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Girls names are much harder to think of. Anyone else having this problem?

12 replies

whizzyrocket · 24/04/2015 14:33

When I had my first baby we found that naming him was simple. We wanted something classic, not too common, not uncool (my husband had to fight his way through school having been named Norman) that suited our boy. Theodore was easy to settle on. Classic but with cool nicknames.

This time, I'm stumped. If it's a boy, that's easy. Frederick- we both love it. A girl's name however is a lot harder.

I love the name Sophia. It makes a nice sound as you say it, has a nice meaning (wisdom) and is Greek which appeals to me as Theodore is Greek too. But there is no way I'm going to send a child of mine to school knowing there will be dozens of kids with the same name there.

My husband gravitates to names of kings and queens. Victoria (I have vetoed- Vicky-ugh!) and Elizabeth are his choices. Elizabeth I could cope with but it doesn't truly appeal.

I also very much like Iona, but think in our current climate it could sound like just another made up faddy name. It's also very Scottish, and (barring my red hair) we are very very southern. Does that matter?

Is anyone else having this trouble, that every name you think of makes you think "I like that, but.."? I'd love to hear some of your dilemmas and know we're not floundering alone!

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longestlurkerever · 24/04/2015 14:56

I love Sophia too but agree it is quite popular. Mind you I know two Ionas too so it's hard to say whether that will be more unusual. I don't think not being Scottish matters at all though. Isla is even prettier than Iona imo but also very popular. That's the problem with nice names! You seem to have similar taste to me - my dd is Anna, which I thought would be way too popular but actually you don't come across very many although I think it might be getting more popular in the last year or two. Dd2 will be Beth but not short for Elizabeth.

Madratlady · 24/04/2015 15:02

Both ds1 and current pregnancy we had/have boys names sorted but girls names are much harder to decide on. I have one I like but I don't know if I will convince dh.

Totality22 · 24/04/2015 15:18

We had Elizabeth on our list and although I liked it and would have used it we eventually found something that was a "lightbulb" for us.

Keep looking and exploring. You'll find the right name and if not Elizabeth isn't a bad name.

TempsPerdu · 24/04/2015 15:49

Agree that it can be tricky but don't give up quite yet - there are plenty of great names out there! I do think girls' names go in and out of fashion faster than boys' names, so there's more of a risk of the names you like becoming faddy. There also seems to be a bigger pool of 'acceptable' names for girls - for some reason people seem more prepared to take risks, so there's more pressure to choose something original! As a teacher I come across a surprising number of families who have Thomas, Henry etc for a DS while their DDs are called things like Calypso and Indigo!

Elizabeth is a good name - one of the best things about it is that it has so many short versions that it can be customised to suit the person. However, I wouldn't pick any name unless I truly loved it - and it doesn't sound as if that's the case for you with Elizabeth.

Have you checked out the ONS statistics for baby names? They're useful for finding out the current popularity of names you like. There are thousands of names on there, as they list any name that had at least three births in the previous year (think the most recent data is for 2013).

burgatroyd · 24/04/2015 16:33

Elizabeth is the best name. You can have Bess, beth, Eliza, Liz, Liuzzie, Betsy, Buffy, Queenie.

I don't like Iona as it sounds like I own a...

Guin1 · 24/04/2015 17:35

I don't think it matters how Scottish you are if you want to choose Iona. Look how popular Isla is everywhere. However, like pp, I also hear "I own a".

Other less popular Greek names with nice meanings are Zoe and Melissa.

Another good website for tracking name trends is darkgreener.com

Love Theodore btw.

Artandco · 24/04/2015 18:31

Girls versions of Theodore imo are:

Leonora
Delphine
Alice
Eliza
Penelope
Daphne
Arianna
Georgia
Ionela

BlueChampagne · 24/04/2015 22:12

How about Fiona? Scottish, but not hard core. Nicknames could be Fi, Fifi or Nonie.

Penguinotterfoxbadger · 24/04/2015 23:08

Ailsa is also lovely

OneMagnumisneverenough · 24/04/2015 23:20

Gabrielle
Celeste
Meredith
Melissa
Marissa
Vanessa
Vivienne
Laurel
Lillian

all classic sounding but not as popular

avocadotoast · 24/04/2015 23:22

Oh we're the complete opposite! Girl name totally sorted. Boy name...not a clue.

OneMagnumisneverenough · 24/04/2015 23:25

or if you want to go scottish on the Iona theme

Vaila
Rhona
Lorna
Shona
Mairi
Kirsty

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