As a lot of you probably know, [name]Roger[/name] Federer recently had twins: [name]Myla[/name] [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Charlene[/name] [name]Riva[/name]. I don’t know if any of the names have a story behind them. However, this got me thinking: Could [name]Charlene[/name] come back into style? It has the [name]Char[/name] like popular [name]Charlotte[/name], and -lene could fit in today, like [name]Abilene[/name], or something like that. The trouble is, I’m not sure if I really like it. Try as I may, I can’t picture anything but a middle-aged grocery shopper in a tacky outfit with dyed red hair. Not that that applies to any of you lovely Charlenes out there; I am sure you are all beautiful people. That’s just the image I get. What do you guys think?
Well, [name]Charlene[/name] hasn’t been in the top 1000 for over a decade. I think that is how one outhips the hipsters - don’t go back too far.
This could go two ways - [name]Charlotte[/name] is popular enough, well it is only 87. I don’t know that it will rise too far. [name]Caroline[/name] (different form of the same name) is actually even a little less popular. I would daresay, anyone who wants to call their daughter [name]Charlie[/name], but feel their imagery with the name is too uptight and old lady, they may want that sassy henna-dyed grocery shopper. I think it will be quite a while before most people really prefer it to [name]Charlotte[/name] or another -ine name.
But to outhip the hipsters, you have to do something crazy, like a [name]Charlene[/name]. It doesn’t sound too bad if you just listen to it, either. Same thing with the old lady grandma and grandpa names - if you think they are just old people names (and a lot of them still are for me), they sound ridiculous, but if enough people just think it’s the cool thing to do, enough other people will just get used to it and the names sound nice to the ear.
Edited to add: I had to look up this guy anyway, had heard of him but knew not from where. He is Swiss. This name might be more popular in Switzerland, or even a crazier choice. With all the accurate clock and watchmaking they have there, it is even possible they are stuck on old American trends. It could have family significance for him or his wife, [name]Mirka[/name]. I’m not there, so I don’t know what all’s on the playground, and I couldn’t find much more information in any of the few press releases I looked at.
Yeah, I understand that the image in another country may be different. I was just wondering whether people thought that [name]Charlene[/name] could be rediscovered in [name]America[/name], and not just because [name]Roger[/name] Federer used it. Indeed, now that I think about it, [name]Charlene[/name] really is growing on me. Hmm.
And it could definitely be a hipper-than-hip choice!
There’s hipper than hip, and then there’s bowling alley hip. [name]Charlene[/name] and [name]Darlene[/name] are still in the bowling alley. If anyone loves to bowl, don’t be offended. [name]Love[/name] “The Big Lewbowski”. You know, all the unhip names can’t be about to be hip at this moment. We need to save some for five, ten, and twenty years from now. [name]Charlene[/name]'s time will come again. In the meantime there’s [name]Luella[/name]!
I just don’t think that [name]Charlene[/name] could come back. It just seems like the 70’s to me. I think it is just to outdated.
I have a different theory - once the hipsters catch on that normal, boring people like the same names they do and are fishing around the same pool for some interesting treasure, they will lurch in a different direction. Keeping in mind that one of the popular decor themes now is what is so retro from the 40s through the 70s - and bringing back the 80s sooner than necessary in my opinion, I wouldn’t put it past them to outhip the outhipsters with something totally unexpected and ironic, name-fashion-wise. That’s what they’re really good at. I would bet a macram” potholder on it you will see these names a lot sooner than you think you will. So name your daughters [name]Valerie[/name] before they do, that will totally mess them up.
I think it would be great if it came back. I love that name. It sounds so pretty.
Hilarious!
I think there’s always a copycat bounce in popularity after a celebrity uses a name, no? That being said, in order to truly outhip the hipsters, you have to use an original and/or obscure name BEFORE it is used by a celebrity.
I always think it’s funny that a name can be totally tasteless and off-putting to people and then they see someone use it or read it in a book or see it in a movie, and suddenly, it’s gorgeous, or really adorable or something. I see quite a few names pitched sometimes, I wonder why they’re being considered - also matters of taste.
I don’t hate [name]Charlene[/name] but sort of agree a child with that name right now might be a little outcast, I think about the [name]Gladys[/name] I knew in grade school or the ([name]Florence[/name]) “[name]Marti[/name]” [name]Martha[/name] I knew in high school. That’s a case of someone having the “option” of using her middle name and being named after relatives, who hated her name so much she had to extract a least wince-worthy nickname out of the whole pile and still go through life with an old-fashioned “yucky” name. I’ve known a couple other Marthas who seemed to be cool with it, and also a [name]Phyllis[/name] my age, but it just feels like such a cautionary tale. I can hardly believe people now consider [name]Florence[/name] to be a cute and pretty name, when all I can remember is “I didn’t want to be called [name]Flossie[/name], so I went with [name]Marti[/name],” the lesser of two evils. [name]Just[/name] a snapshot. Hipster names go on hipster kids, they might not hate their name, due to the fact they are hipsters, and wear it well. If an amateur does it, I predict mostly negative results.