Right, who needs a baby name? I'm armed with a baby name book from the 70's and I'm not afraid to use it

[sleepsforwimps]

I have just found the baby name book that my parents used in the '70's, lent to myself when naming my children and thought it may help/amuse others.

First published in 1954, I have the 1974 reprint and by jove it has some corkers in it

The Preface

Naming Baby can be a very long, hazardous and trying business, for there are almost as many difficulties to overcome as, say, at a Four-Power Conference. For example, will Baby in later years thank or curse the appellation so painstakingly arrived at; will it please the grandparents - a point for the most careful diplomacy; is the sound of sympathy with the surname; is it pretentious and difficult to pronounce; has it a diminutive which is not at all comlpimentary; and so on and so on. Nevertheless all difficult tasks repay the care and devotion lavished upon them - least not NAMING BABY.

This little book, of course, does not attempt to solve these multitudious problems for they are essentially personal. However, it is the compiler's hope that it will serve to aid in this onerous task by showing what a great variety of names there are to choose from, and something of their origin and meaning.

I'm hoping my scruffy little book will help someone find an untapped name from the past.

So, any requests for girls/boys names of a particular letter?

ItsMargotBeaurEGGarde Jennifer - A variant of Guinevere, q.v.Also found spelt Jennefer, Jenefer. Dim. Jenny, Jen.

Amanda - Latin; 'fit to be loved' Dim. Manda, mandy

Olivia, Ruby and Edith are in there, but not Amelia.

ShowOfHands Inigo is in there.

MissTFied goodluck with your search!

Stretch & rubyslippers thought I'd try some S names for boys and girls.

Girls

Sabina, Sabine
Sabrina Sadie
Sally
Salome
Sanchia
Sandra
Sapphira
Sarita
Scholastica
Selina
Selima
Seraphina
Ser ena
Sheila, Sheelagh
Sheena
Shirley
Sibyl
Sidonia, Sidonie, Sidony
Sonia
Sophia, Sophy
Sorcha
Stacey, Stacy
Stella
Stephana, Stephanie
Susan
Susanna
Suzanne
Sybil
Sylvia

Boys names to follow

I'm Suzanne, born in 1975.

My middle name is Suzanne, born 1975 too

Sacha
Sacheverell
Samson
Samuel
Sandy
Saul
Sean
Sebastian
Secundus
Selwyn
Septimus
Serle
Seth
Seamus
Sextus
Sholto
Sidney
Siegfried
Silas
Silvester
Simeon
Simon
Solomon
Stanisla s, Stanislaus
Stanley
Stephen, Steven
Stewart, Stuart
Swain
Sylvanus
Sylvester

i do love Seth - i fear it is another name DH will veto

seth is a gorgeous name

I picture sexy artistic slightly scruffy 30something

Show of Hands, I heard an Inigo being called in by his dad at Kensington Gardens at the weekend. His sister was Sukey.

(I know because dad was callng "Inigooooooooooo, don't hit your sister Suuuukeeeey!!" I'm not that much of a spy!)

I'm a Susan of the Seventies. But then I am quite old-fashioned.

I'm a Susan of the early seventies too. Never met any Susans younger than me.

Sausage - you're young for a Susan then.

I'd expect a Susan to be about 44-56 and a Suzanne to be about 31-43.

at the Susan/Suzanne stereotypes. It pisses me right off when people call me Susan. I secretly wanted to be called Susannah and I would have been had my maiden not kind of rhymed with it.

We need boys names

Toffeepopple - I have to tell you that I know that very same Inigo and Sukey (though not well!). Their mum is really nice.

(It is, of course, possible that there is more than one Inigo-Sukey pair of siblings locally - but I doubt it, even in Kensington )

Suwoo, Does it piss you off becuase you think it means they see you as an older woman (than you really are)

Some boys names, anything jump out at anyone?

Aubrey
Bartholomew
Boyd
Bran
Brice, Bryce
Clement
Cosmo
Curtis
Cymbeline
Diggory
Dominic
Douglas
Dugald
Dunstan
Eamon
Ebeneze r
Edgar
Edmund
Elias
Emlyn
Enoch
Ephraim
Eric
Errol
Esau
Evan
Ezra
Felix
Gregory
Hartl ey
Hector
Hugh
Hugo
Ivan
Ivo
Jerome, Jerram
Jesse
Joel
Kean
Leander
Lemuel
Lubin
Morrice, Morris, Maurice
Noel
Norman
Orson
Oscar
Osric
Owen
Pascal, Pascoe
Perceval, Percival
Percy
Reuben
Thaddeus
Tiernan
Tobias
Tobit, Tobin
Urban
Wallace

My parents have the same book, same edition. Even scarier are the names my mum has marked in pencil with a little line like so - that she was considering.
I am grateful that dBro and i were not Jeremy and Fenella (no offensive pls to Jeremys or Fenellas or mothers of, just not right for us imho)
My mum warned me off using Imogen as the book has two spellings, Imogen and Imogene???

I suspect Cosmo is a lot more popular these days than the 70's

God, I hope not! I don't think I particularly look my age anyway.
I think Margot, its just the lack of effort, the fact they can't even be arsed to read my name properly.

Hester, Inigo and Sukey seemed sweet. I think they may have been with a dad or an uncle though that day?

I love Cosmo

MadreInglese - so you're either called Louise or Jane then.....

Lol skyblu, correct on both counts

TP, never met the dad so wouldn't know. Was he wearing red or yellow cords with a barbour jacket? if so, that narrows it down to about 10,000 men, all living within the borders of Kensington and Chelsea (Have you noticed that you never get this look outside of Kensington and Chelsea? You non-Royal Borough girls have NO idea what you're missing!)

I think maybe dark cords? And a gilet? But wasn't paying that much attention! DD was playing near his and the names leapt out at me.

No what you mean about the K&C look though. Usually with dark rimmed glasses too, right?

You got it! And lots of women with VERY expensive highlights, botox, designer sunglasses, creamy caramel clothes...

Honestly, I don't know how they let me past passport control. One of the more humiliating experiences of my life was when I joined a baby bootcamp postnatal thing in Holland Park. I had been enticed in by a flyer in the GP surgery that featured lots of overweight women with stained sweatshirts and Croydon facelifts. My kind of keepfit, my kind of women, I thought, and pootled along. Imagine my horror when I discovered all the other postnatals looked like Barbie goddesses, even just a few weeks after birth. One of them told me she had given herself a month to look good in her bikini, so was working out for five hours every day. "I've told the nanny: don't expect to see me", she told me. So like my own life!

It is quite odd to live in such a rich neighbourhood, specially when you're not yourself rich. Lovely in many ways, but you're really aware of all the things you don't get: normality, plump women, chippies, launderettes...