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I love Livia and don't think of a bad girl or anything like it when I hear it. Not at all.

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Salome is also a nice one. I actually think of a quite chaste girl when I hear it.

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Lolita is probably the "worst" of them.

Drusilla is the only one I would consider to be a "bad girl" name. Its VERY old, exceedingly uncommon and theres something omnimous and eerie about It. I've seen buffy the vampire slayer (good show btw) and Dusilla was a vampire
So the name makes me think of a vampire or some female character whos like 500 years old. Powerful and evil.
Bellatrix also but only because of the potter character

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The name "Roxanne" makes me think of a bad girl but not in the way Drusilla does. Roxanne makes me think of a girl who doesnt listen to what shes told, lives life on the edge, party type of girl. Not afraid to speak her mind

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Avalon: very serious sounding. Some girl you dont mess with type.
Esther: perhaps because of the 'orphan' movie. Esther sounds sweet and innoncent but inside lurks an evil little girl! Muhaha (:
And Mildred. It has the sound of 'Dread' in it. @_@

The only ones I see as "bad girl" names are Bellatrix, Lilith, Jezebel Lolita and Salome. Ok, Lolita was more of a victim than a "bad girl", but the name is now a synonim with "oversexualized teen ager".

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Ravenna, Drusilla and Magenta I wouldn't use anyway. The others are perfectly useable imo, the association is so slight.

Bellatrix- definitely HP associated. It's such a badass name though
Clove- is this because of Hunger Games or something else? Not a bad name to me, kinda nice
Cora- this is definitely not a bad girl name, one of my favourites this one.
Delilah- this is a bible thing right? It's funny that its a bad girl name because it sounds so soft and sweet.
Drusilla- sounds bad girl, kinda ugly.
Jezebel- also the bible right? Kinda spunky name
Lilith- my least favourite of the Lily names but still okay. I feel the th at the end is what makes it bad girl. I feel like Judith would be a tad evil too.
Livia- I think this is pretty, not bad girl at all.
Lolita- definitely a grandmother name. Evil grandmother? No I don't think so.
Magenta- not a name to me, good or bad girl.
Nellie- how is this a bad girl name? Sounds soft and sweet. Bit dull for me though
Ravenna- reminds me of ravenous. I could imagine this on a bad girl
Salome - sad sounding name to me
Vesper- this isn't a name, it's a scooter.

Delilah is pretty, but I just don't like it at all. It's got a sickly sound also got too much baggage.
Jezebel and Lilith aren't useable. I don't care if you want to put a modern, feminist spin on the characters, these names will be embarrassing to bear, encourage judgemental first impressions, and it's also hoisting your opinions on your children. Nope.

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Vesper is cool, but I don't find it bad. It makes me think of evenings, or even vespers, and vespers are about as far from 'badass' as you can get.

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Magenta 'Maggie' was the name of a really fun, dumb, flaky, teenage-style rebel character I used to RP. She was dumb as a rock, forgetful, slightly bitchy, air-headed and had bad luck and no idea how to sort her life out. I loved her because she was so stupid. So yeah, I get this dumb, flaky, over-grown child impression from this name. In a word, it's juvenile, but I still like it in very specific character-based circumstances.

yeeah, bad girl names are my thing. I especially like the ones that moonlight as good girl names - like Lizzie.

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A couple I don't see as "bad", or don't get the reference - like Clove, Nellie, and Cora. I am fond of the classic bad girls like Delilah and Salome, Drusilla and Livia. I don't think Lolita classifies as "bad" at all - actually it makes me sad. Lola, sure. Lolita? No.

This message was edited 9/11/2014, 12:38 PM

I see Delilah, Drusilla, Jezebel, Lilith, Lolita, and Salome as bad girl names, not the others. Of those, I only really like Delilah. Of these, I think only Delilah and Drusilla are marginally usable, though I dislike Drusilla.

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The reason I think of Drusilla as a bad girl name has nothing to do with Buffy. I know nothing of Buffy. It's because of the stepsister in Disney's "Cinderella." Although it was brought to my attention that her name is not Drusilla but Drizella, for years I thought it was Drusilla (and think it should be) and they sound so similar.

I think the article relied a lot on generational pop culture references. I mean, Cora for the Postman Always Rings Twice... I guess it is bad-girl if you also look at the popular TV show Once Upon a Time though.

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in any case, here are my thoughts:
Bellatrix - I think this is pretty anyway. The reference will die out, but for now, I think it unasable (unfortunately).
Clove - I actually like this, but my GP list is full of herbal and flowery names, as well as anything else word-y. However, this is not a bad-girl name since that character was not so prominent to the story.
Cora - I prefer the similar Cara in aesthetics, but this will never be linked to bad-girl-dom to me.
Delilah - I know its getting popular, and I have met some young-uns with the name, but I am not a fan for the biblical reference mostly because I prefer strong role models in names.
Drusilla - It's silly, BECAUSE of the Cinderella referenc (mentioned in article). I would not say Buffy villains get much credit for names since there were just so many.
Jezebel - The article said this is negative because of the "hussy" connotation, I disagree... I think it is negative because Jezebel was torn apart and eaten by dogs. Bad imagery taints the name. I could see someone using it though, just because of the history.
Lilith - Standard bad girl name for a character, but totally separated in real life. It's a nice name and I prefer it to the shorter Lily.
Livia - The article assumes that the general person knows their Machiavellian history - they do not. This name is considered a trendy shortening of Olivia. And, rightly so - since it is (to me).

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Bellatrix: It's so overdone and so Harry Potter it's definitely unusable.
Clove : Not a name to me.
Cora: I don't know why this is considered a bad-girl name. It's dull and heavy and frumpy.
Delilah: It has a pretty sound but it's a bit over the top. Plus in the US we all know about the obnoxious soft-rock radio call-in show hosted by the insufferably smarmy Delilah.
Drusilla: Ugly and witchy sound.
Jezebel: It's such a classic bad-girl name that not even fictional bad girls are given it. It's to theatrical even for fiction.
Lilith: Ugly sound, self-conscious Goth-girl handle, second only to Raven.
Livia: Yawn. The only thing remotely bad-girl about it is it was Tony Soprano's nasty, senile mother. Otherwise it's just a hipster's attempt to stick close to Olivia without using something so, gasp, POPULAR.
Lolita: Not even a grandma name here. Like Jezebel, it is now a common noun, describing a very young girl who behaves promiscuously and flirtatiously. Entirely inappropriate as a name.
Magenta: the character Magenta in the Rocky Horror Picture Show was mean as a snake. Otherwise it's a flaky, goofy color name, like something a third-grade girl might name her pink stuffed unicorn.
Nellie: Nellie Oleson in the Little House on the Prairie books and TV show was definitely bad, but not in the kind of "ooh, bad-ass! Grlll power! Rah rah!" way this article seems to define it. Nellie Oleson was just a brat. Nellie itself is a very homely, blah name.
Ravenna: Like I said in the post a few threads below, it's too Disney.
Salome: A stripper who asked for somebody's head as payment. Yeah, it's a bad-girl name but very over the top and obvious, and plus it'd be fun to pronounce it like salami.
Vesper: Kind of hipster "bad" I guess. Reminds me of a Vespa.