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I once thought of this as "old lady" but at some point it started growing on me and now I think it's so cute and charming. What do you think of Mabel?
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I have a bit of a thing for "old lady" names, so I've always liked Mabel. I think it's very sweet and cozy.
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I like it too. My mother had a friend, long deceased, who was Zoe Mabel - sounds as if she was born last week. And I knew three sisters at school who were, I think, Stephanie Leigh, Eileen Mabel and Mabel Leigh, who went by Leigh. It could have been Stephanie Mabel and Eileen Leigh, but you get the point. Unless the parents were really strange, the mns must surely have been family names; Mabel and Leigh don't go well together to my ears, but I like them both well enough.
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I like it. It's warm and charming with a little bit of spunk just because it's still not the norm. It reminds me of a warm blueberry muffin with tea on a cold Winter day. It was my adopted great-grandmother's name. My mother wanted to use it was a fn or mn. I wouldn't use it because of these complex family connections but I like it a lot.
ETA: I would be more likely to use a double fn like May Isobel or Margaret Isobel and call her May-Belle as a fun nickname. I know the pronunciation isn't the same but I like the Southern charm of May-Belle, though not enough to actually give a child that name formally. I would love for someone I know to use Mabel though.
ETA: I would be more likely to use a double fn like May Isobel or Margaret Isobel and call her May-Belle as a fun nickname. I know the pronunciation isn't the same but I like the Southern charm of May-Belle, though not enough to actually give a child that name formally. I would love for someone I know to use Mabel though.
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 7:29 PM
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I think of Madea
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It sounds like a cow name to me.
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I agree it's cute, but I'm not totally enamoured of -bel or -belle names.
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I'm not a fan. I can picture it as a comeback name - I mean, the old-lady image is faded enough that I think it works as a baby name. I just personally don't find the sound of it appealing to my senses. Maybe it is the rhyme with label and table and cable etc, that makes it feel too earthy and concrete and cloddish. Maybe it is the way it starts like the word maybe. ?? Anyway it's an okay name but nms, I don't like it.
"Cute and charming" is not really what comes to my mind. More like (these all are in a positive sense): earthy, honest (not charming), plain (not cute), capable and reliable, simple (in a rustic way, not elegant). As a baby name, it seems sorta bluestate boutique. Shabby chic, lol.
Anyway I don't hate it, would get used to it if I met one and probably get a better image of it - but I just know I'll never like it because of the sound of it.
Sisters could be: Clara, Harriet, Laura, Norma, Clover, Matilda
Brothers: Amos, Jules, Oliver, Vernon, Earl
"Cute and charming" is not really what comes to my mind. More like (these all are in a positive sense): earthy, honest (not charming), plain (not cute), capable and reliable, simple (in a rustic way, not elegant). As a baby name, it seems sorta bluestate boutique. Shabby chic, lol.
Anyway I don't hate it, would get used to it if I met one and probably get a better image of it - but I just know I'll never like it because of the sound of it.
Sisters could be: Clara, Harriet, Laura, Norma, Clover, Matilda
Brothers: Amos, Jules, Oliver, Vernon, Earl
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 12:56 PM
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No, I don't like it. I don't like "bel", or "belle" names in any form.
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A fat, deep southern woman who has a loud and obnoxious type of personality (talks your ear off, has a loud laugh) and has a bit of an extravagent taste in fashion (loves big hats) comes to mind. She may be very respectful but oh so annoying and is a bit oblivious and dimwitted if not a lot. She lives on a farm and has at least one pig that lives inside the house. Some days, she's covered in mud and filth, others she's covered in pounds of makeup, wears dresses, does her nails colors that look more suited to someone much younger than her and gossips nonstop to her equally annoying friend.
That is what comes to mind whenever I come across the name. I either picture that or a horse
That is what comes to mind whenever I come across the name. I either picture that or a horse
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Same here. I didn't see the appeal, and I never thought I'd like it. But now I think its very sweet and more than ready for a comeback.
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I love Mabel! Its sweet and spunky!
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It's cute, I don't dislike it. I wouldn't use it myself but it has the kind of sound that might put it in the middle of the charts. I don't think it would become as popular as Hazel.
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 8:19 AM
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Is everyone misreading my post? I said "similar in style to Hazel" and "it will be increasing in popularity". Not "It is exactly the same as Hazel and will be identically as popular." It's "similar". As in, old lady name (peaked in the 1910's) with a long A (people love long As!) and an -el ending.
Now, if it had a cool Z in it and there was a popular author writing a popular book that was followed by a popular movie featuring a Mabel...
Now, if it had a cool Z in it and there was a popular author writing a popular book that was followed by a popular movie featuring a Mabel...
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 9:46 AM
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I guess I figured your reply to RoxStar also incorporated info from my post since I brought up Hazel and Rox did not.
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What book is that?
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The Fault in Our Stars had a Hazel (Hazel Grace). There were ~1400 Hazels born before the book came out (2011) and double that by the time the movie was released (2014).
It was still somewhat popular, but I think TFiOs gave it a boost. Just like -bella names were popular, Isabella probably would have always been popular, but Twilight probably helped push it a few more spots/moved it faster.
It was still somewhat popular, but I think TFiOs gave it a boost. Just like -bella names were popular, Isabella probably would have always been popular, but Twilight probably helped push it a few more spots/moved it faster.
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I actually read that book, and I forgot all about Hazel. Erm. :/
Now that it's been brought up, I think that book is seriously overrated, but that's another post for another day.
Now that it's been brought up, I think that book is seriously overrated, but that's another post for another day.
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 11:01 AM
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I like it. It's cozy and warm and it reminds me of freshly baked cookies.
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It's an ugly, old-lady name that is so much so that it's stereotypical; it's the default name you might choose for an old lady in a joke or funny story where you just needed a name as a placeholder. Kind of like Vinnie is the stereotypical mobster name.
Only difference, Mabel is apparently seeing a bit of a hipster revival. I can see a couple of little Mabels showing up in a high-dollar, ten-year-waiting-list preschool in Beverly Hills or NYC, along with a couple of Harriets and Ediths. But not much more than that.
Mabel, Mabel, set the table ...
Only difference, Mabel is apparently seeing a bit of a hipster revival. I can see a couple of little Mabels showing up in a high-dollar, ten-year-waiting-list preschool in Beverly Hills or NYC, along with a couple of Harriets and Ediths. But not much more than that.
Mabel, Mabel, set the table ...
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Is "Mabel Mabel set the table" a common saying or did you make it up? Just asking because you're the only one I've heard "say" it.
ETA: As for the level of popularity it will achieve in future, I tend to disagree. It re-entered the top thousand in 2013 with a stronger start than Hazel had when it re-entered it in 1998 (#707 and #667 in the first two years for Mabel vs. #941 and #914 in the first two years for Hazel), and Hazel is now at #107.
It's one of the things that interests me about names. Their cycles of popularity, which ones come back and which ones don't, and how long it takes.
ETA: As for the level of popularity it will achieve in future, I tend to disagree. It re-entered the top thousand in 2013 with a stronger start than Hazel had when it re-entered it in 1998 (#707 and #667 in the first two years for Mabel vs. #941 and #914 in the first two years for Hazel), and Hazel is now at #107.
It's one of the things that interests me about names. Their cycles of popularity, which ones come back and which ones don't, and how long it takes.
This message was edited 11/14/2015, 7:17 AM
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no, it isn't made up ...
It's pretty well-known as a jump-rope rhyme. It goes something like "Mabel, Mabel, set the table. Something something something, sugar, salt and DON'T FORGET THE RED! HOT! PEPPER!"
It's pretty well-known as a jump-rope rhyme. It goes something like "Mabel, Mabel, set the table. Something something something, sugar, salt and DON'T FORGET THE RED! HOT! PEPPER!"
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Oh. Just wondering. I jumped rope as a kid, but we never chanted anything.
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It's much more fun when you have something to chant.
M I crooked-letter, crooked-letter i, crooked-letter crooked-letter i, humpback humpback i!
Register, register, spell my name. (Forget how that one ended)
Charlie Chaplin went to France,
to teach the ladies how to dance.
First the heel and then the toe,
Something something and away you go.
M I crooked-letter, crooked-letter i, crooked-letter crooked-letter i, humpback humpback i!
Register, register, spell my name. (Forget how that one ended)
Charlie Chaplin went to France,
to teach the ladies how to dance.
First the heel and then the toe,
Something something and away you go.
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Mabel Mabel set the table
Don't forget the salt and pepper
Vinegar! Vinegar! Vinegar! (Nova Scotia variant.)
also
Charlie Chaplin went to France
to teach the ladies how to dance
Curtesy to the queen, bow to the king
And turn your back on the Kaiser's Jack.
That must be an old one, even I am not old enough to remember the Kaiser.
Don't forget the salt and pepper
Vinegar! Vinegar! Vinegar! (Nova Scotia variant.)
also
Charlie Chaplin went to France
to teach the ladies how to dance
Curtesy to the queen, bow to the king
And turn your back on the Kaiser's Jack.
That must be an old one, even I am not old enough to remember the Kaiser.
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South African variant
Charlie Chaplin went to France
To teach the ladies how to dance
Bow to the king, kneel to the queen
And turn your back on the German submarine
Sabre-rattling stuff, and obviously pretty old. Also very difficult to achieve the third line without falling over. Amazing how children's rhymes can last, like Ring-a-ring-a rosies being about the Great Plague.
Charlie Chaplin went to France
To teach the ladies how to dance
Bow to the king, kneel to the queen
And turn your back on the German submarine
Sabre-rattling stuff, and obviously pretty old. Also very difficult to achieve the third line without falling over. Amazing how children's rhymes can last, like Ring-a-ring-a rosies being about the Great Plague.
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