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Baby names

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

Original poster

Puritan style names/virtue names

119 replies

Flutterflybutterby · 27/11/2021 06:36

Some of them are awful and some of them gorgeous and underused.

I love Faith, Joy, Honor, Mercy (which I saw posted about on here recently - which went down very badly) and Hope.

What's your favorite virtue name? (Of all of them, not just the ones I like!)

Assuming you like any, of course Grin

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whatausername · 02/12/2021 11:36

I love the sound of Virginia and I've a soft spot for Temperance.

However, neither is a "virtue" I can get behind. So shall need to keep them for lizards or some other pet that doesn't go outside. Thus avoiding the need to stand in the garden ostensibly shouting about abstinence.

Elspethelf · 02/12/2021 00:41

Constance is my fave :)

GreenWhiteViolet · 01/12/2021 22:18

I love Liberty, although it may work better as a middle name I think the same about Hope and Joy. Also fond of Constance, Felicity and Comfort.

CelebrateAndDream · 01/12/2021 21:23

@beastlyslumber

Ah *@CelebrateAndDream* I'd love to find a long lost relative on MN! But I would be very sorry for you finding out you're part of my family Grin

😂 families are fun aren't they! 🤣

daisypond · 30/11/2021 08:55

Victoria - has much more oomph about it than most slightly passive female virtue names.

beastlyslumber · 29/11/2021 17:51

Ah @CelebrateAndDream I'd love to find a long lost relative on MN! But I would be very sorry for you finding out you're part of my family Grin

LittleGwyneth · 29/11/2021 16:59

Felicity Clemency and Verity

CelebrateAndDream · 28/11/2021 13:16

@beastlyslumber ah ok 🤣 I thought that you might have the same relatives and were wondering if we were related 😁

My grandma (the sister of F, H and C) was Elizabeth...she was the youngest of the three girls, so lucked out I think in the Puritan Name Stakes 🥰

Chisandbiscuits · 28/11/2021 13:08

I never understand why Verity gets such love on Mumsnet, it always sounds like Ferrety to me.

I've always loved the names Honor, Grace and Constance. I remember when Grace was as rare a name as Constance actually and I never understood then why more people didn't use it. Fast forward a few years and it was everywhere. Still a beautiful name though.

Temperance and Prudence, on the other hand, are really ugly have with dull, joyless connotations. Not keen on Patience or Mercy either.

The Puritans were a miserable lot. Fancy living a life with that outlook, what a waste.

SpideySenseTingles · 28/11/2021 12:59

I love Constance and Temperance, in my mind they are sisters in the1940s and they solve murder mysteries

JumperandJacket · 28/11/2021 12:53

I haven’t thought about Mercy Dulbottle for years!

Kokeshi123 · 28/11/2021 12:41

Oh my goodness, Mercy is dreadful. Makes me think of the awful Mercy Dulbottle in the Jill's Gymkhana books (especially the first time she is introduced-Jill hears Mercy's aunt calling for her in another part of the house"Mercy, Mercy!" and thinks the poor woman is being attacked or something).

Honor is lovely.

Frankiefarr · 28/11/2021 12:26

I had an ancestor called Mercy Elsden and I thought it was lovely

JumperandJacket · 28/11/2021 12:25

We nearly used Clemency for DD but in the end chose not as I don’t like Clemmie.

beastlyslumber · 28/11/2021 12:22

Can't hear the name Felicity without thinking of The Young Ones...

Felicity, Felicity,
You fill me with electricity!

beastlyslumber · 28/11/2021 12:21

@CelebrateAndDream

*@beastlyslumber* without giving too much away...my cousin was called Pauline and my aunts lived in and around Greater Manchester. They were my dad's aunts really, but we also called them 'Aunty' (being 60s children I think that was very common 🤣).
Ah, I just wondered if there was another virtue name in the family! And yes - growing up in the 70s, all our parents' friends/random women were Aunty!!
RAFHercules · 28/11/2021 11:55

Felicity.
Love Pax for a boy or girl.

StormyTeacups · 28/11/2021 10:35

Love Temperance, Patience, Verity, Grace, Hope, Joy, Constance

CelebrateAndDream · 28/11/2021 10:33

@beastlyslumber extra info...one of them used her middle name Joan, as she didn't like her given name 🤣

jb7445 · 28/11/2021 10:33

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

CelebrateAndDream · 28/11/2021 10:30

@beastlyslumber without giving too much away...my cousin was called Pauline and my aunts lived in and around Greater Manchester. They were my dad's aunts really, but we also called them 'Aunty' (being 60s children I think that was very common 🤣).

rc22 · 28/11/2021 10:26

I remember there was a costume drama on maybe in the 90s or early 2000s. There were two sisters in it (I think one played by Julia Sawalha?) They were called Mercy and Charity but were known as Merry and Cherry. I always thought Mercy with nn Merry sounded lovely.

Original poster
Flutterflybutterby · 28/11/2021 08:14

@Kanaloa

What did they actually call these children though? Surely no parent was saying ‘if-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned! Go and tell flee-fornication that dinner’s ready.’

They must have called them something shorter as a nickname!

😂😂😂😂😂

Iffy is a good shout from @thirdelephant.

Iffy and Forny, maybe? Grin

OP posts:
Treaclepiepastry · 28/11/2021 07:22

One of my children has the middle names Grace and Constance (after their two grandmothers).
I love the name Verity.
I’ve taught many Mercys, Precious, Patience and Blessings.

BlueFlavour · 28/11/2021 07:11

Actually I had read it right Smile
Phew for that