When my mind was addled with pregnancy hormones, I wanted to call my baby...

[MaryAstor]

Oak.

A good, strong, very English name, I thought. Unusual but beautiful. Incredible that it is not widely used. Very smug about landing on such a perfect name.

If I hadn't been so off my face on morphine and sleep-depravation post-birth I'd have legged it to the registry office then and there to make it official. A few days post natal, I realised that the top 100 names are popular for a reason, and the fact that Oak was not ranked among them spoke volumes.

See also: Bran, Heath, Prospero.

The thing with very distinctly Welsh and Irish names (as in ones that seem odd to those who are not Welsh or Irish, like Bran) is that - well - if the family has no Welsh or Irish links at all, and has probably just found them on a name website, they do come over as odd. Giving your child a Welsh or Irish name is obviously not odd if you are Welsh or Irish, or have links to those languages/ countries.

If I met an English or American called Bran I would assume it was an abbreviation of Brandon.

woopsidaisy Yes! I was going to say the same thing. Bran is a dog's name in Ireland. He was Ronan & Áine's dog.

Wasn't it the name of Finn McCool's dog too?

I do like it but Malachi Molloy just doesn't go

Out of interest,why is it considered odd to give your child a Welsh or Irish name if you haven't got any Welsh or Irish heritage but Italian and French are considered fine?

Genuine question! I'm guilty of it too,I would do a double take at an English Angharad but not an English Isabella.

Malachy seems very 'salt of the earth' type to me. NOt pretentious at all at all.

My children have English names and I'm Irish! I think that any name from the British Isles is fair game. I really liked Olwen. My x said the same 'but eh, you're not welsh i'm not welsh we're not welsh ' but so what? i went there once. and I liked it.

I think it comes down to how long the name has been in common circulation. I wouldn't expect a Sophie or a Natalie to be French but might expect a Manon to be. If someone called their son Giuseppe Brown I'd presume there was an Italian link somewhere in the family.

Xiola and Zenobia were two of my faves for girls names. DH was not impressed and they would go with our long polish surname. And DS was ...well a DS

Ps I love almighty Johnsons. Do you know if there is going to be another series?

I only ever wanted Noah for our 4th, hubby said why not Hercules or Horatio? went with Noah.
we had 5 boys than a girl - I suggested Lydia, DH's reply was she'd be teased with Chlamydia. Brothers wanted Yoda Shark for a boy or Yoda Yogurt for a girl! I told them to stop watching Star Wars, though I fancied Leah for a while. Decided Elizabeth, which is what I really liked for a girl anyway since my 1st pregnancy 12 years ago!!!
I liked Magnus, Jethro, Levi, Jonah, Malachai, Zebedee, Leon and Rainbow (!) at various pregnancies, also Tekla at some point (Hungarian girl's name meaning pearl) and Kamilla (chamomile in Hungarian) but went for other names

oh, and Benedict was vetoed after my 9 year old giggled "what? Bene Dick?!"

Frig - love it. Laughed so hard my cold snotted everywhere! Can't cope with anymore x

Leliana's quite pretty. And I like Sebastian. But I get told off for suggesting names from dragon age but he did agree to Bethany if the next one's a girl

I liked Velvet for a girl in my first pregnancy!

I'm clearly addled because i love some of these names...Tiger, Loki, Garfield!! Amazing :)

My great uncle was John Thomas. My great aunt only found out his full name at the altar and got the giggles.
My son's middle name is Bryn because his father has Welsh heritage. He has two half siblings with Welsh middle names for the same reason.

I wanted Jethro, shortened to Jet.

Moominsarescary Malachai is actually a hebrew name, it means messanger

Ooh I recently found a list I wrote while pg which included Fairfax

Especially inappropriate for DS2 (I think it was for him) as it means fair haired and he is dark.

I also while browsing on a website for English names of 2 syllables to go with DS1, found what for a moment I thought was perfect ... Gordon! Errrrm???!!

Luckily I thought better of both.

*ArthurandGeorge, I also had 'Velvet' on my list!

I have Wilburforce on my list. DH has said no. Which is only fair as I put the kibosh on his suggestion of Catfish.

Ziggy but DH will not allow! He has also vetoed Tyrion and Gryfith. Basicaly anything from anykind of fantasy novel, manga or anime is banned

I was desperate for a Malachy (Mc surname , Irish) but by in laws said they would disown me as it sounded like a bad stand up comedian.

Haha kendoddsdadsdog I had a similar comment! Still love meeting wee Malachis/Malachys even if with my surname they had a point and am thinking of Lachlan so I can at least have 'Lachie'!

Rafferty for a boy until my poor brain made the Jude Law connection.

Cassandra (Cassie) for a girl. Nothing really wrong with it but not a particularly nice meaning and I don't actually like it much. Not sure what I was thinking!

Dp wants darragh but I don't think people will know how to pronounce it