Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

Thoughts on baby name shortlists

78 replies

Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:09

Hello Mumsnet,

I’m due this week and we have kept the sex of the child a surprise and as before, my husband and I are struggling a bit agreeing on names. We have a shortlist for boys and girls but I expect some of my favourites have either been knocked off because we don’t both like it, or it doesn’t go well with our slightly awkward last name. The new baby will be a sibling to our oldest child Maeve (who’s name I still love but has now become super popular it would seem but I guess that’s just one of this things). So here are some that me and my husband both think are ok at least…but wouldn’t say I’m totally sold on

Grin

Boys:

  • Alden
  • Arlen (front runner)
  • Beck
  • Flynn
  • Logan
  • Orson (front runner)
  • Raymond
  • Sebastian
  • Vincent

Girls

  • Ada
  • Aisling
  • Anwen
  • Ava
  • Bridget
  • Cora (my second favourite after Nora but my husband doesn’t like Nora)
  • Eleanor
  • Elva
OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Kite22 · 07/03/2022 00:12
Grin

See, nearly all of your names meet my criteria of being 'known names' ; not nouns; relatively easy to read (if seen written) and spell (if given verbally) ; not being surnames primarily........ so they are all good choices, just not my choices Grin.

(I do love Anwen, but just think you need to be Welsh to use it Smile )

Original poster
Carlos18 · 07/03/2022 00:09

@ColdShouldersWarmTummy thanks for the comprehensive response there!

I wonder where builders bum Raymond is nowadays.

Arlen is a funny one isn’t it. I’d not heard it until searching through names then it popped up a few times and I like it the more times I’ve seen it. My husband somehow managed to put it on his list too which made us consider it more seriously.

OP posts:
Becles · 07/03/2022 00:07

Sebastian
Ada
Eleanor

Original poster
Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:59

@Kite22 that was a super polite way of putting it! Grin. I do appreciate the input so thank you.

I thought there might be a good mixed bag of comments. Interesting to see Flynn being the most popular on the list for boys.

Like I say I don’t think I LOVE any of them but perhaps we just need to like one.

OP posts:
Original poster
Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:54

@DoucheCanoe loving the name DoucheCanoe by the way.

OP posts:
Kite22 · 06/03/2022 23:52

I think it's fair to say we do not have similar taste in names.
If I had to pick I'd say Vincent / Vinnie and Cora.

AnnaSW1 · 06/03/2022 23:49

Love Orson and Ava

SE13Mummy · 06/03/2022 23:46

I like Flynn and Sebastian of your boys names. Arlen makes me think of Irlen syndrome. Norah is a fabulous name, I like Anwen (the ones I know are both known as Annie) and Eleanor. Ada and Ava are too similar sounding to Maeve.

DoucheCanoe · 06/03/2022 23:46

I would never have thought of naming a baby Nora until 9 months ago when my friend had one, now I have an association I think it's pretty cool Grin

DoucheCanoe · 06/03/2022 23:44

Beck and Sebastian are the nicest of your boys names.

Not keen on any of the girls names tbh - I absolutely loathe the name Cora for some reason and do a little face screw up whenever I see it on here (which is a lot!) but that is obviously just my thing...

Original poster
Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:43

@FantasticFebruary I’m not Irish but my husband is half Irish and our last name is. We’re not dead set on an Irish name but do seem to like them quite a lot judging by the shortlists

OP posts:
Original poster
Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:40

@clpsmum I love Norah. I only have a few days to brings the husband round to it though so likely won’t be successful there. Ha.

OP posts:
Kitkat151 · 06/03/2022 23:38

Girls....Ada ( definately not Nora or Cora)
boys......Vincent ( not Arlen or Alden....they don’t even sound like proper names)

Original poster
Carlos18 · 06/03/2022 23:37

Thanks for comments so far! Genuinely helping my 39 week pregnant fuzzy brain.

@TenThousandSpoons Ah yes Ava is probably a bit similar to Maeve (pronounced May-v)

OP posts:
TeddyPlaygroup90 · 06/03/2022 23:36

I’d go for Eleanor as you can call her Nora as a personal pet name if you like and then both you and DH are happy!

Out of your boys list I like Flynn.

FantasticFebruary · 06/03/2022 23:25

Alden

  • Arlen (front runner)
  • Beck
  • Flynn
  • Logan
  • Orson (front runner)
  • Raymond
  • Sebastian
  • Vincent

Logan out of those NOT Vincent.

Girls

  • Ada
  • Aisling
  • Anwen
  • Ava
  • Bridget
  • Cora (my second favourite after Nora but my husband doesn’t like Nora)
  • Eleanor
  • Elva

Eleanor out of those.

FantasticFebruary · 06/03/2022 23:22

Are you/DH Irish? Do you live in Ireland?

ColdShouldersWarmTummy · 06/03/2022 23:20

Boys:

  • Alden - really like
  • Arlen (front runner) - not heard of this before which puts me off a bit tbh
  • Beck - like
  • Flynn - ok
  • Logan - not keen on this. Bit if a different vibe to the others I think.
  • Orson (front runner) - nice
  • Raymond - I went to school with a Raymond. He always had a builder's bum
  • Sebastian - nice. A bit posh but not in a bad way
  • Vincent - don't understand the love for this name at all tbh.

Girls

  • Ada
  • Aisling
  • Anwen
  • Ava
  • Bridget
  • Cora (my second favourite after Nora but my husband doesn’t like Nora)
  • Eleanor
  • Elva
All good. My favourite is Cora but I may be biased Smile. Ava is very popular but you probably know that already. I thought Elva was a bit weird at first but it's growing on me.

Hope that helps!

TracyMosby · 06/03/2022 23:19

I love cora.

FixItUpChappie · 06/03/2022 23:19

I like Beck and Bridget

sherbetmelon · 06/03/2022 23:18

Arlen and Cora are both brilliant names

boysmuminherts · 06/03/2022 23:17

Sebastian and Flynn
Ada and Cora

clpsmum · 06/03/2022 23:17

The only boys names I like are flynn and Sebastian and for the girls it's Ada but I love Norah it's beautiful, not keen on Cora though lots of them near me

Velveteen16 · 06/03/2022 23:15

Of your boys names I like Flynn and Arlen and girls names Ava and Cora

Luckyelephant1 · 06/03/2022 23:14

Logan and Anwen