BS: Names that have gone out of style...

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 02:00 AM

Most of the names cited as "out of favor" still seem to be reasonably common in my area, but then we are a century or two behind the rest of the world.

A very common name ca. 1940 for girls was Enola, but that lasted only a few (war) years. It might be popular again someday(?).

For unusual(?), it would be difficult to beat my Great Grandmother Berthsheba Elianor. I doubt that either of those shows up very often, and I doubt if either of them will pop up on newborns anytime soon.

The family does include one Geneva and one Radine, neither of which - so far as I know - was ever very common.

John (4th of 5 consecutive generations of - )

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 28 Mar 06 - 02:26 PM

There aren't many Gilberts about these days, I find.

LFF

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Becca72
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 03:21 PM

I went to school with 3 other Rebecca's and about 100 Jennifer's and Allison's...one of the other Rebecca's was a good friend of mine, who now has 2 children, Alice and Henry...and we're all in our early 30's...the traditional names are making a comeback.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST,Mandoleer
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 12:39 PM

Have just remembered three kids a small cousin got friendly with at a camp site. One I can't remember the name of, but the other two (girl and boy) were Laura and Ashley. Might have been accidental... Around here, Jasons and Jades tend to have siblings called Chelsea and Kayleigh and Dean.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST,me
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:26 AM

Haven't noticed many little Osamas lately - I suppose it depends what neighbourhood you live in, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:54 AM

could have been worse....Premium or War, or Brooke

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Crystal
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 08:18 AM

Hepzabah dosn't seem to be in use any more. As for silly/cutsy names Myshele, prounounced Michelle (the poor girl is 20!) and Dolphin (who calls their child Dolphin?)
I did know a James Bond in school, his brothers were called Luke and Paul. I guess his parents wanted traditional names and didn't think it through properly!

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: frogprince
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 10:12 PM

My mother was a "Gertrude", named for a character in a book that was already archaic then. ("The Lamplighter"). Her father's middle name was Harlan, as in Colonel Sanders.
   We have one little friend in grade school named Ezekiel, and a great niece about two weeks old named Olivia.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 06:29 PM

I once knew a teacher who sworn he'd taught a kid called Orson Cart.

Other teachers assured that Albert Hall was a very common misfortune.

I bet boys called Everard have a lot of fun. I bet it breaks the ice at parties. I would have liked to been called Everard.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 04:58 PM

Here in Merseyside, Amber, Jade, Jason, Sophie, Lucy, Dale (both for boys and girls), Aaron (pronounced arun not air-ron), Joshua, Wesley and Wayne are still going strong in the junior age ranges. As to Waynes under 50, how about Wayne Rooney (early 20s)?
Favourite nanes I've come across are Saraya ('Why are you called Saraya?' 'It's cos of me mum - she's some sort of an Arab') and Corrina Antoinette.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Firecat
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 04:25 PM

I'm now in Year 2 and we've got two Georgias, a Thomas, three Samuels (although two prefer Sam), an Alice, a Sara, a Charles and a Lewis.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Cluin
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 08:29 PM

One lady named her daughter Pajama.

That's grounds for a slap right there.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Mr Red
Date: 24 Feb 06 - 08:19 AM

Uncle_DaveO

Was your father-in-law a fisherman by any chance? - (Courtney Moore for those not up to speed)
OK a quip but it does demostrate the problem I highlighted to Joy's cousin when the baby was due - try names and all contractions against the surname before deciding. Their name is Downward.

I did hear tell of a couple adopting after a long saga of disappointment and vetting and rejection. They decided that the girl would be a joy to care for - the social worker pointed out that Ms Rider would not thank them for calling her Joy!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Helen
Date: 24 Feb 06 - 12:48 AM

There have been a couple of occasions where parents have spelled the name Joseph as "Joesph" on the birth rego forms. We have to leave the spelling "as is" if that is the way they want it, but we can question them on whether it is the correct spelling.

It all ends up on the certificates as it is spelled on the registration form.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Helen
Date: 24 Feb 06 - 12:44 AM

For the past few months, but not for much longer unfortunately, I have been working at the Registry of Hatches, Matches & Despatches so I get to see names from all the different eras, depending on the birthdates of people named on the various certificates.

In the last couple of months I have put through about 3 new birth registrations for babies named Imogen. That's not counting what other staff might have put through as well.

I don't know what has sparked that off, but funnily enough the first Imogen I ever met was just before I started at BDM the first time around, which was a year ago.

Names I haven't seen on new births:

Susan
John

Names for babies/kids that I have heard here in Oz recently:

Ruby
Sophie
Grace
Molly

My nephews' names (2 of them):

Amos (18 years) - named after a grandfather on our side & an uncle on Amos' father's side)
Llewellyn (25 years) (named for the Welsh connection in our family)

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bert
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 08:49 PM

I once had a customer named Ashit.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: jaze
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 08:27 PM

Working in a hospital and having to frequently visit the Labor unit, I hear of some really strange names. One lady named her daughter Pajama.When asked where she got that name she said she saw it in the Sears catalog and liked it. Another poor unenlightened soul wanted to name her daughter Vagina-because she liked the sound of it. They suggested Virginia instead:>)

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 05:20 PM

My great-grandpa's middle name was Dowd, but pronounced "dode."

There is a real estate agent's sign on a house across the street from us. her first name is Jeptha.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: *Laura*
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 12:22 PM

I know lots of Sophies. Several Lucys, several Georges, more than several Aarons and a Harriet or two.
Those names definitely aren't out here!

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: dulcimer42
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 12:18 PM

I had a girl in the Kindergarten class I taught named Asiha.   Pronounced as the continent Asia.   I just figured her mother liked the sound of it, but didn't know how to spell.

My mother in law, from Kentucky, is named Ventla - Pronounced like Ventlie. She insists that's the way it's spelled and the way it's pronounced. One is not a nickname for the other.   I've never heard of this name before.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 12:18 PM

I have been of the opinion for many years that parents should 'give' a child only one name, and allow them to choose another of their choice at some arbitrary 'adulthood'.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: dulcimer42
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 12:09 PM

I had an uncle who was some big position guy in the navy... name was Howard Clessie Ford. He legally changed that middle name to just an initial. I guess it was hard to be a big navy man with a name like Clessie.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 11:49 AM

My father-in-law (born 1898, died about 1992) rejoiced in the given name "Courtney". That was a male name then.

Courtney Moore was VERY close-mouthed about his middle name. Only in her father's last years did my Beautiful Wife discover that middle name: "Oronto". I just wonder what the reference was when his parents gave him that.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: jaze
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 09:30 AM

Doesn't Michael Jackson have a brother named Marlon?

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: The Walrus
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 08:51 AM

If we're on odd family names, My first name is Alfred although I tend to use my middle name (strangely, Alfred seems to have come back, there are at least two boys called "Alfie" in my neighbourhood* - I hated the name), my Father had the names Ernest & Charles (both names which are less popular thar in previous years) and my Mother had Emma and Amelia (Emma made a brief comeback), but then I have/had Aunts called Freda (not a contraction), Betty (ditto), Violet, Nell, Eileen, Sally(not a contraction) and Rita and Uncles Herbert and Jack (middle name "Vierstraat"), many of these names have been carried on (as middle names - what a surprise) in the current generation(s) (either in their Children or Grand-Children#)

W

*Not Guilty ;)
# Oddly, NOT Vierstraat

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Mr Red
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 08:08 AM

The only problem with unusual names is that there is no hiding - If Mr Red does anything newsworthy - it is this Mr Red that is identified. Mr Red has to behave............

Middle names are often mothers' maiden names and that can cause some ribaldry - but for a real excruciating childhood and a rather extrovert, devil may care and devil coloured adulthood - try an invented name.

As a shy modest folkie you can trust me on this .............

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 04:42 AM

Sherlock and Mycroft.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 04:42 AM

St. John, strictly upper crust.

(pronounced roughly Sin-Jin)

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Purple Foxx
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 04:35 AM

Whilst none were commonplace all of the following were genuine forenames in Victorian Britain.Abishag,Feather,Lettuce,Uz,Tram,Water,Wonderful,Murder(!),Energetic,Despair,Clapham,Ham & Brained.
So much for the "Good Old Days."

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: JennieG
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 03:44 AM

There is a 5YO girl in the junior section of the school where I work named......

wait for it......

Dikshita!

And that is how it is pronounced too.

Having worked in schools for over 20 years I have come across some doozy names. But this one takes the cake.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Celtaddict
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 02:52 AM

My family has a long line of Jephtha (a man's name, alternating with Jesse) on my mother's side, and Aholiab on my dad's. (A minor prophet. Very minor.) Also sisters Ruby, Rachel, and Ruth; Etta Mae, Marinda, Matilda, Harriet Jesse (yes, spelled in the masculine, no 'i,' named for her father and grandfather). Lloyd Eugene (brother of H. J.) A grandfather was named Faye. Nieces Margaux Marinda and Claire Aviva. And a ten year old nephew named Ezekiel.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 04:44 PM

And an Alice. There was an Alice at college. Only Alice my age I ever met.


In the past couple of years I've met one woman named Cinnamon and two named Sundae (one was Sundaie but it was the same idea).

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 04:44 PM

I don't hear Arthur much anymore, nor Myron, my uncle and one grandpa whose middle name was LeCroix.

Beulah - an aunt, a grandma and a great-grandma (not related to one another except though marriage)

Courtney as a boy's name

Also, watched an old movie about Edison. One of the male actor's real first name was Lynn.

My next-door neighbour in CT hated her first name, Abdulia, so she went by Juji, pronounced "joo-gee." I though both were really kewl names.

I had another friend who went by Abe, but his real name was Avenicio, which I loved.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 04:40 PM

Jason, Justin, Troy, Amber, Gertrude

I never knew a Gertrude my age (b. mid-1970's) but I sure knew a load of the rest of those, here in the U.S.

I went to high school (class of 1996) with a bunch of Jennifers, Jessicas, Michelles, Heathers, Amys, Ambers, Brittanys, Mollys, etc. Then, I got to college and everyone was C/Katherine. There were also Ruth, Hazel, Nettie, Celia (her sister was Lucinda), Evelyn, Elise, Lydia, Nora, Imogene, Delphia, and Burgundy. My given name is Alethea and there were TWO of us. The name selection changed completely even though the kids were the same age group. It was bizarre. My cousins all have "serious" names (Anna, Mary, Caitlin, David, etc.).

My brother is Carl, which is somewhat odd for a guy in his mid-20's. My one grandmother was Ruth Helen. I could have been a Ruth and not minded. I don't mind my real name but it's a pain to have to explain it/spell it/pronounce it all the time (ah-LEH-thee-ah). My other grandmother was Josephine Mary and I wouldn't want either one of those. I lisp so I could never be an Ethel or an Edith.

I find myself rebelling at the latest trend in cutesy naming. Sorry, but I don't want to find out 20 years from now that my brain surgeon is named Mykynzy or Gabbryell, as I recently saw suggested on a baby-name site when I was looking for a name for a foster cat. Yeesh. Give a kid some dignity. I've decided if I ever have kids they're getting one "normal", or at least traditional and recognizable name, and one oddball one so they can be distinctive without having to to live with a "weird" name every day.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 04:05 PM

question for Wolfgang

if bat in German is fliedermaus (flying mouse)
is batman- fliedermaus mensch?

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:44 PM

so has Jethro

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:26 PM

Homer was never an English name.
I imagine it has declined in the US now.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Sooz
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:21 PM

Lots of Jades, Aarons and Hayleys in the UK teenage population. Can't remember when I last taught a Mary.
Daftest name I've heard recently was "Jellybean" in a school near Lincoln.
I don't have a middle name - mostly beacause my Mum hated hers (Maud).

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:17 PM

(Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom) Google will show you LOTS of semi-famous Marlons)

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:12 PM

Marlon Perkins, formerly of the St. Louis zoo and the first TV wildlife program.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 02:06 PM

Marlon. Other than Brando, I've never heard of one.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 12:32 PM

you all haven't even touched some of the names in my family...

My parents were destined for each other. My father had brothers Ralph & Lewis...he was named Audley(guess how letters to him were often addressed? He went by A.W. a lot)
...my mother had siblings Patricia, John & Albert...she was named Eudora Parilee...(by her mother, Myrtle Saphronia!!(Who had a sister named Jelina!)

My great-grandfather was Tarsus

...further, deponent sayeth not.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST,graciek
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:47 AM

My name is so old it is in again: Grace

Sort of off topic but soemone once pointed out to me that persons of Irish ancestry seem to end up with shortened versions fo their names ending in "y" or "ie."   I gave this some thought and came up with a list of names in my family history:

Herbert - Herbie
Margaret - Peggy
Margaret - Lollie
Terrence - Terry
Grace - Gracie
Jacqueline - Jackie
Daniel - Danny
Christopher - Chrissy
Melissa - Missy
Thomas - Tommy
Mary Grace - Gracie
William - Billy, Willie
James - Jimmy
Timothy - Timmy
Kerry
John - Jackie

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: jaze
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:22 AM

Growing up, I was always called "Jimmy". I always disliked it mainly because everywhere in my life there was a "Jimmy" bigger than me(I'm a very small,thin man).So naturally I was always "little Jimmy" which I really hated. Since moving to Virginia, and giving my name as James- I've been James ever since and have come to like that name. For years it was on the ten most popular boy's name lists,but no more. Every now and then someone will be brazen enough to call me Jimmy. James

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: MMario
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 10:35 AM

Caruso, Rademus, Gustavo - all names in my family within living memory but with only one represented in a current generation, none in the latest generation.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: David C. Carter
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 10:34 AM

"Tai Chi Made Easy"-Robert Parry.
Reviewed by-Adolph R Mangeot(Corydon USA)

Ho Hum


David

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 10:29 AM

But 100 is still going strong Ted

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 09:49 AM

99 isn't heard much nowadays either.

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 09:40 AM

Athelstan, Cnute, Beowulf, Hrothgar.... Edwina, Edwulfa....

Subject: RE: BS: Names that have gone out of style...
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 08:51 AM

Wesley, Great name I always thought..Geordie, Horace, Clyde, Gary seemed all the ragfe at one time but I think the fad is over. Silas is seldom heard anymore either. Grand girls names which have passed out of fashion Lorna, Irene, Bridget, Elinor, Eva, Nina, Marian, Coleen, Anna, Beverly.