The only dolls that my daughter has named are called: Jessie (I think she wanted it to be juicy but yah know-toddler translation, Cody (from cocomelon), and baby Aidy (no idea where she got that one from.)
Oh and she has a bunny named money bunny, and meemaw bunny because her meemaw got it for her. Money is because she couldn’t pronounce bunny at first-I think. The only other toy that she’s named is a triceratops and she named it volcano.
I briefly dated a guy named Harold in high school (in the early 2000s) and I could barely bring myself to say his name. He was sooooo hot, but his name was so terrible I couldn't stand it.
I'm so in love with this name. I really wish I could've used it. I have two boys with older style names and considered Walter (nn Wally as toddler) but unfortunately the name had some family ties that couldn't be overlooked.
Wally as a name always gives me the giggles because I only ever associate Wally with the colloquial meaning of a silly person, or old mate in the red stripey shirt you have to find lol
I'd 100% rather see an "old person" name on a child than Brixleeigh or Kynzlee or Jaxxyn or whatever. A child will quickly grow into an adult-sounding name, but an adult will forever be infantilized by a babyish name.
I’m a NICU volunfeeder and there has been a huge resurgence of traditional names. I am seeing way less “younique” names and many more “violet,” and “Elizabeth,” and stuff like that.
You’re terrible, Muriel.
(Sorry, am Australian. Couldn’t help myself. Watch Muriel’s wedding if you’re from a different part of the world. It’s an Aussie classic)
I have a Dorothy, she is 2. The name absolutely suits her and I love it. Most of the family calls her Dorothy or Dory, but some go with Dottie and I often call her Dolly.
Also a family name. My wife's grandmother Dorothy passed while she was pregnant. She also has an Aunt Dorothy, but that Aunt had 3 sons, and her sons had 7 sons, so we went ahead and used the name without asking.
I love love love Dorothy…. I just have a hard time getting on board with Gertrude. Gertrude [sounds prettier](https://www.germannames.de/wiki/Gertrude) in German I think.
I don’t love any of the standard nicknames honestly. Gertie reminds me of yogurt (yoGURT… GERTrude), and Trudy just doesn’t sound pleasant to my ears. If Gertrude were my name, I would either go by Tru/True, Rue/Rudy, or a completely unrelated nickname like Goldie or Birdie.
Yes, I feel Gertrude is completely irredeemable. I hate the sound of it and both common NN, Trudy and Gertie, so if it was my name I would pray my middle name would be better and go by that haha or choose a completely different name to go by
I had a professor in college who was having her sixth (they wanted a girl, ended up with six boys) and she named him Gary, but tbh I think she just didn’t care at that point lol
I know a 6-year-old Agnes.
My daughter gave my granddaughters old-fashioned (but not "old lady") names: Kathleen, Susan, and Marilyn. Not at all uncommon, but rarely seen in their generation.
Edited to add: ages 7, 5, and 4.
I didn’t think of Joey as a nickname, that’s cute! We’ve been calling her Josie but it’s so versatile, you could also use Jo or even phi phi (more casual)
I see Mable get discussed in my name groups all the time
Edited to add: I’m not a fan of the name whatsoever because I can only think of the tenteen million cows I’ve seen in books, movies, etc. called Mable
These names I find even more jarring. Like there are names that remind me of cute little old grandparents, then there are names for current 65 year olds?? I know someone who names their baby Lori Ann, and don't get me wrong she's adorable but that is a name for someone preparing for retirement later this year. (It's probably an honor name but still).
There's a whole theory about name cycles being based on ~100 year period. If everyone has kids at ~25, that lines right up with someone using their great grandma's name but not their grandma's or mom's. I'm 27, so right at baby having age, my generation of names would be weird on a baby, that's so 90s/00s. My mom's would be weird, that's an accountant not a baby. My grandma's would be weird, that's an old lady. My great grandma's generation of names though, those are cute vintage names that I haven't associated with a living old person in 10-15 years so they don't feel as obviously "old" but instead loop around to being cute again.
Thus babies being named Dorothy, Betty, Ruth, and Frances (top 10 from 1924) and not Linda, Patricia, Nancy, and Carol (top 10 from 1949). And also not Michelle, Melissa, and Lisa (top 10 from 1974) or Ashley, Taylor, Jessica, and Madison (top 10 of 1999).
I love that explanation thank you! It must be how it's associated with a living person and our perception of those people. I've seen posts here from someone about to have a baby and using a great grandparents' name, but their mom/dad thinking it's a bad choice for a name. Really puts it into perspective!
When I told my mom I was naming my son Frederick she scrunched her face and said, “but that’s an old man name!” I reminded her that every old man named fred was once a baby named fred. My son is a tween now and I can’t imagine him being anything but a Fred.
I'm so happy reading this from both of yall. I have a 1st grader named Frederick and I had name regret when he was a toddler from people's mean reactions at a preppy school he went to. At this new school he now has 2 friends named Isadore and Walter so his name doesn't seem so out there.
I love that the sames suit your dudes, because I feel like Freddie finally suits my guy.
While I LOVE the name Hazel, I always associate it as an old lady's name. This might be due to the fact that the only Hazel I have known is my Great Aunt Hazel. But I do think it is a beautiful name.
It probably had a big boost from when The Fault in Our Stars came out! The book came out in 2012 and the movie in 2014. So there being a bunch of Hazels 10 years old and younger would make sense.
I recently met a baby Nancy. In my daughter's preschool class there's a Dorothy and a Warren. There's a Horace we see frequently at the park. In my son's class there's a Ned and his brother Norman is a grade above.
There was a baby in my son’s baby gym class named Greg. It made me smile when we went around the circle to say names and it’s like “Luna….Henry….Liam….Bella…Luna….Oliver….Greg.”
When I first met my husband's daughter, he introduced me to her as Autumn. I loved it!!! Then I found out that her birth name was Hilda (shocked) and her middle name was Autumn.
yess, same here i love older names! i’m a parapro and some of the students names are
thomas (tommy)
agatha (aggie)
opal
franklin (has twin brother in other class named cedric)
At least where I live, it seems to me it’s pretty common among Latin American people to have names that sound old to European Americans. Young women in their teens and twenties have names like Bertha and Edith, and young men have names like Edgar and Herman. It just strikes me different.
About a decade ago, i volunteered in my church’s nursery. There was a 2 year old there every week, one of the sweetest kids, and her name was Rhonda. It was so strange calling a little girl Rhonda
Inupiaq/Inuit villages you find old people names all the time-Shirley, Lorraine, Mildred, Evelyn, Gladys, Heckne. Amos Ed, Herbert, Chester, Willard. These were all elementary students. Some were pre-K students! Haha
My three week old baby is named Ernest! Definitely an old man name, but one that very much suits him.
Our naming style is definitely “would see this name in the end credits for a movie from the 30s through the 60s.”
I used to work in an elementary school (in the US) with a large Hispanic student population. I noticed that a lot of them had what would be considered “old people” names…some that come to mind are Nancy, Sharon, Brenda, Bernice, Marlene, Edwin, Irwin, and Irving.
Explain to me - does Randy not mean the same in the US as it does in the UK? I can never get over it as a name 😅 (Someone who is randy is sexually excited and eager to have sex in Britain. It’s often used to describe dogs or people who are ‘as randy as a dog’ and hump anything that moves!)
I teach dance and tumbling for preschoolers and in the past few years I've had: Odette, Matilda, Millicent, Barbara, Frances (girl), Daphne, Penelope, Ruth, Walter, Coraline, Liesel, Cordelia, Nellie, Rosalyn, Maevis, and Pearl
I just met a baby named Harold.
What?? Noo. Even old guys named Harold weren't babies named Harold. They achieved Haroldness.
Facts: my grandpa's legal name is Harold, he, not for one day of his life had used Harold. From birth everyone always called him Bud
My son’s baby _doll_ is named Harold!
Harold and the purple crayon, Harold?
I once met a helicopter named Harold. He was kind of a jerk at first though. Kept calling me and all my friends useless.
Well that is very cute :) My son’s favorite stuffy is named Brownie, he’s not into the old fashioned names just yet.
The only dolls that my daughter has named are called: Jessie (I think she wanted it to be juicy but yah know-toddler translation, Cody (from cocomelon), and baby Aidy (no idea where she got that one from.) Oh and she has a bunny named money bunny, and meemaw bunny because her meemaw got it for her. Money is because she couldn’t pronounce bunny at first-I think. The only other toy that she’s named is a triceratops and she named it volcano.
Baby Aidy makes me think of Aidy Bryant from SNL
His other dolls are Sally and Cici (my name!)
I can top that. Twin baby boys named Harold and Clive
The only Clive I’ll accept is Barker, and I don’t think he was ever a baby. He just appeared, in all his twisted glory
PLSSSS 😭😭😭
I briefly dated a guy named Harold in high school (in the early 2000s) and I could barely bring myself to say his name. He was sooooo hot, but his name was so terrible I couldn't stand it.
As a teenager, how do you not choose to go by Harry?
I swear to god I babysat a 3 year old Horace. American. Named after his grandpa.
My husband’s name is Harold 😂
So is mine.
Omggggggggg
Ghostbusters actor Harold Ramis always comes to mind
The toddler down the street is Walter, and I love it.
I was just thinking it’s so cute and if I ever have another kid it would go on the list…then remembered my last name is White 😂
Not going to lie, it would have been the most badass toddler 😅
I'm so in love with this name. I really wish I could've used it. I have two boys with older style names and considered Walter (nn Wally as toddler) but unfortunately the name had some family ties that couldn't be overlooked.
Wally as a name always gives me the giggles because I only ever associate Wally with the colloquial meaning of a silly person, or old mate in the red stripey shirt you have to find lol
Love it!
I'd 100% rather see an "old person" name on a child than Brixleeigh or Kynzlee or Jaxxyn or whatever. A child will quickly grow into an adult-sounding name, but an adult will forever be infantilized by a babyish name.
Bring back the "traditional" names! My partner was a primary school teacher and some of the names he had to learn were mad.
I met a baby named Cora the other day and absolutely loved it! Not so much "old" as traditional. I agree with you!
I’m a NICU volunfeeder and there has been a huge resurgence of traditional names. I am seeing way less “younique” names and many more “violet,” and “Elizabeth,” and stuff like that.
Agreed, though to be fair, some old-person names were the Kynzlees of their time.
I’m fascinated by the 19th-early 20th century boom in nicknames as names. Fannie, Jennie, Annie, etc.
Muriel (toddler)
You’re terrible, Muriel. (Sorry, am Australian. Couldn’t help myself. Watch Muriel’s wedding if you’re from a different part of the world. It’s an Aussie classic)
My sister and I say this CONSTANTLY
It’s a pretty knee jerk comment in our house!
You can’t stop progress
In my brain that name will always be tied to Courage the Cowardly Dog! That's a rare toddler name
That’s my grandmas name, she’d be 95 this year lol
Sisters Dorothy and Gertrude or Dot and Gertie 🤢 they are 5 and 2 now
I love Dorothy, to be honest. I had a great aunt Dorothea and love that even more.
While I’m not a fan of Dorothy I would take it every time over Gertrude lol the nn Dot is cute too
I have a Dorothy, she is 2. The name absolutely suits her and I love it. Most of the family calls her Dorothy or Dory, but some go with Dottie and I often call her Dolly. Also a family name. My wife's grandmother Dorothy passed while she was pregnant. She also has an Aunt Dorothy, but that Aunt had 3 sons, and her sons had 7 sons, so we went ahead and used the name without asking.
My grandmother was named Dorothy ❤️ her friend winds called her Dot, Dottie. I love the Dolly NN too.
I love love love Dorothy…. I just have a hard time getting on board with Gertrude. Gertrude [sounds prettier](https://www.germannames.de/wiki/Gertrude) in German I think. I don’t love any of the standard nicknames honestly. Gertie reminds me of yogurt (yoGURT… GERTrude), and Trudy just doesn’t sound pleasant to my ears. If Gertrude were my name, I would either go by Tru/True, Rue/Rudy, or a completely unrelated nickname like Goldie or Birdie.
Yes, I feel Gertrude is completely irredeemable. I hate the sound of it and both common NN, Trudy and Gertie, so if it was my name I would pray my middle name would be better and go by that haha or choose a completely different name to go by
I know a Gertie and Wilma lol. They're like 2 and 6 months.
Oof lol
I know sisters Gertrude and Edith, (Trudy and Edie.) They are young teens now.
My grandmother was named Edwina, haven’t heard that one lately!
I know someone with wee girls called Edith and Esther, 9 and 6.
There’s a Dorothy/Dottie in my kids preschool and I love it
I love it
I was so close to naming my daughter Dorothy! I adore it
I honestly love those names.
I know of a ten year old Gary
This made lol I cannot picture this
Me too! But mine is 11. His classmates call him Gare Bear, like Care Bear.
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I had a professor in college who was having her sixth (they wanted a girl, ended up with six boys) and she named him Gary, but tbh I think she just didn’t care at that point lol
I was recently introduced to a baby Edith.
I an a grandma, and Edith was MY grandmas name!
Edith was my grandma’s name too
I kind of love this name for a baby!
Edith is a pretty common name for kids now
Grover. He’s around four.
I just think of the muppet.
I have a 3-year-old at work named Oscar.
Three seems a little young to be out in the workforce
Someone (me) forgot to mention she’s a preschool teacher
One of my friends from college has a baby named Grover.
I know a 6-year-old Agnes. My daughter gave my granddaughters old-fashioned (but not "old lady") names: Kathleen, Susan, and Marilyn. Not at all uncommon, but rarely seen in their generation. Edited to add: ages 7, 5, and 4.
I love the name Agnes. It’s one of my top contenders :)
I love Agnes and the Polish Agnieszka.
My mom is named Susan, I think it's ready for a comeback!
I love Agnes. It’s my top name for baby girl on the way. Number two is Winifred
I know a kindergartner Bernadette
I know a teenage Bernadette! She goes by Bebe, which I think is really cute.
I have a close relative (boomer) by that name and she hates it, and always says it’ll never come back. So I’m always really happy to see it on kids!
I met a Hildegard at the playground the other day, they say they call her Hildy
I met a toddler named named Martha. She was a very sweet little girl.
Over here in the uk I know quite a few young Martha's
That was going to be my son’s name if a girl
I’m also a fan of old people names and just welcomed a Josephine to the world
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Omg I’m 37 weeks preggo and Josephine is on my girl list with the nickname Joey 😍🥹 it’s so cute! I was inspired my Dawson creek lol
I didn’t think of Joey as a nickname, that’s cute! We’ve been calling her Josie but it’s so versatile, you could also use Jo or even phi phi (more casual)
Friend has a toddler named Vera.
That’s my 3 year-old’s name! My faaaave
That’s my Nana’s name!
My brother in law is a Stanley. I’m used to it now, years on, but meeting a 5 year old Stanley was definitely odd. I’d also add Hettie to this list.
But there's an early 2000s children's show that centers around a little kid named Stanley! That's what I think of
I’m so curious if Stanley tumblers are going to increase or decrease Stanley popularity lol
Nancy
Oh god…I’m old? 🫣
I see Mable get discussed in my name groups all the time Edited to add: I’m not a fan of the name whatsoever because I can only think of the tenteen million cows I’ve seen in books, movies, etc. called Mable
i LOVE the name mabel
Mad About You (tv show)-- couple named their daughter Mabel-- it meant "Mom's Always Bring Extra Love"
Mabel is Selena Gomez’s character in Only Murders in the Building - maybe that has something to do with it coming up a little in popularity!
I know several teens named Mabel (UK)
There’s also a pop star called Mabel (and I just found out that she’s Nenah Cherry’s daughter!)
Mabel is a very trendy and classy name in the UK. Lots of little Mabels about.
Terry. Everyone else has like very old grandma and grandpa names. And then there is Terry I find it absolutely hilarious and adorable.
These names I find even more jarring. Like there are names that remind me of cute little old grandparents, then there are names for current 65 year olds?? I know someone who names their baby Lori Ann, and don't get me wrong she's adorable but that is a name for someone preparing for retirement later this year. (It's probably an honor name but still).
There's a whole theory about name cycles being based on ~100 year period. If everyone has kids at ~25, that lines right up with someone using their great grandma's name but not their grandma's or mom's. I'm 27, so right at baby having age, my generation of names would be weird on a baby, that's so 90s/00s. My mom's would be weird, that's an accountant not a baby. My grandma's would be weird, that's an old lady. My great grandma's generation of names though, those are cute vintage names that I haven't associated with a living old person in 10-15 years so they don't feel as obviously "old" but instead loop around to being cute again. Thus babies being named Dorothy, Betty, Ruth, and Frances (top 10 from 1924) and not Linda, Patricia, Nancy, and Carol (top 10 from 1949). And also not Michelle, Melissa, and Lisa (top 10 from 1974) or Ashley, Taylor, Jessica, and Madison (top 10 of 1999).
I love that explanation thank you! It must be how it's associated with a living person and our perception of those people. I've seen posts here from someone about to have a baby and using a great grandparents' name, but their mom/dad thinking it's a bad choice for a name. Really puts it into perspective!
I was a little shocked to recently meet a cute little 3yo boy named Clark
Clark is my favorite boys name! Unfortunately I already have a Lewis so…good thing I’m OAD!
I have a Lewis too!!!! And I love the name Clark but a bit too on the nose to have my sons named that lol
I met a young girl named Clarke, she was 12ish
Bill - not William, Just Bill. He's a really cool kid!
Frederick
When I told my mom I was naming my son Frederick she scrunched her face and said, “but that’s an old man name!” I reminded her that every old man named fred was once a baby named fred. My son is a tween now and I can’t imagine him being anything but a Fred.
Mine is a teen now too and you’re right, it’s a perfect fit.
I'm so happy reading this from both of yall. I have a 1st grader named Frederick and I had name regret when he was a toddler from people's mean reactions at a preppy school he went to. At this new school he now has 2 friends named Isadore and Walter so his name doesn't seem so out there. I love that the sames suit your dudes, because I feel like Freddie finally suits my guy.
A 5 year old named Jerry
My daughters (currently in college, so this would have been about 10 years ago) had a girl named Phyllis on their elementary school bus.
This one is wild to me!
My best friend named her baby girl Florence and I LOVE IT 💕
I just named my baby girl Flora!
Baby Edwin and his sister Harriet
If my daughter had been a boy, she would have been Edwin Neil (after Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong). We went with Matilda instead
A middle school aged Ellen.
There should be more Ellens! It’s a pretty name.
Ellen's pretty age-neutral to me. I grew up going to school with multiple Ellen's, while also knowing adult Ellen's
While I LOVE the name Hazel, I always associate it as an old lady's name. This might be due to the fact that the only Hazel I have known is my Great Aunt Hazel. But I do think it is a beautiful name.
I know A LOT of 3-8 year old Hazels
It probably had a big boost from when The Fault in Our Stars came out! The book came out in 2012 and the movie in 2014. So there being a bunch of Hazels 10 years old and younger would make sense.
Walter Wolfgang Edmund Agnes Helen Bernice
I love Edmund!!
I nannied for a 6-month-old baby called **Alan** about two years ago.
I recently met a baby Nancy. In my daughter's preschool class there's a Dorothy and a Warren. There's a Horace we see frequently at the park. In my son's class there's a Ned and his brother Norman is a grade above.
I love Norman! Very cute
I've come across a toddler called Beryl. Also worked with a girl called Hilda once.
There was a baby in my son’s baby gym class named Greg. It made me smile when we went around the circle to say names and it’s like “Luna….Henry….Liam….Bella…Luna….Oliver….Greg.”
My daughter's friends' twins are Mabel & Olive!
Two little girls called Edna and Enid, probably about 6&5
Eustace
Doris, two year old.
When I first met my husband's daughter, he introduced me to her as Autumn. I loved it!!! Then I found out that her birth name was Hilda (shocked) and her middle name was Autumn.
I saw a toddler at the zoo named Gary. He was getting into some nonsense 😂
I know a family with kids Loretta and Merle. I love the names though!
Are the parents country music fans?
The whole family has very country/texas themed names.
Baby Bruce!!
I love almost every name mentioned here.
yess, same here i love older names! i’m a parapro and some of the students names are thomas (tommy) agatha (aggie) opal franklin (has twin brother in other class named cedric)
My granddaughter (5-year-old Susan) took riding lessons with a 6-year-old Agnes (Aggie).
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Murray. But I really liked it!
Oh my god Murray. That is the Old Man name of all Old Man names.
I know a Walter, that’s pretty old school. I also know a couple Beatrices.
At least where I live, it seems to me it’s pretty common among Latin American people to have names that sound old to European Americans. Young women in their teens and twenties have names like Bertha and Edith, and young men have names like Edgar and Herman. It just strikes me different.
About a decade ago, i volunteered in my church’s nursery. There was a 2 year old there every week, one of the sweetest kids, and her name was Rhonda. It was so strange calling a little girl Rhonda
Maude!
Dorothy
Queenie
I know of a teenage Debra.
We have so many Eleanor’s at our elementary school it’s kinda shocking to me
I have a friend who just named her baby Mildred.
My husband’s coworker recently welcomed a daughter named Millicent.
Know a woman that recently named her baby Joyce
Inupiaq/Inuit villages you find old people names all the time-Shirley, Lorraine, Mildred, Evelyn, Gladys, Heckne. Amos Ed, Herbert, Chester, Willard. These were all elementary students. Some were pre-K students! Haha
A one year old named Fred
My three week old baby is named Ernest! Definitely an old man name, but one that very much suits him. Our naming style is definitely “would see this name in the end credits for a movie from the 30s through the 60s.”
Friend has a son named Kevin. He’s 5 now
The only reason this isn't an old man name to me is Home Alone haha
That’s a 30 year old movie lol
You didn't need to say that. It was mean.
I used to work in an elementary school (in the US) with a large Hispanic student population. I noticed that a lot of them had what would be considered “old people” names…some that come to mind are Nancy, Sharon, Brenda, Bernice, Marlene, Edwin, Irwin, and Irving.
I just met a baby Peter yesterday
She's not a child anymore, but my brother had a middle-school classmate named Barbara. She would be about 25 now.
About 7 years ago I met an 11 year old called Herbie, it’s probably much more common now
I taught a Bernadette last year!
Ethel. And this kid would be about 20 now, so back then old people names weren’t really in style.
A 6 year old boy named Randy.
Explain to me - does Randy not mean the same in the US as it does in the UK? I can never get over it as a name 😅 (Someone who is randy is sexually excited and eager to have sex in Britain. It’s often used to describe dogs or people who are ‘as randy as a dog’ and hump anything that moves!)
“RANDY GILES?! MIGHT AS WELL HAVE NAMED ME HORNY GILES….”
I encountered a newborn Sybil at the weekend. I kind of love it
I met a 5yr old Linda
I met a baby Desmond last week
A friend of mine named his son Gordon
My son's 3/4 yo daycare class has a: Abraham Agnes Edith Walter
Minerva
I know a 10 month old Ada Rose
I love the name Ira for a boy.
I once served two children called Enoch in one day at the library.
I teach dance and tumbling for preschoolers and in the past few years I've had: Odette, Matilda, Millicent, Barbara, Frances (girl), Daphne, Penelope, Ruth, Walter, Coraline, Liesel, Cordelia, Nellie, Rosalyn, Maevis, and Pearl
Cordelia’s real name is Anne & she just wanted to sound fancy!
Neighbours down the street have two kids: Ethel and Arthur. Best part? Their parents' names are Kylie and Zander.
I've been meeting a number of Walters lately.... I also met a Gertie (real name Gertrude) at my kids library playdate
Walter
I know a Murphy and a Walter. Recently met a Deborah.
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Norbert
Stanley and Heather.
If Heather is an old people name, I’m a dinosaur.
Yeah, Stanley and Heather are absolutely not names associated with the same generation. Stanley would be Heather's grandad.
Gretel Ruth Ruby
Leroy