I like
Laura very much. I proposed it when I was pregnant, but ran into a problem. My husband, who was from Texas, pronounced it completely differently than I did. He said something like LAWR-uh and I said LORE-uh. I didn't like his pronunciation at all; it sounded so "wrong" to me. Well, we never had a girl anyway, so, problem solved.
I don't think it is possible for it to be dated.
Laura is a classic in the same way that names like
Catherine,
Elizabeth,
Mary and
Sarah are.
To me, a
Laura is pretty and delicate, but has an unexpected inner strength.