My mother's name is Shirley. I know a couple of other "Shirley's" but they are my mom's friends and are in their late 50's to 60's (named after Shirley Temple). I thank the Lord she did not name me this-phewww. My maternal grandmother's name is MaryEvelyn-another old one. I like my other grandmother's name -Virginia-I think that is a very pretty old name.

My friends middle name is her mother's maiden name-Hunt. I think that is kinda cool:). Her family is from Georgia so I guess it is a southern thing.

Interesting. I've never heard of that. I think my hypothetical future son would kill me if I gave him my maiden name as his first name... :p

I think some of the "older" names (Emma, Sophie, etc) are very attractive and distinctive. Others (Edna, Thelma, etc) are just cruel, the kid would get teased.

Then there are the popular names, whatever the hot name is that year, which I think just leads to confusion... there were six Laurens in my 200-member high school class. Some of them went by their last names!

It's kind of rare these days (Robertson is the only person I know who is actually named after his mom. He's 30), but it was apparently really common 100+ years ago. Shirley, for example was a last name. Then it became a boy's name and it's now a girl's name. Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's book "Pride and Prejudice" is Fitzwilliam Darcy. It's really likely that the elder Mrs. Darcy was a Miss Fitzwilliam.

I like old English/Irish names. I also love the name Katrina, which is old but making a come back.

I like old-fashioned, classic, family names as well. My sister used Emma for their daughter--it was our grandma and BIL's grandma's name.

I don't think I'll be naming any kids after my maiden name, either. I was glad enough to be rid of it after I marred--it's 10 letters long and very German. Once people learned how to pronounce it, though, that's almost all I was known by in college.

This happens in my family quite a lot! There is a John & William in every generation, and the only way to tell them apart is by their mother's maiden names.

I was almost named for my mama - Dixie Lee - but my parents were afraid that I would be stigmatized by anyone who put a racist connotation to the name. I often wonder, "What if...?"

As for the Jennifers & Melissas - they're old names that have enjoyed a recycling. Enjoy the history of it!

The top 10 names of 2003 http://family.msn.com/tool/article.a..._babynames2003

Girls' names
1. Emily
2. Emma
3. Madison
4. Hannah
5. Hailey
6. Sarah
7. Kaitlyn
8. Isabella
9. Olivia
10. Abigail


Boys' names
1. Jacob
2. Aidan
3. Ethan
4. Matthew
5. Nicholas
6. Joshua
7. Ryan
8. Michael
9. Zachary
10. Tyler

These sound pretty old-fashioned to me. My family uses the name Ryan the way TauAlumna described. It is a first name for many children of women who had it as a maiden name.

When we were deciding on names for my two sons -- now aged 9 and 11 yrs old -- I was adamant about using only family names for both the first and middle names. My husband and I knew both times that we were having boys. One name from my father's side that I loved but my husband hated was Alden...it went back many generations. That last one to have it was my great Uncle -- he went by Bud -- LOVE it!!

I read "Beyond Jennifer and Jason" when deciding which family names to use. I wanted names that had positive or no connotations. I did not want to saddle my sons with names that gave them a strike before anyone even met them. I mean, really, some names DO conjure up definite images!

For my oldest son, we named him Carl William...turned out both hubby and I's deceased paternal grandfathers' middle names were Carl! I liked the fact that you could not make a nick name out of it either (e.g. Richard becomes Dick!!!). Ironically, I often call Carl "Carlos" -- and I don't even speak Spanish! Go figure!! William was hubby's deceased paternal grandfather's first name and it was also in my family tree somewhere. There are two other Carl's in his middle school.

Now my second son's name was trickier. We decided to name him after both our dads -- my dad is Robert but my father in law's first name is Clarence which does not exactly conjure up the most positive image! So we used his middle name for Robert's middle name: Charles. I have kept Robert's name as Robert but hubby tries to make him change it to Rob which Robert refuses to do -- he likes being Robert. In his 4th grade class there is another Robert who also only goes by Robert, but in the whole school, there is only one other Robert and he goes by Robbie.

My parents named me (oldest) and my five sisters with names that all began with the letter C!

Cecilia (nickname Cele)
Catherine (Cathy)
Carolyn (Cari)
Constance (Connie)
Claire (Claire)
Christiane (Chris)

I have a friend whose hubby is Todd and all of Todd's five siblings have names that start with T...


:) :)

I like old-fashioned names. It just depends. My name is Susan, and I love it because it's classy but somewhat unusual for a person my age (21). I like a lot of names like that, but not the more "stodgy" ones.

More traditional Names I like:
Millicent
Ada
Nathan

there are more, I'm sure.

I read a lot of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries that are set in the 1880s and 1890s. (She also writes the William Monk novels set in 1850s and 1860s). In reading those books, I see there are characters that have archaic names. I recently finished reading Brunswick Gardens which had a young woman named Tryphena :eek:!

If I have children, I would give them classic names. However, it won't be those that would get them beat up or teased in school.

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/.../corkysm60.gif

My roommate sophomore year was named Edna. When I first heard her name, I have to say that I was amused at it!

I think that's correct -- Mr. Darcy had a cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. I've read that book waaaaaaaaay too much. :D

I'm quite glad that I'm not named after my grandmothers ... I can't really see myself as a "Mary Frances" or a "Hilda Juanita"... especially Hilda. I don't think my grandma likes that name either.

I am a Ginger. My friend in high school's name is Lois Ann. Old fashioned, but cute I thought.

I had a great aunt who's name was Octavian or something like that but they called her Tavie. I think that name is soo cute.

Does she wrestle lions in a colliseum?

-Rudey

Hey, another Ginger! How cool!

(sorry for the hijack.. but you don't find many Ginger's around!!)