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Ashley is pretty enough. I suppose it's not as popular now as it once was, but even so, the problem is, a name that is not popular with babies being born now, but is very popular amongst twenty-somethings, just seems passe. For instance, our erstwhile neighbors had a now four-year-old named Heather. I don't like Heather, but even if I did, I wouldn't think, "Heather! Cool! There aren't many four-year-olds named Heather!" I've known so many older Heathers that all I thought was, "Heather! How passe! Don't they know how tired Heather is?" Because I've known so many of them. I've known quite a few Ashleys also.

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Names need a longer rest than Ashley has had. It's not fresh enough to be charming in an old-fashioned way.