Mum laughs about the Millennial names that kids think are 'old people' names

"Ashley, Amanda, Amber, all of these names are basically the new Margaret or Barbara." Is your name on this list?

A millennial mum was shocked to find out her name is officially an 'old person' name, according to her Gen Alpha daughter. 

Amber Cimiotti, 37, is a mum to a Gen Alpha. On the drive home from school one day, her daughter told her about some of the "old people's names" her new teachers have.

Apologies to any Millennials reading; you may want to brace yourselves for the next part.

Amber posted a clip to TikTok about what her daughter revealed.  She starts by saying, "The other day, my daughter told me the names Ashely or Amanda, or my name Amber, are, like, old people names - and I never thought about it this way."

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"Old people's names"

Amber's daughter continued, "Yeah, my teachers' names are like Miss Erica, Miss Samantha. There's Amandas and Ashleys. Those are just old people's names."

It made the Millennial mum think. "I mean, for me, Ashley is always going to be my friend from elementary. So it seems like a kid name, but it's not.

"All of these names are like basically the new Margaret or Barbara."

Amber added that she realises now that "young people's names" included Scarlett - the name of her daughter - and her classmates like Olivia, Penelope, Isabella, Charlotte, Bella and Ella. 

Millennial mother shares that her name is on the old person list. Source: TikTok

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"First skinny jeans, then the side part and now my NAME?!"

Of the more than 2.6 million people who'd viewed the video, thousands commented to discuss this new-found information.

"Ashley is a kid name for sure!! Grandma Ashley is crazy to me lol," one viewer - named Ashley - commented.

Another TikToker, called Amanda, joked that the younger generations are taking too many things away from her, writing: "First skinny jeans, then the side part and now my NAME?!"

Others pointed out that the ‘young people’ names were repurposed ‘old people’ names from back in the day, with one adding: "Little do they know that the "new names" are actually grandma names to us, lol."  

Name cycles in the last 100 years

As for so-called 'old people' names, Ashley peaked as the top baby name in the nation in 1991 and 1992 and slowly declined in popularity, until a steep drop-off in the early 2020s saw it fall back to being lower than the 700th-ranked name. 

Meanwhile, the name Amber peaked in popularity in the mid-1980s; Amanda took off in the late 1970s and remained among the top 10 most popular girls' names until 1995.

Charlotte was among the 100 most popular baby names in the US for much of the first half of the 20th Century in 1944. In the 21st century, she's back on top; Charlotte was Australia's most popular name for baby girls in 2022.

Meanwhile, Penelope was among Australia's top 500 more popular baby names from the early 1950s through the late 1970s before falling off the radar. 

But the name soared back into fashion when Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick welcomed daughter Penelope - and every year since 2013, it has been in the top 100 most-picked baby names. 

Meanwhile, the recent surge of popularity for names like Isabella and Bella can likely be chalked up to the name of the protagonist from the mega-popular Twilight young adult fantasy series, with the first book in the saga coming out in 2005, and the first movie dropping three years later.

Alphas, be warned: when the next generation comes, they will think your names are old, and us Millennials will be back in fashion! 

Originally published as Mum laughs about the Millennial names that kids think are 'old people' names