Hermione and Lysander for twins?

We have a lovely little Lysander - he wears his name beautifully, and we call him Sasha when we're feeling particularly soft on him.

His siblings are Balthazar, Embla and Olympia.

Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream is a faithless dick, and Zander sounds like something out of Zoolander, so dislike that one.

The lysander/hermione combo is too similar IMO to lysander/hermia, who were lovers in the play.

Great names OP!

Some more for consideration:

Octavia and Edmund
Euphemia and Laurence
Penelope and Tiberius

Oh, ffs. We can't all be called Oliver and Ava. Lysander and Aurelia are gorgeous names and were on my list. I don't like Hermione, purely because the sound is not to my taste. I couldn't give less of a shit about people's socio-economic background.

Namey, your attitude and way of speaking make you sound horribly judgemental and makes me not really care that you don't like names that I like.

actually, I find that working class people tend to go for more ‘unique’ names

Which is why the lower middle class are terrified of them whereas those higher up the socioeconomic ladder are more likely to chose literary names with the knowledge and confidence to understand the cultural baggage around some of those names.

And anyway there's a massive difference between calling your daughter Abbeygale and calling your daughter Hermione, all 'unique' names are not the same.

As I always say with unusual names
A. Does it sound ok with your surname
B. Remember your child will have to live with your choice.
C. What sounds fine for a baby/child may not sound so good for an adult

I actually like both names but don't think I can imagine using them.
Lucky you with boy/girl twins. Hard work but perfect.

*then

Namey well aren’t you an absolute delight.

If you and your ‘middle class’ friends take pleasure in judging parents intellect based on their naming styles they clearly you are a well suited bunch. You’ve made yourself sound like a horrible snob on this thread. And I’m middle class too, hun.

I’d love to know your children’s names.

If your DH likes Aloysius, then what about Lysander and Aloysia?

Honestly, I would judge them. And so would most people I know.

This isn’t Netmums Hun

Yet you’re very much bracketing yourself with Netmums with that kind of attitude.

If I heard of someone with twins called Hermione and Lysander, I would 100% judge them, and then it into an ‘I know someone who called their children...’ anecdote. And I am very middle class

In a way I should admire your honesty in revealing yourself to be narrow, conservative & judgemental with a limited frame of social experience; but characterising unusual names as unintelligent or attention seeking is too absurd for even grudging respect.

If told me that anecdote I would just think you were an idiot. Hermione is not even an unusual name!

I like your name choices. Alternatives could be:

Marianne
Eleanor
Beatrix / Beatrice
Rosalind / Rosamund
Helena (pronounced Hel-ay-na)
Persephone (but lots of people won't know how to spell / pronounce it)
Louisa

Orlando
Ferdinand / Frederick

No!

If I heard of someone with twins called Hermione and Lysander, I would 100% judge them, and then it into an ‘I know someone who called their children...’ anecdote.*

Well, I would 100% judge you too then!

It’s just that people who give their children unusual names, are either quite attention seeking, or not very intelligent in my experience.

Have you ever considered that some of us may simply like a name?

I don't consider myself either attention seeking or unintelligent and yet our kids have 'unusual' names.

Lysander and Cordelia would be nice :)

Count Fosco - actually, I find that working class people tend to go for more ‘unique’ names. I know a very working class Quentin, for example (named after Tarantino - com)
It’s not ‘fear’ of unusual names. It’s just that people who try very hard to give their children unusual names, are either quite attention seeking, or not very intelligent in my experience.

OP - I think if you are going to go for an ‘out there’ name, you should mix it with a more usual one. E.g
Lysander and Amelia
Hermione and George

If I heard of someone with twins called Hermione and Lysander, I would 100% judge them, and then it into an ‘I know someone who called their children...’ anecdote. And I am very middle class

'And' absolutely nothing, pipling. They are lovely names. Just an anecdote which might be mildly amusing to anyone else with enough useless knowledge of Jilly Cooper to get the Lysander and Hermione reference. That's all.

Is that OK with you?

She is American and has never read a Jilly Cooper in her life but I'm afraid that a few of us clocked straightaway that she's managed to hit four of the seven 'name' books...

And

@YoureAllABunchofBastards An old university friend has had two daughters and named them Harriet Imogen and Emily Octavia. She is American and has never read a Jilly Cooper in her life but I'm afraid that a few of us clocked straightaway that she's managed to hit four of the seven 'name' books...

Like them both - but Lysander does shag Dim Hermione in The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous.

However, unless you are a Jilly obsessive like me it's unlikely you'd make that reference

I think Hermione was also already an established name before Harry Potter. There is a Hermione in A Winter’s Tale and Hermione was the daughter of Helen of Troy. (Not the best mother to have really but that’s not the point). So if people really only think of Harry Potter that is rather recent/restricted cultural knowledge.

I really dislike Hermione, as it will scream HP to the majority of people (and I'm no fan of the name when you separate it from the book either). I like Lysander, it's nice.

I do agree with Eloise, they'd be seen as pretentious in Ireland - but then Harriet etc style names wouldn't work in Ireland and seem pretty popular in the UK.