Page 9 | Our name choices don’t seem very liked

Fritesky · 2025-10-18T17:45:27+00:00

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?

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MimiSunshine · 19/10/2025 12:18

Fritesky · 19/10/2025 10:27

I think what we might do is change Lola to Lila, we weren’t supper set on Lola anyway, and hopefully without the Lolita reference the association won’t be as strong to Gigi either.
Though I’m sure I’m about to be told it’s too associated with models now (Gigi Hadid and Lila Moss).

For what it’s worth I think Gigi and Lila are lovely and Lila feels a better fit than Lola with Gigi. It’s just a bit more special than Lola.

Needmorelego · 19/10/2025 12:16

Sorry.... picture missing.
Jiji the talking cat.

Needmorelego · 19/10/2025 12:14

I still don't see the "showgirl" connections.
This is what I think of with the two names.
Cute kid and a talking cat (ok.... he's JiJi rather than GiGi)
(pictures incoming)

Everlore · 19/10/2025 12:12

redfishcat · 19/10/2025 12:04

People may not say out loud what we are able to say over an an anonymous forum, but it will be in people’s minds.
School children have parents and grandparents and I know that my reaction to being told about my grandchild’s new friends Gigi and Lola would be to burst into song. LOLA Lola, or she was a showgirl.
And I’d be singing in a very bad French accent, leetle girls grow up to be…..
And that would be too late as my grandkids would sing it to yours at school on Monday.

Do you think most of your grandchildren's friends, or even their parents, are honestly going to find their minds jumping straight to an old musical from 1958 or a Barry Mannilow song from the 1970s? If so, I think you may be quite mistaken! Perhaps you might wish to update your references, at least to something released in the last fifty years!

FKAT · 19/10/2025 12:10

Lovely names OP.

The 'would a doctor / lawyer be called this' gibes are so dated, classist and, yes, xenophobic. We currently have MPs called Lola, Layla, Tulip, Kemi, Daisy, Mims, Cat, Priti, Bell and Zarah. I think the time has past when you had to be called Margaret, Elizabeth or Helen to be taken seriously.

Needmorelego · 19/10/2025 12:07

sniggerly · 19/10/2025 12:01

Mimi?

That's even more of a "feels like it should be short for something" name.

Everlore · 19/10/2025 12:07

BreadstickBurglar · 18/10/2025 18:52

Ok being brutally honest I wonder if Gigi and Lola have a bit of a… well an air about them. My immediate connotations are Gigi the film about a child (future) prostitute, and Lolita the book about an abused teenager. The combination of the two kind of strengthens the association. It’s a real shame because I love the names and individually I wouldn’t be thinking of those characters.

With respect, I think your references are very outdated. those are not the first things that came to mind when I heard those names, though I have seen the film Gigi and read Lolita, they are hardly very contemporary references!
I feel most younger people, or, indeed, most people under fifty, hearing those names wouldn't think of either of those things, much more likely to bring to mind the fashion model Gigi Hadid or the singer Lola Young.
I love both names, not that my opinion or anyone else's apart from yours and your husband's should count for anything.

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 12:05

redfishcat · 19/10/2025 12:04

People may not say out loud what we are able to say over an an anonymous forum, but it will be in people’s minds.
School children have parents and grandparents and I know that my reaction to being told about my grandchild’s new friends Gigi and Lola would be to burst into song. LOLA Lola, or she was a showgirl.
And I’d be singing in a very bad French accent, leetle girls grow up to be…..
And that would be too late as my grandkids would sing it to yours at school on Monday.

And. So. What?

redfishcat · 19/10/2025 12:04

People may not say out loud what we are able to say over an an anonymous forum, but it will be in people’s minds.
School children have parents and grandparents and I know that my reaction to being told about my grandchild’s new friends Gigi and Lola would be to burst into song. LOLA Lola, or she was a showgirl.
And I’d be singing in a very bad French accent, leetle girls grow up to be…..
And that would be too late as my grandkids would sing it to yours at school on Monday.

asmallbluething · 19/10/2025 12:03

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sniggerly · 19/10/2025 12:01

Mimi?

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 11:57

My mother's name was Flora. A beautiful Scottish name that she enjoyed having.
Of course, some basic twats associated it with the margarine, showing their lack of imagination and bad manners.
She ignored them.

RaininSummer · 19/10/2025 11:56

I don't like Lila. Always want to say Lilo.

theunbreakablecleopatrajones · 19/10/2025 11:56

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 11:55

The upcoming generation won't associate Lola with the 1978 Barry Manilow hit.
It's just people my age who can't get past the line in Copacabana.
Not something for OP to worry about.

I don't think many mumsnetters would remember that now!

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 11:55

The upcoming generation won't associate Lola with the 1978 Barry Manilow hit.
It's just people my age who can't get past the line in Copacabana.
Not something for OP to worry about.

DuchessOfNarcissex · 19/10/2025 11:52

They sound like the names of exotic dancers.

And like I said 67 babies were named just “Gigi” last year.
It doesn't matter how many times you say it, it's still awful.

No one would say something like that to you in real life...they wouldn't dare.
But they would think it.

PostIndustrialSandwich · 19/10/2025 11:49

I think in the UK the connotations of those names, especially in combination together, will make a lot of people think of strippers or prostitutes. It’s a real shame and evidences some entrenched misogyny in our culture probably. But it is the association many people’s minds will make.

The middle names you have chosen would make beautiful first names and are free of this association.

NikkiPotnick · 19/10/2025 11:06

I would def go with Lila.

Sandyshandy · 19/10/2025 11:00

They are both pretty names - I know quite a few of each. I think it’s both of them together that is a bit ‘showgirl’ (I’m afraid that’s what came to my mind too) - Gigi and Lila doesn’t have the same feel at all so a good idea imo. I have a daughter who only uses a shortened version of her name but she does occasionally use the longer version when she wants to sound a bit more serious and is glad she has the option, I do think a longer version of Gigi )Georgia?) might be useful for your dd.

The reason your relatives have been kinder to you irl is because it would incredibly rude to say to your ‘DIL’ that you do t like the names and think they sound like prostitutes!

pictoosh · 19/10/2025 10:59

Firebird83 · 19/10/2025 10:47

Even for Gigi Hadid it’s a nickname, not her real name. She’s called Jelena.

What of it though?

What's tangibly wrong with nicknames as names? Loads have become stand-alone names over the years. What's the issue?

Original poster

Fritesky · 19/10/2025 10:49

Firebird83 · 19/10/2025 10:47

Even for Gigi Hadid it’s a nickname, not her real name. She’s called Jelena.

I’m aware of this, we aren’t naming our baby after her though! And like I said 67 babies were named just “Gigi” last year.

OP posts:

Firebird83 · 19/10/2025 10:47

Even for Gigi Hadid it’s a nickname, not her real name. She’s called Jelena.

Firebird83 · 19/10/2025 10:42

I love Apolline though.

FamousSideeye · 19/10/2025 10:41

There are lovely names. STOP asking for peoples opinions and STOP letting people give you their opinion. If anyone starts to tell you they don’t like the names tell them that you aren’t interested and that they are being rude.

Firebird83 · 19/10/2025 10:41

I don’t like the names and agree with the lady of the night connotations. I prefer longer names that can be shortened though.