There is a lot of discussion too about which gender is harder to name. I think boys names are much harder to come up with. This is an opinion based on experience. In each of my three pregnancies we came up with a girl's name very quickly, but found naming our two sons very tricky. So much so that even though we knew we having a boy third time around, we didn't have a name for him until he was 13 days old. (When I was eight weeks pregnant, we decided that we were going to call the baby Amelia. That obviously wasn't going to work for our 8lb11oz bouncing baby boy.)
I am rather fond of old-fashioned names for girls. And they certainly have had a resurgence over the last 15 years; every primary school in Australia must have at least one Ruby, Ella, Grace, Charlotte or Lily hanging off the monkeybars. There's a girl called Olive at our school, and there's a Hazel coming next year.
But I have got to thinking that there are some old fashioned names which haven't made a comeback.
Where are the little girls called Gladys and Eunice? Will Norma, Norah, Thelma, Wilma, Enid and Ethel ever reappear in the Saturday paper's baby announcements? I would very much like to see a revival of Dorothy as a name: we need more women called Dot or Dottie around.
Perhaps Angelina and Brad can call their twin baby girls (apparently they're girls) Beryl and Gertie. That will be very distinctive in a family which already has Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh to play with.
And think of the service that they would be doing for the truly old fashioned moniker.
3 comments:
..and Dulcie and Mavis. My two favourite 'old lady' names. There's a few flowers blooming in Sapph's school - Rose, Lily, Violet, Saffron....
I think the best thing a parent can do is give their child a name that doesn't rhyme with any rude words and is something that most human beings can spell.
Oh yes - don't get me started on the subject of how names are spelt!
And I'd forgotten Dulcie and Mavis, both fine old fashioned names for gals. Beryl and Mavis Pitt, come on down! While you're at it, here's Dulcie Urban over for a bounce on the trampoline...
Right up to her death at age 93, my grandmother was keen to have a grandchild or greatgrandchild named after her - her name was Hilda Gertrude. At least she was generous enough to allow the derivation 'Trudy'. Alas, I still have no cousins or second cousins named Trudy.
Personaly, I was always more attracted to the triple barrelled name of my great aunt - Dulcie Charlotte Lacey.
... yes, had I ever had a girl child, one of those names would be there
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