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Baby names

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

Original poster

Need traditional/classic girls' names, but am very picky!

63 replies

Lorelai · 25/04/2010 16:49

Hi

I'm only 9 weeks, but I like to plan ahead DH and I have a boy's name we like, but are struggling with girl's names (well, I am anyway!). I like names that are very traditional but classic (timeless rather than old-fashioned) - boring some might say but that have good (and unusual) nicknames, oh, and nothing too girly!

To give you an idea, here are some names that I either like but can't use, or don't like, or am considering but am not sure of:

Elizabeth (DD's name - love it - something like this ideally)
Kathryn (my mum, and same first initial as me, not sure I want to use it)
Rebecca (like it, but one of my cousins used it, plus I don't like the nicknames)
Charlotte (too girly)
Anne (love it, but doesn't sound good with our surname)
Margaret (am considering it because I love the nicknames, but a bit old-fashioned possibly)

Any other ideas? I don't want to decide just yet, but want to get a shortlist in my head that I can mull over whenever I am bored at work I have some free time. If it helps, the boy's name we like is William Thomas (to be known as Billy - I have to plan nicknames too!)

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pranma · 25/04/2010 20:09

I love Margaret too it is my cousin's name and her dad called her Megan as nn.
Elizabeth and Margaret is very Royal Family isnt it

SherbetDibDab · 25/04/2010 20:05

I think you're on the money with Margaret. I used to really dislike it but it's really growing on me.
It sounds very classy as a formal name and there's a stack of fab nicknames.
It's also classic but not overused.

WantageWife · 25/04/2010 20:01

Esme
Elsie
Henrietta
Dorothy
Betsy
Lilly
Violet
Iris
Loretta

Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 20:00

Thanks all - some really good suggestions here! DH and I are agreed on Margaret, Emma, Laura, so those are definitely on the shortlist. I am also going to try and convince him on Susan/Susannah, Eleanor, and Louisa, and keep Josephine, Alice and Rose on a back burner as I think they may grow on me

OP posts:
alittlebitshy · 25/04/2010 18:31

i am loving:
laura
ruth
martha
rebecca
and think margaret and miriam are pretty good too.

TheOldestCat · 25/04/2010 18:28

Have an 8-week-old DS, but had he been a girl we were thinking of Elizabeth, but would have called her Beth. And William was in the shortlist for DS. So maybe our taste is similar?

Anyway, on the grounds it might be, DD is Josephine but known as Josie.

I was also thinking a Louisa May Alcott quartet would be nice

Good luck with the pregnancy.

bubbles12 · 25/04/2010 18:22

Alice
Martha
Rose
Mary

If you do a google search on 'most popular baby names 1880' there is a website that will list off lots of good suggestions for classic names. You can obviously type in different decades for different ideas. I have found this to be v useful - although still not actually decided despite being 39 weeks ahhhhhh!

imahappycamper · 25/04/2010 18:20

Margaret- think Thatcher

Judith seems to be coming back in
Jennifer

BleachedWhale · 25/04/2010 18:10

Ruth
Eleanor
Isabelle / Isabella
Rosemary
Rebecca
Susannah
Lucy
Eloise
Cecily
Annabel
Catherine

padraig · 25/04/2010 18:05

Also how about Lorelei?

padraig · 25/04/2010 18:04

Cassandra
Melinda
Dawn
Paige

?

SE13Mummy · 25/04/2010 17:58

We have a Miriam and think it definitely comes into the classic but not over-used category. Ours is also called Mim (by big sister Harriet aka Hattie!).

Our Harriet's middle name is Mary (my Grannie's name) which we considered for DD2 so rather liked that Miriam is another form of the same name.

brimfull · 25/04/2010 17:51

My dd is Rose Margaret

JackieNo · 25/04/2010 17:28

No, not from Neyland .

JackieNo · 25/04/2010 17:27

(well, technically she was Freda Margaret, but it was part of her name, and my cousin has named one of her children Margaret, abbreviated to 'Maggie').

Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 17:27

Not from Neyland was she Jackie?

OP posts:
Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 17:26

Ooooh, Laura - I like that!

Josephine is nice - if I have twins I could use that and Margaret and be three-quarters of the way to the full set of Little Women

Jemima may make the short-list too...

OP posts:
JackieNo · 25/04/2010 17:26

My grandmother was a Margaret (also from Pembrokeshire!), which might be why I like it.

Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 17:24

So people don't think Margaret is too old-fashioned? I quite like the idea of using it as it is a family name (my Dad comes from a small village in Pembrokeshire, and it seems every relative he has there for about 3 generations is Margaret!) Full name would be Margaret Jane, nn Daisy.

OP posts:
Shoshe · 25/04/2010 17:22

Laura
Stella
Nicole
Josephine
Romilly
Jemima

JackieNo · 25/04/2010 17:21

Ah yes, the Margaret/Daisy link makes sense now you say that!

Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 17:19

Daisy is quite an old-fashioned nickname for Margaret (common at the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th) - I think it comes from the fact that another name for a daisy is a marguerite (in terms of the flowers I mean!)

OP posts:
JackieNo · 25/04/2010 17:18

I like both Ruth and Miriam. Ruth makes me think of 'Swallows and Amazons' .

Original poster
Lorelai · 25/04/2010 17:17

Wow - loads more replies

I had thought about Miriam, but not sure if it is too old-fashioned/uncommon - any thoughts? I do like the idea of using biblical names to carry on a theme with DD - Ruth would also work with this.

Emily I can't use for very complicated reasons, but I do like it. Sarah is similar - DH's ex best friend's name; I love it though.

Susan is nice, I do know someone with that name; does anyone else worry about using the name of aquaintances in case they think you have named the baby after them/copied their name?

OP posts:
brimfull · 25/04/2010 17:16

MY mum is Margaret nickname Rea , don't know where that came from.

I like Daisy and Margaret , may be a bit confusing at school.

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