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Baby names

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

Original poster

I can’t have Olive can I :(

296 replies

MrsB2019x · 27/09/2024 20:16

18 weeks with a baby girl.
I adore the name Olive but our surname is Brown.
Olive Brown.
It’s a bit too Dulux colour chart isn’t it :(

Any other suggestions welcome! (Or change my mind and convince me Olive Brown isn’t ridiculous 😅)

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IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 27/09/2024 23:47

SweetSakura · 27/09/2024 22:44

Anchovy maybe?

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Well Lynda Snell's step daughter in The Archers is Coriander. Coriander is more euphonious than Olive.

TealTraybake · 27/09/2024 23:46

BunnyLake · 27/09/2024 21:05

The trouble with Olive is it will always be Olive from On the Buses to certain age groups (mine) but I guess for younger parents they won’t have that association.

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Olive oil popeye

Bumcake · 27/09/2024 23:46

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:45

I'm dying to know what that name is now! 😆

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Jayden?

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:45

Bagpuss2022 · 27/09/2024 23:43

I think Olive is a lovely name but agree with the surname it’s a bit much.
My now 23 year old has a name I really didn’t want and now he’s an adult it just isn’t him so goes by a nickname I wish I had put my foot down. Think one of the naughty boy “chav” names a few years ago he is so not that name he’s more of a cord with shirts and bookish.

I'm dying to know what that name is now! 😆

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:45

@IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle 😆

Bagpuss2022 · 27/09/2024 23:43

I think Olive is a lovely name but agree with the surname it’s a bit much.
My now 23 year old has a name I really didn’t want and now he’s an adult it just isn’t him so goes by a nickname I wish I had put my foot down. Think one of the naughty boy “chav” names a few years ago he is so not that name he’s more of a cord with shirts and bookish.

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 27/09/2024 23:42

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:14

Beryl and Bertha?! 😂

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Bertha makes me think of this. It's even worse than I remembered

Black pudding Bertha- she's the queen of Northern Soul.

specialsen · 27/09/2024 23:38

I agree with others, Olive Brown is a very dull name, if you really want Olive have that as a middle name.

Suz8 · 27/09/2024 23:31

Turmerictolly · 27/09/2024 23:29

Unfortunately Olive does always remind me of Olive from On the Buses (I'm late 50's). I do like it as a name but wouldn't pair it with Brown. What about Iris?

I just can't see Iris as a beautiful flower then though - but the coloured part of the eye, next to Brown.

OakZoeBase · 27/09/2024 23:31

If it's fashionable avoid it would be my advice. It will soon go out of fashion again and she'll be stuck with a dated name.

I've never been close to my mother and we don't get on, but I have to thank her for giving me and my siblings classic names back in the 60s when names like Barry, Carol, Tina, Karen, Nigel, Kevin and Tracy were fashionable. Nice enough names but very dated.

Turmerictolly · 27/09/2024 23:29

Unfortunately Olive does always remind me of Olive from On the Buses (I'm late 50's). I do like it as a name but wouldn't pair it with Brown. What about Iris?

TheFireflies · 27/09/2024 23:28

I agree that a plain surname can lend itself to a more distinctive forename. Melanie Brown’s daughter is called Phoenix, for example. Thats a pretty big name to make fit, but more impactful than a plain name with a common surname.

Sethera · 27/09/2024 23:26

Bumcake · 27/09/2024 22:48

This has been covered, but it’s literally half a century ago.

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But On The Buses is a classic, like a vintage champagne.

Bthebestucanb · 27/09/2024 23:25

I quite like the name Olive although I always tried to avoid a name which would lend itself to an obvious nickname The first thing I thought of was Olive oil & the possibility of going through school being called oily 😳

Pooeys · 27/09/2024 23:23

Bumcake · 27/09/2024 23:09

Yes, you’ve said. Are you called Olivia?

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Probably 🤔

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:22

Notellinganyone · 27/09/2024 23:15

Eva Brown? Seriously?

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😂

Evilartsgrad · 27/09/2024 23:21

This reply has been deleted

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Eva Brown? Seriously?!

Eva Braun. Look her up.

Notellinganyone · 27/09/2024 23:15

This reply has been deleted

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Eva Brown? Seriously?

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:14

LocalHobo · 27/09/2024 23:12

It's like Beryl, Vera, Bertha.
I think Beryl is overdue to have a resurgence.

Beryl and Bertha?! 😂

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:14

Bumcake · 27/09/2024 23:09

Yes, you’ve said. Are you called Olivia?

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No, are you?

LocalHobo · 27/09/2024 23:12

It's like Beryl, Vera, Bertha.
I think Beryl is overdue to have a resurgence.

IamnotwhouthinkIam · 27/09/2024 23:11

Yeah, many people will think of the colour rather than the fruit - so it does sound very paint chart, sorry. Brown is a tricky surname for that.

Is it the style of Olive you like or the sound?
Polly has both I think (although it’s not my personal taste) . Or if it’s just the retro style you like then there’s loads of options- maybe Florence, Josephine, Mabel, Sybil, Edith, Alma, Iris or Sylvie/Sylvia?

WalkingaroundJardine · 27/09/2024 23:11

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:04

Do the younger generation REALLY laugh at names like Debbie and Tracy? Confused

I doubt it.

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Even my friends and I laugh about those names now as they are so 1970s. Also Kevin.

LadyLapsang · 27/09/2024 23:10

On the buses…. It must say something that so many of us instantly think of a character from a sitcom that ended in 1973. Olivia is nice.

Bumcake · 27/09/2024 23:09

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 27/09/2024 23:08

Agree to disagree yes. I think the name Olive is hideous.

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Yes, you’ve said. Are you called Olivia?

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