Help convince me this name is nice please!

Just start calling your bump something different that you want.

Calling the bump Catherine now is fairly territorial and staking his claim on the name and fixing it now so it can't be changed later on. Even if it's a 'bump' name rather than a baby name, if you are both calling it different names then when it is born there is no fixed name, you can see what seems right.

If you didn't like any other of his choices and he didn't like yours, I would sit down and make another list each and see if anything else crops up.

At least it will show him that as far as you are concerned you haven't chosen a name for your dd yet - the more he calls the bump and you don't say anything then it will happen by default.

As someone who ended up with a second name for ds2 (3) that was because dh didn't like any of my choices and we were there at the registrars and it had to be done and I still think 'how on earth did I end up with a child with a second name of xxx?' and it still upsets me so I can imagine it would be a whole lot worse for the first name to be one that you feel very unexcited by.

I'd exploit your pg hormones and just get cross at dh for continually calling the bump 'his' name and say that you are not going to call your dd a name you don't like (time to get decisive that you don't like it - doesn't sound like you like it from your op) and if you're around others who say anything about the name or hear dh using Catherine then just say that the collective 'we' haven't decided on a name yet and that dh is trying to influence you but that the more you hear it the less you like it and the only thing he is doing is confirming that you know you don't want to call your dd Catherine.

Good luck - start looking at new names (trawl through the mn names, find lists of scottish, celtic, welsh, spanish, russian, etc etc names for inspiration) and name books and see if you can find something you both love!

I love Katrina (& most versions of Katherine, although not Caitlin).
Katya is a Russian name in my mind, not a NN for something else.

DD & DS3 have "acceptable" names. Sometimes it's a matter of compromise. DH loves DD's name & we wrangled so much over DS2's name I didn't have energy to wrangle over DS3. :)

I'm in the same position with DH pleading to call our baby 'Sophie'

I just can't get excited about
Such a 'meh' name

I'm afraid it reminds me of latrine too.

Hehe Catherine or actually Kathryn would be a name on our list... however, I am Caitriona and referred to as Kate! So would be a bit... inappropriate lol.

I will say, have a 5 year old, and since she has been born, I haven't come across one Catherine (or other version of the name) in anything I have done with my daughter, so my instinct would be that its not incredibly common anymore... which would be a bonus.

But seriously, if you don't like it, in my experience, you never really warm to it. Try talking to your partner carefully about it, you could have Catherine made into a middle name so not to lose it altogether?

My name is Catherine I don't like the French pronounciation though, it sounds too old for a baby/little girl.

Clearly biased, but great name!

I like a lot on Louplet's list. Good work!

Gabrielle
Cordelia
Colette
Delphine
Seraphine
Laure
Lysette
Aurelie

Catrine also rhymes with latrine.

Gabrielle
Cordelia
Colette
Delphine
Seraphine
Laure
Lysette
Aurelie

It's an 'acceptable' name? Do you want to call your darling daughter something you only find 'acceptable'???

'I'll never call her by her proper name' - and you are happy with that for your daughter ???

Blimey.

If you don't love it - don't do it or you will more than likely end up being one of the posters who are here a year in upset that the name still isn't right for them and can they change it!?

There are millions of names - you need to keep looking & DH needs to realise that you don't live in France, if he wants a french name (& you are happy with that) it would be much easier on your daughter if it wasn't commonly pronounced differently where she will be growing up!! There is just no point, whatsoever, in calling her Catherine and expecting all and sundry to call her Catrine - it wont happen!!

What about Helen? There are loads of versions; Helene, Helena, Elena, Eleni, Elaine etc. I'm not crazy about Catherine either, although I really like Kit or Kitty. Katia even.

I think a name that is pronounced completely differently in French and English is a bad idea, given your requirements.

Personally I think the pronunciation Catrine is ugly sounding in English.

The baby's not named until it's here. Keep looking.

And don't be browbeaten into a name you don't like.

What about Caroline? That is translates well in Europe doesn't it?

How about Katya.....it has a little more spunk to it!! Its also a bit more unusual!

I agree with ATruth, too (as I said at the start...) Not sure why your DH gets Ultimate Deciding Powers, over both choice and pronunciation. I think it's very likely anyway that if you do call the baby Catherine, that's what she'll be (with English pronunciation) known as in Britain and Catrine pron. will be used by her French family members and when in France.

agree with ATruth

Catherine however is a lovely name, but if you don't love it then it is not the one for your baby.

Catherine is swoonworthy imo and the nickname possibilities are vast: Kitty, Trina, Kate, Cat, etc. The French prn is gorgeous too.

I especially like that it's well-known across all European languages, and in all ex-European colonies, so that's an awful lot of countries where she'll have no troubles introducing herself. (My name is not like that.. nor is my DH's... sometimes makes travelling/meeting new people annoying).

Also the name is classic enough that I, for one, don't associate it immediately with the new Duchess.

I think it's soooo lovely and your girl would be lucky to be so beautifully named! JMO of course, but take it for what it's worth.

I agreed to a name that I thought was okay, 6 years on I still haven't warmed it so I wouldn't go with it if you're not sure.

Catherine is lovely. Really lovely. Lots of nice nicknames. Classy. Great.

However (and I've struck through this because I know it's not what you want to hear) why do you get so little say in what your child is called? The child you've carried for nine months and will love and care for for the rest of her life? Um, I'd be adamant it was a name I liked

We're in the same boat OP, DH is set on Catherine if ours is a girl and it's a lovely name but I don't 'love' it. We've had so many issues choosing a name that I think I may go with it, as I'm getting my way with a middle name. The good thing about the name is that there are so many short versions to choose from (think I'll go for Kitty) that you should be able to find something you like. It is also a name which is known in many countries (although maybe your DH's insistence on the French pronunciation is a little too far if not all the family is French?) and can be adapted by your DD in the future to suit her.

I have a Kathryn and she is now aged 14 shortened to Kat at home but still Kathryn to her friends. Also know a Catherine who is known as kitty and that's lovely and pretty.

You will know more when baby appears as it may just not suit her at all when you see her. We have at least 4 boys names for our bump but won't decide until he is here. I am not convinced on any of them!

It's gorgeous and is both classy and classical. However your dh needs to understand that it will be forever pronounced the English way over here, or else spelt wrongly if written down after being heard pronounced the French way. He's being willfully stupid if he thinks otherwise.