Would you call your baby Fanny?

Do you like your name? I remember growing up I didn't, mostly because I couldn't say it properly. Then there was the phase where I shortened it to 'Natty' all my friends names ended in 'y' - Vicky, Chessy, Izzy, Lucy. As I got older I made my name shorter to Nat. Then decided it was too familiar so I try to use it in full now.

Friends have done similar things - a Vicky from school always introduces herself as Victoria, yet my pal Giancarla gets her name shortened to GC (something I think she introduced due to being fed up with incorrect pronunciation)

Now we are at an age where the responsibility to pick names for our children lies upon us. A friend is in a dilemma as to what he will call his next child. To me it seems an exciting and somewhat extraordinary privilege but terrifying for others. There's always lists of the most popular names, but today it has been revealed the names that are dying out. 

Cecil, Rowland, Bertha, Blodwen, Fanny, Gertrude, Gladys, Muriel and Margery or Marjorie are also names that were very popular a century ago but are now believed effectively to be extinct, according to analysis by the genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk.

There are certain names that just sound old, but is that by association eg, your Nan was called Gladys or the lady at the end of the road where you grew up was Margery. I had an Auntie Fanny and and Uncle Willie growing up - and whilst it caused many a snigger amongst me and my cousins it was pretty common. Fanny was also once a staple of Enid Blyton books and apparently Margret Thatcher said of her deputy 'Every Prime Minister needs a Willie'. Yet no Willies have been listed on recent birth certificates.

When you hear about celebs calling their children stupid names, you can't help but feel sorry for the kid. I have visions of Moses Paltrow being picked on at school - maybe in a swimming lesson where his peers will ask him to part the chlorinated waters!

How do you decide on the right name? Maybe you've grown up not liking yours, so you're adamant to pick well when you have children. Would you go retro or just play it safe?