Classic Girls Names

[acmom]

DH and I are struggling a bit with names this time around. We have bunch of names that we both like and would consider, but nothing is jumping out as a name we love. DD and DS both have classic first name with a family middle name and we named both of them pretty easily. Neither of their names is super popular but both have been a common name since the early 1900s and are currently in the #40-50 range. We want to stick with a name with a similar feel.

We think we will go with Margaret as a middle name since it is a family name on both sides. Any good classic girl name suggestions to consider for first names?? We are hitting a wall here!


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[JBaxter]

I'm not sure how it works with the middle name you picked but I've come to really like Jane. Helen was my grandmother so that one has special meaning to me

[nfceagles]

I like Margaret and wanted that for DD's name but DH vetoed it because he knew one that he couldn't name his DD after.

I like Nora Margaret.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Elizabeth
Laura
Ann/ Anna
Charlotte
Emily
Katherine
Lucy
Sarah


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[SummerBaby]

I like Nora too. Also:
Claire
Madeline
Mary
Anna
Caroline

Not sure if they're "classic," but I also like:
Lily Maragret
Lila Margaret
Lauren Margaret

[DietCokeLover]

Katherine
Victoria
Elizabeth
Mary
Rebekah
Lydia
Allison

[wallawala]

I like Nora too. Also:
Claire
Madeline
Mary
Anna
Caroline

Not sure if they're "classic," but I also like:
Lily Maragret
Lila Margaret
Lauren Margaret

Mary Margaret is a very traditional southern name. I know several girls who are called Mary Margaret, and it's cute as a little girl but transitions into more traditional/formal as adults. Plus it makes a killer monogram......

[trcy]

Emily Margaret


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[TwinFoxes]

In addition to ones mentioned:
Eleanor/Elenora
Victoria
Julia
Portia (classic, but not common)
Violet
Kathleen
Sofia

someone mentioned Mary-Margaret as southern, I think of it as very Irish-Catholic. Regardless, I love it.

[AnnieW625]

Frances
Ruth
Anne
Eleanor
Helen
Beverly
Mary
Sarah/Sara
Catherine (or any variation of that name)
Alice
Lillian
Hazel
Beatrice
Emma
Lucille

Not traditionally old names, but sound good with Margaret: (some of these are from the expanded top 100 2014 list)
Jillian
Piper
Angela
Lauren
Stella
Julia
Naomi

I think any of the names between 40 and 50 in the 2014 list would sound good with a middle name of Margaret.

[ncat]

Caroline and Lillian were both on our short list for DD.

[rin]

I also like Jane, it's got a lovely old-fashioned feel and is very familiar but isn't super popular/top 10.

Others:

Eleanor
Beatrice
Caroline
Nina
Lily

[mackmama]

Emma
Minnie
Clara
Grace
Ella
Nellie
Mabel
Betty
Dorothy
Ruth
Marie
Marjorie
Sandra
Linda
Judith
Shirley
Joyce
Cheryl
Susan
Donna
Karen
Cora
Laura
Rose
Helen
Anna
Lillian
Carolyn
Brenda
Cynthia

[JBaxter]

I was scanning back my ancestry files. My great grandmother was born in 1902. She was Zoe Pearl. Her sisters were Josephine Delphine and Opel.

[elektra]

I have a friend with a DD Mia Margaret.

[gcc2k]

Amelia
Ellen
Mary (though with Margaret as a middle name she may sound like a nun!)
Caroline
Annette
Dorothy
Elaine
Eleanor
Beatrice
Hannah
Ingrid
Josephine
Opal
Pearl
Rachel




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[klwa]

Susan
Sarah
Rose
Ruth
Anne

Or, like my Great-Aunt Margaret, James Margaret. :)

[acmom]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! It's funny many of you named my DD's first and middle name along with mine and my nieces!

Sarah, Emily, Caroline, Ella (Ellie) and possibly Jane, Nora and Erin (although may not have the classic feel) are all under consideration. Are any of these very popular in your area?


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Only Ella is popular here from your list.


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[meggie t]

Mary Margaret
Sarah Margaret
Caroline Margaret (one of my nieces and a friends' daughter)

All faves of mine! I wanted Mary Margaret for my daughter but we went with Mary Catherine instead (DH liked it better, even though my name is Margaret!). And I agree with PP on the killer monogram!!! Love the symmetry. DS has a monogram like that and I love it.

In my town no name is hugely popular enough for me to not use it. I'd say a majority of people in our schools use classic names and not much overlap.

[trcy]

Only Ella is popular here from your list.


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I love Ella. If DS had been a girl I would have fought hard for that name. DH was against it because it is so popular around here.
ETA: The other names on your short list are not common here.


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[kdeunc]

In my area Sarah Ella and Emily are all pretty popular. I have an Erin so I am partial to that one. :wink2:

[Indianamom2]

I like Sarah, Caroline and Emily. I also wonder about Cora or Rose.

[TwinFoxes]

Nora, Ellie and Sarah are all fairly popular here. I like Ella more than Ellie.

I don't care for Erin Margaret.

[klwa]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! It's funny many of you named my DD's first and middle name along with mine and my nieces!

Sarah, Emily, Caroline, Ella (Ellie) and possibly Jane, Nora and Erin (although may not have the classic feel) are all under consideration. Are any of these very popular in your area?


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Emily has been pretty popular for several years now. I personally know quite a few young Sarah's.

Would you consider Eleanor to be called Nora? It's a more old fashioned name.

[baymom]

DD has a friend who is Elizabeth and goes by Liza. I think Elizabeth Margaret would be pretty. You could call her Liza or Beth to shorten it. I also love the names Sarah, Abigail (Abby), Emily and Caroline.

[Mommy_Mea]

Emily, Ella (or any Ell- name), Sarad, Nora, Caroline and Erin are all very popular around here.

Virginia
Elspeth
Linda
Georgia

[JBaxter]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! It's funny many of you named my DD's first and middle name along with mine and my nieces!

Sarah, Emily, Caroline, Ella (Ellie) and possibly Jane, Nora and Erin (although may not have the classic feel) are all under consideration. Are any of these very popular in your area?


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Sarah Emily/Emma Caroline Ella/ Ellie/ Eleanor are all pretty common/ popular here in Jack's Elementary school ( he's in 1st)

[acmom]

DD has a friend who is Elizabeth and goes by Liza. I think Elizabeth Margaret would be pretty. You could call her Liza or Beth to shorten it. I also love the names Sarah, Abigail (Abby), Emily and Caroline.

We actually both like Elizabeth but won't use it bc of someone we know named Elizabeth that isn't a positive association. :( We like Abby/Abigail too, but my DD has 4 friends named Abby so it has fallen on the list.


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[JBaxter]

Evelyn or Eve?
Anna
Vivian ( my cousin named one of her twins this )

[gatorsmom]

Wow, I think all my aunts and great aunts have been named here. I'll add some more I haven't seen. To answer your previous question, Ella is super popular here.

Claire
Violet
Sybel
Grace
Elaine
Myrtle
Ruth
Mabel
Helen
Gabrielle
Gabriella
Leonora
Francesca

i love these turn-of-the century names. I gave my boys old names like these.

[AnnieW625]

Ella, and Bella (and Belle) are insanely popular here so much so that I couldn't use Gabriella or Isabella or their -Elle counterparts. I do like Isabel though which I think would be easier to keep as just Isabel, but I didn't want to take that chance.

I think Nora is trending upwards and in my area (along with Harper, which I do like) is becoming the new Charlotte. I just don't have much love for the name, but I know others who love it.

Addison Margaret sounds nice too, but it could be too trendy.

Have you thought about Margaret as a first name?

[baymom]

How about Molly?

[WitMom]

Audrey?

[DietCokeLover]

Elle/ Ella is extremely common here. Also, Sarah, and Caroline.

[Seitvonzu]

mom to a "lucille margaret" here :) -- so you know what gets my vote ;)

actually, i was naming after my grandmother because i'm named for my great grandmother... she would have been "margaret lucille" but i flipped because we got guff about naming a kid one thing and calling her by her middle name...

she's a "lucy" in any case :) everyone loves her name. other than the order, we got no guff about it at all - and told everyone right away!

[lhafer]

The first name that came to my mind with Margaret as a middle name was Mary Margaret ____ .

ETA: I wrote Maggie because I was thinking of Maggie as a nickname!! But I meant Mary!!

[klwa]

Emily has been pretty popular for several years now. I personally know quite a few young Sarah's.

Would you consider Eleanor to be called Nora? It's a more old fashioned name.

Ooh, or Leonora! Leonora Margaret. I like that one.

[TwinFoxes]

The first name that came to my mind with Margaret as a middle name was Maggie Margaret ____ .

I've never heard that combo. It'd be like naming someone Kathy Kathleen or Bella Isabella. Great for a children's book character. :)

[TwinFoxes]

Has anyone mentioned "Frances" yet? Frances Margaret sounds nice. Frannie is a cute nickname. The name is not common, but not whacky either.

I like Carolina, but pronounced car-oh-LEE-na.

Have you considered Margaret as the first name, OP? Honestly, it sounds more like a first name than middle name. And it's so classic, you could go a little less classic with the middle name.

[123LuckyMom]

I think to pair with Margaret in the middle you'll want a three syllable name where the emphasis is on the first syllable.. Then the names will align and sound good together. Many two syllable names with the emphasis on the first syllable will also work. A two or three syllable name ending in an "ee" sound will work well. Those names tend to keep the emphasis on the first syllable. For ideas you can google three syllable girl's names and consider those with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Adrienne
Allison
Avery
Cecily
Celia
Eleanor
Eloise
Emily
Evelyn
Eugenie
Genevieve
Gwendolyn
Helena
Imogen
Isobel
Juliet
Katherine
Lillian
Lydia
Melanie

You get the idea.


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[AnnieW625]

Maggie Magaret would be redundant because the only girls named Maggie that I have known have gone by Maggie as a nick name of Margaret. Same with Peg I have never met some who was a Peg who wasn't a Magaret.

Zoe Margaret, Ivy Margaret, and Kylie/Kylee Margaret sound nice, but the other e/y names when I have said them don't sound as nice with Margaret.


Has anyone mentioned "Frances" yet? Frances Margaret sounds nice. Frannie is a cute nickname. The name is not common, but not whacky either.

.......

Have you considered Margaret as the first name, OP? Honestly, it sounds more like a first name than middle name. And it's so classic, you could go a little less classic with the middle name.
I mentioned it in my list, and I agree Margaret is a good first name. I wouldn't use Frannie as a nick name though because it is so close to Fannie and I could see it as being fodder on the playground (says the girl who spent the years between k-2 being called Annie Fannie......the only time I really hated my name!)

[acmom]

We did consider Margaret as a first name, but don't love any of the possible nicknames and sticking with the full name Margaret seems like a lot of name for a baby! We did consider "Maggie" as a nickname for Margaret, but we know several (including several dogs!) and doesn't flow very well with our last name. And although we like them, can't do Mary Margaret or Molly bc we have close family members with each of those names.

Thanks for all the continued suggestions though - very helpful to have more possibilities to ponder and run by DH! :)

ETA: The popularity of Ella/Ellie is definitely an issue for that name and it seems pretty widespread, although we both really like it and it works well with our last name. Several of the others on our list seem like they might be more popular in some areas than others...its hard to figure sometimes bc sometimes you are surprised a name is so high on the list bc you hear few around you or the opposite, you hear that name a lot, but its lower on the list! We are in the NE if that matters...

[TwinFoxes]

The popularity of Ella/Ellie is definitely an issue for that name and it seems pretty widespread, although we both really like it and it works well with our last name. Several of the others on our list seem like they might be more popular in some areas than others...its hard to figure sometimes bc sometimes you are surprised a name is so high on the list bc you hear few around you or the opposite, you hear that name a lot, but its lower on the list! We are in the NE if that matters...

The thing about popular names these days is there are just more names being used. So for example, I consider "Ella/Ellie" popular, but neither of my girls has one in their class. I know a preschooler, someone in their troop, and an older sister of one of their friends. As opposed to popular names when I was kid. There were likely to be multiple Jennifers and Michaels in one class.

[Tenasparkl]

W
ETA: The popularity of Ella/Ellie is definitely an issue for that name and it seems pretty widespread, although we both really like it and it works well with our last name. Several of the others on our list seem like they might be more popular in some areas than others...its hard to figure sometimes bc sometimes you are surprised a name is so high on the list bc you hear few around you or the opposite, you hear that name a lot, but its lower on the list! We are in the NE if that matters...

We know a lot of girls named Ella, but I can only think of one baby named Ellie (but I do know two dogs with the name). A friend has a daughter named Evelyn that they called Evie which reminds me of Ellie.

[smilequeen]

We had a super short girls name list...

Cecilia (our winner)
Georgia

I also like Cora, Celeste, Iris, Estella, Eva or Evelyn. I love Lily (my all time fave), Lucy, and Lila (but not with our last name :)) Charlotte and Sophie but pretty common (too common for me).

My Grandma was a Margaret and we considered it. I liked the nickname Maisie, but one of my close friends used that name so we scratched it early.

[Melaine]

I like Sarah, Caroline and Emily. I also wonder about Cora or Rose.

My great-grandmother was Cora, and I love that one. My aunt is Josephine and I love Josie for a baby.

OP, we are in the Deep South and have been running into more Carolines lately. That's actually one of my favorite names too!Oh and Ellas...there are a lot of those here.


I do have one more that is less common but very classic to my mind: Rosalynn. It's my mother's name and I always loved she could go by Rosie, Rose, Lynn, etc.

[maestramommy]

Dora is considered an old fashioned name. When dd1 was a baby, older ladies would tell us their grandmother was named Dora

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[Kindra178]

Lucy, Celia (or Cecelia), Betsy (full name Elizabeth), Bethany, Lillian, Rose, Vera.


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[acmom]

Thanks all! Question about Caroline...do you think most Carolines stick with their full name? We both like Caroline a lot, but not most of the nicknames we have seen for it. Callie is one exception - we both like that one, but it seems like a stretch. DH is concerned about Caroline being turned into Carol (which he doesnt like), but I'm not thinking that will be a big issue?

[PunkyBoo]

Thanks all! Question about Caroline...do you think most Carolines stick with their full name? We both like Caroline a lot, but not most of the nicknames we have seen for it. Callie is one exception - we both like that one, but it seems like a stretch. DH is concerned about Caroline being turned into Carol (which he doesnt like), but I'm not thinking that will be a big issue?
In my son's class at school Caroline goes by Cara, which I think is a great nickname.

[buddyleebaby]

My little one is Caroline and no one ever tries to shorten her name. Sometimes people (at church) mistakenly call her Carolyn.
I did want to mention though, that we seem to have a gift for choosing names just before they take off in popularity. My older two are Abigail and Evelyn, both of which made their way into the top ten in the year or two after they were born. I'm half expecting for the same to happen with Caroline.

[Mommy_Mea]

Thanks all! Question about Caroline...do you think most Carolines stick with their full name? We both like Caroline a lot, but not most of the nicknames we have seen for it. Callie is one exception - we both like that one, but it seems like a stretch. DH is concerned about Caroline being turned into Carol (which he doesnt like), but I'm not thinking that will be a big issue?

My Mom is Caroline and went as Carol in her younger days, but even knowing that I never shorten Caroline to Carol, and don't think most people would.

I like Callie for Caroline! I don't think it is too much of a stretch, and I think nicknames are whatever people want them to be. Dick doesn't make sense for Richard, or Jack for John, but somehow those are the nicknames :)

[acmom]

My little one is Caroline and no one ever tries to shorten her name. Sometimes people (at church) mistakenly call her Carolyn.
I did want to mention though, that we seem to have a gift for choosing names just before they take off in popularity. My older two are Abigail and Evelyn, both of which made their way into the top ten in the year or two after they were born. I'm half expecting for the same to happen with Caroline.

Haha...that seems to have happened somewhat with our older 2 as well! :)

[klwa]

Thanks all! Question about Caroline...do you think most Carolines stick with their full name? We both like Caroline a lot, but not most of the nicknames we have seen for it. Callie is one exception - we both like that one, but it seems like a stretch. DH is concerned about Caroline being turned into Carol (which he doesnt like), but I'm not thinking that will be a big issue?

Most of the Carolines I know go by their full name. I've never heard any going by Carol. I've always heard of Caro being the standard nickname for either Carol or Caroline, but I've never known anyone who actually used it. The only Callies I've known were actually Callistas.

[Ms B]

We know a little Margaret that goes by Greta, which I think is adorable.

Ella/Ellie/Elle are very popular here. The Biscuit's PK3 class (3 rooms) has all of the top 20 names (boy and girl), including an Emily and an Emma; one of our good friends has a 5 YO Ellie.

I like Eleanor Margaret together, with Nora for a nickname if you go that route (we are anti-nickname in our house; everyone goes by their given name).

[Ms B]

We know a little Margaret that goes by Greta, which I think is adorable.

Ella/Ellie/Elle are very popular here. The Biscuit's PK3 class (3 rooms) has all of the top 20 names (boy and girl), including an Emily and an Emma; one of our good friends has a 5 YO Ellie.

I like Eleanor Margaret together, with Nora for a nickname if you go that route (we are anti-nickname in our house; everyone goes by their given name).

[elephantmeg]

I'm a Margaret and it's worked well for me. I was briefly Meg in high school but have pretty much remained Margaret. My brother was 2 when I was born and called me "Mawget"

[egoldber]

The only child I know named Caroline is called Callie by family and close friends. :)

[AnnieW625]

We know a Caroline who everyone calls Caroline, her parents call her Cara, but I like Callie too.

My Dd2's name is Lauren and her nickname is Lulu, her sister gave it to her when she was about a year old. No one questions it or asks isn't Lulu a nickname for Louisa/Louise.

My mom is an Elizabeth and her nickname is Ellie; people have thought it was short for Eleanor.