"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

Oh I know a lovely Pru(dence), it really does change the way you think about a name!

True, but unfortunately Prudence is not only a dull virtue, associated with Gordon Brown no less, but Pru sounds like a combination of the not unrelated prune and poo.

Some are nice / ok eg Elsie,Ruby,Lily,Violet etc

others eg Ethel,Maude are too hideous to think of a cute little newborn baby!

OMG @ anyone liking Marjorie! it's my Mums name and she never uses it! always Marj / Margie

ditto for Margot?!

I know of a little girl called Gwen,which was weird to me when I met her & her Mum ,as the only other Gwen I knew was my oooooooold great aunty! lol

• Marjie I meant!

I love all these names!

I think the ones which are seen as old fasionhed now are the names of people who are in middle age now:

Karen
Marie
Sheila
Shirley
Tracey
Valerie
Dawn
Vivienne

I love most of the names on this thread.

Queenie

Just seen my name up there and I hate it too-it suits Julian Clary's dog though

My d-i-l wanted to call dgd either Gertie or Nellie!!!! There was such outrage all round with mutters of 'dirty Gertie' and choruses of 'Nellie the elephant' that she settled on a much more 'acceptable' name that everyone loved.But you know it wasnt any of our business and dgd would be the same wonderful 9 year old no matter what her name was.Her brother is Frank........

I hate Barbara, Phyllis and Jean.
Mavis and Doris are horrid.
I also strongly dislike Edna, Evelyn and Lillian.
Let's not talk about Bernice and Bertha or Roberta...
That's about it for me.

I have a Mabel! I figured if it passed muster as a name for a Mulberry handbag and a pair of shoes in Topshop - not to mention a Blue Peter pet - then it should be good enough for DD...

Paula ?? .

I went to school with 3 and that was in the 70s. Don't know any 'old' Paulas.

Love Dora, Elsie, Betsy and Rosa.

Was in Hyde Park once and heard a dad call for his 1yr old daughter 'Olive, come back.' and it did seem strange seeing such a young child with such an 'old' name .

Pranma, my grandmother was Nellie Gertrude!

Surely, surely no-one will ever like Barbara again?

ooooh - I have really liked Shirley ever since my nearly 5 year old announced she wishes her name was Shirley!

Piscesmoon- I wonder if we know the same Hilda? I think you live near where I used to. She was a doctor. Shagged my first husband, incidentally

Ada
Brenda
Phyllis
Norma
Doris

and what is wrong with 'norah'???!

there is actually a 2 year old nora at dd's nursery.

and i love mabel, and elsie. both were on the name list for dc2, but we had a boy.

my dd has joan as a middle name. it's a family name for both dh and i so it means a lot to us. it's dh's mum's name and my gran's name and was my mum's middle name.

From this thread, I love the following names:
Hilda, Agnes, Mabel, Beryl, Rita, Evadne, Agatha, Freida/Frida, Pearl/Margaret, Nora/Leonora/Honora, Nellie (and Eleanor), Marjorie (and Marsali), Ivy, Trudi, Oonagh/Una, Sybil, Gwen, Marie (and Marie-Louise, Marie-Therese, Marie-Claire and other Marie- names).

All the others mentioned, especially Enid and Mildred, I dislike. Would like to add Concepta, Assumpta, Breda, Thecla, Dymphna, Martha and Nuala.

talking of old names...whats everyones honest thoughts on iris its on my shortlist and was also last time round but my dh not keen so we named her daisy instead!

this time round im back to iris again but seems a bit of a love it or hate it name!?!?!

Iris is so severe for a little one. But then again, I like the name Margot!

My 9 year old is Iris (well 9 in a few weeks - if you ask her she is 9 ), so I love it, elegant, sophisticated and timeless. I dont think it will ever be as popular as Daisy and Poppy etc because it is not 'cutesy' which is why I like it. Iris Murdoch is a fabulous namesake too.

Picked dd up from nursery today and she was surrounded by a cute gaggle of girls called Ivy, Cissy and Beatrice. It was a little like a nice old ladies' coach trip to a stately home or something, I must admit (but in a good way, dd also has an old lady chic name).

I was at school with an Irene(I'm 29). Ghastly name.

Noreen
Doreen
Maureen