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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Final girl names, how is it so hard?

81 replies

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 08:00

I love this community so please help me choose our daughter's name from our finalists. You would not believe how difficult it has been to find names that we both like and that work promounciation wise in our three languages (English,French,Finnish).

Please be kind as these are our finalists and I'm already having a lot of anxiety for this. Middle names are Ida and Aurelia that are in our family.

Freya Ida Aurelia - I know this is popular but Freya is a cool nudge to our nordic background. Nn Frey Frey or Ray is nice

Amélie Ida Aurelia - love nn Millie, Mimi, Lili and that also all grandparents can pronounce

Léa Ida Aurelia - popular in France and Finland. The accent might make it a bit confusing but we wouldn't mind both pronounciations Lee-a and Ley-ah.

Other names we loved but didn't work for different reasons: Iris, Frida, Thea, Ella, Vivian, Sylvia, Edith, Lucy

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Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 14:47

@CrouchEndTiger12

This is your child. The only chance you get to name her.

Why would choose names you don't like but work everywhere with every part of your heritage?

She will be an individual, not a collective of all you so her name has to be workable for all the family.

Not that the name necessarily has to work for everyone, but I have noticed that I would like DH and I to pronounce it at least somewhat the same, just because it is so much easier. And secondly I'm thinking of my daughter and how if her name was difficult to use in one of her three countries that might not be nice for her, since I'm not sure where we end up living.

But true that grandparents being able to pronounce the name should not be a big concern. Although my mom always pronouncing the name Lily for example with emphasis on the "y" rather than how it's pronounced (lili) would probably get on my nerves after a while

OP posts:

EileenGC · 12/07/2021 14:45

OP didn’t say she doesn’t like the names. She said they’re not her favourites.

As someone who grew up in a multilingual family, and spends 3-4 months each year travelling all over the world (some of that travelling will be shared with my children once they’re old enough) I completely understand her. Her circumstances mean it would be more convenient to have an international name that works for her family.

If my own mother couldn’t correctly pronounce my child’s potential name, I wouldn’t be so inclined to use it. It’s not from a lack of trying, it’s because some languages don’t have certain letters or sounds, and you can’t just learn how to say them. I want my parents to be able to pronounce their grandkids’ names.

Hazel or Violet would also be impossible to pronounce properly in any of my first 3 languages. Just because I know how to say them in English, I can’t expect all my relatives to pronounce them correctly.

CrouchEndTiger12 · 12/07/2021 14:24

This is your child. The only chance you get to name her.

Why would choose names you don't like but work everywhere with every part of your heritage?

She will be an individual, not a collective of all you so her name has to be workable for all the family.

SleepingStandingUp · 12/07/2021 11:28

[quote letitgogogo]@Challengerice

When my daughter asks "How did you choose my name mummy?"

"Dunno just liked it"

Yes that's much more thoughtful 😂[/quote]
Or "we listed every single boys name ever invented (it felt like it!) and these were the only two we agreed on but Dad made me change a letter and I was too pregnant to protest.

WavesAndLeaves · 12/07/2021 11:25

And @NordicNell - I think Freya goes best with your middle names, with Lea a close second. I love the name Amelie, but don't think it flows quite as well. Any of them will be gorgeous - you could wait until she's here and see what you think suits her best :)

WavesAndLeaves · 12/07/2021 11:23

@Challengerice

“How did you decide my name mummy?”

“I asked mumsnet, an anonymous chat forum”

Don't be a dick - it's no different to asking family or friends. When you ask someone else for their opinion it can often crystallise what you really want yourself, you don't necessarily go with what someone else thinks.

Laquila · 12/07/2021 09:47

Lina
Lilia
Layla

cravingthelook · 12/07/2021 09:45

They are all lovely but honestly, you'll know when you meet her and look at her gorgeous wee face who she is.

Amdone123 · 12/07/2021 09:43

@jellyjellyinmybelly, Maria is so beautiful. Really refreshing.

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 09:40

@BungleandGeorge

Or Alva (not sure how well that travels though!)

This was on our list but someone asked about it here and half of the people thought of vulva 😑

OP posts:

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 09:39

@jellyjellyinmybelly

We had similar with our second daughter. Decided on the middle name of Maria (after multiple family members!) but couldn't decide on a first name. In the end we decided to use Maria as the first name! It suits her really well and though I don't love it as much as my other daughter's name I def think it was the right decision. How about uaing Ida or aurelia (both beautiful!)

This is a good suggestion and we have thought of it but unfortunately DH and I pronounce Ida so differently (Eye-da and Ee-da) that I was already getting mixed up when swapping languages as I do every day. Maria is actually a really good name internationally!

OP posts:

lovethisjourneyforme · 12/07/2021 09:37

Gaia?

jellyjellyinmybelly · 12/07/2021 09:35

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 09:34

@irresistibleoverwhelm

Why not just Aurelia Ida if you love it? I adore the names Aurelia of Aurelie, and they are very like (but much more unusual than) Amelie.

Aurelia is gorgeous and Aury or Lia are both super cute as a nn.

This is a bit silly but couple of people who I mentioned Aurelia missheard "orally" and it just made me think of all the possible bullying options.. though maybe I'm also a bit too sensitive to stuff like that atm

OP posts:

BungleandGeorge · 12/07/2021 09:29

Or Alva (not sure how well that travels though!)

BungleandGeorge · 12/07/2021 09:27

I agree all nice names. I wouldn’t pronounce Lea as Lee, I’d probably think Lay-a with the accent and Lee-a without. I think you’ll get a mixture though which may be a bit annoying.
How about Priya, Hannah, Maria, Rita? All quite straightforward pronunciation

AdventuresAwait · 12/07/2021 09:25

I like all 3 but I love Freya and think it goes best with the middle names too xx

EileenGC · 12/07/2021 09:14

They are all beautiful names OP, you can’t go wrong with either. My favourite is Léa, closely followed by Freya.

As a multilingual, multicultural child myself (if you can call someone that), I appreciate how hard it is to find a name that works in almost every situation, and I think it’s really great you have given so much thought to it. It’s not as simple as ‘choose the name you like best’, because this little girl will most likely spend her holidays flying from one country to another, meeting friends and family in different parts of the world… Having a nice simple name that everyone she encounters can pronounce would make her life much easier.

My siblings and I have what could be considered ‘easy to pronounce’ names from the country we were born in, but it was definitely a bit annoying having 80% of our relatives butchering the actual pronunciation every time they met us, simply because certain sounds didn’t even exist in their languages. I love my name and I love that it reflects the biggest part of my heritage, but I will be taking your approach when naming my children.

Amdone123 · 12/07/2021 09:12

They're all really lovely.
I love Freya the most.

irresistibleoverwhelm · 12/07/2021 09:12

*Aurelia OR Aurelie

irresistibleoverwhelm · 12/07/2021 09:11

Why not just Aurelia Ida if you love it? I adore the names Aurelia of Aurelie, and they are very like (but much more unusual than) Amelie.

Aurelia is gorgeous and Aury or Lia are both super cute as a nn.

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 09:05

@NoCureForLove

Lea will be written by people without any accent and pronounced Lee. If you want it pronounced Lee-ah then I would spell it Leah?

This is a really good point and one that does worry me 🤔

OP posts:

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 09:00

@Bobbots

Also I would say that you are probably not going to find “the one” name that you love. That’s ok though! I have two daughters and their two names are probably not my favourite names in the whole world. But you have to choose something where you are happy with the shortening (nickname), the pronunciation, that goes with your surname etc so it is a practical choice as well as an emotional one.

Thanks, this was nice to read. It's upsetting knowing that I can't go with any of my top choices and have to go a bit against my own intuition here, but I'm sure with time I'll learn to love the names.

OP posts:

M0rT · 12/07/2021 08:58

They are all lovely names and with easy spellings and pronunciations so I would wait and see which she looks most like.
Don't worry about popularity I have a name of my generation and apart from when I was in primary school when I wanted my name to be whichever heroine I was reading about at the time it's never been a problem.

Original poster

NordicNell · 12/07/2021 08:57

@BungleandGeorge

How about Eva or Anna? they work in many different languages.

Very pretty names but my mom is Anna and my best friend Eva :)

OP posts:

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