits her so well. I think perceptions of names can vary greatly depending on where you live and who you know.

Well, we all know how that ended...

Griselda doesn't exist outside "Cats", surely?! 🤷‍♀️

I can’t see Sharon or Tracey coming back, but a lot of the “old lady” names like Ethel, Doris and Mabel etc seem to be popular as dog names, so you never know!

I think it's a lovely name, but it means "gazelle", so would be unfortunate if you were short and dumpy and clumsy like me. 😅

But not many people are going to know what it means. It’s not like being called Willow and being short and spherical.

Pauline, Phylis, Melissa, Yvonne,

and the more recent ‘fashion’ names - Lauren, Becky, Cheryl, Gemma are going to take a long time to be in widespread use.

If I’d had a daughter I’d have called her Jane.

So many people mentioning the name Yvonne really surprises me. It’s not my favourite name but what’s so wrong with it?

Nothing. People just can’t see that it will seem fresh and new once it’s been gone for long enough to have no associations, or ‘romantic and charmingly old-fashioned’ ones, for people naming babies. That won’t be until the Yvonnes have died, or mostly.

I really like the name Agnes!

I think the traditional and biblical names will come back. I would guess (without the facts to back it up) that the cycle of names is slower for girls names than boys names purely because there seem to be so many more girls names than boys. Nonetheless, I still believe there is a (long) cycle and traditional names won’t ever be gone forever.

and the more recent ‘fashion’ names - Lauren, Becky, Cheryl, Gemma are going to take a long time to be in widespread use.
But Becky is Rebecca, which is surely one of the ultimate classics?

I think Rebecca is up there with boys names such as Peter, David, Michael, Matthew etc which are 99% sure to come around again, probably not too long away, but it will take a lot for 30 somethings to get over the quite out of fashion nicknames of Becky, Pete, Dave, Mike, Matt etc which just are ubiquitous with 70s and 80s born babies.

I’m assuming nicknames like Ollie will date (for a generation or two) just as much as Pete and Becky.

Grizel, and variant of Griselda, was quite common in Scotland once. Apparently it should be pronounced gri-ZELL which makes it slightly better, but the two I met (old ladies) pronounced it as Gristle or Grizzle...

Agree with to these. But ai think many mentioned here are quite trendy in certain circles. Didn’t Lily Allen call her dd Ethel? It’s a ghastly name, but it seems to have its (rarefied) place still.

The ones I can’t see coming back are more like the above - ‘Boomer’ names like Christine, Lorraine, Phillys, Susan and Janet - more than the Silent Gen and the Greatest Gen, whereby such names like Audrey and Dorothy have made a bit of a comeback.

I think the further back, the more likely they are to become popular again. So names like Megan, Chloe, Poppy, Georgia, Mia, Amelie, Isla, Milly and Libby etc will take a long time to become fashionable again once they totally fall out of favour.

Yes Janet, Tracey, Jodie etc (the female equivalents of Gary!) I struggle to imagine. I know they aren’t completely made up names and are derived from surnames or traditional names but basically they are names that randomly appeared in the 60s/70s and then vanished. Just because names will become old people’s names (currently very middle aged names) one day, doesn’t mean they will necessary join the 100 year cycle of names.

Still, maybe I’ll be surprised and have (great) grandchildren named Gary, Jodie and Janet!

Constance
Sybil
Wendy
Fiona
Gretel
Lynn
Tracy
Shelley
Ann
Sally
Alison
Debra
Valerie
Pauline
Justine
Yvonne
Elma

I agree.
I always use Emily as an example. I was teaching when the first little Emily’s arrived in school. Very cute, but very different from my only other point of reference - Emily Bishop, in Coronation Street. An old lady.

It was almost as if they were two different names - the cute little Emily and the old lady Emily.

I’ve got a Querina in my family tre - my GGGM

Philomena
Marion
Delores

Sadly I know of a few Peggy’s under 5