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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Amelie-Grace, Elsie-May & Gracie-May?

117 replies

haleyalannahxo · 02/03/2014 17:59

Normally I don't like hyphenated names at all, but these few are really growing on me. My style tends to be more like, vintage/cutesy, so the cutesy bit doesn't bother me.

For middle names, I would probably use:

Amelie-Grace Louisa
Gracie-May Isabella (or Isabelle)
Elsie-May Kathleen

What names would you use as middle names for Amelie-Grace, Elsie-May and Gracie-May? Which of those three do you like the best?

Thank you :) x

OP posts:
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tammytoby · 03/03/2014 10:20

Neither are my taste, sorry. But thankfully we all choose different names!

Naicecuppatea · 03/03/2014 10:27

Think twice please, especially about using the hyphen. None of them are suitable names to be taken seriously as a child or an adult, maybe ok for a newborn though. Just my opinion of course.

Naicecuppatea · 03/03/2014 10:27

Ps. Love Kathleen, Louisa and Isabella as first names on their own.

badtime · 03/03/2014 12:37

I think Amelie Grace is okay, but the hyphen makes it look much less classy, IMO.

Like a previous poster, I have a double name with no hyphen. It used to be more common e.g. Princess Margaret was originally known as 'Margaret Rose'.

Grace May is better than Gracie May; I don't like Elsie at all, but I would consider Eliza May.

As people have pointed out, May is very popular as a middle name or the second part of a name. Would you consider Jane, Ann(e) or Joy?

tammytoby · 03/03/2014 13:03

I find Amelie, Grace, Elsie and Gracie too popular and fear they will soon sound dated.

I really like Kathleen though! Great underused classic!

MerryWinterfel · 03/03/2014 13:53

Love Louisa Emmeline and Grace, all good in combination. Would avoid a hyphen simply to make the lifetime of forms easier to fill in and because they are bound to have a serious sensible job if they have a very very pretty name!

Sad at the swearing, no need.

HoneyandRum · 03/03/2014 16:37

Context is everything OP, this is a British site and so you will get the perspective from this side of the pond. Many, many little girls have had hyphenated names that are sweet/cute for the past 15 years or so. Combos of Ellie/Lily/Millie/May/Elsie/Gracie etc. you get the picture.

In Canada that may not be the case and a child with a name like this will be unusual and considered delightfully charming and old-fashioned, which I'm sure was the original motivation and intent in the UK. I am from the UK but DH is American and we lived in the US for many years. Now, when I read many threads on MN regarding naming I see the very strong obsession with class in the UK (which many posters will deny) but many people on here are anxious for an upwardly-mobile name and horrified at the thought of naming their child something that is too popular with what they consider the wrong social class.

That is what brings out the vitriol - class-anxiety, something that does not happen to the same extent in the US and Canada in my (subjective) experience.

ThePortlyPinUp · 03/03/2014 16:44

I have 4dd's all with hyphenated names, fwiw I don't get the mumsnet shock horror about it in rl at all.

Out of those names I think Amelie-Grace is the prettiest and then Gracie-May :)

Handsfullandlovingit · 03/03/2014 17:14

If you like them, go for it. They are pretty. I have a Sophie May, as May was a very special lady we wanted to remember. And we get nothing but compliments for her pretty name. Knowing some high minded lawyers called Sophie helps. All the Senior Judiciary come from another era, and I wouldn't inflict Sue or Judith on any daughter of mine!

Handsfullandlovingit · 03/03/2014 17:18

And this is the trouble with asking people's views on a name. Present them with a gorgeous baby with a name it is a fait accompli and they would then be being rude to say they didn't like it. With ours we had a list of possible names, lived with the baby for a few days, trialled whatever name we thought fitted best internally for a few more days then announced it to the world. No debate, no hassle.

MolotovCocktail · 03/03/2014 17:36

Well said, HoneyandRumSmile

IamMrsElf · 03/03/2014 17:51

Just a suggestion but what about just calling her May and then a middle name? Or perhaps a name with May in it, like Maybel (which I may have just made up...can't seem to find it on a baby name website)?

My DGM had Margaret as an important name so her first girl had it as a middle name and then she gave all her girls middle names beginning with M.

If you like it and it's not that common in Canada then I would do it. Over here it's very common (in both senses of the word, in my insignificant opinion).

IamMrsElf · 03/03/2014 17:58

I have clearly just proved the point that honeyandrum made.

I worked in a secondary school in a city, lots of girls with hyphenated names made me biased against the idea (thus the words insignificant opinion).

I have a cousin who is Ava-Elise and it's beautiful on her. I also have a friend with an Aimee-Leigh, which is really cute on her.

It is all so subjective. My MIL told me she didn't like DS1's name at first but now she's used to it and thinks it suits him. So, go with your gut feeling when you look into her beautiful little face!

MrsBennetsEldest · 03/03/2014 18:11

I'm sorry but all I can think of is ' come a listen to a story bout a man named Jed, poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed'

Bunbaker · 03/03/2014 19:08

"fwiw I don't get the mumsnet shock horror about it in rl at all."

I think in some areas of the UK hyphenated names are just not considered classy. That's all. I only know one child with a hyphenated name, and now she is at high school she has dropped the second part of her name.

tinyturtletim · 03/03/2014 19:32

Anyone who judged my child based on her name would be given a wide berth certainly not the type of person she needs to be around

MrsRV · 03/03/2014 20:34

Elsie-May is gorgeous. I would use it myself if DD1 wasn't Ella...

Original poster
haleyalannahxo · 03/03/2014 22:53

thanks for the input everyone, a lot of you have been really helpful :)

OP posts:
JohnMenses · 03/03/2014 23:40

When are you due, OP?

Could you settle on your favourite and roll it around in your mind for a while before registering?

YYou need to go with what you like, but some names are very of the season, and if that bothers you, you need to choose carefully.

FruitSaladIsNotPudding · 04/03/2014 09:22

Those names may be your style, but will they be your daughters? I like names with character, but you have to leave a bit of room for your daughter to make her name her own. I would be utterly embarrassed to introduce myself to anyone as Elsie-May. Well, actually, I just wouldn't, I'd call myself Elsie, or May, or use my middle name. Seriously, can you imagine a grown woman with using those?

Anyway, may I suggest you give her a more grown up middle name if you do go down this route. Then if her tastes are different to yours she has some options.

Burren · 04/03/2014 11:09

Honey is right that the baby names forum on here is a foment of class anxiety, acknowledged by some and not by others. And yes, the exact kind of hyphenated names you are proposing have been very heavily used here in recent years, but as they've become more popular, there's a growing perception that they are somewhat lower-middle-class in UK terms. You are outside the UK, so it may not matter in the least to you, or such names may have entirely different class connotations, if any, in Canada.

Personally, I would be more concerned about the extent to which they 'define' a girl in terms of cutesiness, in much the same way I would if you were proposing calling a baby boy a sterotypically macho name like Steel or Biff.

Abra1d · 04/03/2014 11:13

There is a class element, sadly. If you think your daughters might want to become FT100 board directors or barristers in the future you need to know that 'Amelia' or 'Grace' or 'Isabella' would just be names that wouldn't raise eyebrows. Why not have those as names and use the 'ie' forms as family nicknames.

Gracie-Mae just seems gratuitously sweet and female. I'd be worried about stereotyping, just as I would with the 'Steel' name Burren refers to above.

tinyturtletim · 04/03/2014 15:39

fruit your post is really offensive. Are you katie hopkins?

EirikurNoromaour · 04/03/2014 15:42

Fruit's post is fine.
I don't think the hatred for cutesy doubled barreled names is necessarily a class issue. For me, it makes me cross that people name babies as if they were little dolls rather than future adult women. I'd be ashamed to have a 'cutesy' name as an adult and would feel like people wouldn't take me seriously. I think going for a nickname type cutesy name is a sign of immaturity, rather than an indicator of social class.

FruitSaladIsNotPudding · 04/03/2014 15:55

Afraid not. I think rent a gob would have something stronger to say than that.

If it's any consolation, my dd2s name is a bit marmite. I asked for opinions before I used it, because I wanted to know what people were REALLY thinking and as others have said, no one is anything but polite once it's a done deal. I found it useful. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I do assume that people posting in the baby names section are after real responses.

Also I did give dd2 a very sensible middle name, so if she thinks her name is mad, she can use that. I think it's a good idea.