"Old Lady" names which should never see the light of day ever again

[MrsSchadenfreude]

In my opinion. I give you:

Ethel
Enid
Edna
Doris
Maud(e)
Hilda
Ena
Elsie
Gladys

Thought of another - Hillary.

I rather like Maud. And Ethel. DOn't know any tho so maybe I'm alone

I love Agnes and Mabel but no-one else does (except you Mrsvwoolf!) so guess it's just as well DS2 wasn't DD2 (as a former colleague remarked! ) seeker and piscesmoon you have failed me!

Phyllis is my MiL's name and she dislikes it so much she always uses her middle name. I don't mind it actually.

Agnes
Senga (who'd have thought you could make an already awful name even more awful simply by reversing it)
Euphemia
Gladys
Maureen
Margot (always that awful Leadbetter woman, despite what anyone says)

Some of these are cute. Others, not so.

Maude - sophisticated, charming.

Elsie - what's not to love? (if you ever read what Katie Did).

Joan, Jean: I predict a revival (Joan from Mad men), Jean Louise (Finch) in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Seberg = chic

Dorothy - smart and sassy a la Parker & Fields.

Biggest comeback imo will be Enid Blyton stylee revival of Dick, Anne, John, Peter (sensible) type names.
Nice topic but why do I even give a fuck? Am not having any more kids .

I love old lady names. Especially Myrtle .

I've got a friend called Thelma. Now there's a name you don't hear very often these days. No idea what her parents were thinking, given she's at least 40 years younger than any other Thelmas I've ever heard of.

You could argue that a lot of names were once considered "old lady" names.
I remember being aghast when a friend chose the (at the time) tebbibly old lady name of Emily!!! Now it is seen as very acceptable.

Beryl
Pearl
Ruby
Doris
Ena
Nora
Ada
Hilda
Maude (sorry, but vomit vomit vomit!)
Ethel
Agnes
Nancy
Margaret
Gladys
Beatrice
Hortense
Lilian (I like Lily, funnily enough, but not Lilian!)
Rosemary
Doreen
Gwynne
Bernice

And yes to the poster who said about boys names girlified - I would hate to be born female into the Lawson family, it seems to be their tradition to feminise the father's name for the daughter - Nigella, Domenica - yuk!

houseworker is right. emily, lily, molly, emma, grace etc were all considered 'old lady names' not so long ago.

Some of these names will come back into fashion (some already are) and will seem completely normal. Honest.

Eventually when my generation is old 'old lady names' will be claire, emma, sarah, louise, helen etc and everyone will hate these names.

And then when OUR children are old emily, lily, molly, grace etc will be old lady names once again.

And so the cycle continues forever and ever.

So old lady names are just a state of mind really, depending on the current zeitgist.

Ina
Peggy
Nettie
Agatha
Fannie
Bertha
Mavis
Dot
Doris
Dottie
Trudy
Prudence
Petulia
Vir ginia
Edwina
Margot
Elspeth
Bernadette
Henrietta
Arlene
Ida
Jan
Joyce
Ophelia
Oonagh
Pau la
Patricia

Well now you have listed my own first and middle names, my sister's, best friend's and most of my other friend's names. I suppose that they are 'old ladies' ( I am an old Woman) but surely no need to say they make you sick or remind you of wrinkled tights and smell of wee. I am off in the huff now.

Dora, Deirdre, Philomena (names from the Irish side of my family which have absolutely no celt-cred!). Funnily enough though, my grandmother on that side was Evelyn Mary and hated the Evelyn bit, she always used Mary, and now Evelyn is very popular on here.

Reading this thread has made me want a DD called Olive! Love the name - it's also my great great aunt's name.
My grandmother was called Sybil which I'm in two minds about. I don't know if it's more unusual than old lady?

The middle classes are supposed to love the 'below stairs' names of yesteryear. Elsie, Vera, Pearl, Evie, Lilly, Ruby etc are usually the maid in 20 and 30s literature etc. No doubt we'll have very posh people choosing Chardonnay etc in 100 years!

I think Margaret will make a come back, it's growing on me as I write - suddenly it doesn't seem quite so 'old'.

I hated Maud/e as a child but this appeals more it seems. Nora/h I think is fine, especially if an abbreviation for the gorgeous, underused Leonora. Dora (on its own) is also very cool IMO and memories of our little friend the Explorer are bound to fade in time...

Mabel must be working its way up in the popularity stakes? Jools Holland's daughter is a Mabel and I've heard of a good few in certain parts of London.

I once met a very cool 20 something Joan and ever since then I've quite liked the name. Why is Joan vile and yet Arthur perfectly pleasant?

Oh dear - I love all these names - my dd's are Iris and Pearl (age 8 and 5) and we have considered a lot of these - currently loving Ethel, Mildred, Joan, Jean, Beryl, Hilda, Myrtle, Thelma, Glenda, Prudence and Primrose. Top spot and the moment is Sybil, which I did not really think of as an 'old lady' name, as we are trying to avoid another one really, but we seem to be drawn to them!

However, Iris, who is 9 soon, said that when we have dc5, can we call it Mary (fine) or KEVIN!!!!!!!! I would rather be called any old lady name than be a boy called Kevin. She is ahead of the curve by some way, obviously!

So how do we avoid having dated childrens names? I assumed it it will be Evie, Ellie, Chloe, surely there will never be enough little Mildreds and Hildas for them to become horribly dated?

Oh no please not Joan, Jean or Sybil! Not Betty, it's awful. What's wrong with Bess? It's a cool name with a good pedigree, but no-one is called it nowadays.
Deirdre and Joy/Joyce, Yvonne, Patricia, Sheila, Janet, Berenice and Enid - they don't even sound nice, actually it sounds like a coffee morning. It took me about 15 years of hearing the name Enid Blyton to even realise she was a woman.

Cool old lady names IMO:

Bess
Ivy
Violet (but NOT Vi)
Nancy
Patience
Rosa
Gwen is cool for a teenager, there are a lot of arty old-lady Gwens where I come from.

Agree with you re: Bess but wait, wasn't it Dick Turpin's horse?? )

Oh goodness forgot Pru(dence) - I know a Pru and she is a downhearted creature and I'm sure the name doesn't help one bit.

Also as with names like Chastity, the child so-named is utterly bound by the law of sod to become the incarnation of the exact opposite.

tummytickler can I please beg you to consider Hildy (at least she's a brilliant fast talking woman in His Girl Friday), or Patience if you must have a virtue name. Love your others BTW.

Think you're right Cortina - Black Bess wasn't it? Wasn't the kind of pedigree (thoroughbred) I was thinking of . But what about Good Queen Bess, Bess of Hardwick etc?