Compromising, agreeing to disagree or just putting my foot down!?

[peacefuleasyfeeling]

DD2 has arrived and DP has some crazy ideas about what to name her. I keep thinking "Do I know this man?" He's besotted and he cannot, I suspect, see past the peachy baby to the 40 year old woman who will have to live with the name she is given.

Without spilling the beans on the preferred name (with a string of other similar names up his sleeve), can anyone come to my aid with some names which I could counter with, which still have some similar sounds, please. I so don't want to dismiss them outright, but honestly, he's even making stuff up!

So, he's wanting a lovely prominent round 'o' sound, he's into 'mmmm', a nice 'l' and a lovely smily 'e' as in 'eh' as opposed to 'ee'. I think I have heard every combination of these sounds now, in real as well as imagined names, and feel like I need to meet his enthusiasm with something of my own while biding my time until he comes around to the idea of Lucy .

And if anyone has any ideas for tactfully and kindly saying "absolutely no way, this is our child we're talking about, FFS!" then please share!

I think I need an example of what he likes........

Aw, I don't feel I can, someone is bound to have a DD with that name and I'll be the bad one for not taking to it... I'm going to put it into "search"... hang on...

Nope, not yet... there seem to be a few around, opinion very much divided, and DP might well choose to have a little MN look for himself later and I don't want him to find this thread first thing .

I literally can't think of what these names are he's coming up with o mmmmm ll eh? Amelia?! Ophelia? Omelia? I'm lost! lol

Erm..

O'Reilly?
Oriel
Ortolan
Ornella (this one is actually a name)
Neroli
Leonora (and this)
Nonchalante
Ondine (also a name)
Omelette

Your going to have to give us more, is it cutesy names? That end in ee sound?

If it is pick a name that can be shortened to a similar cutsey name

Josephine- posy, josie
Elizabeth- bessie, betty, lizzy, beth
Catherine- katie, kitty
Beatrice- bea

I've no idea what kind of names you're describing. Give us an example, no one will be offended.

Moley?

Give us some examples. Even if someone else has used one of the names for their daughter, it doesn't mean you have to like it - I doubt people will take offence (and lots of people would be glad you didn't want to use the same name!)

Too vague. We need examples. And is Lucy the only one you like?

Do you mean Olivia

Okey dokey, here goes... He really likes Melody. I guess I feel bad because I described it as "crazy" in my opening post. I'm sure there are some lovely little Melodies out there. But. It's just too cutesy for me, and I just can't see it past single digit birthdays. And when he sees me wince, he suggests variants like "Dolemy" and "Mideloh", with a completely straight face (well, perhaps not as nutty as that, but you get the picture...). I'm pissing myself laughing at the absurdity of it as I'm typing.

My suggestions are somewhat straighter; Lucy is a favourite, and I like Naomi, Ellen, Belle and am even flirting with India. Secret, guilty pleasure would be Ethel, so soft and feminine to my ears. I too love a nice "oh" sound, but they seem hard to come by in girls' names, unless I am totally lacking in imagination. Before she arrived he was perfectly happy with one of the above, but now it seems he's let the cat out of the bag, and revealed his hand... I just can't let her be a Melody. Sorry, sorry, sorry to lovely mothers of lovely Melodies.

Whaddya think, now you know?

I can't abide Melody, too cutesy for me, but weirdly I love Elodie.

Melody is indeed cutesy.

How about
Molly
Melanie
Elodie (though I can't see that on a middle aged woman, whereas I can see a nn such as Ellie or Elle)
Miranda
Emily
Lydia
Belinda
Melinda
Natalie
Noelani
Bryony
Dalia
Delia
Damaris
Jessamy
Rosalie

I don't know how you can do anything but compromise here. Melody and Ethel are too far apart.

I suggest you tell him Melody and ridiculous combinations of the letters forming Melody are completely off the table. You can invite him to choose one name you have put forward to take off the table too.

You could also ask him to take the process more seriously and say that that choosing a name for the baby's entire life is important to you.

Sometimes a parent turns the naming of a baby into a comedy event because the whole 'becoming a parent' deal is a lot for them to handle.

This might be useful:
babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/suitability_of_Melody.html
Have a look at the comments made by a 47-year-old Melody under the heading "No Credibility"

Camille
Emilia
Emma
Mella (I know several Irish Mellas)
Mila

Melanie would be better. And they sound very very similar.

Paloma
Leonie
Emily
Olivia
Elodie
Nova
Penelope
Eloise

Or something else with melody as a middle name. It would make a lovely middle name.

Why doesn't he like Naomi?

Or maybe as suggested above something like

Mella Delores
Mella Delilah

Thank you so much, everyone. I really appreciate your name contributions (some very lovely ideas) and Math's idea of taking names off each other's lists as a compromise. This morning he suggested "Belize", as a climb down from Melody . But when MW came for check-ups earlier and asked if we'd thought of something, he reined himself in a little and meekly suggested Belle, but I could see he's not ready to commit...

I was going to say why not Elodie but that's been proffered already.

Was he a Captain Scarlet fan by any chance?

My exh suggested Rubella! Luckily it was a boy.

He's not getting that she won't always be a tiny baby, is he?

Tell him to put the words 'Professor Dame' in front of each possible name + last name and see if it works.

On another Baby Name thread a MNer mentioned Meredith, could be Merry for short, has the softness of Ethel perhaps?

Edith, possibly?
Clemency?