BS: Names we used to hear

Subject: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Jeep man
Date: 14 May 03 - 05:52 PM

Am I wrong or has the names folks give their young changed so much? What ever happened to; Agnes,Alma, Buelah,June,Nina, Amalie,Roscoe,
Hoy,Angus,Barney? These are just a few and I bet Mudcatters have a lot more. Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Cluin
Date: 14 May 03 - 09:07 PM

When i was a kid, every second boy was Steven (or some form of it) and every second girl was Debbie.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 14 May 03 - 10:10 PM

In Virginia, as in other Southern states, both boys and girls used to be given double names [Billy Bob, Betty Jean, Mary Sue, etc] I don't hear them any more. Nor do I hear the wonderful biblical names [Noah, Abner, Sarah, Ruth, etc].

Padre

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 14 May 03 - 10:40 PM

I think a lot of biblical names are coming back, but how about Mabel, Margaret,Jervis, Wilbert and Merwyn!Loretta,Marcella,Bernice,Blanche,Maude,Abner,Archibald,Gustavus and Vernon.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: NicoleC
Date: 14 May 03 - 11:02 PM

Scrolling through my family tree of names appearing more than once that I never see anymore:

Lawton, Delbert, Graydon, Silas, Clabourn, Watson, Asa, Iola, Godfrey, Perry, Levi, Adeline, Clarence, Bazle (ala Basil), Garland, Zachariah, Absolom, Archibald, Dorcas, Baylus, Phares, Burl, Arodius, Alfred, Festus, Oscar, Sylvanus, Lelia, Zeda, Salathiel, Flavius, Isom, Tobias, Lafayette, Alma, Claudius, Hiram, Maud, Olive, Walton, Anzina, Reason, Israel, Amaca, Arminda, Asberry, Marcellus, Melvina, Sampson, Angretta, Airy, Osa, Gaston, Emory, Ira, Taswell, Parthena, Cyrena, Aletha, Minerva, Clyde, Clell, Bertha, Beatrice, Ethel, Earnest, Wallace, Whorley, Edna, Leara, Aloe, Jeard, Herman, Homer, Elias, Lemuel, Viola, Sofonia, Marion, Dorcas, Lynwood

Many of the men's names seem hopelessly old fashioned. A few sound like they could be resurrected, like Tazwell. The women's names, overall, seem to have held their own pretty well.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST,Clareling
Date: 14 May 03 - 11:14 PM

I was named after my grandfather Clarenece. Thats why people always spell it wrong...
Clare (NO I!!!!!!)

My grandfather named my mom Aquilla after a town in Texas he used to visit when he was in WWII.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 May 03 - 11:20 PM

I've sometimes thought I'd have a happier life if my mother had a name other than Shirley.
That wasn't the half of it - Dad's name was Shirley, too.
But he changed it to Bob.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:24 AM

My sister is a primary school teacher and claims that she can guess most people's ages to within a couple of years on the basis of their names!

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 May 03 - 07:27 AM

In 1949 every little girl was named either Linda or Sue. Mom named me Linda Sue (but never called me by both names unless she was REALLY mad at me) and tacked on the last name -- of which, in1969, there were 16 pages in the Milwaukee phone book. Oh, and in 1959, they named my baby sister Susan Kay and usurped my nicknames to give to her.

Oh, my parents got my name from an article in the newspaper about a little girl with polio who was named Linda Sue.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Kim C
Date: 15 May 03 - 09:40 AM

For some reason, Kimberly was a popular name for little girls born in the 1960s. I went to school with a TON of other Kims. Now the big popular name for little girls is Madison.

My family tree has some pretty regular sounding names in it: Lydia, Rhoda, Letitia, Joseph, Harrison (actually Benjamin Harrison Thompson)... My grandfather was named Schuyler; his parents were Miles and Lottie.

Personally, I have always liked the name Louise. I don't know why.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:18 AM

Do you realize that in forty or fifty years there will be millions of senior citizens named "Heather"? The idea apalls me. On her fortieth birthday, any woman named Heather should be given an opportunity to change her name to Mavis or Blanche or something more appropriate to her age. She should also be required to move out of The Valley and sell the Beetle.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:52 AM

As noted above, names go in cycles, but some folks get a name out of an earlier cycle.

My friend Edna (who had an original Shirley Temple doll in her childhood & it wasn't the plastic Shirley of 1972) was named after her Aunty Edna (also after her Aunty May & the 5 other aunts - what a burden for a small girl). She did not name her children after their relatives!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: JennyO
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:32 AM

Here's what I get from my family tree - some of the more unusual names, such as Linnell and Meredith (both used for males and females), and Narcissa and D'Arcy appear several times over a few generations:

Women - Aileen, Daisy, Dorothy, Dulcie, Esther, Ethel, Jean, Lillian, Lilla, Linnell, Meredith, Mollie, Narcissa, Neryl, Noreen, Norma, Olive, Susannah, Winifred.

Men - Alwyn, Bernard, Clive, Cresswell, D'Arcy, Edmund, Harold, Henry, Justyn, Linnell, Meredith, Merrick, Oscar, Oswald, Owen, Walter, Winston.

Most of these are names you would not hear nowadays.

My son and his wife are going to have a baby boy in about 6 weeks, and they have already decided to call him Max.

Jenny (looking forward to being a first-time grandma!)

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Merritt
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:48 AM

How to name children is one of those things I wasn't taught growing up.

We named our 3 kids Elena, Abram and Lilah Rebecca. With the first two we were trying mostly for variants of family names - Helen brainstormed into Elena (pronounced as in Spanish) and Abraham become Abram, an older variant (we think) of Abraham. Lilah from "night" or "dark one" in Arabic because of her dark eyes and hair, and then Rebecca for her aunt. Daycare when they were young was just a sea of Michaels, Matthews, Amandas and Stephanies.

- Merritt

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: NicoleC
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:52 AM

I think I was early. Almost everyone tell sme they have a niece named Nicole.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:00 PM

i got a cousin named nicole

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: jaze
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:02 PM

My birth certificate dated 31/2 weeks after I was born has ________ as my first name.It took them that long to come up with....James??

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: wilco
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:07 PM

The demise of big families, with lots of kids, is the reason you don't hear very many names anymore. Everyone has one or two names for their children, usually a combination of what is currently popular, and the newborn's grandparents' names. You don't really have to start getting inventive until you have more than two or three kids. I have eight, and the last one was named after a freight company that I saw on the way to the hospital when he was born!
    I've coached kids sports for thirty years, and I have a family full of teachers. The names are very faddish. I once had a little girls soccer team of about 13 girls, and I had seven or eight Laurens.
    I still get real tickled when I see some adult professional woman's name is Muffin, or Heather.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:36 PM

whatever happened to old fashioned names like fingal...chonnobhair....oengus...fionn?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 May 03 - 12:49 PM

I got a job as Santa Claus last November/December, and was amazed at the number of little girls named Madison and boys named Mason. These were the white kids, most of whom seemed to named after soap-opera characters. The black kids mostly had the kind of faux-African names that have become familiar in recent years.

Most surprising were the Asian kids, the only ones with "normal" familiary Anglo-American names like Michael, Susan, etc.

My favorites were two young siblings, offspring of obviously well-educated white bohemian hippy-types. Big sister (about 8 or 9) was Calypso, 4-5 year old kid brother was Gil, short for Gilgamesh. (!!!!!!!) When I expressed familiarity with little bro's Sumerian name, pretty young Mom was amazed, and big sis Calypso offered her comment, "Of course Santa knows about Gilgamesh -- there's *books* about him!" To which I replied, "I think there's only the one book, but it's an epic."

Santa's Helper
New Orleans, LA USA

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Matt_R
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:05 PM

Exactly! Is it too weird to want to name your kid Cainte or Oisin?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Zhenya
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:49 PM

My real name is one of those almost obsolete names. (Very popular in the early 20th century and through about the 1950s and then rapidly disappearing.) I still come across it from time to time in a fictional character or amazingly in a much younger person. Mostly it's people my age or older. I personally don't care for it and when I get my act together plan to legally change it. Most people I've met who have my name also don't like it. It definitely sounds old-fashioned.

I was surprised, though, to see people list several Irish names as obscure. It seems to be a trend among people I know in NY to give their babies Irish names now. (I believe this is true in Ireland as well.) Of course, I'm involved in Irish music so maybe I'm just meeting those people.

By the way, Matt, there's a young and very talented Irish fiddle player named Oisin Mac Diarmada. (in his twenties). And I've heard the name elsewhere as well.

I just wish parents would consider how their children might feel about their names when they grow up, instead of picking names the parents themselves like. (As you may guess, I don't feel my parents gave this any thought at all!)

Anyway, I do like my Russian name which I use here on Mudcat.
Zhenya

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST,Mars
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:56 PM

Try being named after a planet.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:04 PM

or you can name them after music....

hey, bluegrass, wanna go to the park with me?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:43 PM

Consider:

At some future time, it is inevitable that names like "Heather" and "Tiffany" will be old ladies' names, names tht no one could possibly imagine pinning on a poor defenseless little baby girl.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:45 PM

Names do go in cycles and a few never come back it seems whereas some others make the rounds on a regular basis. In my case, my parents actually did think about it a bit. Knowing well that if your last name is Patterson, a lot of people will call you Pat, they named me Patrick. I checked for other Patricks on the net and found about a dozen. I thought of e-mailing them all and asking if their parents figured the same thing.

I wish we had thought more about my son Tristan. We knew he was going to have some form of mental impairment before he was born, but for different reasons, Karen and I both liked the name Tristan. He does okay with it now, but it was hard for him to say it and learn to spell it as well. He's autistic with speech and fine motor skill problems. Had we thought it through we might have picked a name easier to deal with.

I gave both of my sons the middle names of my two best friends, Alan and Dennis. Soon after, Alan died of a heart attack and Denny got cancer and died about two years later. I have other friends who will pay me not to use their name if we have other kids.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 15 May 03 - 02:52 PM

How DARE YOU!!!!

Heather is a perfectly wonderful name.

Heather OR MUFFIN??!!

You're gonna have some Scots' Lasses on yo' asses

Heather Fielding (aka Duckboots)

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Amos
Date: 15 May 03 - 03:16 PM

Now, Boots...calm down. You are perfectly right, it's a beautiful name. Just beautiful. Truly. I mean, it has beauty in it. You're right. Redolent with beauty and panache, elegance, karma, grace and flair. Keep it -- it captures so much of your own special nature.

Now Duckboots...that's another story.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: MMario
Date: 15 May 03 - 03:31 PM

I was wondering about 'Heather' myself - now Florence is one most people wouldn't saddle a daughter with these days.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST,jennifer
Date: 15 May 03 - 03:39 PM

I think we did quite well with Arthur - we were looking for something strong and old fashioned that there wouldn't be too many of when he got to school. My sister in law said "but it's not very suitable for a little baby, is it?" (and he is going to be a little baby for what proportion of his life?) my elderly neighbour said "it's not a very easy name for a small child to pronounce" (that really made me laugh, her name is Dorothy!) Ah well it's good with old ladies they always seem to have had a brother or husband of that name, then comes the pat on the head and the pound coin... Of course inevitably he has a castles/knights fixation at the moment and thinks he is King Arthur!
For the next one, if a girl, I have a yen for Alfhild. Don't know why. Have checked the electoral register via www.yournotme.com, there are actually two others of voting age in Britain! Just need to know what it means now!

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 03 - 04:56 PM

Well thank heaven for that - I could have been Ethel Winifred!

Having researched my family history, we thought we'd have a huge fund of names, but for 9 generations ALL the children called their sons John, Thomas, William, Richard and George. All the girls were Ann, Mary, Susannah, Rebecca and Elizabeth. It's not until you get to last century that the names start getting more exotic.

In my class at school there were 3 Catherines, 3 Jaquelines, 3 Sarahs, 2 Elizabeths and 2 Jennifers.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Beccy
Date: 15 May 03 - 04:56 PM

My Gram's Edna. I have an elderly friend named Ardis. And I'll be darned if I've seen an Ethel under 80.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: NicoleC
Date: 15 May 03 - 05:04 PM

Numerous Ethels in my family... most over 80! Even more Graces, as it's a traditional middle name for every female family member for the family (for some inexplicable reason.) I narrowly avoided being named Stephanie Grace when my grandma put her foot down and decided enough was enough.

Shouldn't you get a crown or noble title come with a name like that? Or maybe just a tiara?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Jeri
Date: 15 May 03 - 05:50 PM

Kim C, they say "Louise" is not half bad!

Bruce, in another 50 or 60 years, there will be a big pile of old ladies named "Britney."

I have an unusual name, but it seems to have become a lot less unusual in recent years. (There were TWO of me involved with Star Trek TNG!) Grandma's name was Florence, had a great aunt and uncle named Stella & Herbert. Uncle's name was Kiah. This was a shortened version of a traditional family name "Hezekiah." A couple of cousins have named their kids "Kiah," so it looks like it's gonna carry on - at least in my family.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: RangerSteve
Date: 15 May 03 - 05:58 PM

My aunts and uncles on my mother's side - aunts: Mabel, Lorene, Violet.   Uncles: Merle, Wilbert, Elmer. Her mother was Ida May.

How my mom ended up with something as simple as Mary is anybody's guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:11 PM

My given name is Darbra, which my mother invented (Dar from Darcy, Bra from Bradford). After being called Debora, Barbara etc. for years, I shortened it to Darby. Now I get Barbie, Debbie, Darcy etc.
However -- I am in my sixties now, and the name Darby has started to be used for women occasionally. Wonder if I was the first? Guess I'll never know. (Darby O'Gill was male.)

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:13 PM

North Americans often give their kids surnames as first names: Clinton, McKenzie, Taylor, Jefferson, etc. What up with that?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:14 PM

my grampas name is billy charles....my mom's name is billie carolyn.....got a first cousin named billy charlse....


another popular name is james anthony....

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:41 PM

I have an aunt Violet May - and 2 great aunts Ida May. Bratling got May as her middle name (long story involving a May festival and green paint).

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Matt_R
Date: 15 May 03 - 06:43 PM

I have a fascination with the name "Evangeline".

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Padre
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:16 PM

The Big Pink Lad - Those surnames as first names often are given to honor a distant relative (whose first name may have been Hezekiah) BG

Padre (who was going to named Timothy Greig, until my grandmother got into the act)

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: wilco
Date: 16 May 03 - 09:59 AM

In USA, I think that there is something else going on, that is possibly overlooked. There are a ton of little boys, from newborns to about three, who have their name built around the "hard 'A' sound" in Jack, Mack, Madison, Zachery, etc. The moms want something a "little different," that, unconsciously, sounds very similiar.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:39 PM

True story. I don't always tell this to strangers because I don't want to look like I'm seeking credit for having once known a more-or-less celebrity, "my brush with greatness" or whatever. But it is amusing and illustrates a point about "names we used to hear."

Many years ago (30+), I met another scuffling folk/blues player, a very young (i.e., teenaged) girl named Cindy Williams. Played a big 12-string with a four-finger picking style (thumb plus three), sang with startling emotion, and was already writing very impressive songs, with an almost frightening depth and intensity.

Around that time, a Hollywood actress named Cindy Williams was emerging into nationwide fame. This must have been in the wake of the movie "American Graffiti" -- probably still before the TV show "Laverne & Shirley."

My young friend got all upset, went into a week-long pout because "someone else is getting famous with my name!"

At some point I dropped by her apartment and saw a piece of official mail (phone or utility bill, something like that) addressed to "Lucinda Williams." I was surprised, since I had assumed that Cindy was short for Cynthia, and suggested that she quit fretting and just use her own real full name, which seemed just fine to me.

Her: "I *hate* that name -- sounds like an old grandma." (!!!!??!!)

Apparently, she had never used her full first name through childhood, school years, etc.; she was always Cindy, at least until then.

Me: "It's a great name, it's actually kinda musical, and it's not like everyone else's. Don't you think your parents knew what they were doing when they named you? Your old man's a poet, fer crissakes!

"Plus which, it's so unusual that you'll probably get famous by your first-name-only -- like Cher!" (That got a *very* negative reaction.)

We lost touch not long afterwards, so I don't know how long it took before she decided to start being Lucinda instead of Cindy. I'm not trying to take any credit for any of this -- please don't misunderstand -- but it is a great story and illustrates some kind of point about how names go in and out of favor because of (among other things) their association with a given generation or age-group.

I will say that I was pretty sure from the git-go that she *would* eventually attain some kind of fame and fortune, but I'm hardly unique in that respect -- *everyone* around her, even back then, could see that she was uniquely talented, and also extemely driven. The only surprising thing to me is how many years it took before her relatively recent breakthrough.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 May 03 - 01:57 PM

Poppagator: the Asians with 'standard' Western names may not be their true names. I worked for several years at a major UK bank in the University of Cardiff. Asian students coming from abroad would add a Western name to their name when applying for their passport, to make things easier over here. Hence Peter Ng, Andrew Chan... etc.,

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 May 03 - 04:19 PM

Nigel: Since these were young kids, born no more than 6 to 8 years ago (and probably born in the US, in most cases), their parents *may* have given them these western-style names. Of course, the names may have been nicknames and not their "real" Chinese or Japanese names, but it's probably significant that the old-style "normal American" names are what they use in everyday life, the names by which they know themselves. Also, significant that the assimilating Asian parents are not choosing trendy new-age American names as the Caucasian parents are doing, but sticking with the "old standbys."

Shortly after I started on the Santa job and begun to notice this phenomenon, and after I had shared the observation with friends and family, my brother emailed me a link to a brief article on "The Onion" humor-newspaper website, listing the favorite baby names of white, black, and Asian Americans. It may have been intended as a joke, but it corresponded *exactly* to what I had been observing in real life.

I'm not going to take the time to dig through the Onion archive to find this particular brief article (some week of November or December '02), but I will provide a link to the current issue of this very funny weekly web-zine. New edition every Wednesday.

www.onion.com

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Peg
Date: 16 May 03 - 04:25 PM

fascinating stuff!

to address a couple of comments: I have a niece named Nicole! and a friend (younger then me, 30-ish) named Ida Mae...

I teach college students so it is interesting to see the trends in names that come through in generations some 18-20 years ago that young adults have now...
the most common ones I run into lately (some of them remarkably plain and old-fashioned) are Jen-Jennifer, Elizabeth, Jeremy, Andrew, Alex/Alexander, Justin, Kristin/Kirstin, Mark, Ashley (it got VERY popular there for a while, for girls; I like it for boys but not very common there), Lindsay, Nicole, Sarah, Tim, James, Ryan, and Jake.

Those "short sharp" names like Max, Jack, Sam, etc. are catching on for baby boys lately; lots of Tylers, Madisons, Jordans, Caseys for the girls. I am also told that short "nicknames" are popular now as given names in the UK, i.e. "Bobby" instead of Robert.

Margaret is very old-fashioned now; but there were a lot of variants of it when I was in school. I am named for a family friend, Margaret O'Brien; but never knew my name was Margaret Kay for a while because I was always called Peggy as a child (or Maggie by my father). Dad wanted to name me Audrey, actually...
Lots of Kathys, Karens, Scotts, Davids, Lisas, Barbaras, Carols were classmates' names when I was a kid...and Susans, Kimberlys, Toms, Christophers, Rogers, Kenneths, too...

I remember when our cousins named their boys Justin and Dylan that was very radical in the early 1970s...I assumed at the time it was "Dillon" after the sheriff on TV...

Family names I remember of aunts, cousins and grandparents that aren't so common now: Graydon and Robin (uncles); Rebecca, Constance, Fanny, Antoinette, Edwina, Lena, Emmett, Marion, Bernadette.

Friends recently named their daughter Juniper which I like immensely.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 May 03 - 05:05 PM

Our 23-year-old son is named Cassidy. He's more-or-less named after beatnik hero Neal Cassady (although spelled differently), and we also chose it because we figured it's not an overly common name but not unfamiliar either, since it's a well-known Irish family name.

Once in a very great while, an observant kid will remark (correctly), "Oh, your parents are/were Deadheads, huh?"

We had no idea that his name would be in more common use as a girl's name than a boy's among members of his age group, but as it turns out, that is the case. Fortunately, he's not worried about it, but *I* was for a while when I first noticed during his grade-school, pre-teen years.

His older sister is Maggie (on her birth certificate), informally short for Magnolia. This seemed to combine aspects of her Irish heritage and New Orleans birthplace. We hestitated to officially name her Magnolia because it seemed a bit over-the-top, but now she wishes we had. (Who knows why? We never addressed her as Magnolia except when she was in big trouble.)

Some friends assume she's Maggie-short-for-Margaret, perhaps named after her mother Peggy (diminutive for real name Margaret), but that's not exactly true. There are already *way* too many Margaret Henehans in our family, on both sides of the Atlantic, some by marriage and others because all the girls born into the family since 1800 seem to have been named either Margaret, Anne, or Nora, very few alternatives.

Speaking of Peggy as a form of Margaret -- my wife, as a self-employed person, collects a lot of checks from customers, usually made out to Peggy. Her name on her bank account is Margaret. She occasionally has trouble cashing checks because the tellers don't know that the two names are variants of the same name (like Dick for Richard, Bill for William, etc.) I'd guess that this is NOT a problem in Ireland or England. Is her name one of those falling our of favor these days, perhaps -- at least in the US -- already almost forgotten?

Oh, by the way -- the third and final child's name is less interesting/unusual: Michael. He was known and addressed exclusively as "Mickey" until about age 8 or 9, when he rejected that name and insisted upon being called Michael. Now, at 20, he's Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST,Sorcha
Date: 16 May 03 - 05:26 PM

My aunt's middle name was Maude--only person I've ever known with that one. Also, don't hear the 'Puritan' names much anymore--Faith, Hope, Charity, Makepeace, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 03 - 05:44 PM

name a kid wanker...

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 May 03 - 06:00 PM

Makepeace? Is that for baby boys or baby girls?

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Peg
Date: 17 May 03 - 01:27 AM

PoppaGator: I have had the same problem cashing checks (mainly in my freelancing days or at times when I did not have a checking account) because the name on my ID is Margaret and the checks are almost always made out to Peg...bank tellers are these days (in Boston anyway) not often of Anglo or Celtic descent, so explaining Peggy as a diminutive of Margaret to them is difficult since the two names hardly resemble each other!

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Mudlark
Date: 17 May 03 - 01:34 AM

What about the rash of Seans a few yers ago? Seemed like every other boy was named that, especially if he had "sensitive" parents.

And I really miss the old Victorian names like Faith, Hope, Chastity, Charity...they do have a certain ring. Also flower names like Rose and Violet. In Arkansas, Ruby was a very common woman's name from the '40's...never knew anyone named Zirconia tho....

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: The Walrus
Date: 17 May 03 - 09:30 PM

Emma, Amelia, Sally (Christned Sally), Nell (ditto), Betty (ditto), Violet, Rita, Albert, Arthur
Just some of the names in my Mother's generation of my family. My father was Ernest and I was Christened 'Alfred Thomas'.

Any use for the list of 'long gone' names?

Walrus.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Peg
Date: 18 May 03 - 01:18 AM

My friend who named her baby Juniper is named Violet Rose..

Emma is now very popular for baby girls...and Brendan is popular for boys.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 04:45 PM

Not actually from Raggytash, but his partner Wombat - my mothers name was Henrietta, and I've never met another. Her sisters are Hilda and Ivy. All would now be in their late 80's.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: JJ
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:36 AM

Obsolete name for women in America -- Helen.

Subject: RE: BS: Names we used to hear
From: MMario
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:44 AM

Peg - you wouldn't have problems in my home town as my mother has them well trained! (I know of at least two other Margaret/Peg 's in my home town as well)