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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

One week till the registry office appointment: our girl's name shortlist

61 replies

RakeABedOfTyneFilth · 22/09/2013 10:40

Baby girl is two weeks old, and we have booked our slot at the registry office a week tomorrow... Need a name!

The brief is 1. to go with DS (George) but not in too matchy a way. 2. To be "euro-royal" or otherwise vaguely aristocratic. 3. Not too popular but not unspellable/have to be explained all the time. 4. Surnames for last two initials are C P, the P is one-syllable so given name has to be 2 or more beats. 5. Nothing ending in -ia, -ie, -y, much prefer strong consonant endings.

We started with a long list of more like 20 and are now down to these, just looking for last votes really, or if there are unfortunate nicknames.

Beatrix
Edith
Helena
Marguerite
Matilda
Rosalind

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londonmummy436 · 30/09/2013 21:09

I would definatly go with Mathilda as it has so many different options for nn, tilda or tilly or mattie perfect for any girl!

rosyryan · 30/09/2013 15:16

Fab choice! It was my joint favourite, along with Edith.

hawkmcqueen · 29/09/2013 21:11

Congrats! Lovely choice, hi to baby Beatrix!

nemno · 29/09/2013 17:25

Lovely, but let her have a second name. My brother doesn't have one and it has always irritated him.

LynetteScavo · 29/09/2013 17:25

Great choice!

Thank you for coming back to the thread.

It should be a law that if you start a baby name thread, you come back to tell us what you chose!

Original poster

RakeABedOfTyneFilth · 29/09/2013 17:17

We decided! Beatrix. We are happy with any of the nicknames (Bea, Betsy, Bibi, Trixie, Trix, even beastie as long as it's affectionate...!) but she'll probably still be "piglet" for a while longer at home I think.

Nearly went for Beatrix Rosalind and then the two surnames, but we thought that it was just a bit pointless (I have one of the standard 70s middle names - Jane), it would just show that we couldn't decide, and we should have the courage of our convictions and go with just Beatrix C P.

Registry office tomorrow and announcing all over email, Facebook etc etc after that. Thank you for all your comments, it really did help narrow things down!

OP posts:

kiwik · 25/09/2013 03:17

You've lots of names which are on my list for my DD:
Beatrix
Helena
Rosalind

I also like Damaris (although doesn't fit your euro-aristocracy vibe), Ingrid, Leonora and Felicity.

leesam · 25/09/2013 00:18

My favourite is Helena from the list, Lena for short. Don,t know any helena 's .

curlew · 24/09/2013 23:26

Edith.

fruitpastille · 24/09/2013 23:22

My Matilda not only has another in her class, but they go to the same childminder! So mine will forever be known by her nn. There is another in the year above. Ds name was top 3 the year we chose it but none in his class.

NadiaWadia · 24/09/2013 17:44

Helena is lovely. Rosalind is nice. Dislike Beatrix and Edith.

AmandaPandtheNightmareMonsters · 24/09/2013 16:39

I like Rosalind and Edith best.

I think -a endings are quite soft, and you said you prefer stronger consonant endings (so do I) so I am less keen on Helena (prefer Helen. Also always that 'is it Hell-ay-na or Helen-a thing to deal with ) and Matilda.

I like Beatrix, but do always mentally add Potter, so Beatrix P?

Marguerite is nice, but again I like harder endings so prefer Margaret.

looki · 24/09/2013 16:33

Ah have you def decided on Beatrix? It's lovely.

Original poster

RakeABedOfTyneFilth · 24/09/2013 11:35

Yami when I realised George was 11th most popular in 2009 I thought that would mean almost certainly he would be one of many in his school year... But he's just started reception and in an intake of 45 he is the only one!

So I did check the ONS tables for all these, Matilda is the most popular across England and Wales but is still way down in about the 300s I think, so I thought we would have to be living in somewhere like Hampstead or Putney for the local "Matilda Index" to be so high that there is another in the class. But those fashions are so variable, I don't really mind. It would be ironic if DS managed to go through school without a namesake but DD had to be called 'Beatrix P'...!

OP posts:

babycakemumma · 24/09/2013 09:33

Beatrix gets my vote!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 23/09/2013 22:08

Helena is my favourite, followed by Edith (but much prefer Edie).

fruitpastille · 23/09/2013 22:06

It's true Matilda is popular, more so than Alexandra in my experience. My favourite girl's name is Rosa which is nice diminutive of Rosalind.

TheYamiOfYawn · 23/09/2013 20:51

Rosalind, Matilda and (to a lesser extent) Beatrix are very popular, so she is likely to be one of several in her school year if that's an issue. They are all nice names, though.

looki · 23/09/2013 19:50

I wouldn't have thought Marguerite is pretentious at all. Perhaps that's because I grew up next to a very typical farmers wife who was never seen without a big apron and whose name was Marguerite though. My advice would be to go with the name you really like rather than the one that fits your criteria the best. I'm not sure if that helps at all if you have two favourites though!

Original poster

RakeABedOfTyneFilth · 23/09/2013 19:19

It's not unsettling us at all - family and some friends quite another matter, but we fended off a few weeks of "ANY NEWS YET??" (baby came at 42 weeks) so we can handle these weeks of "ANY NAME YET??" easily!! This was always the plan, to wait after birth, tbh I'd love to spin it out the full six weeks but DH booked the registry office appointment for the three week point, which is fine.

I don't regret DS's name but I do think we could have done a bit more research. If I had known how popular 'George' was (just outside top ten) I probably would have gone for something way further down the charts.

Cecily was on the list earlier, DH binned it. Louisa and Frances don't grab me... there is something a little 'ballet school' about them to me (yes I know that is a random comment but sometimes it's about impressions isn't it!)

Beatrix and Rosalind are my favourites. This thread has somewhat put me off Edith due to the 'frumpy' impression it has given some of you. :) Helena seems a little bland now, the Roald Dahl pairing of George and Matilda is funny but could get silly when they're teenagers, and I worry that Marguerite is a bit pretentious now.

OP posts:

InStyle · 23/09/2013 19:08

OP, isn't it driving you mad not having a name? We named our baby too quickly. She's nearly 2 wks too and I'm really unsure of the name. We haven't registered her yet so may still name change but I hate the uncertainty. So wish we'd sorted it out definitively earlier. Feel totally unable to committ now, either to the name we have chosen or a new one!!

An really annoyed with myself actually and it's ruining my newborn snuggles

BeattieBow · 23/09/2013 17:53

I like Beatrix out of those names (probably prefer Beatrice). Bee is lovely.

Marguerite is nice for the Daisy nickname I think - although you'd probably spend your life explaining it.

What about Cecilia or Cecily (royal names). I also like Miranda?

PestoSwimissimos · 23/09/2013 17:50

Margarita is pretty too

jobwoes · 23/09/2013 17:50

Louise is no. 291. I think Louisa has more of an aristocratic feel, that's something like no. 280.

Hulababy · 23/09/2013 17:50

From your last post - I really like Anastasia too.

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