When The Golden Girls hit the small screen in 1985, the names of its leading ladies—Rose, Dorothy and Blanche—were late middle aged, and Mama Sophia was old enough to have already been in and out of  the Shady Pines Nursing Home.  That was 25 years ago, a period of major change in the name world.  Sophia is now the seventh most popular baby name (and #1 in some places), Rose is America‘s favorite middle name, and Dorothy is one of the belles of the nameberry name boards.

　　Not only that: other Golden Girl names, names that were virtually written off just a couple of years ago, are back in play.  Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, for example, named one of their twin daughters Marion, Julia Roberts chose Hazel for hers and Molly Ringwald picked Adele.  And nameberryites are cool with similar period names like Clara and Cora, Vivian and Vera.

　　Here are some other alternative names that might have been used for the Golden Girls ladies—are any of them ready to join Rose and Sophia?

　　ALMA

　　BETTY

　　CEIL

　　DELLA

　　DORIS

　　EDITH

　　EDNA

　　ELEANOR

　　ESTHER

　　ETHEL

　　EVELYN

　　FAY

　　FLORENCE

　　GLADYS

　　HELEN

　　IRENE

　　JEAN

　　JOY

　　JOYCE

　　LOIS

　　LUCILLE

　　MARIE

　　MARJORIE

　　MIRIAM

　　MONA

　　MURIEL

　　MYRNA

　　MYRA

　　NAOMI

　　NORMA

　　PAULINE

　　PEARL

　　PHYLLIS

　　ROSEMARY

　　RUTH

　　SALLY

　　SELMA

　　SIBYL

　　SHIRLEY

　　SYLVIA

　　TERESA

　　THELMA

　　And what if they were scripting and casting an updated 2010 version of the Girls?  Here are some plausible names for the new 65-year-old characters—are any of them ready for their baby-name comebacks or, in the words of another old sitcom, are they too close for comfort?

　　ANITA

　　ARLENE

　　BARBARA

　　BEVERLY

　　BONNIE

　　BRENDA

　　CAROL

　　CHERYL

　　DIANE

　　DOLORES

　　DONNA

　　EILEEN

　　ELAINE

　　ELLEN

　　GAIL

　　HELENE

　　JANET

　　JANICE

　　JOAN

　　JOANNE

　　JULIE

　　KAREN

　　KATHLEEN

　　LINDA

　　LORRAINE

　　LYNN

　　MARCIA/MARSHA

　　MARILYN

　　MARLENE

　　NANCY

　　PATRICIA

　　PAULA

　　ROBERTA

　　SANDRA

　　SHARON

　　SHEILA

　　SUSAN, SUZANNE

　　YVONNE