"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

Gertrude- my gran's name and she HATED it til the day she died so much so she changed it to Marie- much nicer imo.

Ethel
Edna
Norma
Mildred
Maude
Dorothy
Olive
Mavis
Pauline- makes me think my own aunty Pauline- brilliant woman but not to be crossed. Would be weird for a baby to have it.
Gladys
Blanche
Agnes
Agatha
Cora
Mabel- sounds like a cow imo

Oog forgot Glenda and Maureen. Gran-in-law made me promise not to use either name as a middle name for DC even though these are bother family names on ex DP side.

Didn't need to ask me twice

I know a lovely girl in my building called Rita who is about 18. She's totally beautiful and that name just doesn't suit her. Maybe her mum was thinking of Rita Haworth when she named her but sadly I just think of that lady off Corrie with a brightly coloured helmet of hair. So does everyone else. Shame.

Good god these names are awful... i think its older moms who call their poor children these old fashioned, traditional, do it to keep my mothers/fathers name alive out of date names!! they are not fashionable now an never will be, however am not saying i agree with the modern/chav names which are on the up these days! lets face it trying to find a suitable name at the min is a torture!!

I'm waiting for a resurgence of elderly Irish nuns' names:

Dymphna
Fidelma
Philomena
Imelda
Perpetua

Slightly younger, but not really any better:

Bernadette
Jacinta
Dearbhla
Patricia

I know an 8yo Philomena, so I reckon it won't be long...

woo my actual name got a mention on here, not telling what it is though (is not Dymphna)

Vera, anasthasia, constance, prudence, verity, chastity, ("all the virtue name" in general), all the feminised male names (bernadette, henriette, arthurine, adolphina....)
hermione, euphrasy, bertha, hilda, gertrude, arlette...

Can't see anything wrong with maud, rose, bess, dora/doris (not really nice though) and especially not Joan???

My nana was called Nora.

Also piscesmoon
Ruby is a popula name these days, my mum has a little 4yr old across road from her called Ruby.

My auntie is called Petula.

I know at least one of most of these old lady ones. 1960s/70s names are the ones which would make you blink rapidly if you were to meet a 5 year old with one:

Susan
Brenda
Sharon
Tracy
Barbara
Sheila
Shirley
Joy
Pauline

And doubt Doreen, Maureen or Noreen will ever see the light of day again..

fimbow - i just cringed at the thought of being introduced to 'our little marjorie!'

DO you think our children will think names such as Brenda or Barbara are cool? Are all names cyclical or are there some that fall out of favour for ever? (Beryl ought to be, imvho, along with Vera)

My dd's have names that were previously thought of as old lady names that are now back in vogue - dd1 top 10 and dd2 top 50 with spelling variants that are higher up the list.

I'd LOVE to have a peek into the future and see what their children will be called.

When I was younger I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to call their children Nellie or Dorothy or Mabel, but now I think they are all lovely names.

I've had enough of the granny names trend (yawns) - I prefer 1960s or 70s - much cooler IMO.

Onebatmother - Susan and Joy are lovely

Just a couple of 1960s names that may or may not make a comeback:

Deborah
Susan

Muriel
Mavis
Ethel
Phyllis

"they are not fashionable now an never will be"

Of names that have been mentioned on this thread as "old lady names which should never see the light of day again" plenty are inside the current top 300.

Ruby (#2)
Amelia (#9)
Faith (#80)
Martha (#81)
Evelyn (#89)
Beatrice (#132)
Hope (#155)
Elsie (#179)
Nancy (#184)
Jessie (#250)
Constance (#264)
Edie (#276)
Edith (#284) (and Edie #276 in its own right)

What is the point of saying "sorry, but vomit vomit vomit!" If you were actually sorry you wouldn't say "vomit vomit vomit!". If on the other hand you think it's fine to say "vomit vomit vomit!" then why think the parent of a child with the name you are vomiting over will be any less offended because you tag a meaningless "sorry, but" onto the front? Remember that almost every name you can mention will have a parent of a child with that name on Mumsnet somewhere.

I like the 60s/70s names: I have an Angie.

You can literally see the smile drain off people's faces when you tell them what her name is

frogs Thank you, I finally know how to spell Dymphna, that was one of my great aunts names.

I actually like some of these, but then I adore films from the 40's and 50's.

I'd love to love my gransmothers' names, I've tried. I can't. They were Joyce and Phyllis.

I really dislike Beryl, though.

On my hubby's side there is MIL Marion and Great Aunt Maude, who to be honest I always refer to as 'Great Aunt Maude' in full as it somehow seems to fit- she's a wonderful old battleaxe who likes her gin and horse racing . MIL hates her own name but it's family one so she's stuck with it.
I am interested to know whether we will still see a lot of Susans, Sharons, Traceys, Caroles, Deidres etc which were really popular for my mum's generation (I am 30).
I must say though, as someone with a bit of an unusual name myself, I am adamant that our unborn DC will have a straightforward, simple name that everyone can pronounce and spell- boy or girl!

Yes, and what about the MUMS with names on this thread..."vomit, vomit" not very nice to read about ones own name.

i'm amused to see my middle name feature in several of these entries - and my sister's middle name! . thank goodness we've both got sensible first names.
The one that shot into my head as being really old lady-ish is Beryl. just hideous. and Fanny- unforgiveable.

my name is Fanny ...

KIDDING