Will Ophelia be perceived as pretentious?

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I love the name Ophelia but am worried that people will think it's pretentious. DDs 1&2 have much more common names, both only 4 letters, but I want to go more unusual for DC3.

I also love Dora (Dorothea) and Juno.

Lovely name! Go for it :)

agree re teasing, definitely :(

I LOVE Ophelia...its in my top 3 if we have a girl!!! We want to spell it Ofelia though

I don't think it is pretentious at all its a really beautiful name... I would love Ophelia Juno!

Love the name Ophelia and know a gorgeous 8 year old one.

In what way are you worried about it being 'pretentious' - pretending to be what?! I don't really get this, sorry. It is a beautiful name and, whatever people's previous associations are, they will soon lose them and associate Ophelia with your lovely daughter!

I hadn't realised we were so "pretentious" calling our daughter Ophelia.

It's an uncommon name and for the most part people mistake the spelling as "Orphelia". I don't think it attracts any negative attention or mocking.

It certainly isn't in the same category as "Box", "Scooter". Perhaps just make sure the name you choose isn't on a list like this one

www.stupidkidnames.com/all-the-stupid-names/

I'm clearly pretentious too. Dd is Ophelia. I'm not sure what I was pretending to be or aspiring to be when we hit upon that name.

But it's a very pretty name. Shame not to use it IMO.

I like it

And let's face it, your name choice will be considered either pretentious, chavvy or boring (I can't think of a single name which wouldn't be called one of those things if you started a thread on it) so it's up to you which category you want it to fall in.

It is pretentious (mythological/literary/Pre-Raphaite connections); it is beautiful.

If you like it, go for it but make sure it flows well with your other DCs names.

FWIW, I make no apologies for going with the pretentious label. My job makes me pretentious to some! Pretentious isn't bad ;-)

How would it be abbreviated? I can only think of Offie or Feely or Leah. Mind you, I might unusual in that my kids are never called by their full names ever.

I do like Leah mind you.

Must proof-read - that last post was rather mind-y

Neah, not pretentious. Sounds a lot like Olivia which doesn't ring my Poncetastic Alarms either (and I have quite hyper-sensitive ponce sensors).

Abbrev Fifi in our house.

"And let's face it, your name choice will be considered either pretentious, chavvy or boring"

Agree completely. And I know which would be my choice .

Ophelia is a beautiful name.
ISWYM you people saying what about mad Hamlet character...
Would be great if people started using the name again so it wasn't just associated with that character, though, as it's a really lovely name.

Juno is great - really kickarse and take-no-shit.

Dora is nice too.

I like the way Ophelia sounds, and I don't think it's pretentious. No more than Hermione or Cordelia, anyway. I know a few Ophelias and no-one has laughed in their faces yet, to my knowledge.

I am put off by the Hamlet thing though. Pretty bad literary association there, and tbh, that is the first connection most folk make. That said, I know a little Perdita and I got over the whole chased-by-a-bear thing ages ago.

So anyway - Juno.

I know someone with one. It's lovely

(Wondering if its winky I know as they use the same nickname)

I know a baby Ophelia and initially I was a bit about it as a name but it soon just 'became' her and it's really not that different to the other somewhat frilly names that are popular at the minute - Amelia, Isabella, Olivia etc. Her family call her Fifi for short.

Well I'm probably a bit pretentious myself :) but I think it's a lovely pretty name!

Ophelia would be pretentious where I live. I think it is one of those names that might be hard to carry off as a teenager - fine if she is confident and flamboyant but a bit of millstone if she is shy and not one of the 'beautiful people.'

Like Dora though.

I know an ophelia, she is lovely and goes by fifi.

If you love it choose that name and don't let anyone ruin it for you. i have made the mistake of asking too many people's opinion of my favourite names before i realised that you'll never find one that everyone likes.

I think it's a lovely name, not that that really matters.

Why call her Ophelia if she is going to be known as Fifi? Just call the child Fifi in the first place.
Ophelia is pretentious and hideous IMO