Girls name - we love it, but strong reaction from others!

[emmyjj]

I'm currently 38+5 with our first, we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl.

Both my partner and I love Coco for a girl, but when we've mentioned it as a possibility there have been some pretty strong reactions against, references to coco the clown etc.

DPs family are old school posh and much more accepting of unusual names, where as mine are east end working class and much more suspicious of anything exotic!

As a compromise we were thinking of going for Celeste Claudia and then using Coco as a nn, but don't want it to feel to contrived?

Our other possible girls name is Gala, and for a boy we like Finlay, Dexter or Rafe.

Would love your opinions on Coco, and whether we should just go for it or use it as a nn?

I love it personally, and my best friend is using it if her next dc is a girl. Full name will be Collette though. :)

I think a more formal name with Coco as a nn is the way to go. Celeste Claudia is lovely. I also like Cosima, Cosette, Cordelia...good luck and congrats! :)

There's a Coralie I know, nn Coco, which has really grown on me.

Where you made a mistake was in telling anyone. We did that with our pfb and got bad reactions, went ahead and named him that anyway and now you couldn't imagine him being anything else.

With ds2 and ds3 we kept the name a secret and announced it straight after the birth. Our ods helped us pick out both names but no one else knew. It really doesn't matter what other people think.

Cute as a nickname, an atrocity as a proper name.

Nickname only.
Awful as a full name.

Personally I quite like Coco though round here it tends to be chosen moniker of chocolate brown Labradors. IMO whether a child gets teased for their name has a lot to do with where you live. In parts of London eg islington anything goes whereas you might get more of a reaction oop north

BTW Salvador Dali's wife was Gala and IMO its beautiful!

Yes, Dali not Picasso. Anyway, there are pictures! I would think that if you do have an association for Gala other than bingo that other association will be stronger, as it's surely not more than a peripheral awareness for the vast majority. Do you spend a lot of time with people who play bingo? The more generic association is 'festival' of all sorts. Though, pronunciation does vary. I'd say Gah-la (and do think it's lovely) but where I grew up we used to have the annual miners' Gay-la.

love it and think you should ignore any suggestions she won't be taken seriously. That will depend entirely on the sort of person she grows up to be.

I like it.

I really LOVE it - I agree Celeste Claudia or something similar would be lovely. I think it is nice to have a more traditional name for when older (e.g. for career etc - Coco is beautiful and fab if she is goes into something arty or TV or more unusual but if she is a lawyer or whatever then Coco does not sound so good in the more formal situations). Just my opinion. Congratulations.

i love the name coco!!!

I know a Coco who is really Cordelia, which I think is a lovely name. I'm not a huge fan of Coco, but if you like it then use it. Celeste is very pretty too.

Even if you take out the lawyer/surgeon/whatever test, it is nice to have a choice of names which you get by picking a name with a shorter version in mind. It is easy to tell how people know me based on the variation of my name that they use (my parents use a normal nickname version of my name, my sister the full name, her friends the full name, my parents' friends the nickname, my friends a different nickname and my DP a shortened version of the normal nickname. Sorry that's more complicated than it was meant to be - eg. Jenny, Jennifer, Jens, Jen - although not Jennifer). I get quite cross when I'm introduced by my nickname because I love my full name.

My cousin's son's (to be precise) baby is called coco. I believe she is beautiful and really suits her. I think it's a lovely name. Unless a name is totally outrageous and the child is going to be teased I don't think it's fair for grandparents/others to dictate what a baby should be called. You don't want to feel resentful years later for being dictated to. If you like it - go for it. kerry and caris are also nice.

Love it! Although think you should use it as a nicjname with a 'proper' first name. My surname begins with an O so I'm thinking of C names so the initials are CO and can use coco from that! Contrived I know!!

Love it. Have a friend called it, who also loves it. Is taken seriously in a very competitive professional world too.

love the name celeste but i think it means death?!

Isn't Cherry Healey's baby called Coco? I'm sure I remember her being paraded around on tele.

I actually think Coco is a lovely name and I know a 5yo Coco.

We chose a similar type of name with similar reactions (stripper/silly etc) for DD but gave her the proper Sunday full name on the bc so she can keep it/change her nn whatever, if she fancies. We LOVE her nn though and we deliberately didn't tell anyone before hand cos we knew they would disapprove. I say either is fine though - Celeste is beautiful too.

I was going to say that same as stuffedaubergine I think a nickname, but one of the names should begin 'Co.' I particularly like Constance.

I agree Coco should be a nick name.

I love the name Gala. (She was Salvidor Dali's wife.)

Also Celeste is nice.

Haven't read the thread, but we have a Coco which is a nn for Claudia. Started by DD1 not being able to say her name. Everyone loves it.

Haven't read the whole thread, but think Coco is lovely. Only much older people will associate it with the clown.

I like all your other choices, but not keen on Coco - sorry! Sounds like the kind of names Slebs call their kids (or their dogs).

Arrrrrrrr I love coco! Unless ur having brown baby then she might get compared to a coco pop I thought Chanel over a clown. I really do love it and if I was having a girl might consider stealing it

coco is a lovely name, you should go with what you like and other people will get used to the name, it will grow on them...!