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Give me your gross baby girl names!


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I'm still really undecided about baby names. Awhile back I ran a thread about virtue names but I still don't know about the ones that I have left. I've only got a month left so I need to get cracking! Anyway, I've got a fond affection for really old school names that everyone thinks are gross. Ultrasound says that we're having a girl. So give me your "gross" girl names that badly need revival. Here's a few to get you started:

 

Gertrude

Dorcas

Mildred

Eunice

Enid

Beulah

Beryl

Agnes

Alma

Norma

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None to add, but I do like some of the nicknames for some older names, too! Gertie is cute, Aggie and Milly are, too. And I love the meanings behind some of them! Agnes is a lamb, Beryl is a gemstone (a clear green, I think) that is said to decorate the foundations of the New Jerusalem in the bible, and Dorcas means gazelle.

Still, I probably wouldn't use them. Well, Dorcas is the worst. But no one is going to tease a baby, and who knows? They may come back! Go for it.

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I really think Dorcas cannot be revived. It just has too strong of an affiliation wih “Dork.†Mildred might be the same because of “-dred†sounding like dread.

 

I do see potential in Norma and Alma and maybe Eunice. I think those names have a good potential to sound fresh within the next five - ten years. Perhaps not even that long.

 

Other “old†names (I can’t really call a name that someone, somewhere thinks is pretty “grossâ€) that do seem to have come-back potential:

 

Maude

Mavis

Florence

Nellie

Ruth

Eileen

 

Maybe Lois, like Lois Lane. Actually, that one is not hard to imagine at all.

 

My grandmother was supposedly going to be named Gertrude, but her sister (Nellie) suggested that that name was ugly and she should be called Elsie. Elsie is a pretty terrific name and I’m guessing that is already on the come-back trail since Elsa in Frozen.

 

ETA: homophones!

Edited by Quill
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I really think Dorcas cannot be revived. It just has too strong of an affiliation wih “Dork.†Mildred might be the same because of “-dred†sounding like dread.

 

My grandmother was supposedly going to be named Gertrude, but her sister (Nellie) suggested that that name was ugly and she should be called Elsie. Elsie is a pretty terrific name and I’m guessing that is already on the come-back trail since Elsa in Frozen.

 

ETA: homophones!

That's how my sister got her name. She was named Amanda instead of Julie or Julia (they were still arguing  discussing that one). When I was 9, Julie/Julia was the ugliest name I'd ever heard, so I got to name her. 

 

Also, my sister's childhood friend was almost named Dorcas. The dad gave the mom the choice of Dorcas or Lydia. I mean, really, is that even a choice? 

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When I was a little girl I asked my mom if I would have to change my name to an "old lady name" when I got old.

 

I was convinced that all of the Mildreds and Myrtles had been forced to change their names!

 

And my grandmother was horrified when I named my daughter what she considered to be an old lady name (because when she was young, some older ladies had that name). Funny how names cycle in and out of popularity.

 

I don't really think any names are gross, but some aren't very popular aymore. A few names (some may be repeats) for your consideration:

 

Wanda

Bernice

Beatrice

Marcia

Doris

Darla

Bonnie

Dody

Bertha

Ethel

Mabel

Nora

Imogen

Blanche

Adelaide

Edith

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I think Aggie is incredibly cute. I like Agnes.

 

Well that's swell. :) I threw it into my initial list on whim but it's my youngest daughter's name. We often call her Aggie.

 

I love the name Alma, and as a bonus it's a virtue name (means nourishing), but our last name starts with the sound "maw"  and ends with the sound "er" so I think that the connection with Alma Mater would be too strong.

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Oh man. When you said gross I was thinking of the urban legends ... yeah. 

 

So, anyway. There are some that I think are very dated but quaint and charming. Of the ones listed I'd go with Beryl, Dorothy, Glenda, Maude, Ruth (seriously, if I had a dd that would be her name), Edith, Gwendolyn, Hester, Winifred, Phyllis, Harriet, Moira. Other ones that I happen to like would be Adelaide, Rose, Pearl, Clara, Grace, Evelyn, Marjorie, Judith, Constance, Priscilla, Lydia, Genevieve, Rosalind, Lillian, Gillian, Jessamine. 

 

Then there are some that are just plain dated and I don't really see them making a comeback. Edna, Gertrude, Dorcas, Eunice, Enid, Bertha, Helga, Agatha, Agnes, Ermentrude, Mercy, Silence, Keziah, Mehitabel, Edwina, Sophronia (Phronsie!), Theodosia, Lettice (everyone would call her lettuce!), Griselda, Bathsheba, Eulalia, Eglentine, Petronella, Scholastica, Elfreda, Etheldreda, Godiva, Urith. 

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Tabitha is the Aramaic counterpart of Dorcas but I like it too much to call it gross. It is sort of old fashioned sounding though.

Millicent

Augusta

Octavia

Dolores which means pains in Spanish. I don't understand naming beautiful bouncing baby "pains"

Josephine

Wilhelmina

Eustacia

Edited by Learning fun
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FWIW, some of these names y'all are only associating with older ladies are names of kids at my high school. :coolgleamA:

Yeah...I see Esther keeps turning up, but that name does not seem so old to me. DS’s friend is named Esther, and there is a young Esther among my friend’s kids. In fact, I immediately loved it when she named her baby Esther and another of her children has an old-fashioned Bible name, but I love that one as well - Miriam. That’s a great name.

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Ethel

Mabel

Agnes

Cleo

Bertha

Bernice

Esther

Barbara

Melva

Mattie

Lucinda

Beatrice

Melvina

 

The above are all family names of my mother or my grandmother's generations.

 

None of them are gross.....they are just more dated.

 

 

Edited by DawnM
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A lot of name geeks love the name Agatha, or like using Sadie or Sally as proper nicknames (for Sara).

 

Personally, I'm a fan of Ethel and Edith. I knew a Hazel growing up, and I still think it's one of the best flower/plant baby names, along with Daisy. (Better than Rowan, which was fashionable a few years ago. Not as good as Clover, which is quite modern.)

 

Looking at the SSA name lists, I also like: Pauline, Adeline, Leona, Opal, Flora, Bonnie, Dorothy, Imogene, Rosalie, Jane, and Jill.

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