Bernadette

[barbalala]

DP put this name forward for our next DD. He's foreign (non-English speaking country) and had a close family member with this name. Not sure how to react to his name choice .
I personally don't think we would do the LO a favour if we named her Bernadette...
Also, can't think of suitable nicknames other than Bernie, which I don't find particularly cute.
Please help, (how) should I persuade DH to drop it?

I don't like Bernice...and the Grandpa in Thomas and the Magic Railroad is called Bernice, which I always found strange.

Bernadette is a lot nicer than Bernice. I wouldn't be keen though.

Have you named your DC after family members? Is there precedent? Otherwise you could say you don't like the naming after thing and give Bernadette as a middle name and let her have a first name of her own.

It's a nun's name. Sorry.

Funnily enough I have never met a Sister Bernadette.

But then I don't live in Ireland.

I like it because of Bernadette in Circle of Friends (Maeve Binchy).

HOTE - wow maybe I CAN play the religious card after all as they're not THAT catholic.

I suppose having it as a middle name would be alright, however, will have to come up with a really short first name and the ones I tend to like are mostly three syllables.

MNP - other two DC are not named after anyone we know, but ultimately I don't have a problem with that as long as it's not the in-laws.

Mitzi - other two DC are called Abel and Caitlin, so I hope you're right.

You definitely need a two syllable name.

Don't really like the name much but somewhat positive (?) associations for the name are the song Bernadette by the Four Tops (lyrics) and there's a character called Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory.

Bernadette as middle name is a much better idea though!

Reminds me of frumpy middle-aged Irish women with bad perms.

thanks marjolaine, will look up the song

Fingers crossed I can convince him.

Now I need first names that'll work both in the UK and on the continent and go well with the middle name Bernadette

Gosh, there's a name I haven't heard suggested for an extremely long time. I know loads of lovely Bernadettes in their 40s (most generally called Bernie for short), but I honestly don't think there are many or any Bernadettes under the age of about 35 in the UK.

I suspect the name was going out of fashion anyway along with Carmel, Dymphna and Fidelma, but the Bernadette Devlin connection will have helped it on its way. I suspect that your dh has no idea at all of the associations it has for many people in the UK: not only would people assume you were very Catholic indeed, but they might well think that you had Irish Republican connections of some kind. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing in itself, but assuming you want a child to be able to create her own identity for herself as she grows up, then personally I would steer clear of names that are heavily associated with particular ethnic, social or religious groups. And Bernadette definitely is.

I quite like the name myself, as it happens, but I wouldn't use it for the reasons above. Apart from the political/religious associations it's quite old-fashioned but not old-fashioned enough to be ready for a revival -- it's of the same vintage as Carol, Karen and Brenda.

I like Bernadette (love the song Bernadette by the Four Tops and went to school with a Bernadette so it doesn't seem old-fashioned to me) but am not keen on Bernie. What about Betsy for a nickname?

I think it's good for kids of dual heritage to have names that reflect their cultural background. My ex was Albanian and if we'd ever've had kids I think I'd have given them Albanian names to help keep their link with that side of their family strong. Are there any other Hungarian names you like? I've just tried to think of some but all I came up with was Zsa Zsa!

P.S. The Bernadette I knew would be about 28 now and yes, her family were devout Catholic.

Hungarian? How about Ilona? I love that.

PollyM - even though DH has lived here nearly 20 yrs and is very interested in politics and has heard of Ms Devlin, he still doesn't associate the name primarily with the Irish. To him Bernadette = French catholic.
I hear your reasoning about the child being able to create her own identity and I agree. The fact that the name hasn't made a comeback since the '70s and it is virtually non-existent on the charts in any of the English speaking countries suggests that she will indeed be one of only a few hundred in possibly decades to come.

LO's name doesn't have to be Hungarian, just something that works in both countries.

Ilona sounds lovely in English, but it is also a very very old fashioned name in Hungary and Zsa Zsa is not even a real (i.e. registered) name as I'm being told by DH.

just listened to the Four Tops on youtube, what a cool song.... maybe i WILL name her Bernadette after all .

My sis is 34 and a Bernadette. Non catholic. Very cool lady.

Named because mum LOVED that song. BERNADETTE!!! dur dir dum dum dum DUM!!!

Poppy -

Alternatively you could just go for Euro-classic? Things like Alexandra, Viktoria, Magdalena, Katerina, Sofia etc, that will work in any country and language.

I do like Bernadette, but I can't get past the associations. If you like it and can get past that, then go for it, cos people will get used to it. But rightly or wrongly, to most Brits it will still say "Middle-aged Irish woman".

We gave DD it as a middle name - it was MIL's name and she died a few months before DD was born. I don't like it particularly as a name in its own right but I like it in our particular context, if you see what I mean. MIL was Bernie and really suited it. (Also Irish Catholic - as you'd expect!) Can you find an equivalent Hungarian old-fashioned name and point out to your DH that it would be like using that?

Pippa - did you combine it with a relatively short firstname?

Trouble is I can only think of three or more syllable names that I like and satisfy the "Euro-classic" requirement.

She has a three syllable first name, one syllable second name, then Bernadette, then two syllable surname. We wouldn't have had two middle names but Bernadette was added in after MIL died and we'd already chosen first name and middle name. It sounded better after the one syllable than after the first name so we decided to have it last.

Yes I can see how that works. We definitely need a max two syll firstname.

Christ, no.

Puts me in mind of a semi-alcoholic housewife with badly dyed hair on holiday on the Costa del Sol.