DC1 shortlist thoughts and suggestions please!

[Zigazigaah]

Surname begins with a vowel sound. Current top contenders in preference order are:

Edward
Robert
William
Matthew

Susannah
Isabelle
Amelia
Eloise

Any thoughts on these? Or others similar we may like?

Thanks!

Robert and Matthew are both great and underused, I think my favourite is Robert.

Susannah is lovely, I also like Isabelle, but prefer Isobel spelling (and like Ishbel even more..)

Amelia and Eloise are (for me) a but flouncy and very much "of their time" iyswim.

Have you considered Peter or Elizabeth (Beth/Bethany /Eliza...)

Lovely lists, particularly the boys. Edward is my least favourite.

Love Isabelle, but very popular. Eloise may become Ellie of which there are loads. Susannah is pretty, and could be Susie or Anna potentially.

Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Nicholas.
Laura, Rosanna, Arabella, Annabel, Francesca

as suggestions, but I don't think you need look further than your own lists.

Thank you for the comments.

Susannah is my favourite for a girl by quite a long way. I do really like Elizabeth but there's one in the family already!

I've always liked Isabelle/Isabel/Isobel but it frustrates me that there are so many variant spellings and I don't know which I like best! And it's so popular!

I definitely like classic names with options for nick names.

Thank you for your list Bowler - I hadn't thought of Rosanna!

Edward - Love! Have one myself!
Robert - Really like
William - OK, but lots around
Matthew - Really like

Susannah - OK
Isabelle - sooo popular
Amelia - OK, but quite popular
Eloise - OK, but if shortened will be lost in the sea of Ellie nns

I much prefer Rosanna, really lovely!

Susannah is beautiful, although I prefer the Susanna spelling. I agree that Robert is underused, it's a great name.

Prefer Edgar to Edward and like the suggestion of Daniel too. Of your original list I'd go for Matthew.

Susannah is definitely the best of the girls names. I'd also add in Gabrielle ans Rosalind.

Robert and Susannah for me.

I've always loved Susannah, it's surprising it isn't more popular. Susan was extremely popular in the 1950s, so it will be a granny name now, but Susannah hasn't dated in the same way.

Robert is a splendid name and has lots of different nickname options, which I always see as a good thing. Not fashionable at the moment, but not associated with any particular age group either.

Great list.

Boys order of preference - William, Matthew, Edward, Robert
Girls order of preference - Isabella, Susannah, Eloise, Amelia

Only one I don't really like is Amelia

Other suggestions:
Thomas, George, Michael, Jonathan, Christopher, Richard
Annabelle, Bryony, Hannah, Georgina, Erica, Natasha, Saskia, Tabitha

Nice lists.

In order of preference:

Edward
William
Matthew

Big gap before
Robert

Isabelle (but prefer Isobel)
Susannah
Eloise

Very big gap before
Amelia (nowhere near as nice as the others, imho)

Really like your lists.
Edward & Matthew are my favourite boys. I think Matthew edges it as there seem to have been a lot of Teds lately.
Loooove Eloise; I'd consider it for future dd but also a bit put off by it potentially being shortened to Ellie.
Really like Susannah too and great nn potential, I like Sannah and Anna as nns.
Isabelle is lovely but I much prefer Isobel spelling - and it is soooo popular.
Amelia - bit boring tbh.

Thank you for all the lovely suggestions! I think my boys list is unchanged but my top girls names are currently:
Susannah
Rosanna/Rosalind
Gabriella
And, out of nowhere, Kathryn (although lots of spelling variants for this, which may get annoying)

I think I am pretty keen to have something not too popular, but still classic!

Love your names - good, solid, traditional names.

Alternatives:
Daniel
Benjamin
David
Andrew
Michael
Nicholas

Helen
Clara
Natasha
Kimberly
Natalie
Fiona
Emily
Emma

Susannah is lovely, but probably will get shortened to Sue or Suzy...

Like Robert best from boys names really like Bobby as nn.
Rosalind or Catherine (this way) with Kitty as nn favourite girls choices.
Catherine Isobel is in consideration if I have a dd2 :)

Names are only shortened if one allows it to happen. If Susannah wants to be called Sue or Suzy, that's up to her. If she doesn't, she need only make it clear. I'm sure we've all known people whose names just don't get shortened, eg Amanda who is never called Mandy, and so on.