Eo- good theory! It's definitely possible. I love Imogen and surprisingly have never met one.

Beth the original- I don't think Beth is too dated! It might have been me who mentioned it as a nickname, I can't fully remember. I have a good friend named who named her dd Bethany Beatrice (this family loves alliteration, they have two older sons Cason Christopher and Ryan Reese). The name is super cute on her and they call her Beth or Bethy most of the time.

It's funny because I too actually like a lot of those dated names. When I mention to people that we are considering the name Ruth for our daughter I get the "that's such an old name" reaction a lot of the time, which makes sense because it was in the top ten from 1892-1930, but I guess I see it as more timeless. I think Reginald is such a dashing name. Maybe with Reggie Bush's association with the superbowl and Kim Kardashian the name will get some use.

Simon = Simone
Elle = Ellen
Jona= Jonah
Laure = Laurel

Thanks for all the feedback, guys! I understand that it's a little difficult because of my taste. Miles is something we can't compromise on, because I love the name, and it has deep personal connections in our family. Could anyone help suggest middle names to help it stand out a little more?

Out of my girl names, I'm particularly fond of Dorothy, although after saying it out loud, I don't know how I feel about the cadence of the whole name (Dorothy Br3hm-D@ws0n). What do you think? I'm also concerned about a nn of Dot. I feel like it might be too weird

Linneaus- out of that small history, a name jumped out at me; Rosamond. How would that be pronounced? I think it looks lovely on paper.

Also, I like the idea of a nn Bonnie. What formal names traditionally produce that nickname?

Wow, lots to comment on. I'll keep it short though and come back tomorrow.

Elizabeth T and hyz-You crack me up! There are a few "dated names" that other people noted that have been talked about but I will save that for tomorrow and just add a few here that have not been mentioned.
Brian; Jacqueline; Eugene; Stephen/Stephanie; Stacey; Jodi

Beth the original-Of course, I like Beth too!

Mardi-I instantly thought of Miles Phillip which to me gives it a bit more stature and sophistication.

Re Imogen: It's just weird for me. I first see the name as Im-O-gen which can either be (Eemo-jen; Eye-muh-gen; or something close to imagine). I realize when said it comes out a bit like imagine in my accent-maybe it will make a comeback. There is also a book my DD has called Imogen's Antlers.

Mardi- I think Bonnie is very cute. Bonnie can be a full name on its own and I can't think of any names it is directly a nickname of but I guess it could be short for Bonita (spanish) or Ebony. Can't think of any other ones at the moment.

Re Imogen: I think the more "American" pronunciation im-oh-GENE is slightly less appealing than the traditional IM-eh-jen but I don't know which I really like better. I guess since it's not a very established name here anything goes when it comes to pronunciation. I think my love of the name partially comes from the book/film "Fried Green Tomatoes" and one of its main characters Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode who is quite lovable.

Maria > Marian
Destin > Destiny
Dan > Dana

Bessie is a cow, sorry.

Wow, lots of comments today!

Re Merritt - as has been said use the original spelling and then use Rhett for your nn if that is what you like. Btw - I love Rhett.

@Linnaeus - I loved your idea of changing name history and centuries. Funnily enough though, here Oscar is uber popular and not very rare at all :)

@Kit - I also like Elisabeth Maeve or Elisabeth Mae. The Maeve is slightly more interesting, the Mae is cute and has sentimental value. I do like Elisabeth Adele as a third choice.

@Elizabeth T - I can totally see Clyde coming back soon. A baby or toddler Clyde would be quite cute.

@hyz - I've seen a baby Jason, Chad and Cor(e)y very recently. I actually don't think of those names as that dated. Jason, is very overdone but not unusual to still see every now and then!

@Valerie - Archibald isn't unusal here either, a more formal way to get the very popular 'Archie.' I think it's not uncommon in the Telegraph set in the UK.

@Becky - Here is Australia we also don't have problems with Jemima (well it's a doll off a show called playschool, but that aside it's perfectly usable) and it's a bit trendy hipster. Imogen is also getting quite popular and has been in use for quite awhile. Imogene not so much though. I actually prefer Imogene...

@A Rose - Beth, Lisa and Danielle/a don't seem out of place to me and I've seen them around in birth notices! It's funny how things are popular in different areas.......

@Beth the original - Enid and Bernard are totally coming back in style, hipster plus :) I actually really like both Bernard and Gerard. Just not Bernie and Gerry! I also love your made up names from common sound.

@zoerhenne - re jacqueline, I know of 2 under 5 and saw a birth notice for one the other day!

I'm not sure what my uncommon names would be, maybe:
Norma, Alan, Dianne/a, Trevor (I know this doesn't apply in the US though), Kevin (ditto for this), Lorraine, Barry, Keith, Sharon.

Mardi:

My first instinct is to pronounce Rosamond as RO-za-MAHND. It could end up sounding like ROSE-mund, but just as you get to choose the spelling, you get to choose the pronunciation.

Bonnie is actually its own name naturally, and not a nickname. It's from a Scottish term for "beautiful" (think Bonny Prince Charlie). With a pronunciation of RO-za-MAHND, however, I can easily believe the use of Bonnie as a nickname for Rosamond.

Wow! Lots to comment on.

@Kit, I love Elisabeth Maeve with Mae as my second choice.

Re: Merritt, I agree with everyone who's said to use the traditional spelling of both Merritt and Rhett. I think Merritt is really cool!

Re: out-of-fashion names, I laughed to see my own name included, although I agree with that decision. I do actually know a preschool-aged Amy and I can't quite get over how funny it sounds to me on a little girl. Other names I've heard on preschool- or grade-school-aged kids that seem "off" are Donna, Stephanie, and Lance.

I think mining names popular from 1940-75 would result in lots of names you don't hear often on kids today.

@Becky, I'm someone who loves Jemima and desperately wish it didn't have such overwhelmingly negative connotations in the US. Such a beautiful name. I do know one Imogen (pronounced IM-eh-jin) who is in 3rd grade. I think her parents (or maybe just her mom) are from Ireland, though.

Finally, my 8-yr-old daughter was telling me a story last night that featured two sets of twin bunnies, Peter and Pansy and Billy and Bertha. I was immediately struck at styles that were all over the place, but perhaps more interesting were her casting decisions for each name. Pansy needed rescuing, Bertha was made fun of but then ended up being crucial to the rescue effort, and Billy and Peter's contributions, while helpful, were almost after thoughts.

So good morning everyone, regarding the names no one here mentions, I need to make some addtions and ask for some revisions. People have mentioned Barry on this site with regard to Barack being a NOTY so I would remove that one. I would remove Crystal and Cory also. Crystal is the name of one of the Idol contestants and if she wins may pop up a bit more in some areas. Cory being a name in the news due to Corey Haim's death may experience an uptick. Judith has been mentioned occasionally as well as Franklin. The latter relegated to a back burner due to Franklin the Turtle cartoon. Dina(h) was also recently mentioned and suffered similar comments due to the song.

There have been TONS of wonderful suggestions though. Cindy, Pamela, and Bernard are definitely not in the US spotlight. I also might add David, Jeffrey, and Walter. Even though some of these are in the top 50 names, they just don't get used much around me.

Beth, fwiw, I really like the name Beth! It seems so sweet and fresh, especially compared to the more common (in my experience) Liz. If I were to have an Elizabeth, my top nn choices would probably be Betsy, Betty, Beth, or maybe Eliza.

Re: Rosamond, this is a family name for me, and I love it, although DH thought it was too odd last time around. We always pronounced the name ROSE-uh-mund in the family, although I mainly knew her as Aunt Rose.

zoerhenne, funny you mention Jeffrey. I totally agree with you, and I admit I didn't care for it when our friends named their son that. Their girls are Cl@ire and J0sephine (nn J0sie). J3ffrey is a family name for them, so I get it, but it just seems so off on a little boy, I can't get used to it. I think spelling it Geoffrey makes it a little better somehow. I also know a toddler named Brad, which still seems really odd to me--his much older (teenage) brother is Sc0tt. These two kids sound to me like they should've been born 30 years earlier than they were.....

re: imogen i can't speak for how the general u.s. populace pronounces this name, but to me it is: IM-uh-jen (short /i/ at the beginning). my perception of the name comes entirely from musician imogen heape.

re: rosamond again, can't speak for everyone, but i always thought this was pronounced the same as rosamund. (speaking of which, does anyone know what the deal is here? are they just two spellings of the same name?)

amy3, that's a hilarious story about your daughter. that's quite the set of names.

oh, and a. rose, thanks for the dakota fanning article. :] i was amused by the comments section. "does she know that she has a BOYS' name?" and "she stole my name and i'm a dude."

At a children's restaurant over the weekend I overheard parents talking with a toddler named Lindsey. That seems to fit in to those less heard of names although that's more of an 80s name than a 70s one.

Oh and speaking of the names used in stories told by children. My 6 year old is writing her first story about a cat named Lucky who makes friends with another cat named Gussie. I thought those names were sweet paired together.

re: names never recommended here - I'll offer up three out of DH's and my four grandmothers: Norma, Thelma and Wilma. Although I think I have seen some discussion of how to update these names by changing them slightly - Norma becomes Nora, Wilma could be Willa, and Thelma... well, I'm not sure Thelma can be redeemed so easily. Maybe Thea? We definitely won the booby prize of grandmother names.

Hedda was the name of my Italian great-grandmother, pronounced ED-da (and yes, in Italian the double d is pronounced differently than a single d would be). Incidentally, Nora = another good Ibsen name.

re: Rosamond/Rosamund - I think that Rosamund comes from "rosa mundi", literally "rose of the world" in Latin. Rosamond would then be the French version of the name, because "world" in French is "monde."

We finally met Judah's soccer team over the weekend and I had mentioned that there was a young Percival on his team. Well, this charming boy indeed goes by Percy, which I was delighted to hear because I think it's adorable and one of those names that really isn't used anymore. Other teammates include:

Alec
Hudson
Mason
Ryland
Matthew (2, one goes by Matt, the other by Matthew)
Dylan
Fletcher
Dante
Conner

An interesting mix of names. Also yesterday I was at the Pediatrician's office with my younger son and heard the names Clarabelle (could be Clara Belle or Claribelle I guess), Pia and Dax all on babies. Tres trendy.

Mardi,
You are in luck! It just so happens that my mom's name is Dorothy, and her nickname is Bonnie (although she spells it with a 'y' at the end)! So you can safely use Bonnie as a nickname for Dorothy--it's been done. :), Apparently the nickname arose because she was a "bonny little lass".

Rosamund/mond is quite a classic name in the UK and is pronounced ROZ-a-mund. It's one of my favorites. I'm interested that it doesn't seem to be well known in the States.

Chimu- wow, I knew Archie was popular in Oz and the UK, but I didn't realize some people were actually using the full name Archibald! I was under the impression that many children were being given the diminutive as their given name. Ditto Alfie/Alfred. Very interesting.

valerie,
well i think it (rosamond/rosamund) is known in the states...or at least it is familiar. but less so than in the uk, it sounds like. my only association with the name (and it isn't a strong one) is rosamund pike.

Becky-Wow, an interesting mix of names there. Fletcher is one I'd put in the not-given-often category. I'm rather fond of the rest of them except maybe Hudson.

hyz-Yes, Brad and Scott speak to a different decade. Also adding Peter, Paul, Keith, Kevin, and Richard.

EVie, I had always seen that the original meaning of Rosamond/Rosamund came from the old German elements meaning horse (hros->Ros) and mund, meaning protection. I think the derivation is related to the "mund" in Edmund. Similarly, the meaning I've seen for Rosalind is soft/gentle horse, with Ros again referring to horse. The fact that Rosalind and Rosamond have a horse origin, but are also botanical cognates, make me love them doubly. I'm disappointed to see that ROZ is also the traditional pronunciation for Rosamond (as it is for Rosalind)--I like the ROSE sound my family used so much better.

Rosamond/Rosamund

I think this is a case of same name - different spellings. Edmund/Edmond is another example. The /-mund/ spelling is the original Germanic spelling and /-mond/ is a French respelling. The pronunciation of /-mund/ in German and /-mond/ in French are comparable but /-mund/ in French would be quite different.

EVie, Hedda is pronounced the same in Scandinavia except the /H/ isn't silent. I'm quite surprised it was even used in Italy though because the roots are Germanic? Do you know what part of Italy your great-grandmother came from, like Northern Italy near the Swiss/Austrian border maybe?

Mardi- I think Dorothy sounds great with your last name and I quite like Dot!!

As for Imogen, I'm with EmilyRae exactly. I pronounce it IM-oh-jen with a short i, and my brain immediately goes to the singer Imogen Heap. I am in Washington state.

alr, oops, heap, not heape, yes. her new cd is in my cd player right now actually. :]

My husband and I distinctly looked for what we called (Baby) Boomer names. Names that were familiar, spell-able, and not currently ragingly popular and I think these are the names people are mostly suggesting. (We used Timothy and Mark).

I'd add: Gregory, Eric, Erika, Patricia and would have also added Peter and Paul (mentioned above) which are lovely, and somewhat lesser used today.

My son has a classmate Stanley, and I've come to love the nickname Stan b/c of him - it is just such a strong masculine name.

Alden and Elton both seem to me like names that ought to rise on the backs of the Aidens, but don't seem to be doing so.

But alas rarity like this is such an elusive goal: 4 years ago, I had two HS students named Meryl in a class of 12. (One spelled it Merril and went by Meri).

megan w.,
i'm guessing the lack of aldens and eltons is because of the consonant clusters in the middle--as laura says: these aren't fashionable.

Andre > Andrew

Totally off topic, I apologize- can anyone think of some nicknames for Oliver, other than Ollie? I think the name's quite handsome on it's own, but my MIL is an incorrigible (and rather uncreative) nicknamer and I just can't get down with "Ollie." Thanks!

meaghanne,
all that comes to mind right now is just "o" (my sister, olivia, was called "o" for awhile).

namepedia lists these:
Ollie, Oli, Noel, Nole, Noll

i suppose you could pronounce oli with a long /o/ sound, like oh-lee. i assure you there are better nicknamers than me here. :]

So many interesting things on this thread now.

"We are a people of la la la vee, eeeee ah ah (girls) and en en en en er er o o o (boys). So Lily, Ellie, Ava, Olivia, Alyiah, Aidan, Walker, Milo. Which is why I so delight in making up fake "up-to-the minute" names like Elovlia and Stalker, Velouria and Craven, Ooolala and Acro."

Love this! I think we ought to come up with some more out there names in this style to solve other questions...

For Oliver, perhaps nn Olven, Olvo or Ont?

Imogen is pronounced Imm-oh-jen where I live in the UK.
Rosamond would be Roz-a-mund.

Bonnie is short for Bonita in the two cases I know (30s and a toddler). Both go by Bonnie and the older one wishes she wasn't Bonita.

On Dorothy, I know a Dorothea who sometimes goes by Doro (German) and a Dorothy who likes her nn Doroth. I also know older ladies who prefer to be called Dot, although email will probably make Dot a very rare name in future. Perhaps it will become Dotia?

@Valerie - you are right in that the more common situation seems to be using the full name of archie and alfie, but I have definitely seen archibald and alred used. Archibald sounds somewhat delightful to me these days. I think I would have cringed at this a few years ago though!

More infrequently used names: Rhonda, Kylie, Amanda, Melanie

To add to the never suggested list:
Virgil, Murray, Mary Jane, Wallace, Herman, Gladys, Wilfred, Norval, Muriel, Wilma.

@ Beth the original: Oh, I'm so sorry! Just to me it is a little dated (I have at least three friends whose moms are named Beth) and I'm just saying I haven't heard it as a suggestion.

@ Kit: I love Elisabeth Maeve!

Re. Bonnie: My only association is Bonnie Butler of "Gone with the Wind" and her given name was Eugenia Victoria. Now Eugenia... that's a name not too often suggested!

Re. Rosamund/mond: I'd only ever heard of the -mund spelling until today and I pronounce both ROZ-a-mund. I don't like the nn Roz though (I associate it with the weird slug/secretary monster in "Monsters, Inc.")

A Rose- I don't remember the secretary/slug, but have fond memories of Roz on Frasier.

Chimu+Melly-Wonderful additions to the list.

Due within a month-Those nn for Oliver were funny. I would just add things like Liv (but short i makes it girly), Liev (like EE sound so its less girly), Lolly (again girly), Clive?? I don't know any more.

Re Bonita: It makes me think of the commercial with Sally Field selling the "once monthly Boniva" calcium pill.

I forget who mentioned this originally, but I love making up names using the substitution method of popularity. So things like Raisin from Raiden-Kaiden-Aiden seem a bit like normal names.

@A Rose, ha, I wouldn't have thought of the secretary/slug, but "Roz" is pretty perfect naming for her, that's kind of what I imagine a Roz to be like.

re: names rarely recommended here, my mom recently mentioned that a family at their church has a six month old named Jerry, which really surprised me. The best part though (which I may have mentioned before?) is that he has an older brother Ben...apparently the parents didn't make the ice cream connection till it was too late.

Also I agree that Jessica/Amy/Amanda/Stephanie/Jennifer are the sorts of names that are rarely recommended. The thing that weirds me out about Jessica though is that in 2008 it dropped out of the top 50 for the first time in more than 35 years (it was #59). So, where are all the little Jessicas?? There were 4600 born in 2008 alone! The only thing I can possibly think of is that maybe it's more of a Hispanic name now, I feel like maybe I have heard "Yessica" in the grocery store occasionally recently?

I never saw Monsters, Inc., so the only Roz I know is the one from Frasier. While I do really like her character, it also sort of exemplifies the brassiness and bluntness that I dislike in the nn Roz. What is the slug Roz like, I wonder?

@Anne with an E, I know of two Jessicas in 3rd grade at my daughter's school. One is Hispanic, but uses the English pronunciation. And I'd be willing to bet I could find others in different grades.

Other names we don't see recommended much around here are Todd, Jan, Marcia, Rhoda, Herbert, Julie, Kelly, Michelle, Tammy.

hyz - I stand corrected--here is what the Oxford Dictionary of First Names says about Rosamund:

English: from an old Germanic female personal name composed of the elements hros horse + mund protection. In the Middle Ages it was reanalysed as Latin rosa munda “pure rose” or rosa mundi “rose of the world”, titles given to the Virgin Mary. The spelling Rosamond has been common since the Middle Ages, when scribes sometimes used o for u, to distinguish it from n and m, all of which consisted of very similar downstrokes of the pen. “Fair Rosamond” (Rosamond Clifford) was a legendary beauty who lived at Woodstock in Oxfordshire in the 12th century. She is said to have been the mistress of King Henry II, and to have been murdered by the queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in 1176.

So the German is the original meaning, the Latin a later re-interpretation. It reminds me of one of my favorite names, Mira, which is a Slavic name, but also happens to be a Latin adjective meaning "wonderful." If I ever used Mira, it would definitely be with the Latin meaning in mind.

Anna S - My great-grandmother was from the Abruzzi, and to my knowledge was Italian all the way through--we've traced her ancestry back to about 1500 (she was from a minor aristocratic family, relatively easy to trace through church records). I don't know how she came by her name, I'll have to see if anyone else in my family knows.

For those wondering the slug Roz is not a very appealing character, she has a gruff voice (voiced by a man)

Here's a link to a photo: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1122867456/ch0004385

I haven't seen Frasier enough to know that Roz very well and from the few episodes I've seen I guess she's a better association.

"I never saw Monsters, Inc., so the only Roz I know is the one from Frasier. While I do really like her character, it also sort of exemplifies the brassiness and bluntness that I dislike in the nn Roz. What is the slug Roz like, I wonder?"

hyz-The slug is very much the same way. She is the secretary that figuratively must get on one of the Monsters backs (he was a bit forgetful) about his paperwork. She always makes comments to him "Hey Wisowski, I'm watching you. Always watching.". It's one of my kids favorite lines.

EVie - I don't actually know if Hedda is or was a common name in Italy... maybe it is? I was just surprised to hear about an Italian Hedda in the same way I would have been if someone had mentioned their "Russian grandfather Jürgen". But if Hedda not a common Italian name then "minor aristocratic family" may be an important clue. The European aristocrats have a very intermingled family history... Please share if you find out more!

Re. Hedda: I've never heard of this before. Is it pronounced HEDD (like head)-a or more like HAY-da or HEE-da (like Frieda) because I like the second of those pronunciations but not such a huge fan of HEDD-a. I love learning about names from other cultures!

A Rose- it is pronounced HEDD-ah (the first way you mentioned) by most Americans. Not sure how it sounds with a Norwegian accent. I'm a big theater fan and Ibsen is one of my favorite playwrights so the name Hedda is deeply associated with the play for me. It fits it's title character very well, though I can't see it on a child. I agree the pronunciation is awkward but I guess I've always thought of it as a character name rather than a baby name. Ibsen's plays offer a lot of interesting names you don't often hear, such as Torvald from A Doll's House and Jurgen (George in some translations) and Ejlert Lövborg. The latter is probably one of my favorite character names ever :]

It's HEDD-ah or HED-dah in Scandinavia with a short first syllable. I don't find the sound of it particularly nice, perhaps because it consonant-heavy and does not have any of those trendy /ay/ of /ee/ sounds.

re: nicknames for Oliver -- our Oliver goes mostly by Ollie. Another Oliver we know goes strictly by Oliver (no nns allowed!). My youngest sister tried for awhile to call our Ollie "The O.C." (his initials) but it never really caught on...

re: Imogen -- this name is on our short list. I'm wondering if its rarity in the US is partly due to a lack of nn options? Such a unique name to end up with the nn Jen.

Above-mentioned youngest sister has taken to "calling" baby names lest her older siblings take all of the good ones before she has children. Among them: Loralei, Eugenia, and (I think) Beatrix (DH's current favorite). I can't remember whether she actually called Beatrix or not, and of course I can't ask her now since we are "keepers". Frankly, I don't really care either way, but I mistakenly mentioned this to DH who now likes the name even more if it will make my sister mad if we use it.

@JillC - most of the Imogens I have known use a nn of Immy or just Imm. I've never heard it shortened to Gen/Jen. You could also do Imma, Ims, Mo, Genna/Jenna, Iggy? Probably lots of others I can't think of too!

I think calling baby names years in advance of using them is a bit much! Lucky for me my siblings have totally different taste to me so I am not in the slightest worried about them 'stealing' any of my names :)

Re Bonnie - I forgot to mention this the other day but I once worked with a Bonnie who was in her 40s. I believe it was her full given name. I personally find it a bit cutesy on an adult. I've seen it on little ones and it is quite cute. I do like the idea of giving Bonnie as a nickname and using another name as the full name.

hyz,
oooh, not seeing monsters, inc is a tragedy! that roz is blunt and inflexible, i would say. very no-nonsense.

Although I'm not attracted to "Bonnie", I've heard "Binnie" as a nickname (for "Belinda", "Bernice", or at a stretch, "Bethany"?) For some reason, it strikes me as cute and nostalgic.

Bonnie reminds me of Connie. I rather like the virtue name "Constance", nickname "Connie", although I'd probably have to find a less predictable nickname. "Constance" on a toddler would be so cute and unexpected! You'd have to like consonants, which I do...

I was reading that the Puritans also used the forms "Constant" and "Constancy". There's the Latin "Constantia" and I think there's a really interesting German form, maybe "Konstanze" or something like that? German speakers, help!

Spotted my first toddler "Sebastian" while having lunch downtown yesterday. His grandmother had to keep calling him as he was cutting up a little. Although urban dwellers and Brits use this name, it is fairly rare around here. Wonder if any one else has noticed an uptick in baby Sebastians...

One of my friends in college had a German professor named Konstanze whom he talked about a lot (he had a crush on her)... he pronounced it kohn-STAHN-zuh.

I agree that Bonnie on its own is a bit diminutive for an adult, especially because I always think "a wee bonnie lass". I do think it's cute as a nn though. I've known a college-aged girl who wore it very well though, and I think it was actually a nn for Bronwen (or possibly Bryony.. can't remember). I think it works well for both of those.

Ok, this shows where my mind is, but Constantia for some reason immediately made me think of "Incontinentia Buttocks" in Monty Python's The Life of Brian. I'm assuming Constantia is not "con-STAN-sha" but rather "con-STAN-tee-ah", like "in-con-ti-NEN-tee-ah"--is that right? Anywho, I'm afraid that would be out for me, lol. But I do quite like Constance--such a charming virtue, and I agree, unexpected today. Not a huge fan of Connie in any event, though. Bonnie has a sort of darling Irish cheerfulness about it, so I'm on board with that one.

emilyrae, I think my DH has recently gotten a copy of the movie on the i-pod for our daughter to watch (it's good distraction for a toddler when on a plane, etc.), so maybe I'll just have to watch it with her soon. :)