Mumsnet Talk

I love Greek mythology, and these names:

Persephone (pr. Per-seph-onee)
Hera
Hero
Pheobe
Rhea
Iris
Ariadne
Electra
Hermione

Artemis
Demeter
Cadmus
Phineas
Leander

I love Persephone, Ariadne and Hermione for a girl and Leander, Cadmus and Phineas for a boy (although the latter will probably end up as Finn...)

I love Persephone but it means Bringer of Death and a Rhea is large flightless South American bird that looks like an emu.

I like Hermione and Leander though!

Persephone - lovely
Hera - not keen
Hero - not keen
Pheobe - is it not Phoebe? Lovely but very popular round here
Rhea - ok
Iris - less keen
Ariadne - not keen
Electra - not keen
Hermione - lovely

Artemis - not keen
Demeter - not keen
Cadmus - not sure
Phineas - would remind me of the Disney carton Phineas and Ferb
Leander - OK maybe

Phoebe is my favourite from your list. Phineas from your boys' list.

I love greek mythology names. You have excellent taste

Hera
Hero
Pheobe
Rhea
Iris
Ariadne
Electra
Hermione

Artemis
Demeter
Cadmus
Phineas
Leander

Add to the list - Calypso, Oenone, Thalia, Aglaia, Thales, Athene

phlossie I agree with the love of Greek mythology names, and I really like 'Iris' and 'Phoebe'. The trouble with names from myths is that so many of the protagonists were very unfortunate! I'd have trouble with 'Electra' for that reason. I really like Andromache and Cassandra but again the associated stories might be enough to put me off.

(Probably not off Cassandra actually as I rather like that one).

I also love the concept of 'Hera' but would you pronounce it 'hear-a' or 'herr-a' or something else? Juno is the Roman counterpart and I rather like that too...

Persephone (pr. Per-seph-onee) - lovely
Hera - Lovely
Hero - Lovely
Phoebe - nice
Rhea - I think of the bird (also sounds like "rear", which might be awkward to live with)
Iris - OK
Ariadne - lovely
Electra - OK
Hermione - OK

Artemis - lovely (for a girl, of course, after the goddess)
Demeter - Lovely (again for a girl, after the goddess)

Cadmus - Ok
Phineas - not so keen
Leander - lovely

I also am put off slightly by the connotations - Oeneone is my favourite name ever however she is a rather tragic character in both Greek mythology and also in Phedre. So that would put me off using it.

I would say that hera is pronounced hair-a

Persephone - gorgeous
Hera - reminds me too much of She-Ra (may be my age)
Hero - lovely but sounds a bit masculine to me
Phoebe - pretty but quite popular
Rhea - ok
Iris - gorgeous - my favourite
Ariadne - don't like
Electra - don't like
Hermione - gorgeous - second favourite

Artemis - don't like
Demeter - don't like
Cadmus - don't like
Phineas - nice but would be shortened to Finn, which is a bit meh
Leander - like this a lot

Also love Juno for a girl

Persephone also represents spring and new life because it's winter until she comes out of the Underworld for six months... but I know what you're saying about the meanings and stories.

I'd say Hair-a.

Also love Juno - I might read up on Roman and Norse mythology too!

Ha - just looked a Norse mythology, and a lot of names sound like storage solutions from Ikea...

I wouldn't call someone Electra, as to me, its equivalent to calling a boy Oedipus. Like your other names other than Demeter - assume you are spelling Phoebe, not Pheobe?

I like Hero due to the Shakesperean associations, but you may get some funny looks due to the masculine nature of the noun "hero".

Phineas is raher fabulous.

Yeah sorry, I was half asleep when I posted this morning - I meant Phoebe, and I didn't mean to leave a massive gap in the middle of the list!

That's how my DH feels about Hero. Much Ado is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, and I already have a Beatrice!

Also Electra makes me think of Baywatch...

I love Greek and Roman names, both mythological and historical.

BUT so many of these names are those of rape victims, including Persephone. We wanted to give our DD a classical name, but didn't want it to be that of a victim.

That was our thinking on the matter, anyway!

How about Helen (Midsummer Night's Dream as well as Troy), or Penelope? Both would go well with Beatrice IMO.

Hmmm. I know. I love the name, and lots of people wouldn't know the mythology... but then if it were my name, I'd look it up.

Just looking at Shakespeare names, and got distracted by Denzel Washington in leather trousers... wouldn't call my baby Don Pedro, though!

Thanks, BlueChampage, but I have a weird aunt called Penelope and 6 Helens in my phonebook!

I love Greek mythological names! We have Artemis and Apollo down as middle names for bump. We looked at so many others, but we couldn't get past the associated (often tragic) stories!

I think Ariadne is beautiful though, as is Phoebe. Rhea's having a bit of a resurgence atm though, so there might be quite a few around when it comes to playgroups etc. Also Hermione is (rather unfortunately IMO) now mostly associated with Harry Potter rather than mythology/Shakespeare.

Hero or Electra, we absolutely loved these if any of our lot had been a DD! I also love Juno. For the boys Phineas is pretty great!

Go for broke:

Nafsika

...mind what you say as I have to spell it ten times a day!

But seriously

For a girl: Alkisti, Daphne, Andromaxi,

For a boy: Socrates (actually still faily popular in Greece today), Nikomaxos (nice for Niki), Alkibiades, Aris (also still fairly popular)

I love Electra and Ariadne. A Greek friend of mine - very beautiful and high achieving - is an Electra!

Ariadne's gorgeous. I knew a Leander at university - good name.

What about Hector for a boy?

Other possibilities:
Antigone
Hestia
Eurynome
Maia
Selene
Phaedra

Castor
Nestor
Telemachus

they nearly all have too extravagant a feel for me, but if you like them and you can carry them off, why not?