Old lady names

[quiet-recluse.livejournal.com]

What kind of names do you think of as being 'old lady names?' My list includes:

Nora
Dot
Clara
Gertrude
Prudence
Joy
Mary
Betty
Ruth
Shirley
Olivia

One of my favourite names is Pearl - someone once told me that it was too much of an old lady name, which was interesting to me because I'd never heard it before and didn't associate it with old ladies at all.

Comments

[sadlyecstatic.livejournal.com]

I love every single one of those names! Dot is a nickname for Dorothy.
Isabelle, Ava, Annabelle, Emily, Emma, Julia, and Arabella were also "old lady names". Reese Witherspoon names her daughter Ava and all of a sudden every pregnant woman in the world claims "I've loved this my whole life because my best friend in pre-school was named Ava!"
My own name, Jessica, is from a Shakespearean play.
What's wrong with it being an "old lady name"? Why is it such a bad thing that someone has lived to be 85, 94, or 102? Respect your elders.

[quiet-recluse.livejournal.com]

You've missed the point of this post entirely. I don't have anything against old ladies - but there are some names that are so out of fashion that if you call your kid that people will tell you 'that's too much of an old lady name.'