A sibling for Gabriel and Arabella

[oldbutnotpastit]

we are expecting a surprise dc in the summer . we have a large extended family so many names we like are no longer available . we also have older dcs who each have 2 middle names .I don't want to out myself by naming them .

we both like Winifred but i'm really not sure it goes with Arabella .
i like Priscilla but think it might be too similar to dd's name.

for girls we seem to have a thing about witch names as Tabitha , Samantha , Theodora and Sabrina have all been mentioned along with Winifred .


Hester and Esther our lovely but it rhymes with the first syllable of our surname .
for boys Raphael is nice but Gabriel and Raphael but worry may be a bit twee
after watching chitty chitty bang bang DH has also mentioned Caratacus and i think he's serious.

any ideas both male and female gratefully received

[GlassTrees]

Isadora and Miles are what you should choose.

[oldbutnotpastit]

dh dismissed Esmond and Virginia.
i adore the name Algernon not sure about Algie though perhaps a bit too like algae .you are right though dh hates it .
i would love to use the name Genevieve but dh thinks it's too french and vetoed it last time
dh vetoed Matilda and Matilde for Arabella as in his opinion they were too masculine . He Is very hard to please
imperial yes all are protected by God but not all babies make it through pregnancy . it is also nice to have a reminder that a child was watched over by God prior to birth . To give a name meaning protected by God is more a reminder of God's protection of the pregnancy not a talisman for future protection or prosperity.

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

So has he made any suggestions or is he just vetoing?
Did you try him with Anselm? Mariana?
In fact should you just show him this thread?!

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

God I would love two babies called Esmond and Virginia. Sounds so.... Bloomsbury and glamorous. Like afternoon tea in tennis whites in Sussex in June...

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

algernon doesn't do it for me. Ernest? (You see how my mind works..!)

Ok how about Hayden?

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

Rohan
Ambrose
Crispin (quite tempting)
Silas
Leon
Marius
Lucian
Caspar
Linus
Roland
Jolyon
Bertram (also tempting)

[oldbutnotpastit]

no he comes up with very few suggestions ,other than Caractus ,but vetoes almost everything i suggest . He's not keen on Ambrose or Silas . His name is abbreviated to Chris so not sure Crispin is an option but i do like and the fact that it's similar to dh's name would not bother me , but it will bother dh .
He is slightly less negative than last time when he vetoed everything but one name , a name i loathed . Dd ended up with this name until we changed it to her mn when she was a few months old . Hence the reason i'm determined to get it right this time.
I'm not sure about Ernest ,although i had a great uncle with the name , it could grow on me but i always associate it with Bert an Ernie or Eric and Ernie .
I won't use Casper as their are 4 or 5 in ds's class of 20 although they spell them in a variety of ways .
i think Bertram is lovely but i know dh will roll his eyes .

[oldbutnotpastit]

i did mention Anselm and Selma but again it was a no .

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

You may need to use the nuclear option then - delightedly to announce your chosen name 2 mins after giving birth - "his name is Gilbert!" and then burst into tears when your DH says "I don't think we have agreed a name yet have we?".

If necessary add a bit of "after what I've been through I just assumed you would want me to be HAPPY" as appropriate...

Worked for me with dc4

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

I do feel for you - we basically had one name we agreed on for ds1 (dh's fathers name) and one name we agreed on for DS2 - otherwise we were stumped for boys. Dd1 and dd2 I found easier because DH didn't have such strong views on girls names. Also there was much less of the "no we can't have George because there was a boy I hated at prep school called George" or "Roland is the name of a kid who was still wetting his pants when he was 11" etc etc...

[oldbutnotpastit]

That is exactly what my dh is like every name i suggest he either knew someone with the name he disliked . alternatively he finds so vague obscure rhyme or he finds a song he doesn't that contains the name and has some negative connection .
tried the she's called x bombshell last time and it failed .it is still a bit of a sore point that he was so uncompromising . i don't want to force a name he really dislikes on him as i know how awful it feels .

[celestialsquirrelnuts]

The thing is that as soon as it becomes your dc's name he will love it. Sigh. Maybe use the "keep an open mind, you know I was right about dd in the end" etc etc

One of my DSes is Miles - I got that one through by putting on a Miles Davis CD (he loves his music) and saying "Miles is quite a cool name" and then leaving it. By the end of the CD he was trying to persuade ME to consider it for the bump! He had no idea he had rejected it out of hand a couple of weeks before...!

[oldbutnotpastit]

that is a brilliant idea . i have just have to find any implanting the idea that the name i like is the name he thought of in the first place . i'd better loking out simon and garfukel cd's i (cecilia your breaking my heart0

[ancientbuchanan]

Queen Matilda was otherwise known as Maud(e)... A bit more feminine

Griselda?

Germaine? And Jeremy/ Jerome/Jeremiah?

Gervais/ Gervaise/Jarvis?
Giles
Guy
Martin / Martine/Martine

Colin, Collette
Claud, Claudine, Claudette

Renee
Basil

Gwendolin to go with Cecily and Ernest and Algernon (nn Ger)

Paul, Pauline, Paulette

Melinda
Luna
Jocasta

Tamara
Thomasina/Thomasin/Thomasine/Tamsin

It may be too close to your surname, but Estelle, Estella/Stella

Sidonie

[oldbutnotpastit]

i like Gwendolin because of it's Oscar Wilde reference . Unfortunately dh is not keen because he had an ex girlfriend called Gwen . It's not an issue for me because it was along time ago .
we;ve put Jermiah nn jem on the shortlist because it's been a long time favorite of mine and dh thinks its ok.

[ancientbuchanan]

I love Jeremiah and Jeremy, and like both Jer and Je as nns

[ancientbuchanan]

There is s thread on active atm about names that have gone out of fashion.

Try Humphrey, Cyril, Cecil.

[ancientbuchanan]

Lavinia and Marmaduke,

Amyas

Loveday

Minette

Orlando ( alas that people will think it's after Disney).

[ancientbuchanan]

Christopher but known as Kit?