Ideas and opinions please: popular names vs rarer names.

[amummyinwaiting]

Hi Everyone,
We are ttc and so because I am obsessed we are having a think of names.
We have a surname that does sound rude and so I would like a name that people will remember her for (in a good way) rather than a name that is dull (to ty and not draw attention too them). I know this sounds silly but it is what my dh and his sister were given. Bcause of the name we cannot give them first names that begin with an I or an A.
SO,
we had thought of for a girl Ella Rose (possibly all as first name, possible as first and middle name)
and for a boy James (and then two family related middle names that ae quite unusual)

Ned advice on whether these are a bit to run of the mill. I dont want names that everyone has, as I said before, But I also dont want names that people are going to thik we have given so that nobody notices the surname because we are proud of our surname.
So what do you think of the names and also of any other names people can think of.
Finally please do not be harsh and suggest changing our surname- it means an awful lot to us and I already had all of that when I got married. I will cry if you do! :)

Ella/Ellen/Ellie all very very popular

James is lovely - classic, and Jimmy is a cute nn, but there are a lot of them.
Ella is run of the mill imo. Lots of them, and it has no style, nothing special about it, to me. Plain.

How about
Eliza
Esmeralda
Nora
Louisa
Rosa
Cecily
Bridget
Constance
Willow
Margaret
Lilian
Alma
Lucinda
Clara
Millicent
Bryony
Fiona
Elspeth
Elsie
Bronwen
Daphne
Prudence
Marlena
Georgina
Rosemary
Jane
Rowena

Sebastien
Ludo
Jeremiah
saul
Peter
Jonathan
Marlon
Henry
Gregory
John
Jacob
Douglas
Arthur

James is more classic than Ella imo, it is rather nice. Ella is very dull though, and i like it even less as Ella-Rose.

Sorry.

Ella and Rose are very popular at the moment.

James is an eternal classic and still quite popular.

In the end it is up to you what name you love, and whether you really care or not that there may be 5 others in your DC's year at school. I went to school with 4 Sarahs in my class (and more in the year) but you don't see many of them around now as DC.

I like classic names but would prefer to be a little unusual - having said that, failed spectacularly with DS and his name is a top 20 and has been for some years.[hblush]

Am very intrigued as to your surname now - doesn't begin with P, does it?

Just wanted to add that I knew people with the surnames Pratt and Dicks growing up, and they all went for well established, classic, elegant names (Alexandra for example). I think it might be sensible not to have anything too 'out there' and unusual if your surname is quite memorable!

We also have a strange surname and had to pick caerefully so i know how you feel.

I like James, you can't go wrong with James.

I also like Ella Rose but I'm a little biased as we have an Ellie (or Eddie as she has taken to calling herself atm)

FWIW I went to school with a girl with Pratt as her surname and she was called stephanie. It went well together and I dont think she was ever ridiculed :)

Thanks for comments everyone. tummytickler thanks for the big list. I do like millicent. We were going to use ella because it was my Grandmas middle name so it does have some emaning to us but at the same time I do understand what you mean about it being a bit wishy washy.
I think James is going to be the name no matter what as we love it and it is a nice nice name- plus the two family related nidde names even it out to not being bleugh.
I think thats it. I dont want wishy washy names that get taken over by our surname.
Btw it doesnt begin with p. Is much worse! Begins with W.

Thanks alovely.It is hard work isnt it? See I also like the name (your daughter has reminded me.) Edith. and then Edie (hard on the e) could be a nickname. But our surname is so clunky that I want a pretty name.
dh was never bullied (as he had a hardnock group of friends) but just dont want the srname to take over.

Ella Rose and James are all very very popular where I live - so they are unlikely to draw attention away from a surname...IYKWIM. But I actually love them all.

How about Marcella? I haven't seen it suggested on this forum yet.

hmmm, had not thought of marcella. I dont know if I like it....have to have a think!
I love Mabel but dh not certain. both quite like Millicent (Millie for short)
James is a given as its just so nice and could be Jim Jimmy Jay or Jamie for short. I quite like Rose as a first name but it sounds dirty combined with our surname :)

The good thing about choosing popular names, is when you tell your friends and family, they will all like your choices. Choosing rarer names means people will turn their noses up alot of the time. But you need to weigh this against having Children known as Ella W etc, which isnt very pleasent in my opinion, and maybe a less common namde will take the emphasis off your surname.

I know lots of ellas, but only two small james's
like the name James, but my friends dad put me off the name ella years ago by saying "'ell of a name" whenever it was mentioned!!

I prefer eternal classic names / traditional names.

Ella Rose and James are both lovely names, who cares if they are popular. If you like them, use them.

I would rather be called Ella some of the unusual names that appear on this site.

I presume the surname is Wank?

Tbh, I know quite a few Ellas, but they are mostly older. Don't know any baby Ellas atm.

If you're worried about the popularity why choose a longer name and shorten it to Ella - (Eleanor perhaps?), then if there are too many Ellas, you can revert to the longer name if necessary?

I Used to love Ella about 15 yaers ago but its too popular now for my tastes.