Girls names

My two little granddaughters born in Australia are Zoe Rose and Lilly Grace. I love the names but was surprised by the spelling of Lilly with three l's.

Im 55 and hated my name Jean sounded so old fashioned to me then, the only other Jeans i knew were old ladies, all my friends were Traceys, Janets and Gillians, and so wished my mum had called me something normal, but i love my name now

Perhaps being Australian, she was called after the pretty Lilly Pilly flowering bush Bobdoesit?

Daughters midwifes daughter runs a playgroup with a Cinderella Sparkle and sister Tinkerbell.
I know of a Tintin Jellybean who has a sister Tallulah Little Bear.
Two of my grandchildren at Otto Danger and Tova Hero.

When I was at school, there were a lot of Susans, which caused a lot of confusion. These days, it seems quite rare.

Cinderella Sparkle and sister Tinkerbell
Oh dear

I suppose they could call themselves Ella and Belle!

My friends granddaughter is Eleanor. A lovely old name. I'm glad Dorothy is coming back. My late mums name. I had a great aunt Cassandra. I could see that coming back.

I've always liked the traditional Irish names, especially for girls.
My cousins are Caoimhe (kee-va) and Niamh (neev) although when visiting us, pronunciation always caused issues.

Don't look Ethel!
A friend has called her little boy Reggie which suits him. There is an Arthur, an Albert, Sybil, Beryl, and Constance born to families in my village.

I've never liked Mildred. I hope it's not one my daughter is considering for her girl, due in early May. Maybe they'll call her May! (But please not Mabel ?) Or April, if she comes early.... I think some diminutive forms arose because certain names are so hard for other children to pronounce. My parents would never allow anyone to mess with my name so my younger cousins had to try very hard! I got Aluffafuff, which became Fuff, and Alushabush, which inevitably became Bush! Bepbep was another version. Our next door neighbour called me Lizzypopbottle when I was about three or four years old, much to my disgust! I never liked Lizzie because my mother's Auntie Lizzie was a formidable looking harridan in born rimmed specs but when, as a teacher, I had pretty little Lizzie in my class, I was converted. ☺

Horn rimmed specs! Grrrr!

Our dog is called Dottie. Just saying. I really dislike all the old fashioned names coming back and so popular now. I really do. Both boys and girls name. My father's name was Arthur John .. my mother always said fancy calling a child that. Its baffling to me why these names are now popular. My aunt was called Sarah but everyone called her Sadie. She hated both Sarah and Sadie but look at how popular Sadie is now inexplicable to me. It sounds so old fashioned. I only like one of my seven grandchilren's names - Nicole - which I think is beautiful. Thank goodness none of my children asked my opinion before naming them but having said that, they do grow into their names and become them and you do ... sort of ... get used to them. We had our choice, parents have theirs however strange the names sound to our ears.

My niece was named Dorothy Brenda after older relatives. She is 6 and everyone calls her Dotty B. I think she has a good name for a rapper ?

My daughter is Bryony, I read a gothic type novel as I teenager and loved it. Managed to trace the book recently, still love it and now have the real thing, without the murder of course ?

Never mind the names, think of the initials. I grow up as MES my brother as JES and my sister as VAS.

I guess it all depends on where you live as to what is in favour - my daughter unwittingly gave her daughter the German version of my name - Ilse ( 2nd and 3rd names - Marie Theresia) which is a form of Elisabeth and she was born on my 66th birthday. I once stayed in a holiday camp and we had 7 mothers in the room - all with a different version of Elisabeth, think I may have been the only one that realised.

It's the same in Germany, where people are using their grandparents' names, so from the 20s and 30s. They caught on to the Old Testament fashion long after the anglophone world, (so the Samuels and Noahs are now around 5 years old) but the old names of Christian origin are coming back with a vengeance. To my ears they sound awful, but I'm sure I'll get used to my grandchildren's names eventually,

I'm surprised that Marsha is the 'normal' spelling of Marcia. To me, Marcia would be the traditional way and 'Marsha' an Americanisation or simplification.

Cinderella Sparkle!!!! Those are like toy names, as though the daughter was a doll, permanently a baby and not going to grow into a child, a teenager, a young mither, a businesswoman. My mother said she thought it was stupid calling a girl Wendy as in her opinion it was a baby's name and they'd have to grow up with it. And I suppose what sounds like a really dignified adult name might only be used when they grow up: Norbert Sinclair Wilberforce might always have been known as Nonnie.

I taught a girl in school who said "I think it's really WICKED to call a baby something like Margaret" (said with utmost disgust. I drew myself up to my full height (about 5ft) and said "that, young lady, is my middle name".

But... sweet adorable little baby Nigel or Derek? Doesn't feel right to me.

In the S. African Afrikaans community, baby names are often a compilation of the parents’ names..eg : Janine and Andre would have a baby called Jandre....some turn out ok, others are a bit weird!!!

Bradfordlass2 I'm with you. Why give a lovely name and then use the diminuitive that sounds nothing like the proper name. The TV soaps are just awful for shortening names; what is so hard about saying eg Emma instead of Em. I do like traditional names rather than all the made up ones. Same goes for spelling. I know 3 Mia's all 3 spelled differently.

When I was at school, there were a lot of Susans, which caused a lot of confusion. These days, it seems quite rare
You're not kidding ladymuck - I'm a Susan, and there were SEVEN of us in my class at Junior School..!! It was the most popular girls'name for some years in the late 1940s & early 50s.
The last Susan that I came across was two years below my DD at school - so she'll be around 40 now
I know small children called Jasper, Edward, Norman, Edie and Dorothy - and several Stanleys and Arthurs (that was my Dad's name, and I'd never have believed it would come back into fashion..!)

Rudy is becoming quite popular for boys, I know of two. My sister is Constance and I am Sybil, our DM was German and these names work in both languages.

My daughter is called Roselyn (Rosie for short) and my grand daughter is Marianne

My name is actually Annette but I don't use it much. Apparently no girl born in the last 2 years has been called Annette.