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Baby names

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

Original poster

Our name choices don’t seem very liked

462 replies

Fritesky · 18/10/2025 18:45

DH and I have just had our twin baby girls, they are 3 weeks old and we have named them Gigi and Lola. We love their names and put a lot of time into picking them. We are a Anglo-Franco-Italian family so tried really hard to pick names that everyone would be a fan of.
Since then we’ve told family, friends etc. our babies names and got lots of “oh are the nicknames” and “oh that’s interesting”, which I guess just makes me feel really crappy. We haven’t registered the girls yet so we could change the names, but I’m not sure if I want to. Their full names are Gigi Apolline and Lola Gabrielle.

What are your thoughts?

OP posts:
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TheaBrandt1 · 19/10/2025 09:24

If you like it stick with it. We are all different. Personally I don’t like any cutesy names for girls but that’s just me. I like strong women names not cutesy show girl ones. Doesn’t mean I’m right or my view more valid.

That said when I posted dd2 name someone said it sounded like a boat. Fair comment I guess!

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 09:24

To add again...

"While I absolutely appreciate that I did ask for opinions, to continue hounding on about it after I’ve specifically said we won’t be changing Gigi feels really cruel?"

Some posters on here forget that they're just on a forum and decide they should have the final word in someone else's business. They get genuinely annoyed and actively horrible when a stranger doesn't crumble under their criticism.
It's them, not you. Promise.

Original poster
Fritesky · 19/10/2025 09:24

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 09:21

To add...how very mumsnet to worry about a name that suits a doctor. Ha ha.

I’m just genuinely curious how many mumsnetters make their life decisions based on someone’s name! Are they really checking the GP website before registering to make sure every doctor they might see has a “name that works for a doctor” I think not!

OP posts:
pictoosh · 19/10/2025 09:21

To add...how very mumsnet to worry about a name that suits a doctor. Ha ha.

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 09:20

Totally agree with everything you say OP.
Gigi and Lola are FAB names. Disregard this nitpicking, haughty lot and stick with what you chose and love.
I especially like Gigi.
Bash on.

SL2924 · 19/10/2025 09:19

Gigi and Romy are nice. I don’t know what people are talking about re the medical school and Oxford BS.. Gigi is short for many names like Georgiana, Georgina etc so I suspect plenty of Gigis have graced the halls at Oxford or at medical school.
Boris Johnson named his daughter Romy so while that may not be a big sell, fancy people are using that name!

Original poster
Fritesky · 19/10/2025 09:14

Also I find the would Gigi work as a doctor or in a boardroom point really frustrating. There is growing trend in “softer” names for young baby girls. Along with Evie, Poppy and Elsie for example by the time my Gigi is old enough to be a doctor our associations with names and sounds will have changed as the current wave of baby girls age into real careers which aren’t dictated by their name.

There was a time where Katie, Charlie, Bella, Abby etc. all weren’t acceptable as full names but I struggle to believe anyone here would actually be unhappy with a doctor named Katie or Abby?
It’s a very shortsighted view which doesn’t take into account current naming trend and how perceptions will change as a result.
Currently I can’t imagine a teenage or young adult Mabel or Edith as I associate the names with older women but as the current wave of Mabel’s and Edith’s grow up I’m sure my perception will change and I will associate it with those age groups.

OP posts:
Original poster
Fritesky · 19/10/2025 09:06

While I absolutely appreciate that I did ask for opinions, to continue hounding on about it after I’ve specifically said we won’t be changing Gigi feels really cruel? I’m probably just being overly emotional but it’s starting to feel like a lot of peer pressure to conform or as though I’m being told I’m selfish or horrible to keep the name I love.
There were 67 baby Gigi’s registered in England and wales last year, it’s hardly unheard of, we aren’t doing something no one else has done before.
Again I appreciate I did ask for opinions and I am going to get just that, but I wasn’t expecting to be called selfish tbh that’s really hurt! And I imagine the 67 mums of those baby Gigi’s born last year would be really hurt by that narrative too.
I get it the internet and it’s easy to forget words have consequences but when you call me selfish or implicate things about a name I’ve said we won’t be changing it wouldn’t hurt to be aware that’s a real person you’re saying that to and real baby you’re talking about.

OP posts:
TheaBrandt1 · 19/10/2025 08:55

The trick is to pick a name that can carry them anywhere. I considered some quite quirky names when pregnant and 18 years later one Dd would have rocked it the other is more low key fun but quite studious heading for a heavy weight type job and keeps her head down and would have hated some of the names I considered. Dd1 would detest being called Gigi dd2 would be fine with it. You just can’t know.

Roosch · 19/10/2025 08:48

Lola is a shortened Lolita - you really don’t want people to associate that with your daughter do you????

NikkiPotnick · 19/10/2025 08:47

BeanQuisine · 18/10/2025 23:54

For better or worse, names do carry cultural associations for many people and your kids won't be spared that.

In an English-speaking context, Gigi and Lola do seem closest to names like Bunny, Zsa Zsa, Bobo, Dodo etc., all having a fairly well-established association with cutesy dumbness and showbiz frivolity.

You can choose to fight against such stereotyping but whether your daughters will welcome being recruited for such a campaign is another matter.

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This.

You do not have the power to opt your children out of names having cultural associations. Nobody does. It's immaterial whether you think it should be a thing, it is. What this means is that when you as a parent choose a name, you're also choosing any cultural associations that come with it.

SushiForMe · 19/10/2025 08:44

I understand what you are saying re Gigi but she’ll be the one having to live with it, and choosing what is considered a cute nickname as a name because your DH and you always talked about it / she can use her middle name / etc is very selfish. It’s not about you, it’s about her.
I would definitely resent my parents if they gave me a nickname as a name.
The other ‘cute’ names you are quoting are real names, Gigi is a nickname. And quite low class in France as well.

MrsKateColumbo · 19/10/2025 08:39

@PinkFlamingo888 I do like Gigi (i would call a DD it if DH liked it) but if your surname starts with G I think "GigiG" could be a bit of a pain.

DD is the only "mini Kate" in the school but she is sometimes still "mini Kate C" on things

I think Gigi Hadid would be the main cultural touch point now (although I do love the Vincente Minnelli film, it's not really known by the youngsters).

I would argue it has not been a stripper name for decades, none I have known would use that.

Beachcomber74 · 19/10/2025 08:02

DisplayPurposesOnly · 18/10/2025 18:51

I can see why you are getting that reaction, they are quite "light" names and generally (especially Gigi) short for something else.

Do you want us suggest longer names for which these could be the short versions?

Genevieve could be the more formal one for Gigi. Absolutely love the combo. Good Luck & Congratulations 🥂

NutellaEllaElla · 19/10/2025 07:46

The middle names sound like proper first names of a person who will live most of their life as an adult. The first names sound like cute nicknames that are used for children and informally for adults.

Comeonbabylightmyfire · 19/10/2025 07:44

They are beautiful names. Don’t change them.

MimiSunshine · 19/10/2025 07:26

Keep Gigi and Lola. They’re lovely names and you’ll regret choosing a new one just because others have raised an eyebrow.

they’ll get used to it.

PinkFlamingo888 · 19/10/2025 07:24

Fritesky · 18/10/2025 22:38

Hm thank you everyone.

We don’t really want to use the middle names as first names, and I find the whole “I wouldn’t trust a surgeon” with that name narrative a little strange as loads of babies have “cute” names now like Evie, Poppy, Elsie.

I hadn’t thought of the “lady of the night” connotation.

I did study literature so I’m very familiar with Lolita but it hadn’t crossed my mind (I thought of a girl I went to school with, a character from Gossip Girl and the Barry Manilow song which I figured no one their age would know!)

For Gigi I guess I just associated with lots of girls I knew who used it as a nickname.

I think we are more attached to Gigi as a name than Lola so maybe we should change Lola. We had
Romy/Rory (too masculine?), Mila, Lena and Cami on our list too.

I love your name choices!

I’m currently pregnant with just one to name and we don’t know the gender but I’m torn between Gigi and Romy! Our surname begins with G so I do plan to use a longer G name and then her initials would be Gigi, rather than her name being Gigi, but this is only because the Gigi G just wouldn’t sound right if she ended up being one of 4 in a class! I’d much rather be able to use Gigi as her full name, as this is what I want her to be called!

it probably means absolutely nothing and shouldn’t be an issue as at all, but there is an influencer on TikTok with Gigi and Romy. They’re beautiful little girls and probably partly why I like the names, but maybe something to bare in mind if using both of the names!

Doidontimmm · 19/10/2025 07:16

In Scotland Gigi is horses ie you are going to the Gigi’s for horse racing.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 19/10/2025 06:33

GrooveArmada · 18/10/2025 21:27

She's in the UK, it can be shortened in an anglicised way too without it being a mortal sin.

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Sure, but if you have specifically chosen a name because it works in three languages/cultures, you're probably not going to want to choose a nickname which really doesn't work in one of them.

Describing the name Polly as "international" is a bit of an odd take.

FunnyOrca · 19/10/2025 06:04

Wow, I’m sorry about some of the things you’ve had to read here. I think they are both adorable. However, I would assume the same as your relatives, that they are diminutives. I know lots of Lolas (millennials and current babies) who are Charlottes. I only know one Gigi and she is a Georgia (or Georgina, I’m not actually sure!)

It wouldn’t hurt to have an “official” name but to go by Gigi and Lola. I often have kids in my class with names like this, where they wouldn’t respond if you were to call for Georgia or Charlotte for instance.

It’s up to you and their other parent. You don’t owe the posters on this thread anything! Or your family! Enjoy your baby girls 💖💖

IfHeWantedToHeWould · 19/10/2025 05:31

Lola is very popular, it’s a nice name. I wouldn’t change it. It’s not nicknamey at all.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 19/10/2025 05:02

they are nice names. Lola feels like a full name to me but Gigi sounds like it’s short for something such as Georgina.

Together they sound like they work in a strip club.

PennyRest · 19/10/2025 03:12

I think they’re really nice names (and I particularly like Apolline) but if I were going to change Lola, I’d go for Ines or Romy. Or maybe Lana.

DiaryofaProvincialLady · 19/10/2025 03:08

dogs, cheap dolls or ladies in a red light district.