Barbara

[bixley]

WDYT? Is it ok or laughable? What nns, (not Babs or Barbie!)

I'd certainly raise an eyebrow at the name Barbara, as it's so rarely heard as a baby name these days. I knew a few Polish Barbaras - lol second time this week I've taken the Polish perspective! Diminutive is usually 'Basia' - pronounced 'Basha' which sounds pretty bad in English. 'Biba' is also another derivation of Barbara, but I do think that Babette is way better.

wispabars - Mabel and Elsie and Edie and Florence etc sound OK to younger ears (well mine anyway, tho not to my mum lol) because they are really old - our grannies' names. They are coming back in, following behind Emily and Victoria and Amelia and Eleanor which preceded them (and would have sounded bizarre 40 yrs ago).

Barbara h/ever, along with, yes, Maureen and Valerie and Mavis and Marjorie still sound a bit too recent (to me anyway). My mum's not my gran's generation.

In 20 years' time, no doubt very trendy, with Derek and Gordon and Barry.

And in 40 yrs we'll be back with Tracey and Sharon and Karen and Nicola and Joanne and Susan - all my contemporaries (we'll all be about 80 by then). Their small brothers will be Dave and Paul and Mike and Steve and Mark (what all my pals' husbands are called)

Oh. What Nantucket said. And staples (sorry you hate yr name tho. I'm not keen on mine either as it's also a boys' name)

Please, no.

There is a Barbara at the DSs' school - she is about 8 or 9 I think. I'm pretty sure her parents weren't thinking "retro trendy" or anything but used ut as an old fashioned name.

I have an Aunt Barbara - it is a bit of an old lady's name I think and not as pretty as the other ones that have come back kinto fashion - although, ask again in ten years and it wll probably be very trendy

In another 10 years it will be popular. So you could get ahead now...

sorry it is an ugly name imho....

Not all names come back though. You look at the list from 90 yrs ago and Gertrude and Hilda and Ethel are on it. WHy have they not come back at all??? If it's cos they're horrible, why were they not considered horrible 90 yrs ago?

I don't think Barbara will come back. Not for a long time. I think Valerie and Belinda are coming soon, to a creche near you.

my mum is called barbara and she is now 56 and has always hated it!! especially when people call her babs

xx

hoppybird, love Biba as a nn.
I also love Valerie but not Belinda. I knew a nasty and very plummy Belinda who must be 30ish now, it was a little used name when I knew her at 8 years old!

sorry its just too old fashioned (for now)

I don't think Barbara is ready to come back out yet.

Nantucket, not only do I 100% agree with every word you say, but I also keep thinking of a lovely holiday I had in Nantucket every time I see your screen name. I'm having an identity crisis. Did I write your posts while sleep walking??

PMSL at "coming to a creche near you"

I think you are all being a bit harsh on Barbara

I don't like Barbara just because it sounds too much like barber to me.

Babette is cute though a bit too cute for my taste.

There is somebody on this board, can't remember who! but wouldn't out them, who has a Billy and a Susan (Well, the Susan is a bump to be called Susie.)

I think it's cool and refreshing amongst the Ameleeeeyahs and oliveeeeeyahs, and so on.. not criticising those names, they are pretty, but I'm getting tired of that prim victorian prettiness bow. Now I think Vivien for example has a lot more backbone.

Belinda, Vivien, Valerie, these are my Mum's bridge chums!!! I call it bridge lady chic.

My Mum also has friends called Nancy and Lois, but they might be young for their names, as those names are already out there.

My Mum is called Beatrice, so I think she is about 30 yrs too young for her name, and weirdly, I am 20 years too young for my name.

I've gone the other direction with my daughter and she will be about 15 yrs older than somebody would expect her to be, guessing purely on her name (further down the line when she is an adult).

My SIL mother is called Barbara, her sister is called Barbara and her sister's DD (age 7) is called Barbara-Anne. - think The Royle Family living in Liverpool and you get the picture.

Naff as hell but hey, naff is cool!

Nantucket, forgot to say my spaniel's called Margaret.

Love Vivien(ne)

Barbara
Daphne
Vivien
Valerie

mm,I like those

Barbara Ellen (observer jouno) is pretty cool - I reckon your name's what you make it.

What about Linda, also quite 60s, and I've always had a penchant for it.

Mind you, I also think Sharon is a beautiful name and ripe for a revival...

dustbuster, I agree with you on Sharon, but I could never do it.

My name is Barbara Hawley and I have always loved the name given to me at birth.....especially when I lived in Spain for several years where each syllable is pronounced with a slightly rolled 'r.' I am now 56..look about ten years younger...married to a handsome man, and during my single years,was never at a loss for admirers...Think about it...the name Olivia is very popular and considered beautiful today...My twenty seven year old daughter, Olivia was named after my beautiful mother in law....People were shocked that I would give my baby such a "heavy" and "old fashioned" name in 1982....She was the only one in her high school graduating class of four hundred fifty students with the name..And yet a decade later, you won't find a school that isn't filled with Olivias...

.I love my name...and for all of you who claim to hate it, please tell me your name and I'm sure I could think of a million reasons not to like it...compare it to some silly word...mispronounce it..think of some unattractive or unsavory people who carry the same name...

.Barbara has been a wonderful name...I guess I carry it well...and for the record there are some very beautiful and talented Barbaras as well: Barbara Eden (I dream of Jeannie);Barbara Gordon is a librarian in Gotham City by day, but by night she is Batgirl, .. Barbara Cartland wrote hundreds of romantic novels; Barbara Feldon who played the beautiful, quirky, agent 99 on the series "Get Smart"...(far from boring)..The gorgeous (and young!) Barbara Terry is one of the most sought after auto experts in television and is the owner of her own racing team, "Barbara Terry Racing."..she is absolutely stunning..

,. I think people are so caught up in what other people think..that they can't have a mind of their own when it comes to a name..."Barbara" means "stranger in a foreign land" or exotic...it consists of three letters, three syllables, and when prouncounced correctly, softly bounces off the lips...it trails off with the very feminine "a"..and yet it is strong...confidant....I love my name!

No. I love old-lady chic, I love middle-aged chic (Sylvia, Belinda, Vivien, Valerie). I wouldn't use, but could appreciate the appeal of Lois, Donna, Maura, Muriel, Meryl, Beryl..

So. I'm aint the type to look at the top ten for inspiration.

Fab for you that it hasn't been an albatross around your neck though.

I'd prefer to be something like Beth, Anna, Rachel, Sarah, Ellen, something that doesn't date..

Is it your real name Kerry?!