Related to names thread: Using out of date names

[Taualumna]

Would you give your child a really out of date name, such as Edna for a girl or your maiden name (if you're a woman) to a boy? When I was an undergrad, there was a girl in my dorm named Adelaide (which was interesting, because the dorm attached to mine was called Adelaide Hall)

[Ginger]

As long as there can be a nickname for it... or even an unrelated nickname given (ie. girl's name is Belinda, but people call her Suzy.. for some reason, it happens). I love "historic" names. But I think it's kind of mean to call your child that and then force them to be Edna (which is my grandmother's name, and she goes by Sunny!) at age 3.

[Schmeer]

I don't think so. BUt you know what is funny..I was just having this conversation about how you can date specific names to a specific time period while watching the sound of music and looking at the real life names...funny how often times things like that always come up more then once when you have just thought about them for the first time.

[etahannah]

my name is noreen and it is definately an old name. i would not trade my name for anything in the world. i love having a name that no one else has and that makes little old ladies remember their childhood friends named noreen.

[justamom]

It really would depend on the name. Some are so beautiful, while others aren't.
Lots of the older names were biblical and I love them, but a "Hilda" or "Mathilda" doesn't do it for me.

( etahannah, I have a cousin named Coreene and an aunt Irene.)

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by etahannah
my name is noreen and it is definately an old name. i would not trade my name for anything in the world. i love having a name that no one else has and that makes little old ladies remember their childhood friends named noreen.

I used to dislike my name because people would call me Maureen, not that there is anything wrong with that name. I like my name Noreen because I am named after my grandmother Nora.

[TigerLilly]

Originally posted by justamom
It really would depend on the name. Some are so beautiful, while others aren't.
Lots of the older names were biblical and I love them, but a "Hilda" or "Mathilda" doesn't do it for me.

( etahannah, I have a cousin named Coreene and an aunt Irene.)

Exactly! Like your original example, Taualumna-- it would just be cruel to name a kid now Edna, or for that matter Gertrude, Ethel, etc. A name like Adelaide is very pretty, though! I wouldn't mind naming my child an older (and probably less-often-used) name if it was one I liked.

[Jen]

If you look at the most recent popular baby names, they are using old fashioned names. IE:

Emma
Ella
Abigail
Amelia
Grace
Hannah
Sophie

Boys names haven't had as much variation since the popular names have usually been "old standards" like John, Christopher, Andrew, Daniel etc.

Max
Sam
Benjamin
Caleb
Jack


If you think of the 70's and 80's, these names would've been thought of as very old fashioned and now they're popular....and a lot of them became that way because celebrities used them or they were used on TV shows. If names like Susan, Frank and Helen start getting used for celebrity babies or TV characters, I'm sure a LOT of new parents will follow suit. The names that we think are ugly now, are going to be popular again at some point.

Parents are trying to find names that are different, without being made up and stupid.

And I like old fashioned names a lot better than the billion Madison's, Makayla's, Kaitlyn's, Zachary's and Ryan's that are out there now.

[This message has been brought to you by a Jennifer born in the 1970's who has a good reason for hating popular names]

[AchtungBaby80]

I like the name Adelaide...you could call her Addy, for short.

While I really love old-fashioned names, I'm sooooooo glad my mom didn't name me after either of my grandmothers...I just don't think I look like an Irene or a Mamie.

[Hootie]

There was a girl in my class last semester and her name was Lorraine. To me that's a pretty old name - especially since my grandpa's sister is named that!

I also had another girl in another class that was named Bernadette. TALK about an old name there too! WoW!

[hottytoddy]

Yeah my mom's real name is Thelma. Most people don't know that. She was named after her grandmother..who's name was Lillie Thelma. She was like "Why couldn't they name me Lillie, that's much better."

[adpialumcsuc]

I think "old" names are very cool. I wish sometimes I had a more unique name instead of one of the most popular names "jennifer"

[Cluey]

If I ever have kids, and that is a big if, I will use family names. My family has always been big on using family names, so it only seems right. I will be skipping Beulah and Bertha, though

This thread, though, reminds me of a friend of mine from college. She shares her name with her mom and has a family name that has been passed on for generations - Winnie. Her mom never went by Winnie, but rather by her middle name because her name wasn't exactly hip in the seventies. My friend, though, loved her unique name and always went by Winnie. It just goes to show you that it all depends on the time in which you live, as to what names are acceptable. She also plans on naming her daughter, when she has one, Winnie, so the tradition will live on

[Taualumna]

When I meant maiden name, I was referring to boys taking their mother's maiden name as their first name. I went out with a guy once whose first name is Robertson.

[33girl]

Originally posted by Tippiechick
On a side note, I also know a LOT of women who either use their maiden name or a family surname in their daughters' names. (Most of them place the family name as the middle name.) For example, I know a Carrington, Anne Chancellor, Brooks, Caroline Sumner, and Ellington.

Of course, if your name is something really hard to pronounce, etc., it might be advantageous to skip the family/maiden name thing

That is sooooooooo Southern. I think it is neat. But you aren't gong to see a lot of it around these parts where we have lots of German and Polish descendants.

Tippiechick, I am assuming you got the results of your sonogram.