Please tell me what you think of Marlena

[PurpleSuedeHotpants]

Pregnant and musing ... Marlena has been my favourite girl's name for years, also love potential nns Marley, Lena and Marla. Now I'm actually pg though, not sure about it.

Also like um Iris, Effie (but would prefer it to be short for something and not sure what), Hepzibah, forgotten what else now

Totally stuck for inspiration on boys' names - like Thomas and Monty (but nothing that Monty is short for), maybe George or William but bit popular.

Ta :)

Love Marlena (Marlena Shaw is a great namesake too). My 10 year old dd is Iris, and Effie is cute too - I think you have great taste .
Not too keen on your boys names, I like Monty, William is Ok, George is OK. I really dislike Thomas - so boring.

I think of Marlena Dietrich

Great woman but not a connetation i would want for my baby

I know an Effie, short for Iphegenia (Greek mythology)

Not Iris - it's a part of the eye

I love Hepzibah - but I'd never have the guts to use it myself.

I love your taste but i dont think youve found the right name yet

I agree that you need some more thought on boys names too!

Iris is also a flower Also like Miriam, Margot, Kitty.

I find boys' names impossible, all the good classics seem to be over-used. I want a name where people don't say "What?" and make you repeat it every time you introduce your DC!

I know an Effie and it's not short for anything - why not use it as it is if you like it?

I absolutely love Marlena, go for it.

Love Marlena and Iris, both beautiful names! Love Margot too ...makes me think of the fabulous 'Good Life' ..love her!

Monty is a favourite of mine, it's short for Montague or Montgomery, I think it works extremely well from baby to infant, to teenager and finally adulthood, love it

I like William and Thomas too, but do agree with you, there are an awful lot of them about!

How about these, classic, yet not so well used (I think):

Alexander
Alistair
Charles
Edward
Ignatius
Laurence
Leonard
Magnus
Phineus
Reuben
Rupert
Sebastian
Seth
Theodore
Wilf

Marlena - lovely, but I'd spell it Marlene like Dietrich.
Iris - no
Effie - nice: Euphemia? Iphegenia?
Hepzibah - like it, but might be hard to live with

Thomas - OK (good name, but quite plain)
Monty - lovely (Montgomery)
George - OK
William - lovely

Marlena watches from the wall her mocking smile says it all...
Great name
I have a friend whose daughter is Effie short for Phoebe.
Iris is lovely.
My middle name is Margot and I have always been very embarrassed by it due to the Good Life!

Wafflenose - I love Effie but it sounds a bit like a nn to me and I think I'd rather have a more formal name on the birth certificate.

onimolap - I like Marlene as well but would be too worried about it being pronounced Mar-leen - which I do also like but it's a bit Midwestern waitress I think iykwim. Also like Estelle/Estella.

I like Monty but not Montague or Montgomery - though full name would be so rarely used that it's tempting to go for something like Montezuma or Monte Carlo

Now thinking John for a boy maybe? Though husband now very taken with Phineus :)

Marlene is lovely.

Hepzibah is about as far from lovely as it's possible to get, imho. Sorry.

Forgot to say thanks btw, was expecting Marlena to get a kicking but am liking it more and more (though do also a bit love Margot. And slightly Anna).

If you think you could lube with a Montezuma...

..... How about some other eye-opener names? I have always loved Pendragon.

I can only hear Marlena being said in a Boycie- Only Fools and Horses voice

lube!!!! Aaaaargh - that has to be the worst the predicitve keyboard has done to a typo yet! live!!!!

I know a hateful idiotic woman called Marlene so would be biased on that one.

iris is beautiful, a name for a cute child, feisty female character and elegant old lady.

I love Monty.

How about Max? I work with a lot of guys called Max in Germany and they are all great guys.

I wanted Victor for a boy too...

How are you going to pronounce it- it's a name that goes many ways

Marleeener

Marlainer

Mar Len. A

Marlainer/Mar-lane-uh (yep, I'm a Suzanne Vega fan harecare )

I too prefer the spelling Marlene (and the Marlainer pronunciation). I think that Marlene Lily would be quite sweet and a neat reference to the song.

I prefer Marlene, not sure why!
I love Monty.

I love love love Hepzibah. Wish I were ahving another.....I also love Marlene - spelt the German way - with nn Leni.
Effie could be a shortening for Ephigenia or even Elfrieda - both nice.
Don't like Iris - too eyebally.
Boys - what about these which I haven't heard for ages now - David or Robert, Martin, Stephen, Michael and the like?

I love Marlene pronounced as you intend to pronounce it, and also all the nns, including Leni.

Effie just sounds like someone swearing, to me. But Elfrida is lovely, nn Elfie not Effie.

I also love Estelle and Hepzibah. And Miriam, Margot and Kitty. All the names have a glamorous 1940s vibe to them.. Would you consider Rita?

Boys' names:
Conrad
Edmund
Roland
Gregor
Julius
Nicholas
Joseph
Jonas
Francis
Frederick
Fabian
Tobias
Matthias
Arnold
Michael
Richard
Clement

or the lovely but much underused Gilda?

I like it.

Thanks again for the replies. Pretty sold on Marlena/e now I think, though swaying towards a spelling worried we'll have to spend too much time correcting people who say Marleen otherwise.

Not a fan of Rita, though I do like Vita. Odd how much difference a single letter can make!

Still really stuck on boys' names. Do like Edward and Joseph but a few of them in the family already. I am clearly some sort of man-hater as most of them remind me of blokes I know and do not like Also want something not too unusual as I work with little ones and prefer more um sensible names I think.

Meh, DH has just distracted me and I've forgotten what else I was going to say Sniggering at lubing with Montezuma

• a cockney accent and you can imagine Del Boy Trotter's girlfriend bieng a Maaaaarleeeen-ah Don't like at all..sorry