Millennial-era names that are now considered ‘old’, according to Generation Alpha

29 Feb 2024

NZ Herald

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Millennialera names that are now considered old according to Generation
Alpha

Gen Alphas reveal the names they reckon make someone 'old', and people are horrified.

Gen Alphas reveal what names they think make someone “old”, and people are horrified. Photo / 123rf

When it comes to the name game, it seems a new range of monikers is being deemed old school and a new wave is all the rage. But Generation Alpha has some pretty big ideas on what is outdated — and it might add a few years to your life (metaphorically speaking).

If you find yourself contemplating traditional names, your mind naturally might conjure up monikers such as Eleanor, Eileen or Rosemary. However, today’s younger generation seems to have a slightly different perspective on what is old fashioned.

Mum Amber Cimiotti posted a clip on TikTok sharing her horror when her young daughter informed her of the millennial-era names that make someone an “old person” and were deemed out of date, reports News.com.au.

According to her Generation Alpha — those born 2010 onwards — daughter Scarlett, 90s-inspired names such as Ashley, Amber and Amanda are “basically the new Margaret or Barbara”.

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Cimiotti revealed her daughter’s teachers are named “Miss Erica” and “Miss Samantha”, which Scarlett thinks are more-mature, old-fashioned names.

“The other day my daughter told me the names Ashley or Amanda, or my name is Amber, are old-people names,” she shared.

“And I never thought about it this way but she’s like, ‘yeah my teachers are Miss Erica and Miss Samantha, there are Amandas and Ashleys, they are old people names’.“

She went on: “Whereas young-people names, like my daughter is Scarlett, there is Charlotte, Olivia, Penelope, Isabella, Bella, Ellas, those are young-people names.”

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Amber said the names her daughter believed were “old-people names” sounded like people she used to be friends with at school.

“For me, Ashley is always going to be like my friend from elementary, so it seems like a kid name to me, but it’s not,” she joked.

“Ashley, Amanda, Amber, all of these names are like basically the new Margaret or Barbara” according to Gen Alpha kids, she says.

The TikTok clip, which has been viewed by 3.5 million people, gained hundreds of comments from similarly shocked adults who were surprised to find their name was considered “old”.

“What a way to find out that I’m basically Gertrude to this new generation,” a adult named Amanda wrote.

“To me, Ashley is eternally a 17-year-old girl wearing two tank tops and dreaming of the day she can finally get that belly button piercing,” another person quipped.

What’s more, a few social media users pointed out that many children of today sport names that were once deemed “old-people names”, and were popular during the 1920s and 30s.

“Who’s going to tell them Charlotte and Penelope are old-people names?” one person joked.

“Little do they know that the ‘new names’ are actually grandma names to us,” a second chimed in.

A few weeks ago, Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs revealed New Zealand’s top baby names of 2023.

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Topping the charts for children born last year was Noah and Charlotte, and close behind were Oliver, Luca, Amelia and Isla, as well as Jack, Leo, Theodore, Olivia, Harper and Willow.