Human names gone out of fashion

[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!