non 'girly' girls names

[rezzle]

Sorry for the vague title, I'm just really struggling to describe the type of name that we're after!

Ideally, we want a name that is subtly pretty, but not in your face girly so a future DD would have choices to suit her personality.

So if anyone has managed to decode what I mean through my sleep deprived, pregnancy brain jumble, please could you suggest some names that might suit? Currently considering Elliot, Eden and Asha.

Megan? Ffion?

Not deliberately suggesting Welsh names,it's just that I've noticed that Welsh female names are,by and large,not the modern idea of girly girl names.

I met a beautiful, poised and intelligent Hollis and have been a fan ever since. Also love Hadley as a classy non-girly name.

Brenda

I think you should just choose a name you like with lots of potential for nicknames and variations. My son is Edward. He can be Ed, Woody, Ted, Teddy, Eddie and we also call him loads of names like Edwin, Edwardo etc for fun.

Katherine - also potential for many nns

I like Piper

It could be pippa or pippy if she turns out to be more girly

Kate
Rose
Susan
Hannah

Tamar
Lorna
Sian
Kirsten

Francis
Isobel
Esther

Myra

badtime Elis is a Welsh boys name. Alys is the original spelling of Alice.

Generally, if you're looking for non-girly, I'd suggest narrowing down names to those that don't end in an -a sound or a -y sound.

Beth
Jess
Charlie
Leah
Cerys
Ceryn
Taryn
Jade

Ooo I can't think of any more!

Eden is one of my dd's middle names and her name has actually bern suggested on this thread.

Its not a girly name and spelt differently is occasionally used for boys. We get lots if comments about how lovely it is :)

Also Rowan. I think you said on your "Elliot for a girl" thread that your DH wasn't keen but it's really quite an unusual name. The only Rowan I've met in real life is a teenage girl.

Maybe Tamsin?

I've been thinking a lot about this thread because I'm inclined towards names my OH categorically doesn like. So am trying v hard to think of n

Argh iPhone!
Trying to think of non obviously girly girl names!

Ruth
Blythe
Romy
Alice
Lyra
Maeve
Nora
Una
Ursula
Greta
Frida
Dagmar
Anne/Anna/Annie
Lilith
Judith
Stella
Zytka
Zosia
Zita
Zara
Keziah
Esther
Marit
Charis
Harriet
Agatha
Miriam
Juno
Eva
Monica
Aphra
Bridget
Kirsty
Kirsten
Dinah
Beulah
Elke
Honor
Renata
Regine
Sidney

Alisvolatpropiis, in the middle ages, there was no 'correct spelling' of names (or anything else, really), so someone called Alys may have had their name recorded as Aliss or Elys* etc. Ellis was also used in this way. As most people were illiterate, this didn't really cause problems.

'Ellis' as a boys' name is a variant of the biblical name 'Elias'. It was common in England as well for hundreds of years.

Sorry, OP, I just wanted to clarify this. The relevant part for this thread is, Ellis is a nice non-girly name for a girl. Also, now that I think of it, Elinor.

• Alys was a very common spelling, but the name is a variant of the French 'Adelais' or 'Adeliz' (from the German 'Adalheid'), so I think the 'y' spelling may have been a later version. But as I said above, spelling was pretty much irrelevant. ** If this seems unlikely, bear in mind that Eleanor of Aquitaine's name was commonly recorded as either Eleonore or Alienor (all the 'e's with acute accents).

** ... excepth the one at the end of 'Eleonore'. [hblush]

badtime that's really interesting! :)

Lois
Kiran
Sadie
Honor
Nina
Alba

Wow, there are some great suggestions here! I'm going to trawl through them with DH when he's home :)

Stella or Astrid

Tippa (as a shortening of Philippa)
Flick (as a shortening of Felicity)