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

Botanical girls names - please vote!

109 replies

sunshineandmango · 05/05/2023 15:21

Hello all

DH and I have finally narrowed down our list to our two favourite names, which we both love. We’ve considered lots of names but botanical names do hold a personal significance for us so we’ve decided this is the way to go!

Lily
Flora

Which is your favourite and why? And how popular is Lily in your experience? It’s in the top 10 but I personally don’t know any!

Thank you 💐

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
lauraslops · 15/05/2023 13:26

Flora is beautiful

marblemad · 14/05/2023 22:54

Personally neither, I prefer daisy

MaraScottie · 13/05/2023 23:10

I love Fern.

Zo6789 · 13/05/2023 22:58

I love Flora. I know so so so so so many little Lilys with various spellings (this makes it even more popular than it looks on the charts, as different spellings are listed separately).

Whatisityoucantface · 10/05/2023 08:51

I know loads of young girls called Lily. Flora is ace!

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 09/05/2023 15:41

Thanks all. Both beautiful names, but think we are leaning towards Flora. Thanks everyone for the input :)

OP posts:
WheelsUp · 09/05/2023 10:30

I have a 20 year old dd and Lily was popular was she was a baby.

These days I only hear it as a double barrelled name like Lily-Rose, Lilli-Mae , Lilly-Jade etc with lots of spelling variations on Lily.

I would pick Flora because it's much more unusual but still classy. Never heard the margarine references in real life.

DejaVoodoo · 09/05/2023 10:19

I prefer Flora, beautiful name, but would never use it myself because the margarine association is too strong for me.
Lily is lovely, but so over-used.

I like Ivy, Iris, Violet, Rose, Jasmine, Fern, Elowen, Dahlia, Florence as botanical names.

RachyKF · 08/05/2023 09:27

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 07/05/2023 12:50

So you have a preconcieved bias that any girl called Lily will be Rude/precocious or Rude/Chavvy .

Nice Hmm

Especially for a teacher

Show quote history

Just my experience…

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 07/05/2023 14:57

@Bert2e Tansy is not a favourite, thanks for the idea though

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 07/05/2023 12:50

RachyKF · 07/05/2023 07:56

I think Flora is lovely. As a teacher, I’ve never taught a Flora but I have taught many a Lily. In my experience, girls called Lily are either precocious and rude or chavvy and rude and now that’s what I associate that name with.

So you have a preconcieved bias that any girl called Lily will be Rude/precocious or Rude/Chavvy .

Nice Hmm

Especially for a teacher

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 07/05/2023 12:19

@SpaghettiSquash and @Daisypod luckily this advert/dodgy slogan was before my time and I certainly don’t think it would be an issue for young children today.

OP posts:
Bert2e · 07/05/2023 12:19

Tansy?

SpaghettiSquash · 07/05/2023 12:00

Daisypod · 05/05/2023 18:58

I'm afraid when I was growing up Flora was always used as an insult as the margarine tag line was 'spreads easily' sorry it was the 80's and not politically correct! So im afraid I just think of that when I hear the name.

Yes, this is why DH vetoed Flora for our DD.

ChildrenOfTheQuorn · 07/05/2023 11:04

Honestly, all I think about with Flora is the margarine but I know at least 2 toddler Lilys (with sisters Poppy or Violet - people like a theme). It's popular.

RachyKF · 07/05/2023 07:56

I think Flora is lovely. As a teacher, I’ve never taught a Flora but I have taught many a Lily. In my experience, girls called Lily are either precocious and rude or chavvy and rude and now that’s what I associate that name with.

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 07/05/2023 07:49

@Mrsstart in all honesty I think my original preference was Flora but I am genuinely worried about how strong the association is with the spread for some people and whether this could cause her an issue in the future. Lily was a later addition to our shortlist but loving it more and more.

@salamithumbs totally agree with you!

@Asformending not my experience with either name, Flora isn’t even in the top 100 so I definitely wouldn’t say it’s done to death! Guess everyone’s experience is different though.

OP posts:
Firebird83 · 07/05/2023 00:40

Flora is lovely!

Asformending · 07/05/2023 00:21

What about Primrose?

Lily and Flora have been done to death. My daughter's prep school at 4 girls called Lily in her year. There were 7 at her secondary school out of approx 120 girls. One girl came for tea and called herself Lily 'G' as appears so many they all added the first letter of their surname to differentiate between them.

salamithumbs · 07/05/2023 00:13

Just because Lily is in the top ten though, doesn't mean that every other girl will have that name. Last year there were around 300,000 girls born in England and Wales, and 2,182 were named Lily. That's one in every 137 girls, so not as if there would be more than one in every class! I'd say just go for whichever you prefer. Also, you can't really predict how these things will go; my friend was saying recently that she's teaching a class with two Ingrids in it, having only heard the name on one other person ever!

RoseRobot · 06/05/2023 22:17

I like both but prefer Flora.

Mrsstart · 06/05/2023 22:13

@sunshineandmango from following the thread I feel like you prefer Lily. You've mentioned a few times your not put off by it's popularity so I think you should chose Lily xx

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 06/05/2023 21:45

@DramaAlpaca thank you for the heads up regarding Lillia 😂 Lily all the way!

OP posts:
DramaAlpaca · 06/05/2023 21:25

What about Lillia? goodness no! There used to be a brand of sanitary towels called Lilia Whites back in the day. I'm old enough to remember them.

I love both Flora and Lily, and Lily is my favourite of the two. It's simple, pretty and classic.

Original poster
sunshineandmango · 06/05/2023 21:07

@CoffeeYes funnily enough I haven’t come across any Olivia’s in my nursery/playgroup social circles either despite it being number 1 😂
I understand Lily is far more popular than Flora, but we just want to pick the one we love the most (which we are having a difficult time deciding). Wouldn’t not use Lily just due to popularity, but appreciate she may not be the only one in her class if we do pick it.

OP posts: