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I think it really depends on the person's viewpoint - it's like the word "old". Is "old" a bad word? Sometimes it can be a lovely term; sometimes it can be meant as an insult. It all depends on how its used. Some people use "dated" as a way to dismiss a name, but it doesn't always have to be that way.

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Using "dated" can be really helpful in terms of gaining insight on how a name is viewed by people. If some say "This is very dated to the 70s" that doesn't necessarily mean anything bad, like a name is no longer suitable. Maybe someone wants a name that evokes the 70s, nothing wrong with that. You like a lot of names that feel very dated to the 80s and 90s to me, and that's fine. There's no accounting for taste; people like all sorts of things. And I think that's great.

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I suppose "outdated" sounds a bit more transparently negative, if you consider being "out of fashion" to be a bad thing. But I don't come across that term too often now that I think on it.