Names that only old

[NYEmomma]

Hansel and Gretel

My dad always used to call me & my brother that when we were little.

And Bert & Gert.

 

[cjdj4]

Gladys is often associated with "old." But I'd like to see it make a comeback.

In another 30 years my name, "Lisa", is going to be the old name. There sure are going to be a lot of us. Watch out for an army of Lisa's at the retirement community!

My name is Gretchen...and I've known of several people who have dogs named Gretchen, including my godparents, who named their Irish Setter Gretchen, which made no sense to me- I understand a German Shepherd, but Irish Setter?

Anyway, I am old-ish (over 45, under 50). I think in a few all the 'J' names for girls will be considered out of fashion for newborns- Jennifer, Jessica, etc...that were so popular in the 80's.

Yep, my name is Jennifer (# 1 name in the 70's and early 80's) and I feel like you Lisa. As a teacher, I see an occasional Jennifer or Lisa so I am not sure if we have an old name yet.

Just for those of you who have mentioned Hazel, here is a youtube video of one of my favorite songs from the 1960s:

Hooray For Hazel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YynhNuAgHI

FYI - I loved Hazel so much I named my dog Hazel - she was an apricot poodle.

first one that i didn't see used already was Martha.

has Evangeline been used yet?

I have a student named Evangeline right now

I'm 63 and my middle name is Grace after my late Great Aunt. Growing up I was embarrassed by my "old lady" middle name. Now there is a Grace everywhere you look. I even have a Granddaughter with Grace as a middle name.

Grace would have been my DDs name, but it is DHs mom's name and we did not want to pick her name over my mom's name.
Julia is my DD's name. It is not as popular as Emma (or Jennifer, lol) is was an old name that has made a minor comeback.


What about Prudence? I don't see that making a comeback, but who I am to know?

 

[phorsenuf]

Some not mentioned yet;

Geraldine (my grandmother)
Arlene (my mother)

Clark
Marshall

 

[KristaTX]

Apparently YouTube decided my original link to the song "Hooray for Hazel" wasn't allowed to work in the USA.

Anyway, if anyone was interested in hearing the song, here's a new link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfgyGtJyMA4

 

[rascalmom]

My family has had a few:

Opal
Velma
Shirley
Boyd
Harold (both of dh's grandfathers)
Bertha
Ruth
Gwenda
Leland

I am 50 and a lot of names that were really popular when I was a kid, you don't see so much anymore:

Tammy
Cindy
Lori
Susan

My name is Tonya.....it never really hit a pinnacle of popularity.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I read somewhere that names go through a 3 generation cycle - so if you think of your grandparents' names, they will start sounding fresh for today's babies, while your parents' names sound outdated. My grandfather's name is Noah and that is very trendy now. My kids are named Katherine and Judah - Katherine is timeless, and in fact quite often I am assumed to be Katherine and the 4 year old is assumed to be Meghan (my name).

 

[fairestoneofall]

A couple people just mentioned Sharon which is my niece's (age 1) name. She was named after her paternal grandmother who would be in her 50's if she were alive. When I first heard the name, all I could think of was the former Mouseketeer... LOL. She doesn't go by Sharon though - she's Shari.

The nice part about a name like this - everyone knows it, the poor kid won't have to spell or correct pronunciation for everyone they meet, BUT you are unlikely to run into anyone else who has it.
That was me when I was growing up (Emily). Of course, the name exploded and is no longer unique like it was when I was a kid.

my mom said when she named me (emily) that hardly anyone was using it. now, i hear it all. the. time.

DD has an old-fashioned name (adeline). i adore it. i never heard it used when she was born, but now i've met a few girls (younger than her) with that name.

my maternal grandmother was Effie. i think it's an adorable name, but my mom told me she didn't want me to use it.

my grandpa's name was Ewin Carlos and you don't hear either of those anymore. my other grandpa was Bernard Joseph. my grandma was Laura Josephine.

 

[lemondog]

I have 4 daughters and all of their names (both first and middle) were as popular at the turn of the century as they are now...except for one of my twins whose middle name is Ruth (after my mom). That one is probably not even in the top 500 anymore. I love classic names!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Glenda
Wilma
Franklin

 

[jlmarr]

Cecil

 

[Diznygrl]

You know what's funny...one day, after all of us here are dead and gone, the old folks homes are going to be filled with lots of Kaylees and Aidens.

 

[trip]

Cecil

My late FIL's name was Wilbur Cecil. Poor guy. He went by Bill.

 

[jen0610]

Not too long ago Olivia, Sophia, Helen, Emma, Emily and some other now-popular names would have been listed here.

I wonder when Mildred and Bertha will come back into popular use .

Some of our friends just named their daughter Alice Maxine.

That is too funny! My mom - in her mid 60's - is Maxine Alice.

 

[luvmy3]

Ethel
Gladys
Wilma

Horace
Walter

 

[HelenePA]

You know what's funny...one day, after all of us here are dead and gone, the old folks homes are going to be filled with lots of Kaylees and Aidens.

Yep and I have an Aidan! He has told me more than once he doesnt like his name he wants to change it to Charles which is his middle name.

 

[Grandmouse]

Carol (me)
Helen (my mother)
Mathilda (my grandmother)
Nancy -- (my five closest friends/co-workers)

 

[NotUrsula]

The thing that you have to take into account is that names are regional based on the predominance of certain ethnic groups in those areas. I grew up in an area where the locals were predominantly French or Hispanic; I knew a ton of Felicias and Claudias, and boys named Claude or Ray. Also, the South tends to have more of a tradition of naming people after older family members, so "old-fashioned" names are less likely to be considered so in parts of the South.

Also, fashions in nicknames change a lot faster than fashions in names, and those are regional, too. These days you encounter a whole lot more Wills than Bills, but they are all Williams. These days you don't meet Americans nicknamed "Dick" for Richard, but in the UK it is still common, as they have different slang terms. Just about every little boy that I've met lately who is named John is nicknamed Jack, but when I was a kid the only Jack was the President (and my uncle, who was born in 1909), and most little American Johns were nicknamed Johnny. In the 1950's girls named Elisabeth were almost always Betty or Betsy, but today they are much more likely to be nicknamed Lizzy or Lily. (FTR, the Queen of England was known as Lilibet as a child.)

My kids go to parochial schools in a midwestern city that is heavily Irish, German and Italian, and in the 10 years I've been writing out Valentines, I can count on one hand the number of "trendee" names that I've seen; Catholics just don't normally use them in my neighborhood. In grade school my DS14 had not one but three Margarets in his class, and also an Alphonse and a Suzanne. He has two of those "old-fashioned" names that you all mentioned as well. My DD4 has classmates named Charlene, Helene, Helena, George, Martin, Ray, and Theresa. Gertrude isn't dead here, either, thanks to all the German families; they are usually nicknamed Trudy. In that French area where I grew up you see a lot of kids named things like Aristede and Martin, too; it's trendy again to use more ethnic names.

 

[dizcrazee]

I miss the old-fashioned names. I'm glad that some of them are coming back into vogue.

In my family, we had some good ones...

Ethel
Lena
Eileen
Elsie
Bonita
Beulah
Hazel
Barney
Doyle
Floyd
Arlen....and the list goes on....

 

[DVC-Don]

One of my grandfathers was named Archibald. The family called him Archie, but at work he was known as James.

 

[Grandmouse]

My DD4 has classmates named Charlene, Helene, Helena, George, Martin, Ray, and Theresa. Gertrude isn't dead here, either, thanks to all the German families; they are usually nicknamed Trudy. In that French area where I grew up you see a lot of kids named things like Aristede and Martin, too; it's trendy again to use more ethnic names.

My granddaughter is Helena, after my mother and great-grandmother (German/French). She lives in the South and we do not know another person around her age with that name.

Also, although we are not from the South but the Northeast, we are heavily into naming people for older family members.