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Baby names

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

I give up. Please name our daughter!

99 replies

NoNamesNancy · 17/10/2014 08:40

DD (our first - and almost certainly only - girl after 2 DSs) is due soon and we are really struggling with girls' names. We found naming the boys quite easy. They both have traditional / classic not very popular but not unusual either names. This time round a boy would have been Alexander (Alex) or Hugh.

There are lots of names which either DH or I like, but we have struggled to find a middle ground. He has dismissed many of my suggestions as too unusual (read 'pretentious'); I find many of his too frilly.

I think we are looking for something classic, not faddy, known but not overly popular (ideally not top 50ish), and fairly strong but feminine.

Our agreed on shortlist, pretty much in the following order, is as follows (comments and suggestions would be appreciated!):

Clara (was front runner for most of my pregnancy, now worried that it will get very popular and seem faddy)
Louisa (nicknames worry me - we don't really like Lou or LouLou)
Helena (would probably be our favourite, but it's not brilliant with our surname. Although not a disaster either)
Martha (not sure that it passes the "classic" test, but love it)
Georgina (Georgie)
Sara (can't decide whether this is lovely and simple, or a bit "meh")
Tess (feels a little like a nickname, but not keen on Teresa / Tessa. Esther would be a possibility, but may be stretching it?).

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Surfsup1 · 17/10/2014 09:39

Oh it's certainly not new.
Search shows a sudden explosion of Martha threads in 2008.
I know a Martha my age - they've always been around.

ldt87 · 17/10/2014 09:41

How about emma?

NoNamesNancy · 17/10/2014 09:44

Emma is lovely, ldt. It's also the name of my very best friend since primary school though, and I struggle to associate it with anyone else. DH and I have had several conversations though about whether we could still use it, as we both really like it.

OP posts:
thegreylady · 17/10/2014 10:32

Emily
Constance (Connie)
Rose
Belinda
Harriet

Chloris33 · 17/10/2014 12:09

i think Clara is lovely, and although names from this era (Victorianish?) are coming into fashion, I don't think Clara is getting particularly faddish.

CitronVert · 17/10/2014 12:14

Anna
Rosa
Charlotte
Katherine
Zoe

And if you like Alexander, how about Alexandra?

Needapositivechange · 17/10/2014 12:16

Josiane
Germaine
Colette
Gertrude
Fanny
Zezette
..........

WhispersOfWickedness · 17/10/2014 12:18

Rosa fits your criteria Smile

TravelinColour · 17/10/2014 12:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chariotsofire · 17/10/2014 12:27

Emma is my best friend's name too and we used it as a middle name.

Charlotte- Lottie?
Phoebe
Alice
Amy

These all seem like classic names to me.

Sylviet · 17/10/2014 12:28

Really really dislike the name Martha. Sorry. Think it's horrible.

Judith and Ruth also very clunky and ugly.

Clara is beautiful!

MackerelOfFact · 17/10/2014 12:29

I think Clara is perfect.

Sophia also fits in with your list.

Sylviet · 17/10/2014 12:29

Martha is the female version of Arthur, to my ear. Very pipe and slippers!

TropicalHorse · 17/10/2014 12:30

Audrey?

BikeRunSki · 17/10/2014 12:31

Martha definitely!

Other suggestions-
Eleanor nn Nel
Alexandra
Penelope
Felicity
Jennifer
Alice/Alicia
Beatrice

Yorkshirelassreturns · 17/10/2014 12:31

Love Martha. It would have been my dd's name if dh wasn't so stubborn! Lots of other nice names on your list but that one stands out. Congratulations x

BirdintheWings · 17/10/2014 12:32

Eleanor shortened to Nell?

Ruth and Rosa are my kind of name too.
Frances, Maria, Anna?

Buttercup27 · 17/10/2014 12:33

I love Martha. If my ds' s had been girls they would have been Elsie .

trulybadlydeeply · 17/10/2014 12:41

Rachel
Imogen
Samantha
Phoebe

Beehatch · 17/10/2014 12:46

I like Esther with nickname Tess

Martha is nice as is Iris

We considered Annis, an old form of Agnes

Elizabeth nn Lizzie is also a classic

myotherusernameisbetter · 17/10/2014 12:51

Eleanora (Nora)
Lilian
Annalisa
Caroline/Carolina
Juliet

but I also like Alexandra since you would have had Alexander

From your original list my pick would be Louisa oe Sarah (rather than Sara)

AnythingNotEverything · 17/10/2014 12:54

Esther (nn Tess) and Georgina (nn Georgie) are on our list for newly conceived bump to be.

Also on our list (including for DD who I can't name as it's rare enough to out us entirely!) are:

Imogen
Matilda (Tilda)
Alice (love this but mid twenties on the ONS list now)
Genevieve (Gen or Ginny)
Nancy (current front runner despite the Cameron connection)

Martha seems very of the moment to me and I fear in 10 years will be very dated.

AnythingNotEverything · 17/10/2014 12:55

And yes to Elinor! It's lovely and I love Nell/Nel. Definitely the prettier spelling (but she's have to spell it everywhere so only great if you have an easy surname).

Sidge · 17/10/2014 12:55

Clara is lovely.

I also like

Claudia
Hannah
Juliet
Elizabeth
Evelyn

gymboywalton · 17/10/2014 12:57

radical idea but why not alexandra? and then you still call her alex? or sandy? or lexi?