"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

dd is named Edith but we call her Edie (unless she is being a pickle) and we have decided on Nancy if DC2 is a girl. I love old fashioned names and know quite a few Martha's and a little mable. I am slightly bored of

Alfie
Archie
Harry
Charlie

and for girls there are lots of
Mia
Mea
Maya
Ellie
Lily (which I loved up until the point that Kerry Katona named her spawning Lily)

I met a lady today whose twin boys were Bernard and Graham they are 3 weeks old - that seemed tragic to me

Interesting thread. I can't imagine Gertrude - my granny's name - ever making a comeback. I wonder what names MNetters consider to be timeless?

I know a Gertrude. Her mother, a close friend of my sisters is incredibly trendy. She is known as Gertie most of the time I think, which is cute. Like Drew Barrymore in ET!

Oh - I have had threads on here about both Bernard and Graham - I love them! I also love Rita, Glenda, Shirley, Thora, Thelma and Beryl - have had a thread about Beryl too! (I have a dd Pearl though and think Beryl and Pearl might be a bit much!)

I think timeless names are:

Katherine
Louise
Clare
Jennifer
Anna

My one year old is called Dorothy - so there!

All of them

So glad you mentioned Queenie SPB. Although I find in both ridiculous and charming in equal measure. Surely Agapanta has to be close to the top?

TCAMG ha my name!

My gran would now be hideously trendy - she was a Phoebe Isabelle... Phoebe made a rise after Friends, and there seem to be a million Isbabelle variations in every infant class in the posh bits of town these days.

I love loads of these so called 'old lady' names, and to this day wish I had given dd2 Maude as her middle name. Pen was poised, dh unsure, so she had the name we originally chose (old lady too)!

DD2 goes to nursery with an Elsie, I think it's a lovely name.

I know a teenage Edith, and a Deliha!

Kathleen and any other -leens

Horrid thread.

With everyone queuing up to list names they hate, the thread is bound to upset loads of people whose loved ones have those names.

A few years ago, the little dd of a well-known MN-er died very suddenly. The little girl's name was one of the frequently-scorned ones on this thread (and mentioned in the OP too). Let's hope her mum doesn't see this.

I know a baby Edith. I think it's aorable.
I love quite a few of the names that have been mentioned actually.
Elsie I think is a beautiful name.
I like Olive too.
And Mabel.
And Dorothy.
And Audrey.

adorable

I think Ada will make a comeback

Welliemum - I thought of that poster too when I read some of the posts lower down but name threads are always a bit like this. That's why people ask for views because names aren't all preferred alike. There's probably as many positive posts on here as there are negative.

it is a fashion atm , wonder why

Coronation Street knocks a lot of these 'old lady' names out for me - I don't dislike Phyllis, Rita, Ivy, Blanche etc. per se but they do conjure up images of some of the characters!

My mum's name is Doreen, though my granda really wanted to call her Charmaine but my granny wouldn't let him (very 70s, a man clearly ahead of his time!).

She had a teacher who insisted on pronouncing it as "Di' reen as that is how the Europeans say it" and would regularly chastise the class for ruining her name with their "terrible" regional pronounciation of 'Dough- reen'.

Needless to say, this didn't make my mother like her name any better!

My grandma was supposed to be christened Rose but her Dad, being off work to go and register her, went for a small lunchtime libation on the way and came home with the certificate clearly stating Elizabeth, with no mention of Rose...

My great-aunt was Clytemnestra - can't see it making a come back.
It all depends on our age. My mum remembers everyone being sorry for a girl at school 1930s with an awful awful dreary old-lady name, which was Emily!

I know a few primary school age Delia's which suprises me.

Both my first and second name have been mentioned favourably on this...and I hate em both!

My great aunt was Dorcas, known as Auntie Dor, might get fashionable again from Lark Rise to Candleford, but I can't see it myself.

I'm an Emma and my sister's a Polly and in the late 60s we were unmercilessly mocked for our names, which these days sound quite normal...all down to fashion really.