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Baby names

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

Original poster

Effie or Ezra ?

115 replies

ClementineAndCordelia · 02/02/2015 22:33

Hi everyone - this is my first ever Mumsnet post , so please go easy Wink . DC 2 is due in a couple of months and we're down to two names for a DD . I realise Ezra is usually a boys name, but we live very rurally and there aren't any boys with this name in the area . We LOVE it for a girl . Have also always loved Effie . Middle name will be Clementine .
Which- if you had to choose- do you prefer ? Thanks Smile

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SirChenjin · 06/02/2015 12:11

I don't agree either. I have a name that hasn't appeared on the most popular list since the fifties - I hate it, and it doesn't make me 'Me'

squoosh · 06/02/2015 12:16

'You have quite black-and-white views of baby names ( as do I, admittedly) usually eminently sensible.'

I think it's time for me to cultivate a softer and more accepting attitude on name threads Grin

I'm sure your children's names are simply exquisite!

anxiousaboutanonymity · 06/02/2015 12:25

you'd be right about that squooshWink
they are traditional but not over-used
the only downside is that they are Irish ( irish parent)and we live in the UK
people sometimes think they are names of the slightly-made-up variety, the thought of which appalls me.

SunnyBaudelaire · 06/02/2015 12:26

run them by us then anxious.....

anxiousaboutanonymity · 06/02/2015 12:29

couldn't bear the public scrutiny, sunny
Too late now, anyway....the die is cast

GrendelsMinim · 06/02/2015 12:31

Ezra after Ezra Pound? I think that's great (ok, so the politics were dodgy to say the least and he was off his rocker by the end, but I love his poetry).

Or if you want a literary name (I'm guessing that's why you picked those two names - I immediately thought of Ruskin), how about Aphra after Aphra Behn.

Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 06/02/2015 12:31

MishMooshandMogwai - I think we definitely come from the same names 'camp' . My other daughter is Orla Grin

OP posts:
SunnyBaudelaire · 06/02/2015 12:36

well I am sure their names are fine anxious.
Sometimes people just need a little educating - for example I was convinced that the little boy called 'Oran' had a made up name but then I found it was quite a standard Irish name.

anxiousaboutanonymity · 06/02/2015 12:43

I find the whole arena of baby naming quite fascinating...what it signals about the chooser's identity and what it signals about their aspirations

CrispyFern · 06/02/2015 12:54

I prefer Effie and Mabel out of all your names.
Esra is ok I guess.

I think Mabel goes quite nicely with Orla.

MishMooshAndMogwai · 06/02/2015 13:59

No way OP! Grin

Here's my list then, v short and a first draft as I'm only 16 weeks.

Poppy
Dylan
Claudia
Freya
Niamh

Lydia and Francesca have been vetoed by him however they're my faves :( also aurora as its too sing songy and Valentina becasue it doesn't go with our surname. Sophie and Anna are out as well because friends have used them Sad

Boys are proving very difficult and ive only managed to write Jacob on the list so far and he's not even sold on that!

Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 06/02/2015 14:26

MishMooshAndMogwai - I love Freya -that's also on the list . If we hadn't have named DD1 Orla , she was going to be Niamh but spelt Neve :) boys are really hard . We're really liking Arlo , DH wants Sid now but I'm not sure . I love things like Jonah, Ruben, Torin, Rafe, Atticus, Soren, Silas etc ( I've started a boys name thread to get some more ideas ) . My brother is Joss which is lovely . Lots of our friends have similar names for their sons so we're a bit thin on the ground for choices ! My Orla ( 5) is adamant we have a Spike !

OP posts:
longestlurkerever · 06/02/2015 14:45

I think Ezra/Esra sounds quite unisex - I know a little girl called Dylan and to me that is much more of a boys' name than Ezra is but you get used to it.

I quite like Effie and don't have the same aversion to nicknames as given names as others do (why would you saddle someone with Euphemia in preference to Effie?)

Laquila · 06/02/2015 16:08

Nathaniel (Nate) for a boy, OP?

BalloonSlayer · 06/02/2015 16:24

I think the problem with male Biblical names ending in an "a" being used for girls, eg Ezra, Elisha, is just that you imagine people will think "Oh look, those parents are being bold and cool choosing a masculine name for their DD," but actually they think "Oh look, those parents are a bit thick because they think if a name has an a on the end it must be a girl's name."

Elijah sounds pretty similar to Elisha. Yet I have never met a female Elijah. Presumably the "h" on the end indicates a cock and balls? Yet it doesn't with Hannah or Sarah. Confused < shrug >

Twotinygirls · 06/02/2015 16:33

I met a female Ezra, she was/is beautiful and I loved the name, I'd never really heard it before. Effie is cute, but at least Ezra is a proper full name.
It's unlikely that she'll have a boy in her class called it as it's such a rare name, and would it really matter anyway.

MishMooshAndMogwai · 06/02/2015 21:48

Shock arlo was top of my boy list too! Got a resounding no from dp though :(

Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 06/02/2015 22:58

Arlo is the only boys name we can agree on at the moment MishMoosh... So we might just have to tell people that we could only deal with those 4 letters whilst baby naming ?! Our third could be Rola / Lola / Rolo etc Grin . Jacob's nice btw - have you thought of Jonah/ Jonas / Rowan/ Torin / Rafy/ Rory or Ruari / Elliot/ Ellian / Ellis / Toby/ Jago/ Inigo / Iolo/ Milo . Just a few extras :)

OP posts:
Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 07/02/2015 13:42

What about Ezri / Ezry instead?

OP posts:
AugustaGloop · 07/02/2015 13:51

Go with aphra.

AugustaGloop · 07/02/2015 13:52

And why not Ezra for a DS?

MishMooshAndMogwai · 07/02/2015 19:24

Dp likes rowan but I'm not sold on alliteration for names. It'd be a bit of a mouthful with our surname!

I do like Ezri though...and rolo/rola/Lola Grin

itsbetterthanabox · 08/02/2015 00:31

Ezra is pretentious on a boy unless your very religious. On a girl it's worse. I can't imagine why you living rurally has any bearing on this at all? What difference does it make?
Effie just makes me think of the moody girl on skins. It's like a silly nickname not a name. It's a babies name and she won't be a baby forever.

Original poster
ClementineAndCordelia · 08/02/2015 17:56

What a lovely positive post itsbetterthanabox !

I didn't explain myself well re the rural part - what I meant was that as we live so rurally we have never heard the name until fairly recently ( didn't know it was biblical either until recently ) so therefore we don't particularly associate it with boys/ masculinity / religion / The Bible etc. It's quite new to us and we just like sound that the four letters make when combined together . Simple as that really .Perhaps if we lived nearer a city we'd have heard lots of boys being called it as I think there's been a surge in that name in city areas of late . Anyway all besides the point now as we decided not to go for that name but something very similar .
Re Effie I don't agree it's a babies name only - I think it suits every stage of woman from baby to old lady and it wasn't Skins which led us to it . She was Effy / Elizabeth .Effie is a very popular Greek name .

OP posts:
longestlurkerever · 08/02/2015 18:25

I agree box was very rude! You can give an opinion without being sneery.

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