"American" names in London - will they go over well?

[lily3]

As expats in London, I'm wondering how our children's names will go over. I also just found out I'm pregnant with DC 3 and I'd love to hear what names are considered "trendy" (to avoid them) or what names would not go over well, that might be popular in America.

Our baby twins are named Rowan (girl) and Weston (boy).

The other names we like are Beatrice, Winifred & Hadley (for a girl) or Finn, Harrison & Asher (for a boy).

I'm not too sure how to respond to this... Honestly is best! I love your baby girl's name, although I think it is more popular (although by no means very popular, it is still unsual) for baby boys at the moment. I think it is a great name for both sexes though. Your twin boy name would definitely be considered quite 'American' over here I think.... Certainly not popular. Actually names ending in son and ton, ie. Ashton, Samson etc leave people divided. Some love them, others loathe...

As for your name choices I love all of them! my least favourite is Asher probably (quite American for me!).

Congratulations by the way and good luck with names

I'm not trendy and have chosen Biblical names for all our kids, but I'd say your boy names are all lovely!

I like Beatrice, but the other are a bit old fashioned I think, though I like Winifred also.

you can google most popular names in UK

Tickled would you have guessed I like Asher the most! (read my previous post)

Thank you! Yes I am looking for honesty! I'm just curious to hear what the name trends are across the pond. Are Brits big on nicknames? We like to shorten everything. Weston goes by Wes (hardly call him Weston) and honestly if we went with Winifred or Beatrice we'd really be going with Bea or Winnie..and so on.

What names are uber trendy now in the UK? We definitely want to avoid those...

Hadley was on my girls list, love it

Well as you're in London I don't think I'd worry too much about it. I might raise an eyebrow when Brits with no connection to the States use 'American' names but as you are American...

The thing is that wherever you live in London, you'll be surrounded by people from all over the world so your choice of names will not stand out as much as they would in a small, homogeneous community (assuming such places still exist, don't get out of London much )

Hadley for a girl would be unusual here - I would assume it to be a boy's name - surnames as first names tend to be used for boys here. Also, even for boys, using a surname for first name divides people. Personally, I would rather have a 'real' first name rather than 2 surnames iyswim.

Beatrice is nice, with nicknames Bea and Trixie

Winifred will be unusual, but probably called "Winnie The Witch" after the storybook.

Finn is a very popular name here, I know several boys called Finn/Finley/Finlay.

Harrison wouldn't be my choice, but is well known here.

Asher does sound very 'American', and will probably sound better in your accent than in most of the local London accents.

Harry/Harrison is very popular in the Uk. I have one and in his class of 20, (10 boys) there is another and I was at a wedding last summer when a mum called Harrison and Lind 5 boys turned round.

Well the only Hadley I've heard of is Hadley Freeman who writes for the Guardian so I would assume Hadley was a girl.

PurplyWurply Winnie the Witch?? I am going to have to Google that, never heard of it! We obviously don't have that in America, or if we do it is not popular at all. I was thinking more "Winnie the Pooh", but it's not popular like it was when I was a child, and Pooh was a boy bear, not a girl - and also adorable so how bad could that be!?

maillotjaune Interesting, because we thought Hadley was a boy's name, which is why we like it for a girl. DH and I like boys names for girls (ie: Rowan!) - is that uncommon in the UK?

Alright, how popular is "Winnie the Witch"? We really can't call our future daughter Winnie if she's going to get made fun of and called Winnie the Witch all the time...this might be the perfect example of an "American" type name that goes horribly wrong in the UK!

Come to think of it Winnie the witch is very popular. My daughter's favourite books in fact! She is a nice, quirky witch though!

I think you should choose the names you like and are true to your culture and not worry about what others think

fwiw I love both Beatrice and Winifred - they were on my girls name lists.

Ahh ok, not a mean/evil witch. I honestly have never heard of that series so I am clueless.

I think most schoolchildren will have heard of "Winnie the Witch".

I came across it recently when my DC loved it at story time at pre-school before Halloween, but we haven't bought the book yet.

Have a look at Amazon, there seems to be series of books plus some DVDs and CDs.

I think you would actually be alright with Winnie. By the time kids get old enough to tease about names, they probably will have forgotten about Winnie the Witch. And Winnie the Pooh went by just Pooh most of the time, didn't he?

Yes, he mostly goes by Pooh. And I think it must be the same scenario because Pooh is really only a hit with toddlers and thankfully they can't tease that young.

Winnie The Witch is very popular and rising I'd say (I have a 4 yo and 1 yo). There is a whole series of about 10 books and more still being published. Here she is.

Hadley makes me think of Tony Hadley ("Gold" got played a lot during the Olympics). Or Radley handbags.

Asher makes me think of Jane Asher (Cakes...) Or Asha, as in the girl's name.

(shows age)

I really like Hadley and Harrison (but then I am a fan of American type names). Also like Asher.

I'm not keen on Beatrice or Winifred but I would think of them as traditionally British names? Beatrice is certainly popular here and I don't think it breaks top 300 in the US does it?

I know English Beatrice, Finn and Harrisons, so no problem there.
Asher I think would grow on me. Weston becomes Western to me, but Wes is fine.

Hope you like London, I'm a country mouse.

purply Asher is Hebrew, it means fotunate/blessed/happy (one of Jacob's 12 sons in Old testament)

lily3 I googled it for you (was curious!) - top 30 boy & girl baby names in 2011 in UK

boys:

1. Oliver

2. Jack

3. Harry

4. Charlie

5. James

6. Joshua

7. Alfie

8. Thomas

9. Jacob

10. Ethan

11. Noah

12. Daniel

13. George

14. William

15. Samuel

16. Alexander

17. Oscar

18. Lucas

19. Dylan

20. Max

21. Benjamin

22. Henry

23. Leo

24. Ryan

25. Matthew

26. Finley

27. Isaac

28. Aiden

29. Jayden

30. Jake

31. Lily

32. Emily

33. Isabella

34. Sophia

35. Isabelle

36. Sophie

37. Olivia

38. Ava

39. Chloe

40. Isla

41. Amelia

42. Jessica

43. Grace

44. Evie

45. Charlotte

46. Ella

47. Mia

48. Lucy

49. Freya

50. Ruby

51. Holly

52. Ellie

53. Hannah

54. Emma

55. Abigail

56. Megan

57. Jasmine

58. Daisy

59. Matilda

60. Erin

Read more: www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/naming/baby-names-2011/babycentre-top-girls-names-2011/#ixzz2Bra1oTp8

Thanks amazingmumof6 I didn't make that connection, but have heard the name in America.

you welcome!

amazingmumof6 Wow thanks for that list! Very helpful - and interesting!