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Baby names

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

Original poster

Names you LOVE but would never choose...

164 replies

poppymango · 19/06/2024 17:57

For example:

A name associated with a famous celebrity

Something gorgeous but very obviously from a movie/book franchise

Something that sounds way too posh (or not!)

Etc.

I loved the name Merida (from the movie Brave) and was very disappointed to learn that it's not actually a real Scottish name at all! Naming your daughter after a Disney princess seems like something you may regret.

I also saw a TV show once with a character called Persephone, Percy for short. I love it but we are in no way posh enough to pull it off. Sigh.

What are yours?

OP posts:
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toomanytonotice · 20/06/2024 10:12

Jezebel.

love it.

Hoppinggreen · 20/06/2024 10:10

When I was pg with Ds I really wanted to call him Lucifer at one point, probably hormones, but luckily DH talked me out of it.
DS says he actually would have quite liked it

Bumblbeep · 20/06/2024 10:08

poppymango · 20/06/2024 09:55

This is interesting! Some names have popped up a few times.

Maybe we should all start going with what we love and normalise having little ones called Juno, Xanthe, and Lysander running around 😀

I think Juno has become normalized, I know a few!

PurpleWhiteGreen123 · 20/06/2024 10:06

I wish I had more choice when naming my DD (I was under a GA when she was born and her dad took over naming her). She got two horribly conventional names that are quite, meh. (There's a whole story to this which I won't bore anyone with)

I like Genevieve (Gennie) or as pp said Minerva (goddess of war and wisdom, Minnie).

I also like Kali who is the Hindu goddess of chaos 😂. I will probably name my next pet Kali to compensate. 😂 I saw a statue of her once in the British Museum and thought she was a badass.

I'm soft on names that are from the ancient world in general, actually.

FoleyHuck · 20/06/2024 10:03

There's an old Swedish name that I came across when looking for names for our baby (DH is Swedish).

Torbjörn.

Translates as Thor-Bear or Thunder-Bear. Amazing. Love it. Would absolutely never ina million years burden an actual child with it.

JollyHostess101 · 20/06/2024 09:56

Atticus- DH was not to be convinced so lucky we had a girl!!

Original poster
poppymango · 20/06/2024 09:55

This is interesting! Some names have popped up a few times.

Maybe we should all start going with what we love and normalise having little ones called Juno, Xanthe, and Lysander running around 😀

OP posts:
PitterPatter3 · 20/06/2024 09:53

I also really like Camilla but not the Parker-Bowles association.

PitterPatter3 · 20/06/2024 09:53

Loveday

I love it but I know most people think it a bit ridiculous. Many don’t know about its Cornish roots and think it’s just made-up.

I wouldn’t do that to my child.

Original poster
poppymango · 20/06/2024 09:49

staybyyou · 19/06/2024 21:38

I also like Sunday

Nicole Kidman has a daughter named Sunday Rose and I think that’s so beautiful.

OP posts:
TeamPolin · 20/06/2024 07:39

Seth (DS HATED it)
Thor (this is actually a family name, believe it or not.)
Jesse

Wren
Juno
Hero
Camille
Hermione

Sleepnplay · 20/06/2024 07:20

Xanthe and Seraphina for girls, and Torin for a boy. All on the shortlist, but ultimately couldn't see us pulling them off!

Pallisers · 19/06/2024 23:54

Renée - for some reason I think it is the sexiest woman's name.

I really loved Hugo

Owen Roe.

Cassandra.

Galen
Zeno

Mumofgirls2017 · 19/06/2024 23:46

Oooh good thread

Elvis
Clarence
Quentin
Zeus
Thor
Everest
Lionel
Lysander

Xanthe
Olympia
Titania
Pixie
Pollyanna
Marigold
Clover
Coco
Luella

TheBirdintheCave · 19/06/2024 23:25

Pinkl · 19/06/2024 20:08

I once worked with woman called Hero, after a Shakespearean character. Her name really suited her and I really liked it but it didn’t make it into my short list.

other names I liked…
Maximillian

Verity
Astrid
Sapphira

Hero was our top name for years but we had a boy first and called him Gilbert. Hero just didn't work with his name so it took a back seat when I was around seven months with our second baby so I'm currently feeding Marcella 😅

If G had been a girl he would definitely have been called Hero.

The only names I really ruled out were ones my husband hated or ones that I liked but were too popular.

Userxyd · 19/06/2024 23:17

Also love the name Raven for a girl but/because it sounds a bit witchy.
Cassia which I think means cinnamon which I have in everything

1stWorldProblems · 19/06/2024 23:14

Berengaria - Richard the Lion Heart's wife & the least well known Queen of England. Loved it since I was a kid but it's quite long and didn't like Berry or Gary as diminutives. So DD1 has it at a middle name.

Ophelia & several others that started with I or O but would have sounded silly / too alliterative with our surname.

Wilberforce, Horatio or Boris if we'd had boys. Particularly glad we didn't use Boris after Johmson's selfish & self indulgent time as PM.

lifesrichpageant · 19/06/2024 23:12

Raffi, Raymond, Desmond, Ginger/Virginia, Georgia, Willa. All vetoed by DH :-)

Userxyd · 19/06/2024 23:11

I love the Italian name Massimo, with the pause of the double s. No way we are cool enough to pull that off though, and not Italian sadly.

EricHebbornInItaly · 19/06/2024 23:11

Mariette, Valentina, Pablo, Fernando Georgiana…. the list goes on. I’m Mediterranean so my child could have pulled any of the more European ones off but DH nixed them. My daughter still has a very frilly name though.

crabette · 19/06/2024 23:06

I loved Cohen for a boy, but wouldn't use as it can be considered offensive to Jewish people given its meaning within that religion.

Also loved Genevieve for a girl, but not posh enough! Similarly, Juliette.

honeyfox · 19/06/2024 23:03

iAmBarbara · 19/06/2024 23:00

O and i adore the name Aslan for a boy, but we don’t have any Turkish ancestry.

You could pretend it's after the book or the Irish band?

honeyfox · 19/06/2024 23:02

Keir. I loved it when very few people had ever heard of him. It's kinda ruined for me now and I'm not even British.

Isla, same. Loved it donkey's years ago. Too overused now.

iAmBarbara · 19/06/2024 23:00

O and i adore the name Aslan for a boy, but we don’t have any Turkish ancestry.

Dexterslab · 19/06/2024 22:59

CautiousOptimist · 19/06/2024 19:54

Ruby (love it, but can't help but sing the song when I hear it)
Also Alice for the same reason, I just couldn't do it.

These were two of the three girls names we had for our daughter, ended up calling her iris after our wedding song (at least the names not in the actual lyrics to this one!)