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Baby names

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

Which name to pick: The longstanding favourite or the newcomer?

120 replies

TheBirdintheCave · 13/02/2024 09:48

TLDR: Would you choose Hero or Marcella?

Currently, finally, expecting our second child after three miscarriages including a failed IVF round. I'm 27 weeks now and my husband and I have tentatively started talking about names again as it seems like this baby will be sticking around 😅Sex is unknown as we've decided we'd like a surprise this time.

Baby's older brother is Gilbert John Joseph and our surname is one syllable and rhymes with disc. We like unusual but recognisable classics. Shakespearean and old English/Germanic names tend to be a hit with us.

We think we're settled on our boy name of Conrad Richard Anthony as it ticks all of our boxes but are torn between two for our girl name.

Option 1:

Hero Jane Rose: This is the longstanding favourite, the name we've had picked for a girl forever. It's me who's wavering on it. I just don't feel like it goes with Gilbert plus then baby will have four one syllable names in a row and I can't get over how strange that sounds.

Option 2:

Marcella Jane Rose: This is the newcomer which has outstripped Hero for me over the past year or so. Marcella is an old family name on my dad's side. I feel like it goes so well with Gilbert and my husband is warming to it. In his words 'It's growing on me more and more.' She'd likely be known as Marcie or just Marcella and we'd use the English/French pronunciation over the Italian.

Which would you pick from the two?

Middle names are non negotiable by the way. I know how much everyone here despises Rose as a middle name BUT if baby is a girl she would be the sixth generation Rose* so it's very, very special to me. It's my middle name and my nanna's first name, her mum's first name and her gran's first name etc etc.

Jane is after my husband's mother who died of cancer a few years before husband and I met.

*As an anecdote, it did skip once as my great, great granny was called Elizabeth Doolittle. Yes, really 😅

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
ChocolateCinderToffee · 13/02/2024 23:03

Hero. Marcella is an old lady name to me, the only person I've ever met with that name is in her 80s.

boomingaround · 13/02/2024 23:01

Hero is not good. Sounds gimmicky and try hard even though it has Shakespearean origins. Marcella is much better and goes with Gilbert 100x more.

TheBirdintheCave · 13/02/2024 22:26

@MaidOfSteel Thank you :) I still can't believe it's really happening sometimes!

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TheBirdintheCave · 13/02/2024 22:25

@PickledScrump Eugh really? 🤦🏻‍♀️ Disney already have a lot to answer for in terms of using names on the wrong sex. Looking at you Little Mermaid 🙄

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MythicBish · 13/02/2024 20:11

I like both but my vote is with Marcella!

MaidOfSteel · 13/02/2024 19:50

Marcella is so lovely!

Congratulations on your pregnancy. X

TheBirdintheCave · 13/02/2024 19:23

@pamshortsbrokenbothherlegs Gosh congrats on your twins! How exciting :D

We'll definitely keep talking about it. When we found out Gil was a boy I was disappointed we wouldn't be able to use Hero but I don't think I'd be as sad without it now which seems so weird when I think back to that time 😂

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PickledScrump · 13/02/2024 18:06

There’s a Disney/Marvel character called Hero who is a boy so it’s likely a lot of her peers will assume a boys name. It’s also a big name to live up to.

Out of the two names Marcella is a better choice

Wictc · 13/02/2024 14:49

I really like Hero! Marcella is fine, but Hero is lovely. Your children won’t be spending their lives side by side and being introduced together so they don’t have to ‘go’!

TheaBrandt · 13/02/2024 14:42

FWIW think both my teens and all their mates would hate to be called Hero.

TheaBrandt · 13/02/2024 14:41

Hero is quite a lot for a child to carry. What if she’s a low key teen? She may hate it. It’s too risky it’s not you that has to have the name she will. Definitely Marcella. She’ll be Marcie which I think is really nice

pontipinemum · 13/02/2024 14:38

Marcella. I would think hero was a very odd first name, also sounds like a boy to me. I have not read much Shakespeare apart from what I absolutely had to at school!

ShoesoftheWorld · 13/02/2024 14:37

Marcella's lovely - unusual but recognisable, classy, travels well. Not keen on Hero for various reasons, many of which PP have cited.

HoHoHoliday · 13/02/2024 14:32

I much prefer Hero and I think all of your names "go" fine together. They don't need to be matchy-matchy. You just need to be able to say them easily. Gilbert and Hero - fine.

FWIW, because I love nature-themed names I've always thought Heron would be a lovely name!

MissRheingold · 13/02/2024 14:27

Marcella.

Some U.K. accents will be saying Hero as Ear'ole.

HolyMoly24 · 13/02/2024 14:07

Love Marcella, and Marcie is adorable

Nicebloomers · 13/02/2024 13:52

Marcella with Gilbert. Very pretty

rainbowstardrops · 13/02/2024 13:10

I really like Hero but I'm thinking that maybe Marcella goes better with Gilbert. Gil and Marcie sound nice together. I don't think you'd be able to easily shorten Hero, so that might be something to consider. Mind you, Gil and Hero sounds sweet to me.
Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

ginasevern · 13/02/2024 13:09

I really wouldn't want to grow up with the name Hero, as a boy or girl. Those sorts of names are OK if you've got the famous/bohemian artist type parents and and lifestyle to go with it. Otherwise it just sounds a bit contrived or copied from a celebrity's baby.

Marcella (and Marcie) will be more liveable and won't age badly.

TwelveKeys · 13/02/2024 12:57

I know it's Shakespeare but Hero is starting to feel too Marvel/ ITV / marketing speak so I think Marcella is a much better bet (lovely name too).

Or what about Hera?

pamshortsbrokenbothherlegs · 13/02/2024 12:52

Firstly, Gilbert and Conrad are two of my favourite boys' names. I'm hoping your baby is a boy because it's an awesome sibset!

Secondly, I think you need to disregard all of the comments about which name pp like better - that's irrelevant for your family.

I've been on these boards long enough to know that name regret is a real thing and it tends to come down to one of two causes: one, the mum was pressured into a name she didn't want post-birth, perhaps was too unwell to argue, or two, she went with a "shiny new" name instead of a longtime favourite, which she later decided would have been the better choice.

I'm not convinced this is the case here, you say you've loved Marcella for the past year, so it's hardly something that's just occurred to you. Just that, if you always imagined a daughter called Hero, try to picture how you'd feel not going with that.

I have had a favourite boy's name for about 15 years, and am due twin boys any day now. I have definitely had my head turned by other names during this pregnancy (esp given the whole pair / sibset thing) but I'm 99% sure one of them will get the name I've always loved, simply because I know that if I don't use it, down the line I'll be disappointed.

TheBirdintheCave · 13/02/2024 12:47

@user1492757084 Never heard of if before but if it starts with a 'seh' sound instead of a 'keh' sound then it would automatically be out due to the 'iss' sound in our surname.

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IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 13/02/2024 12:47

I don't live Marcella, and I'd be annoyed that different people will pronounce it differently.

user1492757084 · 13/02/2024 12:42

I love Gilbert John Joseph.
A brother called Conrad Richard Anthony Fisk sounds great.
Richard Conrad Anthony Fisk is handsome too.

Marcella is best with Gilbert.
Marcella Rose Jane Fisk is smart.

Do you like the names Cedella, Miranda, Phoebe or Cressida?

LizzieBet14 · 13/02/2024 12:38

Marcella is the nicer of the two names.