A Rose by any other NAME
 

When I was in grade school, there were usually about two Cindy's (me and another girl). There were also at least 3 Debbie's and Kathy's.

Every year in the newspaper, there is a top ten list of the names parents choose for their newborn.

Names recycle, what is old becomes new. When I was a child, Hannah and Sara were old people names.

My DD has many friends named Jessica, Ashley and Brittany.

What "old" names can you think of? Here are some of my favorites, ones that I do not hear often in the "new" generation.

Of course there are a few but here are some I rarely hear. I am going down the alphabet, in a way!

Rose
Sharon
Debbie
Kathy
Steve
Sally
Sandy (Sandra)
Candy
Beth
Abigail (Abby)
Ellen
Gail
Jill
Karen
Leslie
Patty (Patricia)
Wendy

Oh, I always loved my grandfather's half sister's name. I met her once in a nursing home. She was from Russia. Her name was Gitl (pronounced Gittel).

Seems like I only got to girl names!

You're right, Cyn, a lot of my friends have been going with what to me, are "old people" names for their kids.

Zachary (of course)
Mason
Helen
Anna
Nathan
Micah
Violet
Bernice
Beatrice
Edwin
Arthur
Norma
Henry
Lawrence
Annabelle


That's all I can think of right now.

How about

Mary
Marybeth
Maryjo
Maryann
Maryjane

What gets me is the spellings. Evyn is Evan. Oh...of course. Next...:)

I don't know why but boy's names don't seem to change much in popularity. They are very basic, Biblical names: Mark, Matthew, John, Thomas, David etc. But then . . . .to add a few more

Noah
Luke
Issac
Isaiah
Edward
George
Paul

Girls:
Heather
Angela
Donna
Jennifer
Barbara
Virginia
Jean
Maggie
Jan


And yes, there were 3 Patricia's in my 3rd & 4th grade class. The other two were Patty's and I was a Tricia. I hated it when people called me Pat or Patty. I was never a Pat or a Patty. It just doesn't fit my personality. From the time I was a wee one, I have been either Tricia or Trish.

My Mom's name was Emma. I've heard quite a few parents call their little darlings "Emma." :)

Emily is another one you hear occasionally nowadays.

My dear 4yo Granddaughter is named Emmie. It suits her. I told her someday she'll be an Auntie Em! Maybe her brother will name a daughter Dorothy, Lol!

Don't know if this qualifies as an old name, but I sure know of quite a few Jacksons.

My Grandson, Kaden, has a friend named Klay, and my nephew has a Clay.

Another nephew married a Russian and has Dmitri and Victor.

My Grandma hated her name: Fanny! She gave many of her kids unusual names: Elvin, Ervin, DeVere (my Dad), Lavola, Arva, Leland, Arlo, Lyle, Verland, Lawrence, Willard, and ... and ... can't remember #12 kid. :o Oh yeah, Delmer. :)

On my Mom's side there were 13 kids: Irma, Cliff, Emma, Ardath, Pearl, Velma, Dee, Don, Glenn, Rowene, Helen, annnnnd, ummmm, I was on a roll, too. :mad:

Okay, can't think anymore. :confused:

I named my daughter Constance. She is named after what would have been my oldest sister. She passed when she was just 7 months old. Mom always told us about her Connie and I knew when I had my daughter I would name her Constance also. Her middle name is Suzanne so we called her Connie Sue when she was little...Sue

These are names I don't necessarily like, just ones we don't hear newborns being named any more:

For girls:
Margaret
Dulcie
Hortense
Stella (my mother)
Beverley
Janine
Blanche
Justine
Kathleen
Phyllis
Felicity
Madge
Alva
Faye
Maree
Thelma
Winsome
Ester
Henrietta
Evelyn

For boys:
Dudley
Geoffrey
Graham
Raymond
Ewan
Cecil
Albert
Barry
Ronald
Cedric
Norman
Angus
Barnaby
Stanley
Frederick
Basil


And Twink....my Grandma Madeline had a friend named Fanny too!

margarite
patty jo
gertrude
rebecca
rachael
sara
elizabeth
matthew
harold
ronald
ethel
archibald
elmer
austin
oliver
heyyou : )
ira
issac
tyler
joshua
henry
gwen
issabell
june
april
may
i am amazed at how lisa can be spell 3900 different ways now a days

i've always said....pregnant woman shouldn't name babies. :p

someone should have told that to MY mother. :(

<-----monkey who was given an old lady name

The only one I can think of is Lucy or Lucille.

Wait... just thought of another: Marvin. (Came to mind because that's what I've named my dog's inner-puppy. Y'know the type: It never gets any table scraps, it's the trouble-maker, it's the one making a mess of things. My dog? She'd never do those things. It's all Marvin.)

how about hazel?

matilda
myrtle
gertrude

Okay, another: Bertha.

:grouphug:

byron
martin
stuart ( i do like this one..but it's not popular anymore. i had an uncle stuart)

oops..frank had gertrude on his list. :o

clarice
alice
arden

LOL...bobbi...i named my old car Marvin. for marvin the martian. it was a little red mazda mx3.

yeah...anne...you know i have a sucky old lady name. :(

the only person who has ever called me by my full name..my husband! he knows i hate it, but he says it makes it special because he is the only one to use it. :rolleyes: right...

i have 2 nic names. when i get phone calls from old friends, my husband always tells them they have the wrong number. it's a name of a cartoon dog. hehehehe

even when shelley called one night it threw him off. and that wasn't the uncommon one. lol.

My own darling hubby has one of the yukky ones off the list I provided.

Thank goodness he uses his middle name which is Russell, and I like that. :D

I have one GF who uses his real name, and funnily enough she gets away with it where no-one else would.

I have a hard time picturing a baby named Gertrude or Hilda. Just like I have a hard time picturing an elderly lady named Brittany or Ashley.

My name can be either a boys or a girls (Kelly) but I hear it more for a girl.

As a child I always wanted to change my name. Never liked it. Always wanted to be an "Angie" or a "Stephanie". Now, I'm okay with it.

Some names I don't hear very often nowadays for girls:

Hazel
Bertha
Evelyn
Myrtle
Henrietta
Irma
Arlene
Sheila
Gertrude
Zelda
Wilma
Betty (yeah...the Flintstones!!! :D)
Gladys

Boys:

Howard
Richard
Charles
Fred
Barney (The Flintstones again!! :D)
Lewis / Louis

It's harder to come up with boys names for some reason.

Greg
Julie
Jackie
Brad
Charles

My kids have simple biblical names. Mark, John, Michael. I have a step daughter named Kim.

Had I had a girl I would have named her Grace. I just love that name for some reason.

New- My boy Travis knew Trevors and Trents and Austins.

My old neighbor named their boy Corneilous. DH's comment - "Guess they want him to get beat up on the playground." Corny!!!

We have lots of Sophies in this here part of the states???
i used to love this name before it got "popular" .... one of my
great aunts was named Sophie.:)

nicknames, how many
 

I wonder what name wins for the number of nicknames within the name.

Patricia - Tricia, Trish, Pat, Patty, Patsy = 5
Elizabeth - Beth, Betty, Liz, Lizzy, Betsy = 5
Charles - Charlie, Chuck = 2
Bernard - Bernie = 1
Robert - Bob = 1
Richard = Rick, Rich, **** = 3
Abigail - Abby, Gabby, Gail = 3

So far Patricia and Elizabeth are in the lead unless there are more nicknames for them or you can think of another name that beats them!

Poor Richard!!!
 

When I was a kid, a certain nickname for Richard is now a name that the computer automatically kicks out as a four letter banished word!!!

I still know people by that name! LOL!

Me too! LOL, I have a neighbor we all just call "Whata"!:D

I think Elizabeth would win by adding . . .

Liza
Eliza
Bethie
Lisa
Ellie
Bets (Although I never heard of this one before, we have a friend with this nickname. She's great!)

That's all I could think of right now.

BTW - I learned that that name cannot be used here. I tried using it once when referring to the Sally, *ick, and Jane books that many of us learned to read with. I had to laugh when I saw what happened to it after I posted. Such innocent books completely censored. LOL

funny thing most of these names run through our family, i come from a large irish family and we have gerrties margarites peggy harold all the older names are in our family except for marvin the martian

dickandjane thats how u do it

We can't forget "Wiz"!!! :D

Rebecca -- Becky
Diane
Sandra
Nancy
Susan -- Sue
Joanne
Caroline -- Carol
Lynn
.......all those are my cousins
Lorry

Jerry
Mark
Douglas
Scott
Kevin
John

Cyn, I notice everyone is spelling Sarah as Sara...My name is a nickname for Sarah, but it's my name..Sally. I am of Irish Catholic decent, so we have lots of Saints names. The Nuns at school called me Sarah, because Sally was not a saints name....PO'd my Mom..:D

Speaking of Diff names, my Grandkids are Brittany, Leah, Nicholas, Kayla, Myah, Olivia, John and Alexander... (John was named after my DH/Ganddad)

BTW, did anyone mention Josephine (Josie) ? I love that nickname..my friend's GD has that name.:)

I had a great-aunt Sadie. What that is short for I don't know. I've known 3 Dotties!

Sally - Everyone in my family has St. names. I know, very Catholic. Most of my nieces and nephews as well as my kids have St. names.

As for Josephine, I was born on St. Joseph's Day and my Dad wanted to name me Josephine. My mom hated that name as that was the name of one of her aunts and she wasn't too nice. LOL. Since St. Patrick's Day is a couple of days before my birthday I was named after St. Patrick. How cool is that being an Irish Catholic myself. :D

Me too, I was Therese Anne. I changed my name when I was 18.

more name game
 

Okay. here is some more - the gender blender

Some names are for both female and male. What have I missed?

Pat - Patricia and Patrick. I always think of the SNL skits about Pat.
Patty and Paddy (Irish, I think) sound the same even if they are spelled differently.
Shelly and Shelley - I have known both.
Alex - Alexander and Alexandria
Kim - I knew a boy from grade school named Kim Love. A guy not a girl.
Sydney - this used to be a boy name but somehow, it is a girl name today.
Chris - Christopher and Christine/Christina
Drew - Andrew and Andrea
Lesley and Leslie - "Gone with the Wind's" Ashley was an actor with the first name of Lesley
Sam - Samuel and Samantha
Tori - is there a spelling for a boy or a girl? I just know both.

Have I missed any?:)

Your parents must have been mortified when you came home with paperwork made out to Sox T. Mom!

Oh I forgot my DD's name -- Jamie!
It could be a boys or girls name, that's why we picked it (and the fact that it was the only name we could agree on!).
When I looked on the governments social security site, that name is very uncommon right now. Love it!

OMG! That poor boy. I am sure he got teased a lot throughout the years. I wonder if he ever changed his name.

Shannon
Shawn - I worked with a woman who was named Shawn
Nick - Nicholas, Nicolette, Nichole
Eddie/Edie

Oh, and don't forget the song A Boy Named Sue.:D

My grandma's name was Cordelia. My boys are named Nicholous and Christopher. We did not name them after the saints nor Christmas. It's just a coincidence.

My aunt's names:
Iva
Ava
Eva
Hazel
Josie

My uncle's names:
Adale
Lutherellis
Dee
Arby
Gurley

My last name was a stickler in school as well. My maiden name was Hill. The boys used to sing that they found their thrill on Sandy Hill. My poor older brother was Billy Hill, say it backwards and you get Hill Billy. lmao

My older brother named his son Dillon and his daughter Dallas. Yeah, he loved Texas like names. lol

One year when I was signing holiday cards to business associates of my DH,

Happy Holidays,

Aaron Berg, Cynthia, Dann, Elissa

I realized we had inadvertently used the first 5 letters of the alphabet.

My vanity license plate is ABCDE. Lots of people ask if I am a teacher. When I met Twink, she asked about it at the GTG in Phoenix.

I am part of the alphabet family.

That's cool, Cyn! I love the alphabet!

My neighbors named their kids after dirt: Rusty, Sandi, Clay & Chip. It wasn't an accident.:confused: