Catherine or Penelope?

[IzzyWizzyletsgetbusy]

DC3 due in 10 weeks, don't know if boy or girl so trying to pick possible names for each and thought I'd canvass opinions on possible girls names.

I have always loved Catherine (has to be that spelling!) and almost used it for DD - only put off slightly by royal wedding association. I was fairly set on it this time round but now I'm also finding myself increasingly drawn to Penelope. Middle name would be Hope. Surname is short and begins with D.

So it would be:

Catherine Hope D... or
Penelope Hope D...

Any thoughts?

Penelope is lovely and has lovely nicknames. Catherine is a little dull in comparison imo.

OK, Frank h, wonder if the ducks and weavers are in any way connected - research needed

not the greatest fan of Catherine I have to say - just too many of them in my year at school ( a million years ago of course). But i do LOVE the nn Kitty if that helps, and really don't like nn penny!

Thanks all - frankH and reallace I think the weaver thing comes from the Odysseus story rather than being a literal "meaning" of Penelope as such. Iirc (and it's a few years since I read this at school!) Penelope was Odysseus' beautiful wife and when he went away for many years (to a war?) she busied herself weaving a tapestry while her would-be suitors queued up wanting her to marry them. She said she would answer them when the tapestry was finished, and would weave it all day and then unpick it again at night when no one was looking so it never got finished and she never had to give an answer, until Odysseus came home. Or something like that. But I agree the duck meaning is rather uninspiring!!

I do still really like the name though. Hmmm...

Also, I'm not keen on Nell as a nn and find Penny pretty but slightly bland...personally I have no problem sticking to a full name but dh and others would undoubtedly shorten it; do you think I could steer them towards Poppy as a nn if necessary, or is that too tenuous?

With Catherine (which I think is losing slightly in terms of votes!) again I would try to stick to full name but could live with Kate or Katy if people (dh!) insist on shortening.

Not sure if this changes your opinions...

Penelope is fantastic.

I have a Sophie and am thinking about Catherine (would ahve to be Kitty or 'frin though as don't like Kath or Kathy)

We're also thinking about Beatrice.

Beatrice is fabulous too . Sadly dh vetoed that one. And Felicity which was my other favourite

IzzyWizzyetc. As a wildlife lover, and especially as a bird lover, I don't find the fact that "Penelope" means a sort of duck at all uninspiring - and clearly the Ancient Greeks didn't, since the heroine of one of their major epics was named such.

As I have a niece called "Kitty" i.e. Catherine, I also like that name.

Catherine is classic and has the nicest sound, IMHO.

Penelope OK but a bit 'jolly hockey sticks', or maybe that image is outdated now? I sppose more people would associate it with Penelope Cruz, which can only be good.

I know I was in Camp Catherine, so excuse my bias, but not liking Nell or Penny would shelve a name for me. I know you intend on using the long form, but if you are going to have to put up with DH using the nn, will that drive you mad? Poppy is ok, but it does seem a tenuous link.....perhaps ditch Catherine and Penelope and go for Poppy?