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Baby names

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

Original poster

Nina, Renée, Heidi or Esme

84 replies

Leahd89 · 18/01/2020 21:35

Opinions on these names and any other ideas that run along the same theme?
These are the top 4 my husband and I agree on, his order of preference is

  1. Renée
  2. Esme
  3. Heidi
  4. Nina

Mine is

  1. Nina
  2. Renée and Heidi joint
3.
  1. Esme

Not sure if we are having a boy or girl but girls names are much more difficult to choose!

Thanks

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FizzyGreenWater · 22/01/2020 14:04

Sounds like you should go for Heidi. That way, no one has to put up with their least favourite!

Heidi is great, it would tie with Nina for first choice with me.

Renee is beyond awful. Brings to mind an evil granny with claw-like hands and nicotine-stained fingers. It's horrid! Also nicknames - Ren? Rennie? No!

marmitecheesetoast · 22/01/2020 13:42

I love Nina, Heidi is also nice. Not keen on Esme or Reneè.
I notice you mentioned Erin as well, OP, which I absolutely love, and don’t think two Irish names would sound too try hard, given as you say you’re both Irish and living in NI!

Original poster
Leahd89 · 22/01/2020 12:41

I suppose there's loads of names from other countries that people use but they're more common and familiar to people they just see them as a "normal" name. I mean my name is from the Bible so Hebrew I think so I don't think you have to choose a name because of your heritage etc. Our son has an Irish name, we live in Northern Ireland and some people don't know how to say it Hmm

OP posts:
BecauseReasons · 22/01/2020 05:49

Thanks @OwlBeThere

OwlBeThere · 22/01/2020 03:53

@BecauseReasons apparently android phones need an app to do them. Which seems an unnecessary difficulty to me, but there we go. (Sorry OP for derailing your thread to talk about diacritics Grin)

Ginbauble · 21/01/2020 20:13

Esme is so so popular where I live plus people don't seem to know how to pronounce it- DN gets called ezmee or ezmay- so I wouldn't use it.

Love Nina then Renee then Heidi in that order.

TatianaLarina · 21/01/2020 20:09

Heidi

BecauseReasons · 21/01/2020 19:54

You just hold the letter longer and all the accents appear. Maybe your tech needs updating?

My phone was new last year, but I tend to buy outright and don't want to spend four figures on an iPhone. The downside to that being that there doesn't seem to be a way to type using accents. 🤷

OwlBeThere · 21/01/2020 19:04

There are plenty of British names with accents.

Joannemum1234569 · 21/01/2020 13:16

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diddlediddle · 21/01/2020 12:38

To be clear, it's not the accent that I find slightly ridiculous, the name Renée needs an accent. It's the concept of using a name with an accent in it if you are British, living in Britain, with no links to France. It will be spelt wrong all the time, the accent will often be lost, and people will wonder why you have a French name/a name that uses characters not in the English language. Hence why I wouldn't personally consider Renée as an option.

CalleighDoodle · 21/01/2020 04:18

Eh?! The accent tells you how a letter is pronounced. Stops people saying es-mee or ren-ee. Or caf-ee. Why would it be ridiculous? And it really isnt hard to do, especially on an iphone. You just hold the letter longer and all the accents appear. Maybe your tech needs updating?

BecauseReasons · 20/01/2020 21:27

It’s really not hard to type é though is it?

Dunno. I've not managed it on my phone yet. Duolingo is constantly annoyed with me for it.

OwlBeThere · 20/01/2020 21:17

It’s really not hard to type é though is it? My daughters name has an â in it and it’s really never been a problem. The diacritic matters for pronunciation else it wouldn’t be there. Daft english-centric narrow minded statement to say it’s ridiculous, it’s like spelling Jane as Jan and saying it doesn’t matter Hmm

bluemoon2468 · 20/01/2020 17:36

Heidi 💯

Carouselfish · 20/01/2020 10:30

What about Remy? Less divisive over pronunciation than Renee.

Carouselfish · 20/01/2020 10:28

I like all except for Esme which has always sounded like a sneeze and visually reminds me of orgasm! There was a child Nina on radio two this morning and I thought how lovely it was.

LuluJakey1 · 20/01/2020 08:06

Renee is pronounced Reenee in many parts of the country which is a horrible name IMHO.
Nina and Esme are lovely.
Heidi - meh!

So

  1. Nina
  2. Esma
Wait4nothing · 20/01/2020 08:03

Love Nina - only like esme out of the others but wouldn’t like the pronounciation differences.

SoftBlocks · 20/01/2020 07:57

Nina, possibly Heidi.

Pippilangstrumpfi · 20/01/2020 07:51

Renée with an accent is ridiculous to me

If you don't have the accent on Renée or Esmée, many non French speakers will mispronounce it as Ren ee or Es mee.

Poorolddaddypig · 20/01/2020 04:02

LOVE Nina. Heidi is nice. Renee is very dated. Esme is another Lily-May/Ava/Evie name to me

HannahC86 · 19/01/2020 23:41

What about Nicole? I think its beautiful and has a lovely nternational/European feel.

EmmaC78 · 19/01/2020 23:15

Nina is the nicest by far.

HairyToity · 19/01/2020 22:53

I know a Renee. I think it's a great name. The Renee I know doesn't have an accent or any French connection. I would spell is Renee. The accent would be a pain.

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