Human names gone out of fashion

[Karen]

I just got an email that mentioned a dog named Gladys, and it reminded me of my beloved Great Aunt Gladys, and that's one of those names you never hear any more.

Other of my Great Aunts with lovely names were Evelyn, Edith, Miriam, Adrian, Belle, Flora and Floride (different sides of the family) ....

Some names have gone out of style, like Bertha, Ethel, Betty as a nickname for Elizabeth and others, that I understand, but some of the prior ones I think are too pretty to have faded out!

What names do you wish would get a revival? Or miss?

[pomtzu]

I can't say that there's any that I miss or would like revived, but I do think of a lot of old names that you don't hear a lot of anymore: Esther, Lillian, Myrtle, Amalia, Adeline, Cora, Evelyn - all names in my family. And of course I wouldn't mind if mine was retired forever, since I hate it - Eleanor. Other old ones come to mind: Beatrice, Winnifred, Estelle, Gloria, Inez, Lucinda - and the "gemmy" names like Opal, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire. I could go on and on - but you get the idea.

[Karen]

Pomtzu, I know of an Eleanor who is younger than you - but no one knows that's her given name, as she has always gone by Ellie! I do think Eleanor is a lovely name. Another is Isabel, but Isabella - the variation is currently ultra-trendy thanks to Twilight books!

Neighborhood names - girls I grew up with - Alena, Alanna, Aleda - sometime appear without the "a" and I have met/heard of more than one Lenore - like Eleanor without the E!

[Taz_Zoee]

A girl I went to highschool with named her daughter Ruby. A co-worker named her children all with old-fashion names. Wesley, Morris and Mary. Although Wesley is actually his middle name. And Morris and Mary are family names.
When I was younger I never heard of anyone younger than myself named Cindy. Now my niece has a friend named Cynthia (she doesn't go by Cindy).
My grandmothers names were Martha and Loreta (not Loretta, it's pronounced Low-reeta).
There are a lot of names that I like that you never hear anymore in the younger generations. Rhonda, Linda, Barbara, Rose, I could go on and on....................

Now people want to name their children with different and unique names. So the traditional names are disappearing. :(

[Freedom]

Pomzu, for shame! My Mum's name was Eleanor, and she was SO proud of it! She was named after Eleanor of Aquitaine!

I guess it is a sign of age, many of the names folks are listing . . . I knew lots of other children with them, growing up. But all are correct, not used today much at all.

[pomtzu]

Pomzu, for shame! My Mum's name was Eleanor, and she was SO proud of it! She was named after Eleanor of Aquitaine!



Awww - I'm sorry (hanging head in shame) - nothing against your Mum of course! :)

I personally would have preferred something simple like Linda or Carol or Pat, but I had no say in the matter! :p I don't view my name quite so badly now that my married name is so short, but with my long Italian maiden name, paired with a highly unusual and unheard of middle name - well it was quite a mouthful for any little kid to have to spit out! :eek:

And my family NEVER called me Ellie, and still don't to this day - just my friends do. However, both my brothers were always called by the common nickname of their given name. Now how unfair is that????? :( A case of a woman being discriminated against again. :mad::D

[phesina]

Florence was my mother's name and my grandmother's (her mother). You don't see that around much now. Well, there's Flo, the spokesperson for Progressive Insurance.

My mother NEVER got called Flo! Florrie, sometimes.

Pat (Patricia)

[Cataholic]

I love the name Eleanor! And, Ellie even more!!

Point is, many people don't like their name...but others usually love it. :)

I know a few Johanna's, and I have a handful of people call me by Joh or Jo. Most, though, call me my full first name. Except my immediate family. They call me by a ridiculous nickname that won't be repeated. I don't even think PCB knows my silly nickname. Do you, PCB??

[ChrisH]

My Mum's name was Mabel Hester, now there are ones you very rarely hear nowadays. :) Her sisters were my Auntie Rose & Auntie May. My Granddad was an Arthur and one of my uncles was a Harold.

[Randi]

I've just got lots of new info on my ancestors - very interesting. :)

In the older generations there are names like: Niels, Christian, Jorgen, Frederik, Lauritz, Julius, Sofus and Agner. For the girls we have: Margrethe, Anne-Dorte (also two separate names), Signe, Bertha, Ingeborg, Elise, Lily, Marie, Judith.

My mother was named Sigrid and my aunts Mary, Edith, Solveig and Lydia.

My father was named Charles.

Some people in my building have named their daughter Flora, they call her Flo. I think it's awful, it reminds of a certain brand of margarine.

Names from when I went to school were: Lise, Lotte, Bente, Kirsten, Merete, Majbritt, Marianne, Gurli, Annette, Birgit, Elsebeth, Pia and Karin.

Three of my friends have daughters called Ea, Anine, Ditte and Mie.

[sirrahbed]

My name :) Debbie seems to have gone out of style.....all of the Debbie's I know are in their fifties.....except for Little Debbie's in the grocery treat aisle!

[Karen]

My name :) Debbie seems to have gone out of style.....all of the Debbie's I know are in their fifties.....except for Little Debbie's in the grocery treat aisle!

I know a Debbie, who is the daughter of a friend, I think she's 18 now, so the name has not died out completely!

[pomtzu]

This thread has me thinking of a lot of relatives I haven't thought of in years. Thanks for jogging my memory, Karen.

My grandparents were Ella & Kenyon and Rose & Alexander. Guess which ones were the Italians. :p

My mother was Esther Emma, and her sibs were Lillian, Myrtle, Luther and William.

My father was Charles Carl (changed from Candeloro Carlo), and his sibs were Alexander, Archibald (the founder of the original Archie's Pizza in Pawtucket :D), Arthur, Vincent, Adeline, Amalia and Evelyn. Arthur's children were Rose and Ernest, and Adeline's sons were Norman and Clement.

A whole family of names you seldom, if ever, hear anymore. :(

My brothers had more common names, as do my 2 sons.

[Karen]

Alexander is actually a very common name now!

[pomtzu]

Alexander is actually a very common name now!

Absolutely - and it's my grandson's middle name.

[smokey the elder]

I know an Esther (actually two of different generations) and a Hester, which is a very old name. My step-grandmother was Evelyn, and my paternal grandmother, Phyllis. There's a name you never here anymore. For guys, Sydney, Horace or Clarence (assorted ancestors). I think names get recycled; they fall out of favor if they get too popular, then come back as "novelties".

[Catty1]

In the Scottish branch of our family tree there are quite a few Alexanders. :) My dad was named after the adored family doctor, Dr. George Nelles. His one older brother got George, and he got Nelles. He legally changed it to Ned when he joined the Mounties in 1948 as the original name might have been thought a bit too feminine. Broke 'is mother's 'art, 'e did!

My mom's parents came from Ukraine. He was Seniuk, which was changed to Simon. Hers was (sp?) Theodosia, which I think is lovely. Some immigration genius changed it to Phyllis. PHYLLIS???!!??

On my dad's side was an aunt, Tertuliah. I love the old world sound of it. Nickname: Aunt Tootie. Umm....;)

[Asiel]

I noticed a lot of names that used to be popular seem to have just vanished. But biblical names seem to be coming into style more and more. Then we have the very odd names that I had never heard before, like Storm, Star, and of course Paris and Prince have become popular for obvious reasons....
I don't know how the kids who have those names will react when they get older.

[Casper]

Evelyn is actually my most favorite girls name. If the super unlikely ever happened and I had a daughter, thats what I would want to name her! Then again, its more likely that I'll name a dog that than a kid. ;) I didn't realize that it was a popular name back in the day. I have only known one elderly woman and one girl near my age that were blessed with the name. Then again, I was cursed with a fairly common name. I can't wait for it to go out of style! :)

[carole]

well i called my cat Ellie-mae, i think that is a pretty old fashioned name, i called her that after the blonde in The Beverly Hillbillies.,because she was so pretty and so was my kitty.

A lot of older names are coming back though.

[kuhio98]

My Mom's middle name is Bernice. I've only met one other in my life.
I have an Aunt Hazel. The only other Hazel I've heard of lately is one of Julia Robert's daughters.

My grandmother's names were Una and Ina. Never met any others. I'm not sure if they were ever common names.

Grandma Una had sisters - Pearl and Mabel. I haven't heard those names lately.

I had uncles - Jewel Cranston (he went by the "Cance") and Valentine. Not sure what their mother's were smoking when they named their sons. Maybe they were common names at one time, but..... Not thinking they'll make a big comeback.

[phesina]

I can't say that there's any that I miss or would like revived, but I do think of a lot of old names that you don't hear a lot of anymore: Esther, Lillian, Myrtle, Amalia, Adeline, Cora, Evelyn - all names in my family. And of course I wouldn't mind if mine was retired forever, since I hate it - Eleanor. Other old ones come to mind: Beatrice, Winnifred, Estelle, Gloria, Inez, Lucinda - and the "gemmy" names like Opal, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire. I could go on and on - but you get the idea.

I love the name Eleanor!

[kaycountrygal]

I have two peeves about names in general.

1) The first name of a child should be the name that the child is called. It can be confusing. At home I was/am called by my MIDDLE name. At school and work I was always called by my first name. One time my brother called my work and asked for me by my middle name and noone knew who he was talking about until he said the last name.

2) I dont like names that are not easily identified as male or female. Often these days, children are named with a name that can be male or female and it is confusing to me.

[Karen]

Kay, are you by any chance Catholic? Paul's family is, and he and his sister were both named after their father and mother respectively, but called by their middle names so as not to cause confusion. Which of course causes plenty of confusion everywhere else!

[carole]

speaking of names my daughter melissa tells me she would much rather we had called her Nicole which is her second name, i guess it is a bit late to change now, i am used to calling her melissa, but would not worry me if she wanted to do that, as obviously i love the middle name as well.

[cassiesmom]

My dad and brother are Senior and Junior. My nephew was given his dad and grandfather's name as a middle name; but he uses it because he used to be in a group with another guy who had the same first name! So when we say the name at family get togethers, we have to be darn sure of who we want :)

My first name on my birth certificate is Elise. It was changed to Elyse in fifth or sixth grade when people kept calling me Elsie. I'd like to change it back now, because Elise is much more common than it was when I was named. But it's not easy to do - with a mortgage, driver's license, nursing license, bank account... :-|

A dear friend of mine from high school has a daughter named Evelyn.

[prechrswife]

There are a lot of names that I like that you never hear anymore in the younger generations. Rhonda, Linda, Barbara, Rose, I could go on and on....................

Now people want to name their children with different and unique names. So the traditional names are disappearing. :(

My middle child's first name is Barbara. She goes by her middle name, though. (Typed this before I read the comment about middle names, but two of my kids are called by their middle names. I know some people don't like that, but it works for us.)

I will also say that all of my kids have names that would be considered "Old Fashioned" by some. We wanted them to have names that would grow with them, and at least part of all of their names are family names.

[Grace]

My name is Gretchen – no middle name. I was so upset by that as a child. My mother (Edna) said when I got married I could use my maiden name as my middle name – which I do. But what if I hadn’t gotten married? I think she was a bit wary – she hated her middle name (Hildegard) and figured since my name was unusual, they wouldn’t compound a possible problem. BTW, I’ve only met about 25 other women named Gretchen in my lifetime.

My brother is James Andrew – always went by his middle name, as his first (James) was the same as our father and grandfather.

My mother’s mother was Gerda – born in Sweden. My Aunt was Bertha; and my Uncle was Lester. My father’s mother was Emma Catherine.

I have a son, Michael. His father’s middle name – but I have always liked it. He goes by Mike these days, but I still call him Michael. My grandsons are Andrew and Evan.

If I had a daughter today, I would name her Savannah. I really like that name.

[Scooter's Mom]

A couple of the names mentioned that I know of: a friend has a 2 year old named Evelyn, and my best friend (Katjaye on here, I think is her username?) just had a baby in September and named her Allana.

My brother has girls with fairly "old fashioned" names. They were all named after family members. Sarah Danielle, Patricia Faye and Gina Maxine. The only one I see very often anymore is Sarah.

[5Cats]

I have two peeves about names in general.

1) The first name of a child should be the name that the child is called. It can be confusing. At home I was/am called by my MIDDLE name. At school and work I was always called by my first name. One time my brother called my work and asked for me by my middle name and noone knew who he was talking about until he said the last name.

2) I dont like names that are not easily identified as male or female. Often these days, children are named with a name that can be male or female and it is confusing to me.

My legal name is Meredith, which I hated because it was unusual back when I was growing up and therefore gave bullies in school more ammunition to pick on me. My family and friends called me "Merrie" which is what I'm used to. My parents thought it would be cute, and then assumed I'd use "Meredith" when I grew up. Never assume anything that important! I believe my life would have been easier if I'd only had one first name with everyone, preferrably something short, easy to pronounce and spell. Now that I live in the south, I tend to use "Meredith" more frequently because people with southern accents often can't say and/or hear the difference between "Merrie" and "Mary," and I despise being called "Mary" - it's not my name.

I agree also about unisex names. Isn't growing up difficult enough? So many of them (including "Meredith" at one time) were male names that were taken over by females. It must be getting more and more difficult to name boy babies. But with so many unisex, unusual and contrived names nowadays, maybe a name is no longer a reason to be harrassed. I hope so!

[chocolatepuppy]

I work with a girl named Ethel. She's around 40 years old. I don't like some of these new names people are coming up with.
Some don't even sound like names!

[smokey the elder]

In the Scottish branch of our family tree there are quite a few Alexanders. :) My dad was named after the adored family doctor, Dr. George Nelles. His one older brother got George, and he got Nelles. He legally changed it to Ned when he joined the Mounties in 1948 as the original name might have been thought a bit too feminine. Broke 'is mother's 'art, 'e did!

My mom's parents came from Ukraine. He was Seniuk, which was changed to Simon. Hers was (sp?) Theodosia, which I think is lovely. Some immigration genius changed it to Phyllis. PHYLLIS???!!??

On my dad's side was an aunt, Tertuliah. I love the old world sound of it. Nickname: Aunt Tootie. Umm....;)

My middle name, Theo, comes from Theodosia, a great-great grandmother's name!

[RICHARD]

I have told this story before.......

I used to fill out the census cards for a hospital.. This was before computers so we had giant Cardveyor machines filled with 3x5 cards in alpha order. A baby would be born and filed under "Jones, Baby Boy". When I got the baby's given name, I'd pull that card and make the changes to it........So Jones, Baby Boy would get his name and filed under Jones, James- for example.

In the late 70's, early 80's people began to 'personalize' names by subbing vowels with 'y', naming kids after products like cars, booze and household items......just kidding about the household items.

James became Jaymes, Michael -Mychayl...and by changing a few letters, you could now have a little girl with a traditional 'male' name.

The problem was people losing the temp cards and calling in to make an appointment for the child.

We would get a request for James Jones, and because we didn't have a file number, we has to look in the machine and there would be no James Jones because we were looking for a MALE JAMES JONES and the parent didn't tell
the nurse that its JAYMES JONES, a female - So we had to pull the census and go back to make sure of the birthdate...and find out we had wasted valuable time looking for a name that didn't exist.

People do not realize the problems that might come from naming their kids with unique names, it may be cute, but be assured that there will be a problem or two further down the line?

[pomtzu]

People do not realize the problems that might come from naming their kids with unique names, it may be cute, but be assured that there will be a problem or two further down the line?



Nor do they consider possible problems naming that baby boy after the father - be it a Jr, or III, or IV, etc. My advice to anyone thinking of doing it????? - DON'T DO IT. - speaking from learning the hard way here.

My first born was named after his father - a Jr. No real problem till somewhat later in life, but when my ex and I applied for a mortgage, all of Jr's (and his ex wife's) bad credit showed up on my ex's credit report!!!! What a freakin nightmare. It took us months to straighten everything out, and almost cost us non approval on the mortgage. :mad:

Just a little off topic with that, but worth the message.