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I personally don't dislike Bertha, but it will be a long time before it can make a comeback in the United States because of "Big Bertha." That World War I gun just cemented the image of Bertha as an overweight woman, and often also one who is loud and obnoxious, like a cannon. Bertha has been used over and over again by cartoonists and screenwriters in the USA to telegraph those traits in a character, and so far it hasn't been able to overcome it.
Ironically, the reason the phrase "Big Bertha" became so popular was because it was created at just the time Bertha was a very common name in the USA for women in their late 20s. If you look at when the peak of popularity for "Bertha" as an American name was, the American soldiers in World War I would have often had an older sister or cousin named Bertha.
Of course Bertha's problem has mostly to do with weight discrimination -- being fat is just such a bad thing in modern America, with so much prejudice against fat people, that Bertha has way more baggage to overcome than the other Victorian names like Hazel, Mabel, Emma, Ida, etc. Young people have started to be able to see Hazel as being "pretty". but Bertha's "fat" image doesn't allow that as a possibility for most Americans.
Ironically, the reason the phrase "Big Bertha" became so popular was because it was created at just the time Bertha was a very common name in the USA for women in their late 20s. If you look at when the peak of popularity for "Bertha" as an American name was, the American soldiers in World War I would have often had an older sister or cousin named Bertha.
Of course Bertha's problem has mostly to do with weight discrimination -- being fat is just such a bad thing in modern America, with so much prejudice against fat people, that Bertha has way more baggage to overcome than the other Victorian names like Hazel, Mabel, Emma, Ida, etc. Young people have started to be able to see Hazel as being "pretty". but Bertha's "fat" image doesn't allow that as a possibility for most Americans.
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It sounds like "birth-ugh". Not my cup of tea.
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Welp, almost everyone hates it and I'm no exception yet......enough people liked it from 1880 through 1901 to keep it in the top 20 if not the top 10, and it stayed in the top 100 until 1931. When I see that, I think that there's something that modern people are missing and that it just might, possibly, make a comeback. I can remember when everyone, including me, hated Hazel, Pearl, and Mabel, all of which have or are starting to come back, and all of which I now like. Perceptions of Bertha could change.
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I love it with the nickname Birdie.
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I actually think this could make a comeback. I used to think of Emma as being in the same category before it got popular. It is nms, but I do not hate it as much as other people.
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One of the worst names. Ever.
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Hi !!!
Simple spelling and meaning but it seems too dated to my ears.
I can see on a person born before 1960s.
Simple spelling and meaning but it seems too dated to my ears.
I can see on a person born before 1960s.
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My stepsister visited an animal park when she was younger, and volunteered to wear a python named Bertha, around her neck. So, oddly enough, it's a snake name, to me. :P
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Big Bertha
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I don't like it in any language. I think it sounds worse in German than in English, but it's still pretty bad in English.
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I think the 'bur' sound is really ugly, but it sounds nice to me in German and has an interesting history.
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