What do you think of these?

[mrsXsweet]

Very early days but trying to come up with names for dc2.

For girls: Delia (my favourite, family name)
Josephine (but I dislike Jo so do you think it would be possible to enforce an alternative shortening)
Caroline (husband not too keen)
Harriet
Elizabeth ( could u shorten this to Elsie?)
Violet (husband not too keen)

For boys all the names we like are quite common so really looking for some inspiration. We like Edward (Ted) and George. I quite like Matthew. It is a much shorter list!

Love Edward/Ted and George. Dislike Matthew.

Love Harriet and Elizabeth and all their shortened forms.

Like Delia.

Caroline is ok.

Dislike Violet and Josephine.

Like all of those . Don't see why you couldn't enforce maybe Josie for Josephine and Elsie is a lovely shortening for Elizabeth. We had quite a few of those names on our list, we nearly went for Elizabeth but didn't as we thought lots of people may choose their own abbreviation for it which we would find really annoying. We picked Alice in the end. My least favourite is Caroline but that may just be me.

I agree that Edward, George and Matthew are all quite common where I am too, but can't help for inspiration

Delia - not keen
Josephine - like it. Think you could enforce Josie or Josette
Caroline - not keen, sounds quite dated to me and it hasn't revived yet
Harriet - like it
Elizabeth - not keen but I do like Elsie. nice nn
Violet - it's okay

Edward - lovely, prefer Ed to Ted though
George - like it
Matthew - like it

None of them really grab me, apart from Edward.

Caroline, Elizabeth and Harriet and all the boys. You can't enforce anything! It is entirely up to the DC and they might prefer Jo.

Delia- It's okay but I think Smith. Maybe Dahlia?
Josephine- FANTASTIC name. It's one of those rare names that are both feminine and strong. You can use Josie as a nn
Caroline- OK, bit dull
Harriet - I don't like this name, it makes me think of posh women in hats (sorry, I am odd_
Elizabeth-This is the best girl's name. And Elsie, yes
Violet- Lovely bud very close to violent

Edward (Ted)- Like Edward, Ed or Eddie, but I think Ted is too cute for a man- suits a little baby though
George- OK
Matthew- Nice

Harriet or Violet get my vote

Love Josephine (Josie for short) and Violet. The others are all very pretty names too. Like Edward and George, not so keen on Matthew although it's OK.

Delia, Elizabeth and Harriet for me.

Edward is lovely (but only like Ted not Ed as a nn and you never know which the dc will prefer), George is fine, don't like Matthew.

Knew an Ephie (effy) whose proper name was Josephine.

Love Harriet , thats what i want this time but hubby says NO! George is also my fave boys name ever.
The only one I'm not to keen on is Caroline.

Reastie that is my reservation about Elizabeth, I'm really not keen on the more regular shortenings. Alice is a gorgeous name, our daughter's name begins with A so trying to avoid repeating the letter.
Stepmum ephie is a cool shortening, less twee than Posy. I've taught a shocking Josie in the past so that has put me off that option.
Being a teacher really does make choosing names so much harder!!

Love Harriet (wanted it for dd2 but dp wouldn't go for it), Elizabeth (but not Elsie) and Violet. Hate Delia.

Love, love, love Posy too - in fact, I wanted dd2 to be Harriet Posy! :)

Harriet posy is pretty darn cute!
Girls names are soooo much easier than boys.

We found boys' names much easier but had two girls!

Had they been ds' they would have been:
Laurence Asher
Rowan Asher

(obviously had we had 2 sons we would have chosen a different middle name second time round!).

Laurence is nice and a bit less common. I might run it past dh!

I like ALL of them! Wow - that's never happened on MN before! I love that Delia is a family name and is so lovely and quite unusual.
I know 2 Josephines and they are both known as JoJO

Yes Harriet was on our list too (like most of your other options!!). Our boys choice was Rowan if that helps.

I don't think you can stop a Josephine being shortened to Josie when they go to school.

Out of your list I prefer Elizabeth or Violet for a girl and Edward for a boy. I don't like Caroline at all. It is very dated now and I can't imagine a baby Caroline.

I love Delia and Josephine. I love Jo as a nn for Josephine, but not so keen on Josie. Btw the two Josephines I know are Jo.

Harriet and Elizabeth are also lovely.

Caroline just isn't due a comeback, imo. So 60s/70s.

Violet is so popular now, not keen.

If you like Elizabeth, what about Margaret, nn's Maggie, Meg, Peggy ?

Caroline or Elizabeth are nicest