Freya, Eleanor, Brienne, Merryn, Molly - HELP!

[LittleBlueBox]

Hi all,

I'm 33 weeks pregnant with dc1. For the longest time I was absolutely set on calling her Eleanor May (nn Molly) if she was a girl. Recently though dp and I have been having second thoughts and looking at some other options.

In addition to Eleanor May we're thinking now about:
Freya (nn Fray)
Brienne (nn Bree)
Merryn (nn Merri)

or maybe Molly on it's own.

We're in Australia and Freya is nowhere near as popular here as it seems to be in the UK. The most popular name on our list is Molly which is about 100 in the most popular names at the moment.

Also being Aussies, you can probably tell that nicknames are pretty important to us. It's likely that dd will end up being called by her nn much more than her official given name (which will probably only become an issue on job applications and when she's naughty )

Your opinions on the above or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I like Molly and Merryn best.
DP loves Freya (Had DS been a DD, this was DP's top name)

Out of curiosity, how do you get Molly as a NN from Eleanor?
Or is it common in Oz to have NNs which are unrelated to given names?

Ooh I love Freya but probably wouldn't use it in UK as it's so popular. You're lucky it's less ubiquitous in Oz!

Also love Molly and Eleanor but don't like the other two, though Merry is cute.

Eleanor May is more likely to become Ellie May?

Molly is a lovely name in its own right, btw.

I know Molly isn't exactly a nn for Eleanor but it almost is. Ellie... Nelly... Molly. (Well, ok, I am stretching it a bit ). But much as I love the name Molly, it still feels a bit too casual for a real name. I mean, I can't quite imagine Prime Minister Molly Whatsits or Molly Watsits QC. I feel like making it a nn gives dd more options as they get older.

Just how popular is Freya in the UK anyway?

CastingNasturtiums I love Merry too. Much more than Merryn tbh. But DP has vetoed my other suggestion, which was Merida because probably quite rightly she reckons it's not a good idea to name a child after a Pixar cartoon character.

I actually prefer Molly out of all your choices. Just good old Molly, no need to give her a 'formal' name for the birth cert, pointless if she will only be referred to as Molly. If you're going to put Eleanor on her birth certificate, then call her Eleanor xx