I feel like we'll never find a name to agree on...

[ghosteditor]

DH and I are more or less agreed on our shortlist for boys, but we're nowhere near a likely shortlist for girl names and I'm worried that we'll never agree - I have a load of picky rules and DH's one rule (no names of his previous girlfriends ) gets rid of loads of lovely names! The baby is due in 8 weeks...

My shortlist is below and leading contenders are Calliope and Juliet. But we're really worried that we can't pull off Calliope (Callie)! Also, our surname begins with W so we need to be careful about middle names. Any suggestions?

Adithi
Aeryn
Alba
Beatrix
Calliope
Edith
Isobel
Juliet
Kira
Kit
Roslin
Zara
Zoe

Someone I vaguely know called their girl Amanthe -pronounced A man th ay! I work in a school and Isobel and Zoe bit too popular maybe! Favorite from your list - Juliet x

DD1 is Zara, obviously it is the best name ever (apart from Zena - outing myself, but that is DD2's name) and not too many of them around!

thanks rufus - Amanthe is almost but not quite to my taste! I really love Isobel and always have, but if you add up all the individual spellings it's one of the most popular names, and I suppose in class it doesn't matter what spelling each of the Izzies has!

catsy Zara is another name I like but DH is not too keen. Do you use a nickname for your Zara? I like the possibility of at least one shortened version. Zena is very cool too but I'm a fan of the TV show and I'd get teased mercilessly by my family

Juliet is definitely the best name of the list. Romantic and soft, and not trying to hard.

thanks lula.

Someone has just suggested Mirabel, which I like, and it has some nn variety potential too. At least it would be a bit less popular than Isobel!

I like Juliet, Alba, Edith, Isobel, Kira, Roslin, Mirabel and Zara.

How about

Edith Juliet W.
Isabel Kira W.
Zara Mirabel W.
Alba Roslin W.

towndon it sounds like our tastes overlap .

y'know, I really like Alba Roslin, wonder if I can bring DH on board...

No votes for Callie (Calliope) then? I have a classics background and absolutely love the idea of a classical name, but it's whether DH and I feel brave enough to pull it off. There would be some raised eyebrows among family and friends at first, but I guess you can only go on being surprised for so long!

I like Calliope! Callie could also cover Calypso. How about Athene/a or Penelope?

Also:
Meredith
Meryl
Samara
Tamsin
Corinna

Yey thank you! I v much like Penelope but one of my felines is Penny, unfortunately! I like Meredith too but it's a no for DH.

I keep sending text suggestions to DH but he is (probably wisely) ignoring them until he comes home

From your list I like Isobel (but know this is very popular), Edith, and Zara.

What about Martha, Matilda or Marcia? (Liking names beginning with 'M' at the mo evidently!!)

Thanks 3 - Edith is another favourite of mine but DH isn't so sure (I like the nn Edie especially).

Martha and Marcia sound v American to me (probably because I know two Americans with the name) which puts me off a little, but I do like Matilda quite a lot, and I like the connection with the book (I'm in publishing!)

Apparently I shouldn't discount a name just because I know someone who is called that but I always think it would be odd if they thought the baby was somehow named after them! I know two Juliets which is probably the thing that puts me off the name most, but I only see each of them once a year max.

I like Callie but not sure about Calliope...people will pronounce it wrongly I'd imagine

wine - yes, what if people pronounce it 'Cally-ope', that'd be awful! I can just see my grandad doing that actually...

The worst thing is that in the tv show where we first saw the name the character (always referred to as Callie) is mocked endlessly when the rest of the characters find out her full name! Doesn't bode well I suppose...

Oh, Alba is rather nice!

thanks psammead I rather like it even if it has its naysayers...

Yes that would be my worry! Love Alba Roslin by the way.

ghostedfor - can you write Calliope phonetically for me? I don't know how it's pronounced - and that could be a problem for her. I love Persephone (love Greek mythology), but I fear she'd get called Percy-phone!

Of your list, I love Edith the most. Also love Towndon's suggestion of Mirabelle - more interesting than Isobel.

My dd's middle name is Rosalinde, which I love. Alba Rosalinde?

thanks phlossie! It's - cal - I - o -pea you can listen on the wiki page. She's the muse of epic poetry and as I have a classics/English background I really like that idea!

Personally I think nearly everyone would have heard of Persephone but not so sure about Calliope. But then most people don't have trouble with 'Hermione' which is a similar idea in terms of pronunciation.

'Rosalinde' is lovely and I do really like 'Mirabel' - DH has been silent on the matter though (he's forces and has been away so I haven't been able to discuss face to face this week).

I'm looking for a name that's sort of feminine but not too girly and classic but slightly unusual (or underused I suppose). I hardly ever meet anyone who shares my name and I like it that way! It's not remotely unusual though.