Ida

• What do people have against old names? My mother, named Ida, was born in 1933, and hated that her name was so old (most Ida's were born a generation or more before her, just after the turn of the century). Perhaps there is a critical period for names, and what is sufficiently old is new again. As the centegenerian Ida's start passing away, I think now is the time to revive this strong, simple, feminine name that everyone can spell and pronounce.
• This is the name of my Great Grandmother. This name is so traditional, and one might conjure up a stern, bun-clad woman but I believe it is so beautiful and handsomely feminine in it's simplicity.
• There is an old song, "Ida, sweet as apple cider..." which I just love. This is the kind of stuffy, old lady type name which sounds fresh and funky to me these days. I think it has a lot of years ahead of it!

Ida is a Norman name, derived from a Germanic root meaning "work." Though it fell out of favor in the late Middle Ages, it was revived by Tennyson for a character in his work The Princess (1847).

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