Really different opinion to DH.....

[letitpea]

He likes Thomas for a boy, Isabella and Olivia for a girl.

I like (much longer list.....) Odin, Lysander and Ferdinand for a boy and Alice, Margaret (Maggie) Clementine for a girl.

I don't dislike Thomas at all. And quite like Isabelle.

Meant to add, I LOVE Cillian too but we are not Irish.

Any suggestions? and how on earth do you agree?

Well you have to keep looking for one that works for both of you!
Sometimes things grow on you the more you consider them.
Have to say I'm with your DH on the boys names! But like all of the girls names on the lists.
Your boys names are much more 'unusual' than any of your girls names.

We each went through the baby names book and made a list. Then we swopped lists, crossing out all those we couldn't stand on our partners list. This gave us a combined list of bearable names. We stuck it on the kitchen wall and whittled it down - it took weeks but having them stuck up there, to look at and discuss day in, day out definitely helped.

I really really like Odin and Lysander, but am fully aware my entire selection of boys names could be sen as pretentious! Odin is my favourite.

The list swapping idea is a good one, I just don't think he Will go with any of my choices!

I think that he should pick the boys names and you can pick the girls!

So he likes more traditional, top 10 type names and you like more unusual names?

I think you have to either find some middle ground or decide that one gets to pick if it's a girl and the other gets to pick if it's a boy. Or if you're having more than one, one chooses this time and the other chooses next time. That's risky if you have very different tastes though.

I don't think Alice is that different to Isabelle or Olivia. I'd put them in the same category. Other similar names;

Emily
Harriet
Penelope
Rose
Eleanor
Matilda
Elizabeth
Eloise
Beatrice

Thomas is very different to Lysander/Odin/Ferdinand though. That's a bigger gap to bridge...

Alexander
Lucas
Liam
Jonah
Horatio
Tobias
Melchior
Sebastian

If it was a venn diagram of similar/non similar, Alice, Margaret, thomas, Isabella and Oliver would all appear in the middle bit of the venn. So you have a lot in common really. Keep going - make the lists, see where you overlap.

2 of my children's names are in your list!

I think he would agree allthat

Some good suggestions there thank you, outraged i would love Rose but don't think we can with our surname being W o o d. !

Any of the boys names canyou?

would this put him off olivia and isabella?

I love Maggie by the way.

Cillian a bit blah but ok.

What about Ferdia instead of Ferdinand. If you can do Cillian without being Irish you can do Ferdia (Fear Diadh) Love that name.

I have a Margaret Rose, called Maggie. :) It really suits her.

Your girl's names don't seem far off each other but you'll probably have to meet in the middle on the boys. :o Easier said than done; I'm pregnant with a boy right now and it's hard!

Have you tried using Named Together? It might give you a bit of common ground to start from

Dh and I had a similar issue

He likes traditional names

I like unusual names.

So we compromised on traditional but not commonly used names.

Ds is called Conrad. We have met 1 other. It is a marmite name but I love it

Would that sort of name style work for you both?

none of the boys names overlap - his are very traditional and yours are more ... not sure what but recognisable but not usual maybe.

Feargal or Patrick are Irish names that have also been traditional names in some ways.

Ferdia is great.

how about Leo?

or Galen? half sorry I didn't call ds that.

Thanks all, Margaret Rose is lovely, and I had previously thought of Patrick and forgotten about it. Leo too.

Clearly we have to try harder! We have a while to go so hopefully we will get a couple we agree on.

I like Rose Wood! It sounds pretty, could be a heroine in a novel.