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I had an aunt by marriage by the name of Irene. She was a nice enough woman, kind of shrill, with a habit of moving her dentures around in her mouth. I was oddly fascinated by this habit as a child. So I always associate the name with her. For years, by default, because of my aunt, I considered it an old dowdy lady name. Not that she was particularly dowdy, but to me it was dowdy just because it seemed an older generation name.

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When I can free it from that association, I have to admit that it is rather pretty and elegant. I can't really think of it as shy, though, because my aunt was anything but shy. Still, I would approve of a baby Irene.