What do you think of January?

[DiscoDomina]

What do you think of January as a girl's name? Just toying with this if we do have a girl and if she was born in Jan as EDD is 30/1/13! Also what short versions of the name would you use apart from the obious Jan which i'm not a fan of!

[thisisyesterday]

I am not overly keen on months/days as names to be honest.

and with that due date then there's a fairly good chance she won't even be born in January.

i guess they just come over as a bit unimaginative you know? like you couldn't think of a name so you just called her after the month she was born in?

that said, if you LOVE the name it doesn't matter what we think. you should use it

[DiscoDomina]

The name January is quite a departure from the typical names DH and i like and are considering as we are more traditionalists. But we both saw that name and looked at each it other and "January?" But it is unlikely the baby will arive on time anyway so this could all be a moot point!

[dreamingofsun]

would get shortened to jan which is a bit dated for me as reminds me of janets

[manicinsomniac]

I actually quite it but I wouldn't shorten it, I don't like Jan.

[hermionestranger]

Awful. January is the month of penance and fast after the joy and over consumption of christmas.

[DiscoDomina]

I wouldn't shorten it either, but my DH likes to shorthen all of his DCs names!! And i'm not keen on Jan. If we did have a girl and she was born in January just thought it would be nice as we got married in January last year as well so quite a significant month for us!

Alternatives we are thinking of are Henrietta, Abigail, Minerva, Beatrice or Annabel.

[VolAuVent]

Abigail, Beatrice and Annabel are all lovely :)

January is quite nice... or how about another winter-related name? Aurora, Neva, Stella, Joy, Winter, Natalie, Holly, Ivy, Eira, Robyn, Natasha?

Or how about Jenara, the Spanish/Latin version of January?

[SirBoobAlot]

Much prefer any of your alternatives, especially if you have a January EDD!!

Henrietta and Beatrice are lovely. I adore Minerva.

[LemonOCOGTurd]

I like it :)

Makes me think of the actor, January Jones.

[squoosh]

Jones

[OkOkOk]

I like it. But then if you're used to Julio and Domingo being used as names, it's not a massive leap.

I think all months except maybe March and October could work as names.
With days of the week, I like them all except Thursday and Saturday.

[SkinnyMarinkADink]

Awful.

You would forever be explaining the reasoning behind the name, names like may, April are okay as they sound like names but January i don't think that works well.

[numbertaker]

I like the name, but I hate the month of January, and I dont even celebrate christmas.

[MammaTonic]

I was born in January; my real name is linked to a nature/plant-name (it is not Holly or Ivy!) but isn't linked to any season.

I really like January as a name. If my parents had named me January, I would have happily lived with the name. I shall disagree with hermion, and optimistically say that January is the month of new beginnings; of looking ahead; of the new, and dreaming of what is to come.

I your DC is born in January, they'll have £££s to spend in the January sales from any birthday money received.

In terms of NNs, Jan is an obvious one, but you could have Jay, Janey, Jamie/Jaime, Ri, Riri (ree-ree).

Alternatively, I like VolAuVent's suggestions, particularly Winter, Aurora and Stella.

Hope that helps,

MammaT (proud to be a January Girl)

[EdithWeston]

I've only ever come across Winter as a boys name (family tree research).

Although it's usually the summer months used as girls names, I think January would mak a good name, and I'd use the nn Jay (and use I a lot, from early on, so there woukd be no chance for Jan to root for the early years instead).

[Jac1978]

Not keen sorry. It doesn't sound like a name and it's the crappest month of the year!

[BreakOutTheKaraoke]

I like it, and I'm not normally a fan of month names. Really like the suggestion of Neva earlier, never heard that before

[Viviennemary]

Not sure really. But January isn't a nice month normally. Cold, windy and snowy. So not too keen.

[HappyCamel]

Cold, wet and a bit of a let down after December.

[33goingon64]

I think it's lovely. But not if she's not born in January. It works brilliantly for January Jones, love the alliteration. Don't chose if it your surname is Winters or Snow!

[Wafflenose]

I met one nearly 20 years ago, long before I heard of January Jones. It's quite a nice sounding name.

I have taught a March (girl) who was born in September, and a Tuesday who was born on a Friday, which are both rather odd

[amck5700]

i know a June who was born in April :) Don't think they got round to registering her until the last minute and still couldn't decide and by that time it was June!

I think any child would have to be a bit of a character to carry January off but I liked the Jenara suggestion - then you could have Jen or Jenna as nn.

[Gugglebum]

I don't mind it at all, especially since the month has significance for you. I went to school with a September, which I think sounds like far less of a name than January. What about about the nn Ary pronounced 'Airy' just like the end of the name? Of your other options, I like Beatrice best.

[nooka]

I worked with a September, and thought it very odd as a name, but she liked it, which is fundamentally all that matters. Given your January connections I think it might make a really good middle name, and would work with all the other names you have suggested. I suspect that if you did go with January Jan is almost inevitable as the shortened version (not that names have to be shortened, but I really don't think any of the options suggested sound right, and especially given that the month January is standardly shortened to Jan).