I recently saw a Youtube video where a young man (21ish) addressed a young woman (also 21ish) as “Alice.” Not “Allison,” a relatively common name among young women; it was definitely “Alice.”
Do you personally know any young (say, under 35) women with “old lady” names like Alice, Ethyle, Myrtle, Florence, etc.?
I’ve known a few called Alice. I don’t know any Florence, Myrtle or Ethels, though.
I know a 2-year-old named Mabel. Does that count?
Ooh, wait, it’s spelled Mable.
And there’s a Mary-Alice who works for Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, which is featured on the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes. I’m pretty sure she’s under 35.
A few years ago I met a couple of college (MIT) girls named Ethel and Esther. They were quite attractive.
“Alice” seems to be experiencing a renaissance now. I actually know a baby named Alice, who is about 2 years old.
Damn I don’t know any young women. Now I feel really old. I grew up with a Leatha and haven’t heard that name for decades.
There is a high school Alice at our church. And my son, now 20, was at one point in a class with another Alice, back when he was 6 or so.
The other names, no.
I want to bring back the names Agnes and Gladys! They just make make me smile. Mark my words- give it a few years and the next great supermodel will be Agnes (Aggie for short)!
You can check on popularity of baby names here: Popular Baby Names
Alice is getting more popular: Moved up almost 100 slots from 2000 to 2008!
I know a Eunice who I would estimate to be in her early 30s.
The last bastion of “old lady names” seems to be Asian girls. I know a Chinese-American girl named Alice; our own HazelNutCoffee is Korean, and my (Asian) girlfriend’s first name is Esther and her sister’s name is Ruth. There are others, I just can’t think of them off the top of my head. Similarly I know Asian guys with names like Ralph and Harold who are my age (early 20s); I’ve never encountered whites with the same kind of old-school names. I don’t know why, but Asians seem much less prone to the trendy new names and more likely to name their kids “old” names.
I have a second cousin named Alice. She’s about 13 years old.
That side of the family, on the whole, is big on naming kids after aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, et al, so it’s no wonder.
Things can change quickly- when I was in college (late Seventies and early Eighties), “Emma” and “Emily” sounded like old lady names (think of Emily Litella, on “SNL”).
Today, there are baby Emmas and Emilys everywhere.
And just think- in the year 2080, nursing homes will be filled with Dakotas, Madisons and Sierras.
I knew a Martha who would be about 27 by now.
You see those “old fashioned” names among the children of Asian immigrants, for some reason. I’m not sure why.
Alice is back, though.
Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that, but I recently met a twenty-something Chinese woman named Eunice.
I am starting to see more traditional names in the birth announcements, Grace, Claire, Ruth and even a Dorothy. Mind these are the exception amongst all the newborns named Bella, Nevaeh, Shakira, Tia/Tya and London/Landon.
One of the Alices I knew was Chinese. Interesting.
I’m glad they’re making a come back. They’re all really pretty. Mabel, Alice and Esther in particular are really beautiful ones.
I dated an Alice briefly in seventh grade, which is now eight years ago.
It’s sort of already happened, though she spells it “Agyness” and it’s not her birth name.