What became of Gertrude, Maude, Lenore and Irene? Those are all on my maternal side. Great old names, all of them. How sad to see them go.
I have an Aunt Lenore and an Aunt Irene. My MIL’s name is Lenora. I liked the name Lenore so much, I used it for the middle name of both of my daughters.
I think my negative visceral reaction to “Gertrude” came from looking at my mother’s high school yearbook. They had a Gertrude in their class whose picture appeared by the dictionary definition of “hideous”. And I had an Aunt Gertrude who was a saint of a person, very warm and friendly, but again was less visually appealing than the south end of a northbound horse.
Just never dug “Gertrude” after that. But it beats “Shamika” or some of the other faux names.
Pop cultural, to some degree. Gertrude Stein, Maude (Bea Arthur as a nasty liberal) and Irene (Ryan, Granny of Beverly Hillbillies fame.)