does Elsie-May work?

[strugglingwiththepreteenbit]

I'm a bit sad that Elsie has made it into the top 100, but we've used the other family names already! A combination of our grandmothers' names. Does it work?

No

Not for me, sorry!

I like Elsie. Dislike hyphens though so why not go with May as a middle name.

I am a bit weird though because as well as disliking hyphens, I also dislike May for babies not born in May.

My friend's daughter has this name, although I don't think hypenated and they didn't originally use the May, but do now.

Don't really understand the "does it work" question, it is her name and it is what people call her.

Personally Elsie isn't a name I like at all, but I don't connect that with the child, she is just who she is.

dh can't cope with Elsie on it's own. He says it sounds like a Victorian, East-end washer-woman. which my grandmother indeed was!

I think it's a beautiful name

I think it's cute in a kind of older style/becoming modern again way. Would not work with our surname though!

Yes it works, maybe drop the hyphon. Its my Nana's name , she's 92 and born in December! Its beautiful

I really really like it

My DD started nursery and about half of the girls (no exaggeration) had first name-May. It's incredibly common around here

Please don't hyphen-May a name - way to ruin a perfectly good name.

Sorry - I don't mean to be harsh, but I just do not GET the need to hyphenate a name and then whack -May or -Rose on the end of it.

If your DH doesn't like Elsie, then find another name. There's zillions out there to choose from. :)

hmm, digging deeper into the family tree there would be: Jean, Mary, Doris, Emily, Bridget, Margaret, Minnie, Lucy, Florence, Katherine, Fiona, Elizabeth, Ethel, Maud, Irene, Daisy, Charlotte, Louise and Ida. If you were going to pick a first and middle name combination from that lot what would you go for?

Most of the above in preference to Elsie-May (sorry don't want to offend but I don't like it).

I'm biased towards Katherine Mary, tis dd's name with a different spelling. Also love Ida but had not realised that till I read it in your list! And my middle name is a shortened form of Bridget, so I like that too. Loads of options there!

Yes, agree with Hay.

Can you play around with spellings, or are you a family-name purist?

Jeanne, maybe? Louisa, for example is a beautiful name. Catherine is a timeless classic. Loads of lovely names on that list.

You've got some lovely names in your family, but why the need to choose a family name?

Elsie-Kate is nicer, more unusual. personally I'd register her as Elspeth (Elizabeth) Katherine so she has a choice of names nn when shes older. My ds wanted us to stop using his nn and call him by his proper name when he was 10.

Loads of nice names on your list. Just don't spoil them with a hyphen.

No offence taken, I'm enjoying the chat! I'm a bit of a headcase who likes to have names early on. If this is a girl it will be dd3, so a lot of what we like is already taken. Having gone through lists of Biblical/shakespearean/Welsh names we know at least of each already. Family is the next thing we're considering as having meaning.

I agree with Nurse
Elsie is a lovely name on its own.
If it's originality you're worried about, she'll probably be in the minority with a name like Elsie as all a lot of her peers will be -May -Rose -Grace

lol, I do worry about originality! Not just to be different but because I teach. Even allowing for the names of kids that are associated with hard work, having a child with the same name as a current student feels almost like stalkerish favouritism.

It is quite populist but cute.

My immediate reaction on seeing Elsie-May was "what?". And I think she'd get that from kids trying to be funny.
I like Elsie on its own but if your DH doesn't then your list has some great choices - Emily, Bridget, Charlotte are all lovely names.

I am also one of the weird ones who think May is to be used on May babies.

I like Elizabeth (and all its shortenings), Katherine, but personally I would go for Margaret. So lovely and underused. And lots of nicknames.

Hi, we have a Bessie (Elizabeth) May. I do like Elsie though!

Elsie-May is lovely and I would use it.

From your other family names I like Florence, Louise, Elizabeth, Daisy and Emily.

I think Elizabeth goes with lots of names as a middle name-

Florence Elizabeth
Louise Elizabeth
Daisy Elizabeth
Emily Elizabeth.

You have some lovely family names to choose from , I like Elizabeth Mary, or Mary Elizabeth. I have not yet met a little girl or teen called Mary. Elizabeth is very versatile and classic. It would simplify things to choose from a set list.I looked at the current popular names lists just released and played a little game of choose one name in each hundred blocks (i know sad , and even sadder as not at all likely to have any more children, old , you know ) but it was surprisingly easy to narrow down choices. You are lucky to have baby names, I would have loved this section when pregnant and deciding what to go with!