Popular or Unusual? Thoughts plz!

Titania makes me think of Natalia, which could maybe be a compromise name?
tho I would LOVE to be called Eleanora!

Oh I love Sally! You never hear that now and it's such a happy name.

I didn’t like having a very common name as a child. As an adult I don’t care much.

There’s a middle ground between Tatiana and Sally though eg Claudia, Lois etc

I do have an unusual name and people sometimes struggle to pronounce it. I didn't like it when I was younger, but it has grown on me. My son has a common name, it very meaningful to us and it suits him 100% - I love it. He has a middle name which I love as well, however much less common and I like that he can choose if he decides he doesn't like his first name. You're trying your best as a parent, bit there's no guarantee.It's hard to make any predictions about your child's character. Some children might like unusual names to stick out, other might be a bit shy and prefer a common name.

Yes I feel this is what you're looking for. Almost worth looking at popular names from 20-30 years ago and comparing to now

Your favourites aren't particularly common though?

I agree with most - there is a compromise between all the top 10 names, and going to 'unusual' or even worse, unique.

Sally And Katherine fit nicely into that category - everyone has heard of them, but there aren't many babies being given those names at the moment

I think as lots have pps have said there’s a huge middle ground of names between super common and on trend and highly unusual/outlandish. Plenty of gems that are easily recognised and simple to say/spell but outside the top 100.

There are so many beautiful, underused names out there that I’m often surprised at how, even in these ‘anything goes’ times so many people pick the same ones. We’ve just received the class list for DD’s new primary school (London suburb), and it basically reads: ‘Olivia, Amelia, Isla, Isla, Olivia, Eva, Ava, Evie, Luna, Lara, Lyla…’ DD has by far the most unusual name, and she has one of those middle ground ‘compromise names’, rather than a really out there one.

I like both of your lists, except for Titania, which I suspect may invite teasing. A non-frilly, underused classic would be perfect I think. And, more than avoiding individual names because they’re in the top 100, I’d be inclined to avoid names that feature a currently trendy sound, with lots of similar sounding popular names - think the Ava/Eva/Evie/Evelyn names, or all the trendy short L ones: Lyra/Luna/Lily/Lyla/Layla et al.

Something like:

Claudia
Marina
Antonia
Adelaide
Audrey
Susannah
Carmen
Ingrid
Cleo
Iona
Isolde
Athena
Esther
Josephine
Viola

Both Amy and Juno are lovely names.
I prefer your name choices to your wife's though - Ariadne and Titania are a bit out there, I really don't think Titania would go down well.
My own name is a classic but with a spelling variation that firmly puts me in a certain decade! My DD has a name we thought was little used but it's become fairly popular, still love it though and it suits her perfectly.

DH and I have fairly classic names where you get one or two in most age groups. I think for us naming DC the main things were:

Easy to pronounce
Doesn't have loads of different spelling variations
Basically we didn't want DC to spend all their time telling people how to say or spell their names. I think on a practical level that's more important than how unusual a name is.

Based on those criteria, only Katherine from you/your wife's lists would be an absolute no from me, because of the various spellings.

I have one of the most popular names of my generation - I believe it was in the top 10 when I was born. Ironically, my mum chose it because she thought it was unusual - she had only ever met one person with my name. As a teen, I didn't like it - I thought it was too popular and it always annoyed me to be one of several girls with the same name in the year group or circle of friends. I felt somewhat jealous of the girls with names like Saskia and Felicity, who were unique in the school.

As an adult, having a popular name really doesn't bother me anymore. I mix with people of a wide variety of ages at work so my name is not so common in the workplace. I appreciate having a name that is classical, feminine, easy to spell and pronounce and works well internationally.

In general, I think having an unfamiliar name would be much more difficult than having a popular name - I have a friend who is originally from Eastern Europe and goes by an Anglicised nickname in the UK because he's given up on correcting the pronunciation of his actual name... Imagine a scenario where literally nobody in the English-speaking population can pronounce your name right, because that's the situation for many foreign nationals.

I think a middle ground between popular and obscure is best. The names I've picked out for my children aren't in the top 20 but they aren't unheard-of either.

I don’t think you’re poles apart, really. There’s a ready compromise with either giving her both (Katherine Ariadne etc), or going for a less frilly classical name such as Hera or Helen.

Juno wouldn’t raise an eyebrow any longer anyway (but my daughter’s year did have seven x Amy/Ami/Amie, so I can see your wife’s frustration!).

I have an unusual name, have never met another IRL and I love it. I loved not being one of multiple at school.
My children all have unusual names, although easy to spell and pronounce.
id definitely go for something unusual, I love Ariadne!

I have an unusual name that has become a lot more popular now I'm an adult. Our neighbour has a DD called it. I liked not being one of five girls in my class with the same name, but disliked never being able to find stuff in gift shops with my name on. First time I ever found a keyring was in the Coca-Cola store in Vegas aged 25!
Both my DC have unusual/uncommon names, but still in top 100. Uncommon enough they're unlikely to have several in the same class, but normal enough they'll meet others with their name.
We found there was much more diversity of name for DD, whereas for boys there are so many traditional names (Harry, Henry, George, Theo, Jack etc) - even in DDs tiny village school (sub-50 pupils) there are multiple Harry's, Jack's etc.
I like your wife's choice of names & agree that in this day none of them are too out there anymore; no-one will bay an eyelid I expect.

Delphine is in Peppa Pig. Baby Sally is hard for me. Katherine is classic. LOVE Juno.

Eleanora is quite strong and quite out there. For me ariadne etc are a bit too out there. I used to love Greek myths as a child but I find the thing of naming people those names a bit much a lot of the time beyond the ones in common usage or the simpler ones (like Juno).

I think it's important to remember that we can feel quite differently at different points in our lives. We might be shy as kids or desperate not to stick out as teens but then want something more distinctive as an adult. I can't imagine being called ariadne! Not as a teen. Whatever you choose maybe make sure it has really usable shortenings so that give choices for whatever stage of life. The good thing about some of the long classic names is they do have loads of shortenings and often different sorts of shortenings that could suit different sorts of people so you can have Katie or Kittie when young and maybe Kat or Kate or Kath or Kit or Cathy when older etc. Maggie Peggy Mags Peg Meg Greta Margo Margy Rita Etta for Margaret for example. Beth Eliza Lisa Bethan Betty Betsy Lizzie Liz El Ellie etc for Elizabeth. I suppose eleanora has Elle Ellie Lea and Nora? What do you do with Titania? The possible shortenings are a bit unfortunate for school and it does sound a bit ott. I don't see that delphine though is any more out there than eleanora though and it is also shorter. Would it be shortened?

My name was not too unusual but unpretentious and I've always liked it as feels me and there's not been many others. But it's having a bit of a burst of popularity now that I'm not sure how I feel about! My parents gave me a host of other rather stuffy (I thought) very middle-class sounding names all of which I hated as a child. I think I found them very formal sounding and felt like nothing to do with me. Most are very popular on mumsnet but I changed my name to my everyday name when I was an adult and got rid of them. You can't tell what kind of person your kid will be so a bit of flexibility so a name can suit all kinds of person always seems a nice idea to me. So with a super frilly name I'd try and find one with shortenings that could also be more straightforward if the person wanted. I've always thought with names like arabella that the shortening is just as frilly. Belle or Bella. But with Isabella there's Izzy or Iza as well. That sort of thing.

I think your name is gorgeous! But I can see why the film coming out might have been a PITA. I love your DW's choices of names. Maybe Titania is a bit much, but the others are lovely and fairly normal these days. Why don't you keep looking until you find a compromise?
What about Tabitha, Sacha, Saskia, Gabrielle, Callista?

I really like Eleanora as a compromise out of all of those. I think it's unusual but classically beautiful which fits what you both want. Ultimately you both have to agree so you may need to rule them all out until you agree on one. Try an app that allows you to swipe through until you find some you agree on.

I went with a slightly old fashioned name for my son which isn't that common but well known enough to not be too out there. Lots of people comment on how lovely it is and I'm really happy with it.

I have an uncommon but not unusual name, never met another one until I was an adult and it's often mentioned on underused name threads.

My dc both have unusual names, but not ridiculous or youneekly spelled, both love being the only ones and a bit different. I obviously side with your wife, although I do think your choice of Eleanora is lovely and is definitely more to the underused side but will likely get Ellie which is very popular

I like unusual names that aren't too out there. I'd much prefer to be someone who didn't meet others of the same name regularly lol

Juno is one of my favourites btw!

I also love Eleanora, Delphine and Ariadne. You both have great taste! I'd avoid Titania because she'll probably get called Tit as school :( it is beautiful though.

My name has had steady popularity for many decades. While there wasn't any other "Summas" in my year at school, given the historic use there have always been others in my workplace since leaving school, at least 1, up to 5 at some point. It's not a huge problem, but can be mildly irritating not knowing if you are being addressed or spoken to.

For me there is a difference between uncommon and unusual. Claudia is a very normal name that most people are familiar with, but isn't in high use.

I have a name that was unusual growing up but is now quite popular, think Granny name! My children have names that are considered less usual. What I have found is that there seems to be much more diversity in names for my childrens generation than there was in mine. As a result none if my children felt they particularly stood out or had issues with their names. They were all irritated at never finding mugs/pens with their names on though!