Rose Ethel

[swancourt]

I've already had a thread about a different first name with Ethel, so I've heard all the stuff people think about Ethel as a name in general. But what do you think about this as a combination? Classic English surname beginning with B, two syllables.

Ethel is pretty awful.

I like Ethel. And Rose. Ethel Rose goes better than Rose Ethel. They're both nice!

Ethel is tricky, not mainstream popular the moment even celeb use didn't help its cause. Yet it's a good solid name with good 'pedigree' and history, just slightly old fashioned at the moment. Ethel Rose flows better, but that doesn't matter at all, they're not said together very often (unless you introduce the dreaded hyphen, and even then...)

Rose is great anyway. Stick with Rose

ETHEL??????? UGh. No.

Rose is nice though.

Ha ha, I knew people wouldn't be able to resist bashing Ethel despite my original post! Just wondering about the combination of the two names - not looking for opinion-as-fact posts about Ethel itself.

I also think Ethel Rose flows better than Rose Ethel, as some have said. But agree that Rose is a much more beautiful first name. Hmmm ... Flows quite well with our two syllable English surname (stress on the first syllable, begins with B) though.

PS - using Eastenders as proof that people will pronounce /th/ as /f/ is hardly a fair sample :D

Rose Ethel will turn into Roe-Zethel as soon as you run the two names together. And as someone else said, Ethel Rose is highly reminiscent of Ethelred.

Since we'd hardly ever say the two names together though, unless in formal situations, I can't see that the Roe-Zethel problem matters much?

(Second choice at this stage would be Rose Elizabeth, which has the same problem)

I am going to be honest, Rose Ethel is my G Grandmother's name I found out last week doing the family tree. I snorted with laughter when I saw it. I think it was the combination, 2 names I hadn't expected to see together .

Rose Elizabeth is lovely .

Why didn't you expect to see them together? (Both names popular in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, both quite classic English names - seems perfectly logical to me ...)

Weirdly this thread has strengthened my conviction in the name. Popularity or unpopularity don't really bother me - my DD1 has a very popular name, so I've lived with the 'this is too popular' comments and I don't mind living with the 'this is too unpopular' comments, either! Ethel means noble, and I think it's soft and elegant and strong and pretty. And I love Rose. I agree that Ethel Rose flows better but I don't like Ethel enough for a first name and Rose is a bit of a filler as a middle name, so I prefer the combination the other way around.

Often when I post and people dislike a name it puts me off, but it hasn't this time, which is a good sign I think.

I think what is putting a few people off the name is that Rose Ethel could easily be a little old lady. Rose is lovely in the first name spot but maybe with a more currently-popularsecond middle name the name could sound a bit younger/more current if that would suit you more?

Rose Jessica Ethel B-name
Rose Abigail Ethel B-name
Rose Lucia Ethel B-name
Rose Ethel Hannah B-name

Or a four-syllable middle name would work too:

Rose Alexandra Ethel B-name
Rose Felicity Ethel B-name
Rose Amelia Ethel B-name

And my personal favourite:

Rose Natalia Ethel B-name

Does this help, OP?

I honestly don't know why, I just didn't. I think maybe I find Ethel very harsh and on a level with Gertrude. In my head Gertrude is a bad thing as my Aunt is one, hated it and changed her name. So by association Ethel is in my head a name to be avoided and I like Rose - as a name and live the flower.

At the end of the day you are absolutely right, if you like it then go for it because at the end if the day that is what counts. I always think middle names don't really matter which makes my reaction all the sillier really. I like some of the combinations that Unoriginal has posted.

Ethel is horrible. Elizabeth is nicer.

As you are ttc and seem stuck on this ridiculous name lets just hope it's a boy.

Ha ha sane. Your post made me laugh .

unoriginal those are some lovely suggestions - thank you. I am reluctant to use two middle names as my two DDs only have one each, plus I think it would be overkill. I was thinking about Rose Felicity today though, as I'd like to be able to use Joy but can't (Rose Joy is a bit much, anyway, but for family reasons Joy is out). So that's a nice suggestion - thanks.

sugarplum, at least we can agree about Gertrude. That's definitely not on the list!

When I was at school, the popular kids did an awards type thing ( along the lines of a thread I read on here today). One of the awards was "stupidest middle name". Don't line your kid up for this sort of thing. People have not been able to resist Ethel bashing on this thread for a reason.

Just to add my honest thoughts. Rose is a nice name. Middle names don't matter. Personally I hear my friends calling out names like 'Mabel', 'Winny' and 'Nora', and think they sound silly, but as I don't think middle names matter, Ethel is fine. But together they sound like 'Rosaful'.
In short, Rose Ethel is fine.

Wow, fleecyleesy. I don't know of a school nowadays that would ever tolerate such a thing, particularly with the issues of class, race and nationality such judgments would imply.

FWIW, I happen to be of the opinion that people who call another name 'stupid' are having a moment of stupidity themselves. Now, if I was thinking of calling my child 'hurdy gurdy' or 'lemon drop' or 'tallulah does the hula' or something, then I could at least comprehend a reason for using the word 'stupid' to describe it (though personally, I find that word unacceptably rude and I would come down pretty hard on a child of mine using it to disrespect another child's name). But Ethel - an old English name with a long history, popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, is quite objectively and categorically not a 'stupid' name.

I think the words you were looking for fleecy and sane were 'not to my taste'.

I also have a stunning auntie Nora, aged 45, and my boss's beautiful ten-year-old daughter is called Mabel. Neither one has ever encountered a problem over their name. Perhaps I live in a region that should be famous for its politeness, tolerance and the wide intellectual horizons of its inhabitants. Or perhaps people on the MN baby names thread are just plain nuts

No, ridiculous and horrible were definitely the words I was looking for.

I'm not suggesting the people are silly, just that to me the names sound that way. I think a baby names forum is exactly the place where people come to give and receive opinions. It's not personal. We don't know each other. But what's the point in the forum otherwise?

Ethel Rose.

Totally agree about the sharing opinions thing. What I find bemusing is the people who think that their opinions about something as subjective as a baby name are actual concrete hard-as-nails fact.

Love it, sane - at least if you're rude, be proud of it!

PS - ch1134, my comments were not directed at you at all - your comment was perfectly reasonable :)