Joanne what do you think?

[sarahwho]

I'm having a dd so need a strong but pretty name to go with Alexander. I've fallen in love with the name Joanne. What do you all think?

Joanna is my dd's name and we hated it when people called her Joanne. I also like Josephine and Joan. Not Joanne for a baby unless you must.

My name. Hate it. Have always hated it.

Only consolation is that Ive always hated Joanna even more.

It's not to my taste but if you love it then you should use it. It doesn't matter that it's a bit dated - it'll be an advantage when it comes back in 20 years time - she'll have a young, cool name then! And why should you have to choose a name that's trendy now anyway? That is far more dating in the long term. If you like Joanna then that might be a better option, as it gives both Jo and Anna as nn options. But Joanne itself is a good name imo.

It's my middle name and I hate it. I thank god it's not my first name. My parents were naming me after an Italian relative, but in their wisdom decided to anglicise it, so resulted in the dullest name in his history of the earth, when instead it could have been Gianna or Giovanna. If you must do it then please opt for Joanna which is made mildly more exotic and glamourous by having an 'a' ending.

I quite like it. Never hear of baby Joannes at the moment. All the Joannes I know are in their 30's and 40's so it's too soon for a baby revival of it right now but it will have its day agin but probably in another 20 ro 30 years.

I think its quite lovely actually and very unusual for a baby these days. She will be the only one I strongly suspect at school/amongst her peers and that will hold a charm of its own and not in a daft freaky way like some modern made upnames!

Thank you all for your input but the fact so many people hate it makes me love it more. I don't want a name that's trendy every other child seems to have the same name at the moment. I've always thought Joanna to be a bit of a wet name so Joanne it is JoJo for short.

Well it definitely isn't trendy, you're right there.

Oh I think the opposite - Joanna sounds confident. Joanna sounds a bit limp.

Doh! Joanne sounds limp!

Joanna sounds stronger to me as it ends with an 'a'. Joanne just sort of peters out.

hate it, sorry - hated it in the 80s, hate it still. I find it a really 'hard' name, and very dated in a bad way. And JoJo's not great either.

Not sure why you're canvassing opinion, though, based on your last post - if everyone loved it, would you not have used it then?

the fact so many people hate it makes me love it more

What a very weird way to think. You either love it - and if so, why ask us? - or you don't. Loving it more because it gets negative reactions is really odd.

Op can feel that way if she wants to its up to her really...sometimes other people's dislike makes you more inclined to like something. don't like it myself I just hope baby does :p

Op can feel that way if she wants to its up to her really...sometimes other people's dislike makes you more inclined to like something. don't like it myself I just hope baby does :p

I can quite see why she likes it more - a lot of people say 'dull' and I love 'dull' names and am very thankful my parents weren't creative!

I like it more because if no one else likes it then there isn't going to be 10 other Joanne's in her class. Is it really that odd of me to not want a popular name? Sorry I'm new here and didn't realise there is an approved list of mumsnet names that I should not deveat from my apologies.

Hmm interesting to see several people hate Chloeanne! It may be that the girl is so nice that I have a positive perception of the name- I suppose objectively it isn't a very nice name.
Perhaps that goes to show that the name just 'becomes' the baby- so really it doesn't matter what you call them, that will just be the name that you associate with your lovely little baby and later, with your beautiful child.

If you like it use it.

I quite like it, but then I like a lot of the 80s type names.

It's too soon for 70s names to come back! We're only just getting onto the 50s!

What about Jeannie?

It is fairly mild for MN sarahwho!

It's not so much about popularlity, lots of MNers like uncommon names, in fact the majority I would say (DD has a name which would be considered dreadful for being so popular - we had no idea when we named her, and don't care now, it's still a beautiful name) - but some names are uncommon for a reason, and this is one. There are popular lovely names and unpopular lovely names - but this is just unpopular and unlovely! Take note of those who say it's their name and they hate it!

Oh dear, I'm of the Joanne generation and it always seemed clunky, dull and somehow suggestive of clunky, dull girls whose parents had no imagination. Sorry!

Whenever I meet a Jo I'm always massively pleased and relieved for her if she's a Josephine.

Well there are no joannas out of 420 children at dc's school. None at preschool either. No Joannes apart from the teaching staff - lots of them.

Dd has a name in the top 50 but again, no others. Ds1 has a top 10 name and I think there are 2/420. But not same year group.

Ds1 has a top 20 name and is the only one at preschool.

Of course there's no approved list of names! All of my choices would possibly be seen as boring. However, it seems perverse and odd to choose a name very few people like simply to be different. Surely there are lots of other names you could choose? Bit like thinking "hmm, Mavis or Deirdre - there won't be any of those at school, so that's the name to choose".

Of course if you love the name then go for it. And she probably will be the only one (unlike Alexander!!) and that's fine.