Help! Names too similar??

Bertbear · 2022-11-14T21:20:37+00:00

Due a baby girl in the next few weeks and I’m struggling to decide on a name. I’ve been considering Martha or Phoebe, however I have a George already and wonder if phoebe is too similar in spelling to George??

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Crunchymum · 16/11/2022 17:14

Well this is a new one on me I must say.

They sound nothing alike.

20viona · 16/11/2022 15:39

Phoebe is nothing like George 🤣

Original poster

Bertbear · 16/11/2022 15:27

Thanks everyone. Appreciate your views good and bad! I might wait to see what she looks like before deciding on which one to go with 😊

OP posts:

BretonBlue · 16/11/2022 08:42

BiblicalDrudge would be an excellent MN name change.

Hobbesmanc · 16/11/2022 08:38

Oh and biblical Martha wasn't a drudge. She was venerated as a saint through her friendship with Jesus. I don't think we should be using the twisted perversion of the Bible by the murderous men of Gilead to condemn baby names

Hobbesmanc · 16/11/2022 08:33

Great names. Although I did think of whose afraid of Virginia Wolf. They're the names of the embittered couple

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 16/11/2022 08:14

Ha, I’d noticed ‘biblical drudge’ too. Is it always the same person? How funny.

I’m self-conscious about saying this now as I know I’ve posted it on another Martha thread but I feel there’s a hefty dose of internalised misogyny in the dismissal of Martha. There are only 49 named women who speak in the Bible. Not only is she one of them but she speaks up for herself to Jesus actual Christ. She then in goes off and slays a dragon in a cool bit of apocrypha.

Anyway, sorry OP. Love both names.

KirstenBlest · 16/11/2022 08:04

I think Martha is quite nice but can't shake off the New Testament association of a woman fussing over providing food

Luredbyapomegranate · 16/11/2022 07:52

PlumsInTheIcebox · 16/11/2022 05:22

I truly have no issue with your opinion of the name. It’s simply that, as the parent of a Martha, I naturally tend to notice the Martha threads and I noticed that she’d be described as a ‘biblical kitchen drudge’ on each one. Then I started to notice the usernames and realised that this isn’t a widespread view; it’s you, posting the exact same phrase on every Martha thread. A thesaurus will give you some synonyms to try out a lovely new stock phrase.

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I don’t need a new phrase, because it’s what I think, as I said before.

PlumsInTheIcebox · 16/11/2022 05:22

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 22:46

That doesn’t make any sense at all.

As you must surely know, I’m referring to the character in the bible and the references that derive from that (eg ‘she’s a bit of a Martha’ or the kitchen maids in Margaret Atwood’s book) rather than the etymology of the name.

The OP is asking for opinions, which is the point of a name forum. I wouldn’t want my daughter to have a name with such associations. That’s my personal opinion, it does not invalidate yours.

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I truly have no issue with your opinion of the name. It’s simply that, as the parent of a Martha, I naturally tend to notice the Martha threads and I noticed that she’d be described as a ‘biblical kitchen drudge’ on each one. Then I started to notice the usernames and realised that this isn’t a widespread view; it’s you, posting the exact same phrase on every Martha thread. A thesaurus will give you some synonyms to try out a lovely new stock phrase.

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 22:46

PlumsInTheIcebox · 15/11/2022 22:27

Oh well. Perhaps you’ll get a thesaurus for Christmas 🤞🏻

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That doesn’t make any sense at all.

As you must surely know, I’m referring to the character in the bible and the references that derive from that (eg ‘she’s a bit of a Martha’ or the kitchen maids in Margaret Atwood’s book) rather than the etymology of the name.

The OP is asking for opinions, which is the point of a name forum. I wouldn’t want my daughter to have a name with such associations. That’s my personal opinion, it does not invalidate yours.

LittleMrsMama · 15/11/2022 22:28

I think because they sound so different the spelling doesn’t really matter. Go with the name you love :)

PlumsInTheIcebox · 15/11/2022 22:27

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 22:21

Nope, because that’s why I dislike it.

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Oh well. Perhaps you’ll get a thesaurus for Christmas 🤞🏻

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 22:21

PlumsInTheIcebox · 15/11/2022 21:21

Can you think of a new phrase to describe your dislike of Martha, please?

OP, Phoebe is lovely but I have a Martha and it’s a fabulous name.

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Nope, because that’s why I dislike it.

Ciaonow · 15/11/2022 21:39

I prefer Phoebe but they are both nice names and both flow well with George.

PlumsInTheIcebox · 15/11/2022 21:21

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 21:11

George and Phoebe works fine and they’re both nice

Martha is a biblical kitchen drudge, so no

Can you think of a new phrase to describe your dislike of Martha, please?

OP, Phoebe is lovely but I have a Martha and it’s a fabulous name.

Rauha · 15/11/2022 21:19

Phoebe isn't too similar to George. Martha is the better name by far, I think.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 15/11/2022 21:18

Martha is beautiful.

Phoebe is often misspelled as Pheobe.

xJ0y · 15/11/2022 21:17

I prefer Phoebe!

Phoebe and George look good written down together, like balanced as a pair. They both have oe or oe in the middle and end in e but the consonants are all different so they're not matchy matchy like kittens.

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/11/2022 21:11

George and Phoebe works fine and they’re both nice

Martha is a biblical kitchen drudge, so no

Original poster

Bertbear · 15/11/2022 20:37

ChuggingtonMum · 15/11/2022 20:16

I don't think they are similar in sound. Nice choices. But you will need four sets of alphabet fridge magnets for all the Es!

😂😂 very true!

OP posts:

MissedItByThisMuch · 15/11/2022 20:21

You will say the names together far more often than you will write them together in George and Phoebe sort of format (almost never - letters? Greeting cards? When else?) and they don’t sound alike so I think they’re perfectly fine.

ChuggingtonMum · 15/11/2022 20:16

I don't think they are similar in sound. Nice choices. But you will need four sets of alphabet fridge magnets for all the Es!

Original poster

Bertbear · 15/11/2022 20:10

twinkleteas · 14/11/2022 21:51

Think you've got pregnancy brain. No resemblance. But Martha is nicer and much less common

Haha thanks!! 😂 Think I just they were spelled similarly as in O and E in the middle and an E at the end 🤷🏻‍♀️

I do like Martha a lot but we’ve chosen a middle name also ending in an A so not sure if they go together.

OP posts:

twinkleteas · 14/11/2022 21:52

However Phoebe and George makes me think of Sharkey and George, the crime busters of the sea!