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Baby names

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Original poster

Perdita - honest opinions

57 replies

BexJ78 · 04/08/2009 20:55

For ages and ages, DH and i have said that if we ever had a girl we would call her Perdita or Purdie for short. However, i am now half way through my pregnancy and DH now says that he is worried that a) she will get called 'pervy' at school;
b) that it is too wannabee-ish.

We both have very traditional names and are from families of traditional names, but i really like it as i think it is unusual without looking contrived.... what do you think? I have canvased other MNers on my antenatal thread, who suggested we could shorten to Dita, which is nice, but the only dita i've ever heard of is dita van teese.
in a quandry so need some help! thanks all.xxx

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Merle · 08/08/2009 07:35

My name refers to an 'attendant at a sacrifice', and I seem to have managed all right.

pedalmonster · 06/08/2009 18:18

I think its sweet - used to have a friend in California called Perdita (it means the lost one).

cthea · 05/08/2009 22:47

No.

boodleboot · 05/08/2009 22:46

its fantastic. In theology Perdita is the name of the lost island of paradise so it doesn't mean lost in a negative way. A winters tale is a fabulous play....one of my shakespeare fav's....Perdy is a gorgeous nickname and yes of course you can totally carry it off....be brave and go against the grain of 'safe' names...no way does it sound like Pervy....ignore DH

Original poster
BexJ78 · 05/08/2009 22:07

Thanks for all the comments! Still unsure but think lots of your positive views have given me that extra bit of confidence I needed. and will just have to gloss over the dalmations thing and stick with references to shakespeare, the avengers and possibly jilly cooper! ha ha ha!

OP posts:
NellyTheElephant · 05/08/2009 21:26

I love it, I wouldn't have any particular issues with the Winter's Tale / 101 Dalmations / Polo connotations (I enjoyed all three!!). I love either Dita or Perdie as nicknames. My only reservation is the whole lost thing (in the same way I have reservations about Delores even though I love Lola as a nickname), but really - should we care what a name means... I just realised I can't remember what my own name means!!

GrendelsMum · 05/08/2009 18:58

How about every time someone says 'isn't that a dog in a kid's film?' you say, 'she's the heroine of one of Shakespeare's later problem plays, actually'

hifi · 05/08/2009 18:44

could be shortened to piggy a la tottie de bouvier in the times.

screamingabdab · 05/08/2009 18:34

Sorry, dislike (I have an irrational dislike of posh-sounding names like this) - sorry

I also think you'd get people pronouncing it wrong

bluesatinsash · 05/08/2009 16:16

Riders/Rivals/Polo are my 'guilty pleasure' what can I say .

Also v. raunchy reading for a 15 year old (when I first nicked my sister's copy 23 years ago!).

AnguaVonUberwald · 05/08/2009 16:11

I just instantly think of the dogs!

HelenofSparta · 05/08/2009 16:09

bluesatinsash - I had forgotten that in the intervening years since I had read it - wow I bow to your superior knowledge!

wahwahwah · 05/08/2009 16:02

101 Dalmations
Purdah mmmmm

Could be shortened to Purdey

CillySunt · 05/08/2009 15:57

Horrible name.

bluesatinsash · 05/08/2009 15:57

Yes but Daisy had a flng with Rupert back in the day et voila! Perdita was the result.

HelenofSparta · 05/08/2009 15:53

I have a Hermione - so Perdita's mother in the Winters Tale. I like it (also expecting a girl), but think people may think it a little odd as we would then have mother and daughter?!
Erm, have also read Jilly Cooper (in my teens I hasten to add) and Rupert C-B's daughters are Tabitha and Bianca. Perdita is Daisy the painter's daughter in Polo I think!!!!

Merle · 05/08/2009 15:49

The main dog characters in '101 Dalmations' were Pongo & Missus. Perdita was another female dog who I think had been kidanpped by Cruella de Ville. When P&M rescued their puppies they also liberated Perdita and hers. They all went back to live in St John's Wood, since Perdita, who had been lost, didn't know where she had come from.

bluesatinsash · 05/08/2009 15:35

Yes Perdita was Rupert Campbell-Black's illegitimate polo playing daughter in Polo.

I love it! It means 'lost one'.

GrendelsMum · 05/08/2009 13:30

I think it's a beautiful name, and most people don't seem to let the fact that names mean something silly in another language stop them calling their child that.

Purdie is an ultra cool nickname, as is Dita.

She's going to be the most glamorous teenager in the school, isn't she? I can just imagine a girl about 5'10, long blong hair, swanning in to the common room: "Hi, I'm Purdie"

I actually considered it myself but couldn't go for it as a Renaissance Lit scholar because of knowing that would mean I was Hermione, stuck as a statue for however many years.

ShauntheSheep · 05/08/2009 13:01

I think of Agnes from Discworld tbh. Prefer Agnes too.

Ladyem · 05/08/2009 12:50

Sorry, not keen. It sounds a bit 'trying too hard'.

MaElsie · 05/08/2009 12:45

No, not keen I'm afraid. Weren't the dogs in 101 dalmations called Pongo and Perdita?

Vronsky · 05/08/2009 11:49

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SuiGeneris · 04/08/2009 22:46

It means loss in Italian. Lost would be "perduta". In my opinion, it woul be difficult to explain to her when she asks in a few years' time. But then again, I am Italian, it might matter less to non-Italian speakers.

rasputin · 04/08/2009 22:28

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