I know a child called Agnes, old fashioned names are fashionable here.
(when I was a 17 year old working in a care home in the 80s I knew 3 Florences in their late 90s, it was obviously the in name one year).
Fashion in names seems to follow alternate generations.
New parents think the names popular among their parents generation are dull and old-fashioned, but the names of their grandparents generation, or beyond, are romantic and interesting - or at least become so once the first few brave parents have taken the leap back into the dark ages.
We went for one of the top ten boys' names throughout history (slight exaggeration, but still), so of course he was the only one in a class of hundreds.
Maybe for Florence Nightingale? If the women were born in the 1890s she would still be within living memory.
Yes, I presume so. She was born in Florence (her sister's second name was more of a mouthful; Parthenope, which is now part of Naples apparently). I quite fancied playing her in re-enactment, I already play a 1869 surgeon's wife so have appropriate kit and I like nursing re-enactment - I already do a WW1 nursing sister home on leave from a clearing station in France.
I know a primary school-age Solomon. No Zadoks, but a teenage Jedediah, unsurprisingly shortened to Jed.
My great granddad, his granddad and his granddad before him were all named Titus. No revival so far that I can see, not even in Yorkshire where it would be a more common name.
Sorry, but my daughter knows a 4 year old Maud. (It was my grandmother's name; grandmother refused to be called by it going by a couple of other names for preference. )
I agree about names skipping a generation. For example, the only Ruby I knew for many years was my own grandmother (born in the 1880s). But it's now a quite common girl's name again. In my observation in Australia, such 'English' names of jewels and flowers are particularly common among girls of Chinese ancestry (most of whom also have a Chinese name).
My family knew a couple of women (they were in fact a couple) when I was growing up - Florrie, short for Florence, and Maud. But that's 60 and more years ago. Madame can't think of any.
I know a teenaged Malachi, my godson is Jack Zachariah (named after a book) and my nephew is Tobias James, known as Toby or Tobes. A friend’s youngest is Toby, which apparently is a family name.
My family knew a couple of women (they were in fact a couple) when I was growing up - Florrie, short for Florence, and Maud. But that's 60 and more years ago. Madame can't think of any.
I'm surprised CK can find one. These names are my Dad's aunts and uncles, who I just about remember, born well before the great war - Maud, and Belle (who was a pseudo-auntie in the times when that was what was required to be more familiar than 'Mrs xxxxx' - I think my Pakistani neighbours are still into a version of this within their own community), and Grace (which I think might have made a comeback), and Ivy, and Flo, my nan. And the men who I remember, Alf and Charlie and Grandad Henry who for some reason was Jack.
And the odd thing, that 'Robert' now sounds to my kids like 'Alfred' sounds to me.
I'm surprised CK can find one. These names are my Dad's aunts and uncles, who I just about remember, born well before the great war - Maud, and Belle (who was a pseudo-auntie in the times when that was what was required to be more familiar than 'Mrs xxxxx' - I think my Pakistani neighbours are still into a version of this within their own community), and Grace (which I think might have made a comeback), and Ivy, and Flo, my nan. And the men who I remember, Alf and Charlie and Grandad Henry who for some reason was Jack.
And the odd thing, that 'Robert' now sounds to my kids like 'Alfred' sounds to me.
Well at the risk of making your head explode, we had 3 girls called Ruby in Guides at the same time recently, and a Sapphire and a Grace. I also know quite a few girls called Lily. We currently have a Florence plus a rolling cast of Isobelle/Isobel/Isabella or whichever variations of spelling, which can be shortened to Belle or Izzy.
And Alfie's friends are Archie, Charlie and Chris.
I agree about names skipping a generation. For example, the only Ruby I knew for many years was my own grandmother (born in the 1880s). But it's now a quite common girl's name again. In my observation in Australia, such 'English' names of jewels and flowers are particularly common among girls of Chinese ancestry (most of whom also have a Chinese name).
At one point I think we could blame the Kaiser Chiefs and, to a lesser extent, Eastenders for the reappearance of (Ruby, Ruby, Ruby) Ruby.
In my kids' generation (early 20s) around here, a lot of old-fashioned girls' names made a comeback -- Emma, Emily, Olivia, Amy, Grace, Lily, etc. And a few boys' names like Max and Sam that I would have thought of as "old man names" growing up. But then there are some of the less melodious older-generation names -- Bernice, Gertrude, Arnold, Melvin, etc -- that don't seem to have hit that second wave of popularity.
And the odd thing, that 'Robert' now sounds to my kids like 'Alfred' sounds to me.
That is odd. I know several British Roberts who are mid-late 20s.
It's a popular name amongst late teens to late twenties here (and possibly younger and older than late-teens, but I'm only aware of the names in my kids and God-kids age group. )
I have probably been blinkered in extrapolating from inner-city Manchester. Though even that is interesting - continued local variation - in these days where it sometimes feels like the internet has put the final nails in the coffin of local variation, which TV (and radio...and the railways...and the printing press ) started to close down years ago.
The most common boys name here will be Mohammed, by a long stretch. For girls I think the distribution will be a lot flatter, not least because the 3rd-4th gen Caribbean thing seems to be strong on unique names or unique spellings. I wonder what their grandparents (folks at church - Sylvia, Cynthia, Neville, Othniel (!)) make of it.
One of our neighbours has a teenage Robert, as does one of my schoolfriends. My Beloved Goddaughter has four Roberts in her Facebook friends list, my niece has four, my son has three. Only one of those appears twice, so that's twelve Roberts in the 18-30 age group within one or two degrees of separation of me.
Club (Robert) 18-30 The youngest I know is my age, 50 (that's 'old' in 13-yr-old daughter speak - though granny (87) is 'not that old really'. She likes her granny.)
Our son is Robert, named after his great uncle.
(We were given an old book about Livingstone, and couldn’t understand why, until we saw that it had been given as a Sunday school prize to his namesake.)
Tangent / I have in my possession a score to Handel's Messiah, which was given to one of my ancestors as a Sunday school prize in 1910. I reckon Sunday school has gone right downhill in the intervening century. / end tangent
Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife Sophie have a 9yr old daughter named Maud.
Their second daughter's name, Isabella is equally antique, but seems to have remained, if not top of the popularity polls, in regular use in one form or another throughout the generations
Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife Sophie have a 9yr old daughter named Maud.
Their second daughter's name, Isabella is equally antique, but seems to have remained, if not top of the popularity polls, in regular use in one form or another throughout the generations
I am called Minnie, but only by my grandchildren. It has nothing to do with my real name, but the oldest grandchild trying to say Grammie came up with it, so Minnie it is to all of the grandchildren.
I reckon if you were to go into any large public building and announce over the PA system, "Would Linda please come to the reception desk?" it would soon be mobbed by women aged 70, plus or minus a year or two.
I was named for two great grandmothers, but still ended up with two of the most common names for my generation.
On the male side there is a family name, cousins, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, Etc. My brother, who also bears the family name, claims, that despite being surrounded by males with the same name, he didn't know it was a family name. And says he wishes somebody had told him so that he could have called his son by the family name....
I was surprised, in the mid 2000s, by the number of girls I encountered who were named Trinity. Being the pop-culture ignoramus that I am, I had no idea that the name had become a "thing" because of The Matrix. I couldn't figure out why people who seemed to have no religious affiliation or knowledge were naming their daughters in this most unusual fashion.
I was surprised, in the mid 2000s, by the number of girls I encountered who were named Trinity. Being the pop-culture ignoramus that I am, I had no idea that the name had become a "thing" because of The Matrix. I couldn't figure out why people who seemed to have no religious affiliation or knowledge were naming their daughters in this most unusual fashion.
I reckon if you were to go into any large public building and announce over the PA system, "Would Linda please come to the reception desk?" it would soon be mobbed by women aged 70, plus or minus a year or two.
I'm 55 and, and one year in elementary school there were three Lindas in my class. So its popularity went on for at least 15 years beyond what you're suggesting -- in my part of the world, anway.
Linda, Donna, Karen, Susan, Sherry, Lori, Sharon -- I almost always knew multiples of girls with those names in my childhood.
I was surprised, in the mid 2000s, by the number of girls I encountered who were named Trinity. Being the pop-culture ignoramus that I am, I had no idea that the name had become a "thing" because of The Matrix. I couldn't figure out why people who seemed to have no religious affiliation or knowledge were naming their daughters in this most unusual fashion.
On the topic of old names making a comeback, one of the most reliably hipster-ish early-30s women in my hometown has just announced the birth of a little Edith, which is NOT a name I've heard in recent years. Perhaps it is time for Return of the Ediths!!
On the topic of old names making a comeback, one of the most reliably hipster-ish early-30s women in my hometown has just announced the birth of a little Edith, which is NOT a name I've heard in recent years. Perhaps it is time for Return of the Ediths!!
Edith would have been what I would have called a daughter if I'd ever had one, mainly due to my admiration of Edith Nesbit. My husband would have gone for Lettice.
I was named for my dearly-beloved great-aunt Gertie, who raised my mother, but THANK GOODNESS my parents decided not to go the Full Gertrude and just put "Trudy" on my birth certificate. I don't like it much (my middle name is much better and I wish they'd gone with that) but it's far better than Gertrude or Gertie.
I was born on my great-grandmother Gertrude's 87th birthday. She was always called Gertie; it's even the name on her gravestone. I don't mind not being named after her.
I was named by my mother's best friend. Apparently mom and dad were so sure they were having a boy that they didn't bother picking out a girl's name. Best friend suggested naming me for a very popular actress that year (1950). The name was popular in the early 50's but rarely used after that. My middle name is a feminized version of my grandfather's name. When I was a kid, that embarrassed me, but now I like the name very much.
I'm in sympathy with Landlubber here, as I only have one forename and my parents needed help deciding on that! Presumably the whole naming thing was far too stressful altogether as I'm also an only child.
When my Mum was pregnant she worked for a plant hire company (piledrivers, not ferns). She was looking for a girl's name and some of the guys were going up to Scotland to do a job, so she asked them to bring back some Scottish girls' names. Which is how I came to be called Kirstine. I think Fiona would have been less trouble, although things could have been worse as an English Catriona or Eilidh.
This is the less usual spelling, usually the name is Kirsteen, but it is distinctively Scottish enough that when I lived there people would sometimes blurt out 'you don't sound very Scottish' on hearing me speak for the first time! That would be because I'm from Hertfordshire. In England, the more usual comment is 'that's an *unusual* name'; people try to spell it Kristine and wonder why the email bounces.
I am named after John Calvin. It was not feminized; remember he is a French man. My family always told me that my middle name was after my Grandmother but it was her first name and not her middle name. It is also a form of Mary and this is where things get weird. My sister has no relative names but her first name is the same as a Saint who is a doctor of the church and her middle name is Anne.
Well neither of us were boys so we did not end up being Martin Herbert so I think we have little to complain about.
Comments
(when I was a 17 year old working in a care home in the 80s I knew 3 Florences in their late 90s, it was obviously the in name one year).
New parents think the names popular among their parents generation are dull and old-fashioned, but the names of their grandparents generation, or beyond, are romantic and interesting - or at least become so once the first few brave parents have taken the leap back into the dark ages.
1. Try not to pick the really common name, so your kid can just be known by his given name at school like most of their classmates.
2. Pick names we, personally, liked.
3. Girls can get away with more frivolous names in a way that boys can't.
Yes, I presume so. She was born in Florence (her sister's second name was more of a mouthful; Parthenope, which is now part of Naples apparently). I quite fancied playing her in re-enactment, I already play a 1869 surgeon's wife so have appropriate kit and I like nursing re-enactment - I already do a WW1 nursing sister home on leave from a clearing station in France.
My great granddad, his granddad and his granddad before him were all named Titus. No revival so far that I can see, not even in Yorkshire where it would be a more common name.
The grandson of friends is Alfie, but not as an abbreviation of Alfred. The only time I see Maud these days is in the death notices.
My family knew a couple of women (they were in fact a couple) when I was growing up - Florrie, short for Florence, and Maud. But that's 60 and more years ago. Madame can't think of any.
I'm surprised CK can find one. These names are my Dad's aunts and uncles, who I just about remember, born well before the great war - Maud, and Belle (who was a pseudo-auntie in the times when that was what was required to be more familiar than 'Mrs xxxxx' - I think my Pakistani neighbours are still into a version of this within their own community), and Grace (which I think might have made a comeback), and Ivy, and Flo, my nan. And the men who I remember, Alf and Charlie and Grandad Henry who for some reason was Jack.
And the odd thing, that 'Robert' now sounds to my kids like 'Alfred' sounds to me.
That is odd. I know several British Roberts who are mid-late 20s.
Well at the risk of making your head explode, we had 3 girls called Ruby in Guides at the same time recently, and a Sapphire and a Grace. I also know quite a few girls called Lily. We currently have a Florence plus a rolling cast of Isobelle/Isobel/Isabella or whichever variations of spelling, which can be shortened to Belle or Izzy.
And Alfie's friends are Archie, Charlie and Chris.
At one point I think we could blame the Kaiser Chiefs and, to a lesser extent, Eastenders for the reappearance of (Ruby, Ruby, Ruby) Ruby.
It's a popular name amongst late teens to late twenties here (and possibly younger and older than late-teens, but I'm only aware of the names in my kids and God-kids age group. )
The most common boys name here will be Mohammed, by a long stretch. For girls I think the distribution will be a lot flatter, not least because the 3rd-4th gen Caribbean thing seems to be strong on unique names or unique spellings. I wonder what their grandparents (folks at church - Sylvia, Cynthia, Neville, Othniel (!)) make of it.
(We were given an old book about Livingstone, and couldn’t understand why, until we saw that it had been given as a Sunday school prize to his namesake.)
Their second daughter's name, Isabella is equally antique, but seems to have remained, if not top of the popularity polls, in regular use in one form or another throughout the generations
My grandmother was called Maud. She hated it.
He Papa tend to call her ‘Nuki’ hmmmm! 🤔
On the male side there is a family name, cousins, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, Etc. My brother, who also bears the family name, claims, that despite being surrounded by males with the same name, he didn't know it was a family name. And says he wishes somebody had told him so that he could have called his son by the family name....
Perhaps their mothers were all named Madonna?
I'm 55 and, and one year in elementary school there were three Lindas in my class. So its popularity went on for at least 15 years beyond what you're suggesting -- in my part of the world, anway.
Linda, Donna, Karen, Susan, Sherry, Lori, Sharon -- I almost always knew multiples of girls with those names in my childhood.
Possibly inspired by Edith in Downton Abbey?
I was born on my great-grandmother Gertrude's 87th birthday. She was always called Gertie; it's even the name on her gravestone. I don't mind not being named after her.
I was named by my mother's best friend. Apparently mom and dad were so sure they were having a boy that they didn't bother picking out a girl's name. Best friend suggested naming me for a very popular actress that year (1950). The name was popular in the early 50's but rarely used after that. My middle name is a feminized version of my grandfather's name. When I was a kid, that embarrassed me, but now I like the name very much.
When my Mum was pregnant she worked for a plant hire company (piledrivers, not ferns). She was looking for a girl's name and some of the guys were going up to Scotland to do a job, so she asked them to bring back some Scottish girls' names. Which is how I came to be called Kirstine. I think Fiona would have been less trouble, although things could have been worse as an English Catriona or Eilidh.
This is the less usual spelling, usually the name is Kirsteen, but it is distinctively Scottish enough that when I lived there people would sometimes blurt out 'you don't sound very Scottish' on hearing me speak for the first time! That would be because I'm from Hertfordshire. In England, the more usual comment is 'that's an *unusual* name'; people try to spell it Kristine and wonder why the email bounces.
Just because I've decided it's pretty. I'm afraid my memories of my grandfather aren't very good.
Well neither of us were boys so we did not end up being Martin Herbert so I think we have little to complain about.