- WDYT of [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f]? [WDYT is my most-asked question ever. Sorry]
- Does [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] still sound like an old woman’s name?
- If the answer to two is ‘yes’, why is that negative??? I know plenty of senior citizens/elderly ladies who are really nice! I never understand this complaint when it crops up.
- I’m not a huge fan of it, but I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] [name_f]Hilda[/name_f]. [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] just sounds too medieval and overly complicated for me, but then again, I’m not crazy about a lot of medieval names (Berengaria, Eadgyth (traditional spelling of [name_f]Edith[/name_f]), [name_f]Ingeborg[/name_f], etc). You may like to look at this list though: [Royal Names of Europe - British Baby Names]. [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] appears there for women, along with a few others you may like. I also recommend looking at these:
http://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2013/05/terrifically-tudor.html
All of those are names that are sort of in the same middle ages, quirky vibe as [name_f]Hildegard[/name_f], and the Name of the Week posts (Belisent to [name_f]Perpetua[/name_f]) all have suggestions for siblings and stylistically similar choices, so you might find it useful!
- The old woman comment is a bit bland to be honest - it gives very little feedback if the poster is clearly asking about an older, vintage name, but it can also give quite a bit of feedback, depending on what it is the poster is asking for. I guess in certain situations, it can help a lot, but in others, it helps very little. I would personally take it with a grain of salt, as the saying goes. If the fact that it’s an older name bothers you (which it doesn’t seem to, but I could be wrong!), then I would perhaps rethink it, but if that doesn’t bother you at all, then I’d just ignore that particular section of the comment. I adore the name [name_f]Edna[/name_f], but I’m fully aware it’s an old name, and I’m fully aware that a lot of people hate the image they get from it, but I don’t let that put me off.
It’s not intended to be insulting though, it’s more intended as a way to say that the name is dated, I believe, with a comparison to just how dated it is.
Hopefully this helps! 
PM me if you need anymore ideas/resources!
I want to like [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] because I adore [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] (and even moreso, the nickname [name_f]Hildy[/name_f]/[name_f]Hildie[/name_f]!) But I have the say the “garde” part sounds harsh to me and puts me off. It does seem like an old-lady’s name to me, but that isn’t negative in my opinion. A lot of today’s most popular names are names you can find on a lot of grandmas and grandpas 
Garde has a [name_m]German[/name_m] meaning like gaurd or something similar. I like [name_f]Clotilde[/name_f] meaning glorious battle or something. Badass and chic
I like [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] even though I don’t feel it fits in my own sibset despite having two hardcore Germanic names in my top 5 girls and 2 in my boys. I like it because of [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] [name_m]Von[/name_m] Bingen who is one cool namesake. I think the reason it doesn’t fit for me is that I don’t like the short form [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] and I call both my girls by their nicknames more than their full names.
I don’t think that the fact that [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] is an old lady name stops you using the long form [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f]. I get the impression that a [name_f]Hildegarde[/name_f] would be 15-35 and an artistic geek with a penchant for medieval history and fantasy novels (not a bad thing, in fact that would describe my best friend too…) to avoid the fact that the long form would be heavy for a little girl to carry, if you like [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] then this should be no problem as I think a little girl could carry that as well as any of the other two syllable Germanic nicknames ([name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Frieda[/name_f], [name_f]Greta[/name_f] etc.)