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Baby names

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

Original poster

Effie or Ezra ?

115 replies

ClementineAndCordelia · 02/02/2015 22:33

Hi everyone - this is my first ever Mumsnet post , so please go easy Wink . DC 2 is due in a couple of months and we're down to two names for a DD . I realise Ezra is usually a boys name, but we live very rurally and there aren't any boys with this name in the area . We LOVE it for a girl . Have also always loved Effie . Middle name will be Clementine .
Which- if you had to choose- do you prefer ? Thanks Smile

OP posts:
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Pico2 · 03/02/2015 13:34

We came very close to giving DD2 a name that is given to boys and girls, but far more boys. In the end we just couldn't do it - it seemed like setting her up for a lifetime of "can I speak to Mr X" and "oh, I thought you'd be a man".

atticusclaw · 03/02/2015 13:30

or Esme? that's actually a girl's name.

SirChenjin · 03/02/2015 13:14

Effie is quite common up here with elderly women - short for Euphemia. I think I grew up with too many of them to see it as anything other than an old ladies name.

Ezra - would think you were a massive fan of George Ezra. Like Esra though.

SunnyBaudelaire · 03/02/2015 13:13

. "We really don't see a problem with ezra for a girl as we've never met an Ezra"
I think most people would know that it is a boy's name.
it is like saying oh we don't see a problem with calling our girl Thomas because we don't know any. Bizarre.

invisiblecrown · 03/02/2015 13:13

Ezra is the same as calling her Steve. Don't.

How about Esma? Knew a beautiful Kuwaiti girl with this name growing up.

squoosh · 03/02/2015 13:10

'FWIW, two of the only three names that we liked for a girl were technically/traditionally used for boys. But if no-one starts the trend, how can they ever be expected to become common usage for girls?!'

But why are you so keen for boys names to become girls name? I bet you wouldn't be leading the charge to make Emily a boys name.

squoosh · 03/02/2015 13:08

Ezra makes me imagine some grizzly faced mountain man with a beard down to his knees. Really can't imagine it on a girl at all.

Effie is fine as a nickname, bit flimsy as a stand alone name.

Sophronia · 03/02/2015 13:01

How about Isra? It's Arabic and means 'nocturnal journey'

thegreylady · 03/02/2015 10:51

Fwiw I know a girl called Ryan! It has only been a problem on her uni application, 'Dear Mr...'

thegreylady · 03/02/2015 10:49

My dgd is Turkish and her best friend is a very beautiful Esra pronounced Essra. Dgd is Serra! With a short 'e'. I also know a gorgeous Effy spelt like that. It isn't short for anyrhing. I'd go for Esra myself with the "It's Turkish" if an explanation is needed. I think both are very pretty and go well with Clementine.

Laquila · 03/02/2015 10:40

FWIW, two of the only three names that we liked for a girl were technically/traditionally used for boys. But if no-one starts the trend, how can they ever be expected to become common usage for girls?! ;) little lady Ezras in 300 years' time will have pioneers like you to thank...seriously though, the only 'rules' about this kind of thing are based on usage - there's no World Auhority on The Righteousness of Baby Names. Mercifully.

Laquila · 03/02/2015 10:37

I've always loved Alba! I think you and I have similar taste, OP. I also like Blanca.

I think it's fair to say that the two camps of people on this thread will be broadly representative of future reactions to a baby girl called Esra or Ezra - either they'll think, 'What a lovely name, who gives a flying fuck whether it's biblically/traditionally a male name', or they'll be horrified (potentially loudly horrified) and think you're an idiot/weird. That's just the way of the world :)

PiratePanda · 03/02/2015 01:20

Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job. Ezra is the name of a male prophet in the Bible. No, and a thousand times no. Would you call her Moses?

How about Esther? Gorgeous name and still relatively uncommon.

RolandRatRocks · 03/02/2015 00:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

catrin · 03/02/2015 00:12

I taught an Ezara, pronounced Ezra if that helps? She was half Turkish, so was an actual name!

Penguinotterfoxbadger · 03/02/2015 00:08

Esra is gorgeous, unusual and a "proper" girl's name". Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Effie is cute too, but I think Esra has more gravitas.

reuset · 03/02/2015 00:05

Esra is better and at least is a proper name. Effie sounds fluffy and insubstantial, and short for something...which it is.

AnnieHoo · 02/02/2015 23:58

Effie is lovely, to me it sounds soft and feminine.

I absolutely love Clementine.

I also automatically think of "Ezra and Nehemiah" as in books of the bible from learning at school but that's not an issue if you like the name.

ZenNudist · 02/02/2015 23:57

Neither. Both Esra and Effie are awful. I would seriously rethink.

Suggestions below (some not my taste but proper names):

Emma
Etta
Elsa (good name, despite the frozen connection)
Elsie
Esme
Ella
Eleanor nn Ellie
Various names which Effie could be a nickname

TaperJeanGirl · 02/02/2015 23:51

I have an Effie, I love it, it isn't short for anything Smile
I also have a girl with a boys name, in fact same type of name as Ezra, she's still a baby but I've not had any negative comments, it's her name so in her case it's a girls name Smile

atticusclaw · 02/02/2015 23:46

Ezra is a boys name and would be weird. Effie is lovely.

Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 02/02/2015 23:43

Other names I've also liked in the past have been Alba and Iara ( with an 'i' . I have a thing about four letters/ two syllables I think ?!( our surname is one syllable )

OP posts:
Ludways · 02/02/2015 23:37

I like Effie but Ezra is a boys name.

Sleepyhoglet · 02/02/2015 23:36

Or esmeralda shortened to Ezzie

seaoflove · 02/02/2015 23:35

Please don't call a girl Ezra. It doesn't matter that you've never met one. I've never met a boy called Jack but it's still a boy's name.

Spelling it Esra doesn't help either.

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