Rebecca?? (My name)

We are not Catholic and named our DD Mary as it is a lovely, underused classic name and also a family name.

My Katherine is 9 yo but we haven’t met many others her age.

Anonymous wrote:I love classic names, but it seems like everyone else does too right now. I was wondering for those of you with kiddos, are these names common in your circle? I feel like they were very popular in my generation (maybe not Frances; Mary was because I went to Catholic school), so people might find them "overdone", but not out of style like Jessica or Ashley. What do you gals think?

Right now our top favorites are:
Frances, Mary, Elise, Julia, Clara, Caroline

But also considering Elizabeth and Catherine.

I love Mary and Caroline from your list. Have 2 young kids and haven’t met any of either of those names, though I always read on here how popular Caroline is.

Have met quite a few Julias and Claras, and know lots of little girls named Elizabeth and Katherine (not with the Catherine spelling though). For whatever reason Katherine nn Kate and Elizabeth (sometimes nn Libby or Lizzy or Betsy) are very popular in our circle.

Anonymous wrote:I know a few Maras, Marins and Marens, some Marias, Maries, etc. Mayas, Maias, Mias... All basically Marys whether they know it or not.

They are all related to the name Mary, to be sure but not “basically Mary.” Mary is much more basic (though lovely) than the many variations.

OP, based on name data from social security website, Elizabeth is very popular. Catherine/Katherine a bit less so but still pretty common. Frances and Mary are not very common at all right now.

And anecdotally, I have 2 young kids and out of all your favorite names, we’ve only met Julias (3), Claras (2), and a Caroline (1). Funny though that the 1 Caroline I know also has the middle name Frances like a pp’s daughter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only Marys I know born in the last 50 years have come from VERY religious Catholic families--like the ones with 10+ kids who go to mass every morning, not just Sundays. If you name your daughter Mary people will assume you are an extremely conservative Catholic.

We have a Mary, we're Christmas and Easter Episcopalians. The other two Mary's I know are also WASPS. Anecdotal isn't data.

I also have a Mary and we are probably 4-6x a year Episcopalians.

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest Evelyn for a classic name. And I would personally use Evelyn but Evie is a great nickname.

I would put Evelyn in the trendy/cutesy category and not classic. Its very in right now esp. with the Evie nickname. And the name definitely doesnt have the gravitas of Elizabeth or Catherine.

I love all these names, and I think they're all underused. My town is fairly Catholic, so Mary is not that rare, but it's usually Mary Kate.

I know a few Maras, Marins and Marens, some Marias, Maries, etc. Mayas, Maias, Mias... All basically Marys whether they know it or not.