Artemis?/ other Classical names

[AbieH]

So I'm kind of a Classics geek and I really want something recognizably Classical for my baby. I'm wondering if Artemis is a step too far for a girl? Other girl ideas: Dido, Persephone, Helia, Livia, Hebe, Selene?
For a boy: Cosmo, Rufus, Felix, Philo?
Tell me honestly, am I setting my kid up for a childhood of bullying and a lifetime of prejudice? DH has told me that I am completely free to choose a name and he will not interfere, which to be honest is not very helpful... Help me? What do you think of these names, and can you think of any others? Thanks xx

Love Artemis -classic, feminine and easy to spell/pronounce. And not overused!

Daphne

I LOVE Artemis. Artemisia is also beautiful. I don't think it is a step too far at all, it is a great name. It would certainly be on my list if I had another baby.

Others in the same vein which I like.

Cassiopeia
Thalia
Ariadne
Hera
Athena
Demeter
Iris

For a boy I love Inigo, a friend has just had a Cosmo and I love it, and Philo is also lovely. I like Hector but the meaning puts me off.

I love Artemis.

Ruby from Cutting It called her daughter on the show Artemis.

Artemis is a fab name. From your list I'd avoid Dido (because of the singer but also the ease of adding an L into the name...) and maybe Livia because there are a lot of Olivias and it might get annoying for her saying "no without the O".. All great names though so choose your favourite and go for it..

Thank you! I love Ariadne, hadn't thought of that one! And yeah, I can see that being an issue with Dido, thanks SLVC haha xx

Oh, what fabulous names! My faves:

Dido
Helia
Selene
Thalia

Cosmo
Rufus
Artmeis.

I think Hebe is getting a bit - dare I say - popular. And I think Persephone is waaaay too pretentious.

Aurelia is a favourite of mine.

I love Artemis! Not so keen on the other girl's names in your list for the same reasons other posters have given. How about Athena, Minerva, Xanthe, Ione, Aphrodite, Melissa, Olympia for a girl? I like all your boy's names. I like Hector too - it means "holding fast" which I think is a nice, strong connotation. I knew a boy called Ajax at college and he didn't seem to get teased!

I love the name Olympia... although with the Olympics this year, it may or may not be your thing.

My friend's DDs are Medea and Phaedra. Their son is Ptolemy!

Ooh yes, love Ptolemy too! Re Olympia, I was going to say maybe not in Olympics year, but then thought maybe you aren't in the UK, in which case it wouldn't be relevant?!

My DD2 has a classical name which I adore (it has been mentioned up thread). When she was about a week old we met a well to do snobby older lady who turned her nose up when she asked what her name was and said "Oh! Is that one of these new modern names then?" And I had the ultimate middle class pretentious retort of "Actually its ancient greek from classical literature". Go for it my older DC love hearing the story of DD2's name at bedtime. All my kids have literary pretentious names but the other two are a shade more recent

Artemis is lovely.

Love Hera and Cosmo.

I really wanted to call DS Remus but our surname ends in ss so it was too hissy.

I would go for Hebe but then again I'm a bit biast as it's DD's name :)

For us it ticked all the boxes - has an interesting background behind it, easy to pronounce and spell and it quite unusual.

I also love Hera, it is beautiful!

"Actually its ancient greek from classical literature".

Ha! You must have felt smug saying that, good for you

love the name artemis, but to me it's a bit of software, and Artemisia is wormwood (from which anti-malarials are extracted, so not a bad thing at all! also isn't absinth made from artemisia plants?)

I really like Artemis but people may think it's a boys' name after the Artemis Fowl books.

I like Helia, Selene, Rufus, Felix.

For a boy, don't forget Alexander, Philip and Jason. If you're feeling adventurous, how about Theseus?

Love Artemis. I also like Leander for a boy, and Achillea (pronounced Ak-ill-AY-ah) for a girl. But we have a surname which is hideous to spell, and I can't face giving DC2 a forename which (s)he'll have to spell too!

Artemis is cool.
Persephone, Demeter, Peneloppe, Andromada, Euphrosyne, Ismene, Pasiphae, Cassiope, Calpyso, Circee, Briseis, Evadne, Athena, Antigone, Electre, Danae, Alcyone, Atalante, Aphra, Hebe, Thisbe, Berangaria, Amalthea, Hermione, Sybelle, Eurydice,Ione, Iphigenie, Hecate?

Basil, Linus, Evander, Achilles, Atlas, Ulysses, Castor, Cyrus, Helios, Priam, Perseus, Eustace, Euclid, Hermes, Hyppolite, Nestor, Orestes, Orion, Thaddeus, Appolinaire, Aristide, Orpheus, Zephyr, Anatole, Archimedes, Dimitri, Eugene, Eusebius, Isidore, Homer, Leonidas, Nicomedes, Pericles, Socrates?

Ariadne
Thalia (the muse for theathre I believe, and not that uncommon I know a beautiful Thalia)
Calypso (can be shortened as Callie)
Danae (a splendid name! - can be be shortened as well if you're worried)
Iris

Not so sure about boys names, I like Leander too, can be shortened as Leo if needs be. Rufus and Felix are great too but not that uncommon I believe.

Ooooh just read Pasiphae's post - some good boys names there! Leonidas and Aristide would be my favourite classics. Anatole is great too altough I'm not aware of it coming from Greek or Roman mythology, but of course I may be wrong there.