Girls short-shortlist - do I push for my favourite..??

[crumpetsolo]

DH and I sort of agree that we like..

Alice
Josephine

but I love love love Thea, and DH is a bit blah. I think this will be my last baby, do I try and convince him of give in?

Told you it was a short shortlist

[autodidact]

I'd push if you think there's a good chance he'll come round. But if he's deeply convinced of its meh-ness and really loves the others then that's a veto from him, in effect.

I'd go for Josephine, personally. Very cool! What about Josephine Thea?

[1footinfront]

Or could she be Thea Alice then if she realy likes Alice she could use that instead? Could you have Thea as a middle name and if she likes it she can use it as the first.

BTW I MUCH prefer Thea over Alice or Josephine.

Thea is a gorgeous name!

[AnnaBafana]

Thea is gorgeous - give the puppy dog eyes immediately after giving birth. Worked for me

[crumpetsolo]

Will practice puppy dog eyes, and maybe some subliminal messaging when he is asleep. I love it.

I do like Josephine, nn Joey of Pheen but don't like Jo, which I guess is inevitable. Could make do with Alice, but maybe it's a bit boring...

[3plusbump]

Ha ha AnnaBafana - worked for me too!

[diddl]

Thea by far the best of the three imo.

[autodidact]

Definitely agree that there is a high chance of successfully emotionally blackmailing persuading partners round to your 1st choice immediately after birth. Worked for me too! However, do think that you need to have a shortlist that includes no names either person actively dislikes. It would be horrible for either person to secretly think their baby's name was blah or worse, after all. So you really must keep working on him till he finds Thea unblah if that's the name you've set your heart on.

[bigstripeytiger]

Is there anything that he might agree to the could shorten to Thea? I have heard of people using Xanthe as the formal name, and then Thea as the nick name.

[suspiria]

Theodora shortened to Thea? It has the vintage appeal of your other choices

[JosephineClaire]

I'm a Josephine and throughout childhood I have always been Josephine - no nicknames. I don't even remember people trying to call me Jo, until I was about 21.
A few people would call me Josie and I would correct them pretty quickly, so it was never a problem - don't rule out a name because of a NN, it doesn't have to be used if you don't want it to be
(until they've grown up, anyway!)

[Bonsoir]

Thea isn't a very nice name - very dull and anonymous. Alice or Josephine are much nicer.

[diplodoris]

In order of preference

1. Josephine
2. Alice
3. Thea

[George2010]

Defo keep up with the harrasing if you love it ;) my DH wasn't at all convinced of my sons name at first but now (obviously!) loves it...Your other choices are lovely though too.

[jellybeans]

Josephine is my favourite but Thea is nice too.

[CakeandRoses]

If you can convince DH to at least short-list it then the puppy dog eyes might well work.

I actually prefer Alice then Josephine followed by Thea but its your (and your DH's) opinion that matters. They're all perfectly good names so its just down to personal preference.

[mathanxiety]

I prefer Josephine and Alice too. I think Thea is a bit wispy, tbh.

Theodora or Theodosia, or even Ianthe are stronger-sounding.

But that's neither here nor there -- who got to name the previous babies? If DH is just lukewarm and not dead set against it, then keep working on him, suggest compromises wrt longer names with Thea as a nn, or middle names...

[marmaladecat123]

You could try to persuade him if he is unsure as it is possible that the name may grow on him. However, if really dislikes it, I think you have to leave it as you should both like the name.
I actually like Alice the best.

[mopsyflopsy]

I like Josephine a lot, and like the nickname options - Jo, Josie, Posie.

Thea is ok, but I'd worry about the pronounciation: Thee-a, They-a, Te-a, Tee-a... and the fact that most non-English speakers cannot pronounce 'th'.

[proudfoot]

All nice names but if you want Thea then you can still try to persuade him (at least for the middle name if he really doesn't go for it as the first name)

[nooka]

Personally I think that you should both love the names you choose for your child, so I'd go on looking.

[Hedwig3]

I don't like Thea.

Josephine Alice sounds nice.

[thislittlesisterlola]

If you love it push for it
I think Alice is a lovely name too

[gladders]

if you love it and it suits her when she arrives, then definitely stick to your guns.