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My mom hates the name Kelly almost to a humorous level. Every time she hears it she has like a full body reaction. I get my name ridiculousness from her, obviously.

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I'm not a fan of Kelly. I've known some particularly seedy ones and that certainly hasn't helped. To me, it's insubstantial at best.

I've never met a Kelly. Kerry was more popular in the UK: I've known a few of those, and a couple of Keeleys, and in the 90s Kayleigh had a brief spell in the top 100. Then there was Kylie, and now there's Callie (and apparently Kallie, in the US). They're all way too cutely bubbly, trendy and confusable for me.

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Weirdly I don't mind Ceri (same pronunciation as Kerry) on boys.

I know a 'Kellie' and she's a great person; I prefer this softer variant of the name. 'Kelly' is just meh to me and a little too harsh looking.

Hi !!!

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I hate Kelly on a girl.
This because here there is a brend of shoes for children called 'Lelli Kelly'. Lelli Kelly shoes are so cutesy, full of glitters and with quite kitschy patterns ...and pink everywhere. As I still have a low number I always have to look for children shoes and I'm very angry when I find only Lelli Kelly everywhere LOL

Nelly, Shelley, Kelly, Sharon, Karen, Kelsey, Tracy, Stacey, Kasey, Macy, Mel, Elle, Ellie..

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It should sound dated, but it seems to have an innate youthful quality...could be sweet, peppy, funky, or dull.

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I'd slightly prefer to see it as masculine.

Kelly was extremely popular in Australia in the 1960's,70's and early 80's. In my year at school there was 6 of them. Out of 50 girls that's a pretty high percentage. It's very dated here and I wouldn't use it.

The first babysitting job I ever had, at age 15, back in 1975, was babysitting a three-year-old named Kelly. And her seven-month-old sister, Courtney And later her brother Christopher when he was born. It turned into a regular job. Very social parents.

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So the name always makes me think of her and she was sort of a brat. Funny to think that she's now 46 years old.

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Also, it just seems so typical 70s and 80s. I just find it annoying.

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However, I love Callie and it has occurred to me that it's quite similar to Kelly. Go figure.

I know of a male sportsman who was active here in South Africa back in, I think, the 1960s. His given name was Michael, but he was always and only known as Kelly.

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I've known a few female Kerry people and one Keeley, but not a Kelly as far as I can recall.

It's not terrible but it's fairly boring and a bit flaky. I picture a nice but dimwitted cheerleader or surfer circa 1987. Probably talks in Valley Girl.

I wouldn’t like it anyway, as I hate random surnames as first names, especially for girls, but it has a very dated, bimbo-ish vibe. Maybe because of the characters on Married With Children and Saved By the Bell. I picture big hair, mini-skirts and off-the-shoulder tops.

This message was edited 11/14/2018, 9:43 AM

Very dated, not ready for a comeback

I have known far too many. It's just a very blah, meaningless name at this point.

Dated, but sort of sweet?

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It's the type of name girls in the 80s and 90s would have named their Barbie's. It's inoffensive but really dated. I wouldn't use it in either gender.

I love it on a boy, but for a girl...idk...doesn't do anything for me, doesn't sound pleasing.

I've run across a lot of them. It's just like Kimberly. I almost get them mixed up. A 60s-70s fad that became mediocre, like all fads do because most people who use fad names are ordinary people. Reese or Kennedy, is the next Kelly. A typical Kelly's friends were like, Lisa and Stacy and Tracy and Denise and Erin. And Kimberly, of course. I've met several Kellys I didn't like much, and none I really liked.

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I have a fairly positive impression of the name Kelly overall though. It sounds nice enough.

This message was edited 11/16/2018, 1:06 AM

I’ve been thinking of it lately! I think it’s cute and can forgive its past popularity. I like the spelling Kelley.

This message was edited 11/17/2018, 5:57 PM