“Imagine having a gorgeous new baby and calling her Winnie!”

[princessposy]

I remember giggling about this with a school friend when we were about 12/13. We were talking about what our grandmothers were called. Mine was Winnie; hers was Elsie. Circa 1993, we found it hilarious someone would call their babies Winnie and Elsie.

Just had a day out with the same friend and guess what her DD is called

(I doubt she remembers our conversation!)

I wonder if our DDs will find it hilarious someone once called their babies Jennifer, Laura and Michelle … probably.

In the 90s I worked with a Fred. I thought he was joking and asked him his real name. It was still Fred.

I worked with a Fred in the 1990s and a different Fred in the 2000s.

When I was at school middle names like May and Pearl were considered very old fashioned. The middle names everyone had were Ann(e) or Jane.

I still dislike a lot of names in this thread and think, why would you choose that?!

I remember thinking Audrey was a granny name and now I know several child Audrey's.

Tennyson wrote a long tragic poem “Maud”

Come into the garden, Maud,
For the black bat, night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud,

@Whynottryagain , I think people hear Audrey and think Hepburn. I think Roberts.

All these people saying 'aww, it's cute' about names, what about when the owner of that name is no longer a cute baby?

That's what puts me off some of the 'ie' names; they just feel a bit juvenile and while I can come to terms with a cat or dog with that name (because they are, intrinsically, cute) I struggle to think how an adult goes along with a 'cutesy' name.

I live in Northern Ireland and when the name Roman became popular it raised a few eyebrows, as it’s a derogatory term for a catholic.

I used to hate the name Olive as it conjured up Olive from On the Buses. I quite like it now, but prefer Olivia.

In the early 80s, a relative on DH side named her child Melissa. I remember MIL making catty comments about it being posh. Today she's Mel and no-one gives a hoot about that or her full name.

It will be interesting to see if names popular when I was born (60s) make a comeback in the next generation.

I obviously have different taste than you-those names are my DD's middle name and my dog's name 😂

And speaking of dogs-I know 3 little ones called Winnie 😂all very sweet dogs but not for a human child for me!!

I knew a Penny (Penelope) who was also sometimes called Nello. But not actually Nellie.

A friend's daughter is known sometimes as Nellie and her full name is Kornelia.

I'd usually associate it with Helen and the various other permutations such as Eleanor, but a great-great-aunt had this name and it was a standalone, not short for anything.

As a small child I was sometimes known as Nell, after the story character Pussy Nell!

Some names never seem to come into fashion. Zeus and Spartacus are very rare first names in the UK.

No it hasn't. It fell from favour for many years and returned in the late 80s, I think because Gary Lineker had a child called George who was in the press a lot. I know a George born a few years before this whose name was seen as a horrible and weird "old man" name.

It’s quite a common dogs name

Far too much pressure to be called Zeus or Spartacus - imagine if you grew up to be short and overweight, or thin and spindly!

Reminds me of a quiet, drippy child I taught when I was working in London called Charisma 🤦‍♀️

Exactly.

I know a dog Winnie and I can’t disassociate from with dogs.

See also:

• Bella
• Luna

Both nice names but entirely unusable these days.

I do have to concede that they make very good names for dogs (no offence to your lovely dd of course). I could get on board with calling a cute puppy Olive or Maude 😁

No one thought George Michael’s name as weird (not his given name but he suited it very much). Although when I was growing up (60s/70s) no one young that I knew was called George.

It is back in grand style - along with Mabel which I find similarly heavy and unglamorous!

BUT they have in their favour the fact that they are recognisable, old names and I guess we all hear and associate things differently, especially depending whom we have known who carried them before, so there will always be an element of taste.

George is also back, and I really find it a heavy, sodden sort of name that sounds like a belch, but it is probably because the first George I knew of was a memory as a toddler of my grandparents watching a sitcom called George and Mildred (does anyone remember it?). But in reality the sorts of names I do like - Charles, Edward, Frederick, Henry - all belong in the same sort of "name family" as George, so it is surprising, really, that I don't like it.

It's classic, but definitely had a spell out of favour when I was a child.

I just posted about George and Mildred, and it definitely struck me as an old man's name growing up.

Ohhh that's lovely! It is a nice name, for human or dog!

Last week down at the beach, I met a French bulldog and her name was Winnie.

They're all dreadfully old fashioned in my head....!

It's hard for me to see them as fresh, but my dc are a decade or so older than the babies being born. and I guess they may have less of an old person vibe to the parents using those names now. I think names go from dated to something that feels more timeless, depending on how far before your time they were.

That's true - I don't remember any comments on his first name, but maybe that was because he was a rock star so expected to have a less usual name! Also, there was a lot of emphasis on his being Greek, so people presumably saw it is a part of his difference...

Boy George's name was seen I think as being very much the point - an unusual name for an unusual persona

George Michael was half-Greek and his name registered at birth was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. Andrew Ridgeley had an interesting heritage despite the very 'British' name.

I can only think of one George my age but he was George Known-as-name Surname, and the George was his grandfather's name.
The name was dated at the time but there were a few Georginas my age.

I'm younger than the George Michael & Boy George age group and it was a name that had been very popular in my grandparents' age group.