confused please help . ds4 has caused confusion

[smilingserenely]

finally this week after weeks /months of wrangling accepted dh's name choice (felicity) for dd4 (age 8 months)over my choice cecily and used our joint second favourite arabella a name we both love as her second name but worried it was to posh grand a name etc to use as afirst name .

she has spent most of the last 8 months known as little one or pet by me etc . as we I have been so indecisive .i have always really disliked dh's choice and hated using it or hearing it etc until very recentky . it is only in the last week have grown to like dh's choice enough to use it for her without cringing .

suddenly today ds4 age 3 who has verbal dyspraxia and find certain sounds impossible to articulate announced to a friend my baby sister is called arabella (pronounced Perfectly).i nearly cried as it was really sweet ,really cute and lovely to hear him say her name so perfectly .it also sounds really lovely . also i think it would suit her perfectly.

felicity the best he can manage is "licity" and being a "f" sound will probably not be pronounced properly for some time. also as verbal dyspraxia is common in our family dd4 is also likely to have similar articulation problems nd it would be nice for her to be able to pronounce her own name sooner rather than later .

question being do we stick with felicity or change to using arabella

[DooinMeCleanin]

I like felicity, Arabella is very nice too. Go with the name you like most, how ds4 pronounces it really doesn't matter. According to dd2, dd1 is called bye-wee-way. Dd1 does not seem to mind

[smilingserenely]

thank you reality .
really thinking it might be the right thing to do just concerned that at 8 months it might be too late .

[GrimmaTheNome]

I think at 8 months we were still calling DD by her pre-birth tag of 'Poodle' often as not.

Its not uncommon to use the second name, go for it so long as your DH is happy with it too. Arabella shortens nicely to Bella which is (by definition!) beautiful.

[typsical]

It must be a hard decision with her being 8 months, but I think in this case I'd be tempted to change to Arabella. More for the fact that you didn't really like Felicity in beginning, and it sounds as though you've made yourself like it...? I like both names btw, but prefer Arabella - I love saying it! Good luck :)

[smilingserenely]

grimma dh does like it . it has always been his second choice .
it would also be nice to call her arabella as not only be a compromise but also it would be alovely story to tell her in years to come how her brother picked her name. although being siblings she'll probably hate him for it

[smilingserenely]

typsical you are right it has definitely been a case of forcing myself to like felicity for the case of family harmony .

[NeverEatYellowTaintedSnow]

Swinging a vote your way for Arabella. I prefer it as a name anyway, but given the way this dilemma came up, it seems almost illogical to go with anything else.

[MelinaM]

Arabella = beautiful! Yep definitely change it, it sounds as if you forced yourself to like it which isn't good!

[smilingserenely]

melina more a case of realising "a rose by any name would smell as sweet " and therefore it didn't really matter whether she was called felicity or not .

arabella had always been the compromise but didn't feel brave enough to use it .

[ib]

Both are nice but did I read that right? Dd4 and ds4? You have 8 children?

At this stage if you have any names left you agree on you should just use them, all other considerations be damned!

[smilingserenely]

ib that has been the problem 8 dcs all with 3 names and ten nieces and one little girl born an angel( with 3 names ) . all this has meant we struggled to find any name we both liked never mind loved .

dh only loved one name felicity but would compromise on arabella . felicity has always felt like his choice and a name that had been forced on me but i had grown to like it .

funny how sometimes it takes a 3 year old to make adults see sense .

[smilingserenely]

vino some of my issues with felicity have always been it's use in acertain aussie soap opera .
really surprised howc positive peoples reaction to arabella and the possibility of name changing . i had been expecting aflaming .