Are 90's names okay? Am I too old to name a baby?

General Name Discussion
1

I am 40. I had my first at 24. Seems when a person is in their 20’s, they have all the great names. But by 40, I am old, out of date, frumpy…you get the idea. You know how when you are in your 20’s, your parents suggested names they had wanted to name their kids but did not have enough kids to use those names? And all you can think if you knew someone by that name and how yuck! You won’t be naming your child by that name? Well, many of the popular names of today are from “mom” names. Seriously, names like [name]Inez[/name], [name]Avis[/name], [name]Ellen[/name], [name]Helen[/name],…those would be names of women who babysat me, were the neighbors, my parents age, when I was growing up. Now they seem to be liked names now.

I think back to the names I always thought was pretty. When my first friend ever had a baby, she named her [name]Ashley[/name] and [name]Ashley[/name] was not too popular yet. The oldest person I knew named [name]Ashley[/name] was a 3 yr old at the daycare I worked at (this was 1988). I thought it was the most adorable and pretty name! My own daughter is [name]Brittany[/name]. Again, a name I thought was gorgeous. Also, a name of many of the moms on the expecting clubs I go to these days. I actually really like the names [name]Hayley[/name], and [name]Callie[/name], and [name]Hallie[/name]. I just really feel like an out-of-date person. Anyone else have this problem? [name]Even[/name] if you don’t have this problem, any good advice?

2

it’s silly to think some of those names are out of date. there are still little girls named michelle, jessica, caitlin. you have to call out this childs name for the next 18 years so name her what you love. there are ways to “modernize a name” like hadley instead of hallie or something like that but then your kids just going to end up with a popular name.

do you have any kind of list? what are your fav’s right now? it would be easier to make some suggestions if i know what you’re thinking of specifically.

3

You are never too old to name a baby silly :smiley: There are many names from the 80s and 90s that have stood the test of time to become classics. What are your other kids names?

[name]How[/name] about:
[name]Lauren[/name]- or [name]Laura[/name] or [name]Laurel[/name]
[name]Julia[/name]
[name]Kirsten[/name]- I still think [name]Kristen[/name] is quit cute as well
[name]Jessica[/name]- I still hear this being used a lot
[name]Natalie[/name]
[name]Halle[/name]- I dont think this has gone out of style really
[name]Calla[/name]- instead of [name]Callie[/name]
[name]Abigail[/name]
[name]Hannah[/name]
[name]Cassandra[/name]
[name]Molly[/name]

[name]Zachary[/name]
[name]Samuel[/name]
[name]Justin[/name]
[name]Joshua[/name]
[name]Daniel[/name]
[name]Ryan[/name]
[name]Andrew[/name]
[name]Nicholas[/name]
[name]Patrick[/name]

4

I think [name]Hayley[/name], [name]Hallie[/name], [name]Callie[/name] are wonderful names, as is. I wouldn’t change them at all. Go with what you love, and don’t worry about trends.

5

My boy names…the ones that I loved…[name]Riley[/name], but he was born in 1994. Honestly, if I had not already used [name]Riley[/name] for my son in 1994 (when it was more popular for boys) I would use it for my daughter now. I also love [name]Grayson[/name] and [name]Gavin[/name]'s names…I named them. I wanted to name our youngest [name]Liam[/name]. The rest of the names of our boys are really NMS… [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Matthew[/name], and [name]Ryan[/name]. I might have liked [name]Ryan[/name] more if oldest son were not already [name]Riley[/name].

For this baby (a girl), I do not like 1 syllable names anymore. I like the names, I just would not use them. They are too short for our last name. I also find I really only like 2 syllable names. It seems 3 syllables or more, people give the baby nicknames. I just am not the type of person who likes nicknames. I want my child to go by whatever name I give her. Names I liked but nixed for many of these reasons… [name]Paige[/name] (gorgeous, but too short), [name]Brooke[/name] (also very pretty, too short, and was too popular too long ago), [name]Tatum[/name] (used to love it, but, tired of hearing my niece talk about her friend [name]Tatum[/name]), [name]Brynn[/name] (too short, and really, I am thinking not as girly as I want, after 6 boys, I want girly), [name]Callie[/name] (too been done I think), [name]Calla[/name] (sounds like squid with the middle name… [name]Calla[/name] [name]Marie[/name]… Calamari), [name]Lily[/name] (backstabbers daughter-see [name]Ken[/name]), Any name with [name]Ken[/name] in it-used to love [name]Mackenzie[/name] and [name]Kenzie[/name] and [name]McKenna[/name] and [name]Kinsey[/name] (sued someone for wrongful death of my son, her lawyer’s name was [name]Ken[/name], I know, I have a lot of baggage now!), [name]Sarah[/name] (my son is in love with a [name]Sarah[/name], they have been a bit serious and are talking marriage now, sort of, even though they are still in high school, so, DH says no way, DS has known [name]Sarah[/name] since he was in diapers, so, who knows, maybe they will get married),

You get the idea. So those are “types” of names I like, without giving any names I like that I could actually use. I keep going over and over and over my lists and nothing jumps out at me as a name I could really like. Sadly, when I was pregnant with my last child, a boy, I saw lots of wonderful girl names I would have loved to use. I never wrote them down, I was pregnant with a boy. I wish I had.

6

I appreciate your honesty and this is a very real topic to discuss so thanks for bringing it up. Im also not on board with these old lady names and to be honest I dont really hear them at all in real life except for [name]Ava[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Sophia[/name], and [name]Lily[/name]. [name]Ive[/name] heard random old lady names only a few times: [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Esther[/name], [name]Mae[/name], [name]Ruby[/name], and [name]Mary[/name]. Yet I see them all of the time being mentioned on nameberry. Its really odd. It seems the names I hear the most in real life are the names on the ss list. Is a name dated if its still being used on a wide scale after a few years? I dont think so, and I feel alot on nameberry use the word dated too loosely.

You said your in a moms group, are the moms in that choosing old lady names? And by the way, alot of moms are in their 30’s and 40’s having babies, your definitely not too old!

7

[name]Hi[/name] there! You have a really great assortment of names already, from what I gathered you have [name]Brittany[/name], [name]Riley[/name], [name]Gavin[/name], [name]Grayson[/name], [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Matthew[/name] and [name]Ryan[/name]. All are really great, classic and I wouldn’t say any of them are seriously dated or “90’s”. [name]Even[/name] [name]Brittany[/name] to me still sounds current- last year over 1000 babies were named [name]Brittany[/name] (or some spelling of it)- so it’s still in style.

I love a lot of the names you listed- [name]Paige[/name], [name]Brooke[/name], [name]Brynn[/name], [name]Callie[/name]- and hopefully we can help you find some similar names that work with your surname and family. Here are some ideas:

[name]Paige[/name] and [name]Brooke[/name] (and even [name]Brynn[/name]) are girlish but not frilly, they are no-nonsense but fun and chic. Some similar names are [name]Morgan[/name], [name]Harper[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], [name]Bailey[/name], [name]Megan[/name], [name]Piper[/name], [name]Erin[/name], [name]Ainsley[/name], [name]Eden[/name], [name]Darby[/name], [name]Alice[/name], [name]Keira[/name].

[name]Tatum[/name] (and [name]Mackenzie[/name], [name]Mckenna[/name], [name]Kinsey[/name], etc) bring to mind gender-ambiguous celtic/gaelic names like [name]Tamsin[/name], [name]Aislinn[/name]/[name]Aisling[/name] (prn. [name]Ashlyn[/name]/[name]Ashling[/name]), [name]Quin[/name]/[name]Quincy[/name], [name]Kendall[/name], [name]Finley[/name], [name]Keelin[/name], [name]Reagan[/name], [name]Flannery[/name], [name]Devin[/name], [name]Fallon[/name].

[name]Lily[/name], [name]Calla[/name]/[name]Callie[/name] and [name]Sarah[/name] on the other hand are softer, more feminine, vowel-y names, bringing to mind names like: [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Lena[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Hannah[/name], [name]Maya[/name], [name]Eva[/name], [name]Mia[/name], [name]Leah[/name], [name]Molly[/name], [name]Stella[/name], [name]Phoebe[/name], [name]Nora[/name], [name]Nola[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Bella[/name], [name]Zoe[/name].

[name]Hope[/name] that gives you some ideas!

8

I should clarify something from my original post that did not sound right. I meant that names like [name]Inez[/name] and [name]Charlotte[/name] are from my mom’s generation so they are “mom names” to me.

I like [name]Hayley[/name] and [name]Hallie[/name] the best I think. I also like [name]Sarah[/name] and I don’t think it is an issue that my son is with a girl named [name]Sarah[/name] and I like that. My DH likes [name]Olivia[/name] but seems like every other girl here is named [name]Olivia[/name]. We also like [name]Maisie[/name], but it has seemed too little girlish, like it won’t grow up with her. I think I actually still really like [name]Ava[/name], but since I only said it was my top name, I have been irritated by certain people calling her by the name all the time. Like my sister went shopping yesterday and text’d me a bunch of pictures of pink baby things with messages like “[name]Ava[/name] needs this.”

9

Okay, sorry, I feel like I’m coming into this kind of late, but I’m not garnering a whole lot of information from your post. So, what are your kids’ names? You said you have a [name]Brittany[/name], and I think I saw a [name]Riley[/name], [name]Grayson[/name], and maybe a [name]Griffin[/name] mentioned? Can’t quite recall.

Firstly, you aren’t too old to name a baby, and just because you don’t like the vintage set of names doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty out there to appeal to you, right? You mention [name]Sarah[/name] - my twin sister’s name! - which could be considered a 90s name (there were lots of 'em born!), but it’s also a 2000s name, a 2010s name, and it was even a Biblical name. It’s timeless! What else is timeless? [name]Anna[/name], [name]Bridget[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Claire[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Eva[/name], [name]Hannah[/name], [name]Isabel[/name], [name]Julia[/name], [name]Juliet[/name], [name]Katherine[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Molly[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Tess[/name], and [name]Victoria[/name]. You could probably throw in a few variants like [name]Annabel[/name], [name]Anneliese[/name], [name]Annora[/name], [name]Anais[/name], [name]Cara[/name], [name]Carys[/name], [name]Clare[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Clarabelle[/name], [name]Clarissa[/name], [name]Emmeline[/name], [name]Emily[/name], [name]Emilie[/name], [name]Evangeline[/name], [name]Gemma[/name], [name]Hanna[/name], [name]Hana[/name], [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Isadora[/name], [name]Isolde[/name], [name]Julietta[/name], [name]Katya[/name], [name]Kaia[/name], [name]Katharina[/name], [name]Lucille[/name], [name]Lucia[/name], [name]Luciana[/name], [name]Mary[/name], [name]Mariana[/name], [name]Maria[/name], [name]Margo[/name], [name]Oliva[/name], [name]Olive[/name], [name]Liv[/name], and [name]Tessa[/name], too.

You also mention more modern, slightly unisex (but not really) names like [name]Brooke[/name] and [name]Brynn[/name], so you might go with something fresher like [name]Afton[/name], [name]Ashlan[/name], [name]Bevin[/name], [name]Carden[/name], [name]Carlen[/name], [name]Delaney[/name], [name]Ellis[/name], [name]Emery[/name], [name]Finlay[/name], [name]Harper[/name], [name]Hayden[/name], [name]Hollis[/name], [name]Marley[/name], [name]Macy[/name], [name]Marlowe[/name], [name]Merritt[/name], [name]Noel[/name], [name]Payton[/name], [name]Piper[/name], [name]Paxton[/name], [name]Padgett[/name], [name]Quinn[/name], [name]Quinlan[/name], [name]Rowan[/name], [name]Reese[/name], [name]Sawyer[/name], [name]Sutton[/name], [name]Tallis[/name], [name]Tamsin[/name], and [name]Wiley[/name].

[name]Lemon[/name] :slight_smile:

10

I like [name]Hayley[/name] a lot with your older children’s names. To me, a name like [name]Ava[/name] would stick out - I don’t think I would expect [name]Ava[/name] to have a sister named [name]Brittany[/name] for example. [name]Hayley[/name] shares a lot of the same strengths as [name]Brittany[/name] does - it is feminine but still strong, doesn’t lend itself to nicknames, is appropriate for all ages, is not trendy (I wouldn’t say [name]Hayley[/name] or [name]Brittany[/name] is classic but I don’t think they’re trendy either).

Good luck!

11

[name]Hayley[/name] and [name]Callie[/name] are both wonderful names and would go great alongside your other children’s names! There is no rule out there that you have to like the frilly-vintage trend that is so popular on nb. I have a 3 yr-old niece named [name]Callie[/name], so it’s not dated in my book.

12

No, I don’t think you’re too old either but then, I’m 43 and pregnant with my fourth and I don’t think I’m too old!

At least you know what type of name you like! (I really like the frilly, grandma names, because I didn’t have anything that nicknamed easily or to anything I liked!)
So count yourself lucky in that at least you know your own taste! :slight_smile:

I really liked a pp’s suggestion of [name]Hayley[/name]. It does feel like a standard, and that spelliing is a classic for me, brings back [name]Hayley[/name] [name]Mills[/name]. :slight_smile:
I’d like to suggest [name]Laura[/name], [name]Willow[/name], [name]Kathleen[/name], [name]Roxanne[/name], [name]Julie[/name], [name]Belle[/name], [name]Susan[/name] & [name]Gwen[/name].

I’m not a fan of unisex names, so I have no lists of names like that to suggest to you, sorry. But I think there’s a good number of classic type names that either don’t nickname ([name]Julie[/name], [name]Belle[/name], [name]Gwen[/name]) or are easily insisted upon as full names ([name]Laura[/name], [name]Susan[/name], [name]Kathleen[/name], [name]Roxanne[/name], [name]Willow[/name]).
I’m sorry I can’t be more help!

13

As you might tell from my login name, I have a niece named [name]Hayley[/name]. She was born this past [name]October[/name], so she’s not quite 6 mos. old and I don’t think of it as an 80s/ 90s name at all - I am 34 and I knew 1 [name]Hallie[/name] when I was growing up but that’s it. [name]Hayley[/name] (however you spell it!) is lovely and if you like it, go for it!

14

Oh, yea, I don’t think [name]Hayley[/name] and [name]Callie[/name] are dated! Or 90s! Whatever term you want to use. [name]Callie[/name] feels a little nickname-y for my taste, but it’s cute. [name]Hayley[/name] is probably my favorite [name]Hayley[/name] spelling, followed by [name]Hailey[/name]. Though, I do like [name]Hallie[/name] and [name]Halley[/name], too, with the [name]HAL[/name] pronunciation rather than HAIL…

I think she’d go very well with your kids’ names. And nobody would think you were naming a 90s baby or something. [name]Don[/name]'t worry! :slight_smile:

[name]Lemon[/name]

15

I understand your anxiety. There was a boy I dated in high school (which was in the 90s) named [name]Charles[/name] and it was so bizarrely out of step with all the [name]Justins[/name], Michaels and Zacks that he hated his name and I think people picked on him because of it. We could never figure out why he had an “old man” name until I met his mother who it turned out was obsessed with British royalty and had no idea what was happening on playgrounds in the United States.

Anyhow, you don’t want to be that mom, and I think that’s good. To me, the name you suggested that would be the most out of step with current trends is [name]Sara[/name]. There are a lot of [name]Sara[/name]/Sarahs my age and we are a big chunk of the current “mom” generation. Also, if you imagine your daughter going to school with Isabelles, Avas, Sophias and Claires, then [name]Sara[/name] might feel a bit plain and frumpy by comparison.

I actually love your [name]Callie[/name] and [name]Hailey[/name] suggestions. I think they don’t scream 80s or 90s to me, are a bit unique, and would fit in well with all the Bellas and Averys.

By the way, you might find this graphing tool useful for seeing if a name has “peaked” at a certain time: Pregnancy, Parenting, Lifestyle, Beauty: Tips & Advice | mom.com

16

I think at the end of the day, regardless of trends, just pick a name that you love. :slight_smile: About [name]Callie[/name] though, I agree with [name]Lemon[/name] that’s it a bit nickname-y. I actually have a good friend [name]Caroline[/name] “[name]Callie[/name],” and that works well for her. But whatever you want! [name]Hallie[/name] and [name]Hayley[/name] are sweet as well.

17

I like [name]Hayley[/name] (prefer spelling [name]Hailey[/name]), [name]Hallie[/name], and [name]Callie[/name]! They’re all sweet names. In real life they’re not dated, you’ll meet lots of little ones with these names. Tbh, they’re just not chic or stylish anymore. But who cares? They’re pretty and you like them, so that’s all that matters.

If you do want a more “fashionable” name like [name]Hayley[/name]/[name]Hallie[/name]/[name]Callie[/name], how about [name]Lily[/name], [name]Millie[/name], [name]Layla[/name], [name]Lila[/name], [name]Tallulah[/name], [name]Lucy[/name].

18

Popular taste changes over time but there are always the classics to fall back on no matter what your age is. Have you ever felt that a white burro down shirt or diamond studs are out of style? They are classics.

Try
[name]Alexandra[/name]
[name]Anne[/name] [name]Anna[/name]
[name]Antonia[/name]
[name]Caroline[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name]
[name]Emily[/name]
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Julia[/name]
[name]Katherine[/name]
[name]Leah[/name]
[name]Mary[/name] [name]Maria[/name] [name]Marian[/name]
[name]Nina[/name]
[name]Rebecca[/name]
[name]Sarah[/name]

19

I think you’re asking a very valid question. When I was naming my daughter, the names my parents suggested will sound like “mom” names to her generation. However, no one really thinks about it when you’re speaking to a real life person, plus, you’re only talking about a small gap, it’s not a whole generation! I was born in the 70s, and while I don’t know anyone my age named “[name]Heather[/name]”, those girls were teens when I was in elementary school, it would never strike me as odd to meet someone my age named “[name]Heather[/name]”, if anything, I would think it was cool!

The only thing I would be wary of is new pop culture associations, just google the name and make sure there isn’t a notorious celebrity or goofy cartoon character with that name now.

I know this is an older post, but it’s a good question. I was never around kids or babies, so I was thinking “[name]Isabella[/name]” originally, having no idea that it was basically the #1 name for little girls! I felt out of touch, so I know the feeling! :slight_smile:

20

I think [name]Hayley[/name], [name]Callie[/name], and [name]Hallie[/name] are fine names.

I know of a baby [name]Hailey[/name] even. Your taste is completely fine. :slight_smile: