London - The Mabels and Stanleys of Britain used to be found in bingo halls or on mobility scooters.
But now they are more likely to be spotted in playgrounds and pushchairs, as two in five couples are opting for old-fashioned baby names, according to research.
While parents have been selecting names such as Alfie and Grace for the last decade, the “extreme retro” trend has seen them vying for even more out-of-date options.
David Cameron and wife Samantha appear to be following the fashion, naming their children Florence, Nancy, Ivan and Arthur.
Other celebrities who have opted for older names include Lily Allen, who named her children Ethel and Marnie, Bruce Willis – who chose Mabel for his daughter – and singer Dido who decided to call her young son Stanley.
The poll of 6 227 by parenting site Netmums.com also revealed that one in eight families give all their children names beginning with the same letter, like Wayne Rooney’s sons Kai and Klay.
The trend, which was inspired by Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, is most commonly used with J and K names.
However, 12 percent of parents regret labelling their newborn with a fashionable name – with one in 50 fearing they’ve branded their child as the “new Sharon or Kevin”.
Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said: “The internet is making it much easier for parents to research unusual names.
“We’ve even seen parents putting up polls and crowdsourcing names for their children from others online. It’s clear that fashionable or wacky names are only going to get more common in the playground.”
While 85 percent of parents agree names are “vital” to how others perceive your child, that has not stopped British parents making some unconventional decisions.
One in 12 of those surveyed had chosen a colour, with names including Blue, Grey and Red, while one in 50 decided upon an animal name including Bear and Tiger.
And despite potential difficulties, a further 28 percent of parents have used unusual spellings for their child’s name such as Jaydn and Shanelle. Celebrities remain the biggest influence on names with 53 percent basing choices on well-known stars.
Around one in five people found inspiration in their favourite books and TV shows while one in ten used a family name.
Almost 15 percent of parents claimed they had picked an unusual name as they felt normal names were “dull and overused” while four percent hoped it would “make their child stand out”.
But names are becoming a parental battleground, with one in 20 mums seeing a name they had selected “stolen” by a friend – forcing three in five to change their minds.
The study also found parents thought the biggest name trend in ten years’ time would be 50s comeback names – with Susan, Carol, Paul, David and even Beryl and Barbara coming back into fashion. - Daily Mail