Please be brutal(ly honest)!

[jusdepamplemousse]

No offence will be taken - honest opinions please. Having a hard time persuading DH to any of my suggestions as he thinks them all 'odd' and is worried about teasing. Would it be cruel to saddle a child with any of these?

Girl
Theodora
Persephone
Cliona
Hero
Eila
Darcey
Clara
Stella

Boy
Max
Aengus
Theodore
Ethan
Luca
Jeremiah
Joseph

Am so very sorry that this sounds rude, but you asked for brutal comments:

Theodora- fine but very aspirational at present. Dorothea is the trad English equivalent
Persephone- OK but I prefer Proserpin/ Proserpina
Cliona - as others have said, no
Hero - OK, but, unless you are Greek, sounds rather try-hard
Eila - where does this come from? What does it mean?
Darcey - Darcey Bussel is a truly splendid dancer, but, because of that, it's a hard name to live up to
Clara - the female equivalent of Arlo
Stella - all the people I have known with this name have been really, really nice, but some people will equate it with lager

Max - to me, this is an abbreviation. Maxwell= lowland Scots =perfectly OK; Maximilian/Maximilien = fine although continental. For the UK, has some Daphne du Maurier 'Rebecca' overtones
Aengus - If you are Scottish or Irish, then Aengus is OK, though Aonghus is the more usual spelling:
www.behindthename.com/name/aonghus
Otherwise, plain Angus is a very nice name.
Theodore is fine, but 'Teddy' abbreviation was the fastest-growing new name in the UK last year, if that matters
Ethan - sounds like a film star
Luca - fashionable after Colin Firth and his Italian wife chose this Italian name. If you have Italian connections, then fine. Otherwise, why? Why not Luke?
Jeremiah - why not, if you like it? But Jeremy is the more usual UK version.
Joseph - no problems at all

Girl
Theodora - adorable. But Robbie Williams daughter has this. Teddy as short wonderful. But might get cleb connotations
Persephone - Percy or worse perci
Cliona - oh dear that made me laugh. Are you in Surrey?
Hero - er bit odd. Doesn't mylene class have that too...?
Eila - it's Isla your spelling will always be corrected
Darcey - lovely
Clara - like this too
Stella - yup last 3 are lovely

Boy
Max - love it but I know 4 Max's
Aengus - will always be spelt Angus can you be bothered correcting for 18yrs...?
Theodore - yup lovely here too
Ethan - good
Luca - are you Italian? If not don't
Jeremiah - it's ok but others better
Joseph - can't go wrong with Joe

Love Clara and Luca. Theodora, Max, Joseph, Angus are perfectly good too. Cliona sounds weird. I'd put Persephone in the middle- gorgeous sound but dodgy connotations/spelling/nicknames. Clara Persephone? YES.

Don't like Darcey, Ethan or Hero I'm afraid.

Girl
Theodora ...like
Persephone...awful
Cliona...awful
Hero...terrible
Eila...ok
Darcey...ok
Clara...love it
Stella...ok

Boy
Max...great name
Aengus..awful
Theodore...ok
Ethan....like
Luca...awful
Jeremiah...awful
Joseph...great name

No to Cliona, Hero and Darcey.

The rest are nice.

I don't usually post on these threads because I always feel so mean fo disliking someone's chosen name. BUT, as you asked.....

Girl
Theodora - No
Persephone - No
Cliona - No (because I don't know how to say it)
Hero - Meh
Eila - If you mean "Isla" then yes
Darcey - No
Clara - Yes, this in my favourite
Stella - No

Boy
Max - I love Max
Aengus - If you mean "Angus" then yes
Theodore - no
Ethan - yes
Luca - LOVE Luca
Jeremiah - meh
Joseph - meh

Poor old Cliona is getting a drubbing . It's such an ordinary name in Ireland a la Niamh and Orla.

Yeah but Cliona said properly sounds like Cleaner and nothing whatsoever like clitoris.

And how many will get the proper pronunciation first time?
And how many will just see it written down?

Not worth it.

How is cliona like clitoris?!!!! Same 3 letters at the start but vastly different then!!!

I'm in Ireland and currently growing a Luca in my belly (well I think I saw boy parts on a 4D scan but not officially finding out!). A bit worried about growing popularity but I adore it.

Have Clara on our girl's list but I prnounce it with a long sound in the middle, almost like an aw but not quite (that's how I always knew it after s girl in school) but think most would say Clara like Lara which I don't like and would hate to be correcting people all the time.

As others have said never heard of eila, is it like Isla or Ayla?

Ps love Ethsn too!

The OP is in Ireland, everyone will know exactly how to pronounce Cliona.

Girl
Theodora- a bit fussy, but nice.
Persephone-too try hard.
Cliona- the most awful name I've seen or heard in a while.
Hero- nice enough
Elia- no
Darcey- nice
Clara- lovely, the best by far.
Stella- nice

Boy
Max- great
Aengus- minging
Theodore- nice
Ethan- nice
Luca- nice
Jeremiah- lovely
Joseph: I love.

Cliona is cleaner?

Still dreadful

From your list I really like Hero and Clara though Clara is quite popular ATM.
Cliona and Eila are my least favorite, they both look like spelling mistakes to me.
Persephone is trying too hard, Theodora and Darcey will date due to celeb links.
Stella reminds me immediately of the beer, though I do like Estelle.

It's pronounced klee-uh-nah.

But I've just remembered a horrible Cliona who snogged a boy I fancied about 20 years ago, so please feel free to continue disliking it!

The girl choices are a bit naff-frilly-complicated for me (sorry, that's brutal). What about Daphne? Definitely due for revival.

Clara I like best, but the Dr. Who link puts me off a little.

Max & Joseph/Joe boy choices are okay by me, I don't warm to the others.

Well, I'm not in Ireland and the OP did ask for an honest opinion and it was the first thing that came to my mind. Surely I can't be the only one?

So, it might be a beautiful name, just not appreciated by me.

I'll pick my up mind from the gutter.

Girl
Theodora - I know one, gets shortened to Thea.
Persephone - will be shortened to Percy, which I like. Pain in the arse to keep having to explain how to spell or pronounce it though.
Cliona - sounds a bit like a car.
Hero - I like this but she will have silly boys singing "Let me be your hero baby" after that Julio Englasias song.
Eila - I have no idea how to pronounce this.
Darcey - this is okay.
Clara - I like this a lot.
Stella - I know a baby Stella and I like the name.

Boy
Max - I know loads, all Jewish. It is a nice name.
Aengus - How do I pronounce this? People will think it is Angus (which I do like)
Theodore - I like it, people will know how to spell and pronounce it.
Ethan - it's okay, I don't love it.
Luca - it's okay, a bit funny if you are not Italian.
Jeremiah - one of the major prophets in Judaism. Will you be upset if people call him Jeremy or Jezza?
Joseph - I know one, this is a nice name. How do you feel about Joe? Because that is the nickname he will have.

I don't get the whole Cliona/clitoris thing at all, maybe they pronounce it differently in the UK?

I would pronounce it and spell it with the fada.

Still not mad about it though! And Darcey seems done to death lately.

Hero? Really? Just, no.

I can't imagine anyone in Ireland being called Hero

Me either, Irish people would really think your child had ideas above their station in life!

'What about Mary' they'd say 'Mary is much nicer than Hero'.

I like Hero. I suggested it when I was pregnant, because I love the painting The Last Watch of Hero, but DP told me it was ridiculous and vetoed it.

Are Eila and Aengus Irish spellings of Isla and Angus? Because I think they're both lovely names, but you'd be forever correcting the spellings here.

Persephone is possibly one of the most horrendous names I've ever heard. Do people really use it?

Cliona is a very normal though not altogether popular name in Ireland. Absolutely no resemblance to clitoris whatsoever.
Darcy is fine
Clara is beautiful
I can't remember the rest. Oh yeah Eila I like but can forsee lots of spelling problems and pronunciation problems.

Me either, Irish people would really think your child had ideas above their station in life!

Very true!

What's so wrong with Persephone?

Sephy is a more likely nickname than Percy because of how it is pronounced, imo.