Blast from the past.

I think that one of the best name is Elizabeth!
It’s such a strong name, yet has so many possible diminutives

My DGS has a "boy's" name but in a recent school photo I had to check the names against the children!
Cameron and Alex are girls. Jun is a boy (I think) but French
Many more international names since I was young and I was one of 5 with the same boring name in my class

My niece was born in 1958. On her fathers side, both of his (deceased grandmothers name was Amelia. He said they, could not call her (too old fashioned), so she was given Merril as her middle name. Yet, now Amelia is very popular. Comes and goes.....

My grandmother was Thirza and I had an aunt Maud…

DH had a gt aunt Macgregor. Known as Gigi. It was her given name and she must have been born around 1900.
Parents have always been inconsiderate!

In Scotland there was a habit of adding ina to the end of a boy's name to feminise it.
So another relative was Thomasina Andrewina. Truly!

I had a lovely Auntie Nellie

No Gertrudes yet?

Names have a 100 year cycle I think. the names we associate with the early 20th century are now back. We think of them as old ladies because they were back then! I guess Susan, Linda, Barbara, Deborah, Pauline etc. will all come back in about 20-30 years.

All the ‘old lady’ names remind me of wizened, whiskery old great aunts decades ago. Likewise the old men’s names remind me of tweedy, bristly old men smelling of pipe tobacco, very likely with a grubby old man’s cardi (leather buttons) under the jacket.

Younger parents won’t have those connotations. But I still think it’s verging on child abuse to give a poor innocent little baby some of those names - I was going to be specific but I thought I’d better not in case any GNers go by them!

Aldom

Grannyben

Well Amelia and Florence are very popular at the moment but I'm not aware of any Ellenst

Ellen is the middle name of one of my granddaughters. It was the name of her maternal great grandmother.

Yes, I've known one or two Ellens

And Nellie, although it isn't a diminutive, is what some Ellens were often called.

I thought the most original I heard was a family of many children who, when the latest baby was born, ran completely out of ideas and called her 'Girl'. My friend referred to her 'Aunt Girl' and I was intrigued until she explained.

Ali08

Ilovecheese

I think that Mercedes is actually an older name. The car was named after the girl, not the other way round.

As with Porsche (pronounced Porsha) and probably a good few other things!

I thought the girl’s name was spelled Portia not Porche.

I know of two Elizas in our area

It's nice to see them revived

grandaughter no 3 is called ada and her younger sister is mabel. my son's choice and i love both of them.
my daughter named her daughters after flowers - briony rose and heather lily. they were unusual in the early noughties.

My Gt Grandmother was called Fanny Amelia. Somehow I don't think Fanny will be coming into fashion anytime soon. One of my Grandmothers was called Eleanor, she was Nell to everyone though. GD is Phoebe and she is lovely.

Our little grandson is Henry and his best friend is Arthur. Lovely gentlemanly names.

I hope Tracey never has a comeback . I hate the name ?

Ilovecheese

I think that Mercedes is actually an older name. The car was named after the girl, not the other way round.

I think I read somewhere ages ago that the manufacturer was the doting father of two daughters..... Mercedes and Dolores. He named his cars after them. Unfortunately Dolores died and with that, the name of the car in her memory was withdrawn
Anyone else read this?

I thought the girl’s name was spelled Portia not Porche
It is - it's from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"; the first play I went to the RSC to see - with a young Judi Dench playing Portia - what a combination, I was hooked on Shakespeare from that day onwards...❤️

My birth name was Dorothy So was called Dottie
I hated it as I was also blond
A Dottie blonde
Changed my name to Tamayra now get called Tam Tammie Tee But that’s not as awful as Dottie

My grandma was Jessie May. I wish her name could have carried on in the family but it wasn’t to be.

I was at school with an Elsie, a Maud and an Ava. I remember thinking they were awful, old fashioned names. Now they're bang on trend while the Jackies, Lorraines and Lindas are totally dated and out of fashion.

Give it another thirty years and the nursing homes will be full of Kylies, Jades and Leannes and the creches will be full of Barbaras, Patricias and Joyces.

Olive…..Who remembers ”On the Buses”

My gran was Ellen (which i always thought really pretty), and she'd named her oldest child, Helen,(my aunt) so after herself but slightly different, also pretty- but then everyone called them both Nellie- (which i thought not as pretty) so 2 nice names wasted!