Opinions needed Girls and Boys shortlists

Hello, I am new to this. Just been reading through a few blogs and find it amazing how personal some comments are. Also, that in relation to names, it is more about how popular or not a name is, rather than whether it is a lovely name or not? Do names such as Thomas and Olivia (that seemed to attract unusual attention from some) lose anything because they become popular?

It seems that people are more concerned with choosing a name, based on it not being "usual" and therefore implying that the parents are somewhat special or talented etc etc

Fromm what I can see, some of the names that are "unusual" are actually that because they are not very attractive (my opinion) and have not been used too much because of the fact. So to name a child with such a name, is actually more to do with the parents ego's than the child having a name they can live with!

Also, I am sure there are thousands of women, like myself, that may come on here for ideas. To state that a name is "boring" or "chavvy" is an insult to others. Why not just say which ones you like and not comment on thise that are left? Let people make a choice that suits them, input is one thing, rudeness another.

Sorry if this seems OTT - its just that I came on mumsnet for help and advice, for which I am grateful, not for wanabee "ladieswholunch" thinking they are special because they have chosen a name from the 13th century that even God has forgotten existed

Elliot... not keen, may get Elli
Lewis/Louis....not keen
Harry...ok but too popular
Thomas...ditto

Emily... too popular
Amelie...not keen, too trendy
Elizabeth ...boring but ok
Jessica nn Jessie..love it
Olivia ...not keen, far far too popular
Jamie...not keen at all for girls
Arianne???..not keen, really dislike

Thomas and Elizabeth. Acutally, I like James better than Thomas, but Thomas is good too

Elizabeth & Louis are my favourites and are in fact my DC's names. I wouldn't pronounce Louis as Lewis though and it most certainly is not 'chav'.

Elliot is a fantastic name, i don't understand why it's not more popular (but that's better for you if you choose it) for a girl i like Darcey, but that's just me!

not mad on Elliott tbh but like your others
Tom is always lovely
James is fab too

out of your gilrs names i would go with elizabeth - beth libby eliza etc

Ooh GWTMH - are you pregnant again? Congrats if so .

Raahh - bah humbug - fat lot of use you are! We are struggling so much with boys names. Have a few we like, but nothing we LOVE (unless it begins with same initial as ds, or is his middle name).

Elliot- Love it, one of personaly favs which DH has vetoed, damn him
Lewis/Louis- not keen, a bit chavvy in my bit of south london
Harry- dull
Thomas- I know literally thousands of Tom's, dull

Emily- Lovely, and actually not as popular (or I don't come across many) as I'd thought ti would be
Amelie- Fine
Elizabeth- Love it when shortened to Libby
Jessica- Love it when shortened to Jess
Olivia- boring, everyone has an Olivia
Jamie- Chav version of Lewis
Arianne- Cute

Sadly,CantSleepWontSleep , i don't like any other boys names! I was soooo relieved when we knew we were having a dd, as Dh wanted Sumner for a boy! There isn't even anything i sort of like... (not much help really!)

Oh Raahh - you have wonderful taste in names!
Ds would have been Elliot but we couldn't sort out a middle name to go with it, so it ended up as his middle name instead (which we'll be gutted about if no3 turns out to be a boy, as we will want to use it as a first name), and dd would most likely have been Millicent if it wasn't for a clash of Mil-anything with our surname.

What other boys names do you like, in case you can inspire us for dc3 (we are sorted if it's a girl)?!

MC- that is so funny- I wanted to call DD Harriet, but didn't because we have an Elliot!

Mean to add, DD is Millie (Millicent) Elizabeth- so OP, I think you have great taste in names!!

Elliot is slightly less common than the others, hence other peoples' more muted feedback, but once they know your Elliot they will love the name. If you and dh love it then imo decision made!

What about the Shakespearean name Emilia as the compromise between Emily and Amelia? Also as in Emilia Fox, I think? Have just scanned down and seen some other incredibly sagacious MNer has suggest the same [smile}

Second choice would be Elizabeth as it's beautiful and it has some lovely nicknames as well.

Elliot- Very nice
Lewis/Louis- OK, quite popular
Harry- Nice, popular again
Thomas- Very nice(my cousin's name)

Emily- Pretty
Amelie- Pretty too
Elizabeth- Nice, grown up name(my middle name)
Jessica- Nice(my first name!)
Olivia- Nice, pretty, popular( my best friend's name)
Jamie- OK.
Arianne- Pretty.

Elliot (me and dp both love it but not much positive feedback) - love it - DS would have been Elliot (is infact his middle nae) but couldn;t have as a first name as we already have a Harriet.
Lewis/Louis - Bleugh!
Harry - Too many of them already
Thomas - Bit nothingy
And we've decided on James after my FIL for a middle name

Girls we're struggling with, we can't seem to agree on any

Emily (he wants this but I'm not so keen, it is pretty but too popular for me) - bit nohtingy - lacks imagination
Amelie (my suggestion as a compromise on Emily but he doesn't like it) - really like - we have an Emelia would that not be a good compromise.
Elizabeth - lacks magination
Jessica nn Jessie - really common - in that there are too many
Olivia (nice but very popular) - as Jessica
Jamie (I love it but he's not sure) - not a proper name
Arianne??? (I'm not sure why but it keeps popping into my head) - makes me think of a spider!

Elliott is a really good name. if you dont use it as his first name, it would be really nice as a middle name as well. its a nice little boys name but then a respectable and distinct mans name without being too formal. first other things i thought of were e.t. and then i thought of elliott smith the singer, dont know if thats good or bad.

i also like thomas. i never knew a thomas/tom who wasn't clever.

harry and louis seem a bit overused for babies now, but i think they are both nice anyway. i would pick something else. i think henry is better than harry, i know a lot of people disagree with that. prefer louis to harry. dont like lewis at all, reminds me of the 'dud' in the class in the simpsons who always gets sick on people.

for the girls i thought emily was very nice. its true that there are lots of them around but its a classic name so its never going to sound common or faddish. unlike amelie i think which is very 'of the past few years'.
i also like elizabeth. but you could lose control of the nicknames with that one. but that might be to her benefit if she has more control over what she wants when she's older.

I think Elliot is a great name.
I also like Lewis, but if you are in Scotland it is very poular!

From the girls I like Jessie and Arianne, although I think Aria is nicer.

Other girl ideas.
Aphra
Sadie
Esme
Juliet
Ilaria

i LOVE Elliot. would def use that from your boys list
the others are nice, but there are so many of them around

from the girls list my faves are
Elizabeth
Olivia
Arianne

Boys - I like Thomas and James.
Girls - I like Emily, love Elizabeth, like Olivia, HATE Jamie and don't dislike Arianne but think maybe it's a bit 'fussy' sounding.

i really like Elliot. If you both love it, then you should go for it imo. No one name is going to get 100% approval from family, friends & acquaintances.

Although Harry & Thomas are both very sweet, inoffensive names, they are very popular. Louis is very nice though.

I actually like all of your girls' names, so sorry, not much help on that!

I love Amelie.

Really don´t like Elliot though-see it as a surname.

I have an Elliot- the only boys name I really love. His middle name is Peter, after my grandpa. There have been a few thread on here- mostly saying it sounds a bit girly, (i blame Scrubs for that-it is deffo NOT a girls name! )It suits ds down to the ground- he is 7 and far from girly!

Like Elliot the best of your boys' names.

I also like Emmeline instead of Amelia or Emily.

Love Elizabeth.

Not keen on Jamie.

I knew a boy named Elliot. His parents called him Tolly, though. It was sort of sweet.

Boys:

I like Harry and Thomas, and both go nicely with James.
Not keen on eithr Elliot or Lewis/louis.

Girls:

I like Emily, Amelie and Olivia best. Jessica and Elizabth also nice. Arianne is ok. Don't like Jamie.