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Agatha
Agatha rose 60% in the USA between 2020 and 2021. There were more girls named Agatha in the USA (136) in 2021 than there had been since 1926. So it seems that Agatha is being noticed again by new parents who like to revive old names with a "clunky" vibe. What do you think of Agatha? Do you know any young Agathas? And do you know of any pop culture influences that could be helping to revive the name? (These questions are especially for those who live in English-speaking countries),
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Agatha is along the lines of Bertha, Gertrude, etc. where I just can’t imagine it will ever come back to style… and I’m ok with that. While I don’t like Agnes, and think it along the same lines, I prefer it to Agatha. Someone else made the point that it’s neither the trendy masculine/gender neutral name nor the frilly feminine name, and I agree it does fit nicely in that category, but there are just so many other names that I like that fall into that lane.
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Agatha is quite beautiful, really. Old-fashioned in a “it never gets old” kind of way. I find Agatha to be quite intelligent, humble, and a bit witchy too like Ravenna. It also has a good meaning so yeah, I’d say it’s a good name!Agatha Roisin
Agatha Elizabeth
Agatha Laurel
Agatha Esmé
Agatha Lucine
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I think Agatha is probably at the top ten of ugliest names. It’s just… hideous. And for some reason, all I can think of is Agatha-hagatha… I don’t remember ever calling anybody such an awful name, or anybody calling me that, or even hearing it. I have no idea why my brain is stuck on that.
I think the reason is reviving is the same reason ugly old lady names like Dorothy, Betty, Martha, Hilda etc, are on names of little girls in my daughters 1st grade classes… they’re becoming the new trend. They’re “different” than Harper and Sophia and Payton.
In my daughters classes there is the craziest range of names. You go from Dorothy to Grace to Paisley. Like… old fashioned to the extreme, common enough for many years, to new and trendy. I suppose it’s not all that crazy to some, but it makes me laugh sometimes.
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Did you ever watch any episodes of the old American sitcom "Bewitched"? There was a character called Aunt Hagatha who appeared in several episodes of that series over its run.
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I’ve always loved Agatha. It doesn’t sound clunky or abrasive to me at all and, in my mind, fits right in with perennially popular/classic names like Abigail, Amelia, etc. I find it feminine and pretty, and the sounds in it actually quite soft and pleasing.
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I’ve loved Agatha for years, but I can understand why people wouldn’t like the sound. I’d blame Marvel for the popularity boost.
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I actually know a baby named Agnes but no Agathas yet. I think Agatha is cool in an abrasive sort of way, which I like because I'm sick of all of the soft traditionally feminine names that are so popular now, like Isabella and Sophia, which are giving girls a tacit message about femininity, or the anti-frill names like Harper and Addison, which are giving girls another sort of message. I do think names like Agatha are, apart from aesthetics, important, because they're strong feminine names, not masculine (read: strong or plucky) names used for women. In other words, if we must find meaning in this shift, we could say that the old sort of thinking is that we need to be like men to be strong, but the newer way of thinking is that there are lots of ways of being strong and none require adopting masculinity in any form. This is just one reading of the situation and of course I'm reading deep between the lines trying to make meaning of something that might not need any analysis whatsoever. But this is what I do, and I do enjoy doing it.
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I used to think Agatha was dreadful, when I was a kid. But it has really grown on me, and now I appreciate its witchiness. I also know a couple people who think the name is beautiful, and that has helped me see it more positively. One person I know really wanted to name her daughter this, but couldn't convince her husband. So I know one almost-Agatha :) There was a positive character named Agatha in Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel", but that came out in 2014 I think, so I don't know if that would have contributed to people liking the name more.
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I've long loved Agatha. What about that hugely popular song from WandaVision, "Agatha All Along"?
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I love “old lady names” and Agatha is one of them! It isn’t my favourite, but I’d love to meet a young Agatha!
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I think Agatha is just horrible. The ag sound is very ugly to me, I don't like Agatha or Agnes or Maggie or Jagger or Magnus either.
I'm thinking the Agatha Raisin mystery novels might be at least partially to blame for Agatha's rise.
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