Outdated, funny, old english names?

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Hi,

just out of curiosity. As a non native english speaker, I have no feeling for what names sound very old and outdated for British/American ears.

As for Germans, those are the following examples. My grandparents first ->

Gustav
Erna -
Walburga
Kriemhild
Hildegard
Mechthild
Kunigunde

and so forth and so on. Plus quite some permutations with "-gard" and "-hild(e)"...

So, which english names sound old and make you smile? As I've heard, Ethel e.g.?

[Lethevich]

It surprises me everytime I read a war memorial in an English town/village just how many of the names (both first and last) are no longer in wide use. Not sure if this is 100% what you are looking for, but these are a few names which were popular in my area of Britain between 1920-1960 but much less so nowadays.

Female: Enid, Edna, Doris (Dora, less so), Sheila, Audrey
Male: Alfred (Alf), Arthur, Arnold, Horace, Billy, Fred

As for ones outside my area, there is always "Morag", possibly the least cool name ever devised

[Dr. Dread]

As for ones outside my area, there is always "Morag", possibly the least cool name ever devised

I like it. 

[Novi]

It surprises me everytime I read a war memorial in an English town/village just how many of the names (both first and last) are no longer in wide use. Not sure if this is 100% what you are looking for, but these are a few names which were popular in my area of Britain between 1920-1960 but much less so nowadays.

Female: Enid, Edna, Doris (Dora, less so), Sheila, Audrey
Male: Alfred (Alf), Arthur, Arnold, Horace, Billy, Fred

As for ones outside my area, there is always "Morag", possibly the least cool name ever devised

I know a couple of Morags and Sheilas .

Gladys is pretty dire too.

[The Six]

Novi
Dave
Lethe
Wurstwasser

[Superhorn]

  Here's a very peculiar name of an English writer on music, long dead, who wrote among other things,a book on Mozart's piano concertos. 
  Cuthbert Girdlestone. I think that's pretty hard to beat.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Cuthbert Girdlestone - Sounds artificial in my ears As if it's been created by Monty Python or the likes...
For this we have Loriot with "Herr Müller-Lüdenscheidt", "Herr Dr. Klöbner" or "Herr Halmackenreuter", haha.

Problems with english names
http://www.youtube.com/v/BHaW-KxA0sg

Is "Ethel" an old name?
I'd choose the name "Gustave Cuthbert Girdlestone-Halmackenreuther", I think

BTW.
http://www.youtube.com/v/rypULAp99ao

[Lethevich]

Wikipedia categories seem to be a useful source for old-name hunting:

Edmund Musgrave Barttelot, Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt, John Codrington Bampfylde, Arthur Lionel Pugh Norrington, etc.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Queen Elizabeth II

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

And her royal deputy, none other than the QUEEN OF CANADA, Michåéäèåélle Jéan.

[Wanderer]

-"If it's a girl, Meredith; if it's a boy, Caractacus."

-*files for divorce*

[Florestan]

Hillaire (Belloc)
Siegfried (Sassoon)
Mortimer (Adler)
Ulysses (H. Grant)
Nathaniel (Hawthorne)
Josiah Willard (Gibbs)
Fenimore (Cooper)

[Renfield]

Ulysses (H. Grant)

Ulysses could be shortened to Lee. Plus, being named after a Joyce novel wouldn't be that bad, I think!


(Not to mention the other Ulysses, but let's leave him out of this. )


Edit: Although it is outdated, as such.

[Lethevich]

A TV show reminded me that there used to be a lot of surnames with 'bottom' or 'cock' in that have been phased out

Winterbottom, Sidebottom, Glasscock, etc. Awesome names, all.

[Sef]

Don't know if it's old fashioned or not, but Myfanwy always makes me smile.

[Renfield]

A TV show reminded me that there used to be a lot of surnames with 'bottom' or 'cock' in that have been phased out

Winterbottom, Sidebottom, Glasscock, etc. Awesome names, all.

I sincerely hope there isn't a Wintercock family. Or the Glassbottoms, for that matter.

[Lethevich]

I should've known that Googling Wintercock was a bad idea. Porn producers are creative with their video titles.

[Renfield]

I should've known that Googling Wintercock was a bad idea. Porn producers are creative with their video titles.

Ha, so my concern about the hypothetical unfortunate Mr Wintercock was well-founded!

[B_cereus]

Cuthbert Girdlestone

keeping it on a classical music theme ... other outdated English  names gone out of fashion...


Solomon (Cutner)
Vernon (Handley)
Arnold (Bax)
Emil (Gilels... okay so he was Russian/Ukrainian, but Emil as an English name is rather old-fashioned nowadays)
Myra (Hess... except the name tends to be more associated in England with the child murderer Myra Hindley, so you can imagine it's unlikely to revive in popularity)
Neville (Marriner)
Lionel Tertis (violist)

[hildegard]

Hi,

just out of curiosity. As a non native english speaker, I have no feeling for what names sound very old and outdated for British/American ears.

As for Germans, those are the following examples. My grandparents first ->

Gustav
Erna -
Walburga
Kriemhild
Hildegard

We are not amused!