opinions please

[MummaV]

I'm having a little girl due 5th April and me and DH have been struggling to agree on names, our current front runners are:

Remi Jacqueline
or
Imogen Emma

The one friend I confided in regarding names has put an extreme downer on Imogen stating she thinks its a disgusting name and will be calling my DD Immac should we call her Imogen.....God knows why or where that association came from?!?!?.and this has given me serious doubts about this name. I do however adore Remi.

If for any reason the gender is incorrect we have a back up boys name of Noah Keiron, however this is also debatable currently.

So essentially, what are your opinions on the names or do you have any other ideas we may not have thought of that we can throw into the mix?

I think Imogen is a lovely name. What nonsense from your friend! I would just be clear with her that she will not be calling your baby Immac!! Imogen is becoming more popular but I still think it's lovely and would have considered it if my blue bump was pink. Not crazy about Remi (he's also a male character in House of Cards) to be honest.

I think Imogen is a lovely name. And she's your baby. You call her what you like! (TBH it sounds like your friend is being a bit of a cow about this - are you sure she hadn't privately earmarked "Imogen" for herself in the future??)

Remember, you can't stop her calling your daughter "Immac", although she'll seem childish as hell if she does... but you can train your daughter retaliate by calling your friend "Auntie Wrinkles"...

I know a female Remi and it's worked fine for her. To me though it sounds like a nickname rather than a full name. I much prefer Imogen

Imogen is a normal name. I wouldn't choose it myself but your friend was OTT expecting you to select a name that is more precisely to her taste.

Remi, I like the sound of it but I think it's too nick namey. And there is a drink (Remy Martin). So it has that slight vibe of 'oh she was conceived after a Miller/Remy/Baileys about it but that's what I'd say if I were looking for a negative. It is pretty.

I think I'd choose a longer name like Rosemary and make Remi a nick name for it. Or Rachel Emily

Imogen Emna sounds lovely and elegant - ignore friend on this one! I thought Remi was a Spanish mans name so I would definitely not call her that but love Imogen Emma

Tbh, when you get that kind of response to a name - and you do get versions of this on here regularly - it seems to me to be a sign of someone poorly educated, with very limited life experience, if their immediate response to an unfamiliar name is to link one syllable to a hair removal brand name. And Imogen is lovely, and - even if it weren't - hardly off the wall. She doesn't exactly sound like an enrichment to your life.

I struggle slightly more with Remi, as I'm more used to it in a French context with an acute accent - will you pronounce it 'RAY-mee'? Remmy?

And Noah would be far nicer followed by Ciaran, or, if you want to Anglicise, Kieran.

I had a friend like that. When I finally picked what is a very classic name for my dd (although there aren't hundreds of them and it didn't enter top 100 til she was about 8) my friend said "no, that doesn't do it for me".

I thought, right, well, the purpose of agonising for months was to find a name that would serve my daughter well for her whole life, not just to make friends think "ooooooh!?" when I did the big reveal. So, your friends want different things from your baby's name than you do.

I just thought, what about romily seems like it might be to your taste.
I wouldn't put emma with imogen as that is too many emmemmemm sounds

Your friend is talking out of her behind.

Both are lovely names. I especially like Remi - cute but not overly girly.

Imogen is fine. Tell your friend it's from Shakespeare (which it is)!

I am very sorry and don't wish to sound discouraging, but to most of the world Remi (RAY-mee) is a boy's name and a brand name. It's moderately popular - in approx top 300 names in France - and the brandy is very well-known throughout the world. The 'Remy' spelling is the more usual one. Even the meaning is masculine - Remi/Remy comes from a Latin word meaning 'oarsman'. In French, the 'i' spelling says masculine, as well. If the name were female, it would be spelled 'ie'.

The previous posters' suggestions for Romilly or Rosemary with nn Remi are very nice, and would give your DD more flexibility.

Noah Ciaran (or English Kieran) is nice, as well.

Thank you all.

My friend has a 10yo DS named Ryan and no intentions on having any other children so the name is definitely not earmarked. She is just one of those people who likes to have her own way and believes her opinion is the only one to be followed. She is mostly pandered to amongst our friendship group so I far to used to getting her own way.

I have loved Remi for years due to a character in a book however I have always been concerned of its male connotations elsewhere in the world/brand name. I always spelt it Remy in my head but DH doesn't like the Y and prefers an I.

The middle names are family names, Jacqueline being my mum, Emma being my middle name and Great Grandmothers name and Keiron being my MILs name so spelling on that wouldn't change should it be used.

It's really nice to get others opinions on things that have been going round and round in my mind for months!

I still feel that me and DH won't agree fully until she arrives though. It's terribly difficult to decide something like a name without meeting the person first!

I would wonder if Remi was nickname and would think of Remy Martin tbh,

I like Immogen and I have no idea why your friend would call her Immac. Immy as a shortend name is nice too and I knew a lovely Immogen who called herself Genie.

Imogen is lovely.
Remi doesn't seem like a proper name to me.

Romilly is nice, I also like Ramona