Our name choices don’t seem very liked

I think Gigi has the more difficult name combo - her middle name isn't exactly any easier than her first name.
Lola and Gabrielle sound lovely - any chance of switching Lola's middle name to her sis?

I think both names are great and love your middle names. Personally, I think Lola sounds stronger than Lila - I think Lila is a bit nothingy. It's like Isla for parents who thought that was too popular now. And Charlie and Lola would be a bigger reference point for the name now than a Barry Manilow song.

I think Lina is a great international four letter L name.

I wasn’t keen on my sister’s favoured name for my niece, but had the sense to keep schtum. My mother didn’t, unfortunately, and it caused quite a row 😬

In the end, my sister stuck with the name because she loved it - and my mother was so delighted at being a grandmother that she almost instantly forgot she’d ever disliked it. It wouldn’t surprise me if your family are exactly the same 🙂

I love Lola!
Not too big on Gigi

See of the two, Gigi really is the one that sounds the most nickname-y. Which is why you’re getting the comments about the nicknames, which you wouldn’t with Lola plus something else short like Eva. I don’t think you need to change Lola’s name unless you really want to if you aren’t changing Gigi’s name, that’s not going to make much difference to Gigi as she’s the one with the nickname name.

If you aren’t open to changing Gigi’s name to something like Georgina then you’ll have to get used to saying “no, it’s just Gigi.” (And then in a few years you won’t have to do that anymore as it’ll be Gigi saying it.)

I think Gigi and Lola are lovely names

I think it is selfish not to think beyond "well I like it, so who cares what anyone else thinks".

Because you are not the one who will have to live with it.

@Everlore i think that’s a valid point re younger people; but there are so many on this thread pointing out the associations that there are clearly enough people who are thinking of them.

In any case, originally the OP was asking why she was getting so many slightly funny reactions from family/friends to the names. Fair enough: she might well not have known the cultural associations of them, or how the names together might sound to lots of other people. Clearly, no-one is going to say in real life to a new mum in person what their first thoughts are; but presumably it’s been useful to OP to know why she may be getting slightly “off” or lukewarm reactions? And changing the name Lola to Lila does remove them by quite a lot.

Lila is better than Lola, but that doesn't help poor Gigi, does it?

It doesn't really matter whether you and your husband have both been fine with the names you have. What matters is whether your daughters are fine with it. And you can't know that until it's too late.

But clearly you're set on it, so let's hope she is happy having "Gigi" on her degree certificate.

Seems like a selfish decision to me though. You are naming someone else, not yourself.

I think both Gigi and Lola are lovely names. I'm aware of the connotations of both, but think they are pretty much irrelevant nowadays. The utter bollocks some people spout about high court judge names is ridiculous, there's a million things women have to battle against in the workplace and other women judging a made up future situation on the basis of a NAME says a lot more about them. If you actually like Lila, then change it, but not because of a bitchy pile on on MN.

@Fritesky , If you didn't want opinions, why did you start a thread?

You've had 12 pages of generally negative comments about the names. The daughters will be living with the names, and chances are the names will be viewed negatively.

I think Lola is better than Gigi.

As someone who's fairly regularly on interview panels we do not pay attention to names.
It's an HR regulation to do blind shortlisting, and to be able to justify hiring decisions. The whole point is to avoid appointments based on things like if the face or name fits. I actually wouldn't trust a workplace environment (or surgery) which appointed in any way other than qualifications and skills.
Gigi will be fine! I love love love Appolline though, hopefully that's still one of the middle names!

Supreme lord of the baby names 🤣 did you read my post properly? I never actually said one way or another whether you should change the names. I said call your kids what you want.

I was merely pointing out people in real life might have similar thoughts to those posted here, but are trying not to be so brutal about it.

It's not you that will be affected though, is it?

I have a long name that can be shortened in lots of different ways and I've gone by different nicknames over the years, as well as going through a phase of using my full name.

I'm very glad my parents didn't choose one of the nicknames as my full name because if I hadn't liked it I wouldn't have been able to reinvent myself that easily.

I think there's a real risk that your daughter will not thank you for putting Gigi on her birth certificate.

But you seem determined to do so even though you supposedly came on here to ask for advice before you register them.

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Is it a risk you really want to take? There are so many lovely names that could be shortened to Gigi and Lola so it seems like a no brainer really.

Genevieve is nice name that could be shortened to GiGi. OP though doesn’t want to use a long name and abbreviate it, not sure why. I know someone who called their daughter Vicky, I always thought she got a bit short changed not being a Victoria.