"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

Iris is a great name.

Irene is awfull.

Agnes, Gurtrude and Mavis are almost as bad.

Betty is almost unforgivable.

What about Doris?

I know a little French girl called Gladys - they say it Gla-deeeess, which makes it rather pretty. Irene pronounced in a German way sounds good too - EE-reynah.

OOh Margot is lovely - I know a little Margot and I keep thinking what a cool name it is (she is half french though).

Maureen is dreadful, Rhoda/Rhonda both bad too.

Iris is nice-ish, but not sure about having all flower-names for the girls...

lol omg yes Gertrude is baaaad too!
reminds me of the gooseberry in the "Garden Gang" books!

Is Roberta really that bad ?

If we ever have a girl was thinking of that as a middle name,after my dad and hubbys grandad

I'm not that keen on it,and would only use it as a middle name! lol

I love Roberta, Bobbie for short. It's not old-ladyish at all, IMO. Roberta is a go-getter who wears dungarees and eats her greens.

am really struggling with some of the older names a lot of people have said they actually do like, especially Elsie and Maud.I know they're quite popular but don't really see the attraction. Mildred and Myrtle conjure up the image of a stern type woman for some reason. Liked some of the others though that everyone else shook their heads over!

Not keen on female versions of boys names (Roberta from Robert;Charlotte from Charles, etc).

Quite like some of the old-fashioned names which stand for some moral virtue - Constance, Verity, etc.

Yeah, but as someone further down pointed out, those virtue names are a bit of a risk. Patience is bound to be unable to wait for anything, Hope to be a confirmed pessimist, and as for Chastity...

Verity will be an awful liar, Charity a misanthrope, Faith an atheist...

I wouldn't expect a child to necessarily grow up to embody that virtue though, I just like the type of name. Not Chastity though, don't think you can do that to a dc these days, also not keen on Prudence but some of them I like

my great aunty was a Pauline (so not dismiliar to Paula) - she was in her 80's when she passed away last year.

Gwen is a horrible teenager name - it was never cool when I was a teen...............

Ethel
Enid
Gladys
Mavis
Beryl

Tryphena is a nice one

Found it when doing a bit of family history (not sure if she is actual family, though, or just a married aunt). But will definitely recommend it to dcs when the day comes, as a family name.

Gwendoline
Dorcus
Geraldine
Amelia
Jessie
Mona
Fay
Ermentrude

Ooh I forgot
Prudence
Faith
Hope
Charity
Constance

I thought my name would have cropped up more often but it was only mentioned once!

To all those deliberately calling their DCs "old lady chic" names... it is highly likely that they will grow up disliking their name! I HATE my name but dont even have a middle name that i like to fall back on!

BOTH of my names are old lady! My sister likes my name though my name is Eileen Dolores! Never had a chance, me!

Could you try Eily or Lola? Or spell Eileen Eibhlin (Irish) and pronounce it Ev-leen? Or maybe you're resigned to your fate...

Er, Lolita think that was short for Dolores. Doesn't Dolores even mean sad? Maybe just a complete change is in order, Chanel perhaps or Myfanwy

I know a Charity, edam, her parents have both been on the dole ever since they left school. (Not being judgemental about the dole god knows, I'm unemployed atm, but sometimes maybe fulfilling the virtue is as bad as the opposite...)

Dh has recently suggested Pauline if dc3 is a girl.
I could not reply for a few minutes whilst I composed my thoughts...

Shelia, Rita, Eunice....

And my nana is called Irene and it can't see it making a come back!

My DN is called Norah Faith and her sisters are Eva grace and Frances Hope...all quite old ladyish but lovely all the same!

I do quite likely old lady names but I think that is because you don't really here the babies on soaps called them or people screaming at their kids- I've never seen a "chav" (apologies) screaming at an Iris!

Aaagh, I'm not an old lady and my name has appeared three times on here, also my best friend in school's (well, she did get a slagging about her name, but there was two other girls with my name).

I would nominate Denise, Glenda, Thora and Beryl to die a death.

I love Meg and Jane and think these should be revived.

Barbara
Veronica
Denise
Noreen
Doreen
Maureen
Pauline
Eileen
Irene
Verna
Ida
Brenda

Mo st of the names on this thread are fab!

Joan ???? thats a tough one !!!

A friend of mine had a baby this week. She is called Rita... I think it's quite cute actually.

I would agree with Doreen- it's my mum's name- and my gran's!
I think is was even a bit 'old lady' when my mum was young, though (and she is 58!).

Thankfully she has never expected me to name my children after her!!

My MIL is maureen, equally dreadful imo (but at least she has a nice middle name -Elizabeth- same as me and dd!).