Human names gone out of fashion

[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.

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 ), 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.

[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!

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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!