Theodora or Wilhelmina?

[Linguaphile]

We are now getting a little desperate in our search for a name for DD3. DD1&2 are Philippa Winter and Vivienne Gray, so would like another strong classic that feels familiar but not ubiquitous. Middle names weren't intentionally 'word' names or a theme, just names to honour different people (Gray is MIL's maiden name and DH's middle, for instance). Our previous front runners (Felicity, Georgina and Juliet), while perfectly nice, are feeling just a bit stale and boring; I'd really like to be excited about DD's name as she's our last chance to name a child!

I've recently been mulling over Theodora (nn Thea or Teddy) and Wilhelmina (nn Willa) and feeling quite excited about them. Just need to know if I'm pushing the boat out a bit too far and/or going in the wrong direction! Are they far too stodgy to bestow upon a helpless infant?

Also, any suggestions for middles? I'm quite liking Blythe at the moment, but more ideas would be most appreciated.

Theodora and Wilhelmina are much more out there than your other daughters' names. To me they would be very North London but they may be fine where you live. Thea or Dora or any of the other choices you mentionare nice and go with your other daughters' names.

Wilelmina makes me think of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Blythe is a not very attractive town in the North East but that probably doesn't matter for a middle name.

Yy to the Kaiser association of Wilhelmina. Or the character in Malory Towers who hated her name so much she was only called Bill. I don't think Willa is a particularly natural derivation from it, either.

Theodora is lovely, and she can be Thea or Dora.

Where do you get Blythe from? There are so many lovely girls' names.

Blythe was just one I liked the meaning of (happy/carefree), but it's a bit of a whim fancy I came across this morning! I didn't know about the town up north; good to know.

We're in a section of London where I don't anticipate they'd have any trouble blending in, so that's not much of a worry; I just want to have something that work well with the other girls! They get called Pippa and Vivi a lot of the time, so I thought Thea or Teddy might go well. Dora feels a bit too 'explorer' to me.

Wilhelmina is a very clunky (and to my ear quite ugly) name. I'd use Willow or just Willa if you like those shortenings. It's very old-fashioned Germanic sounding and I don't really like the 'hel' emphasis

Theodora is lovely

Right, so it seems consensus is definitely leaning toward Theodora! I do really love the nn options for it as well. Excellent, making progress.

Big no to Wilhelmina for me - not an attractive name and would pose some spelling difficulties for the little girl when she is learning - just my opinion of course, if you disagree, go for it and like it

Theadora is beautiful. If I have DD, she will just be Thea though.

Blythe sounds like a dreary evening to me for some reason - this may just be word association I don't know.

Cant help with middle names, as I only have middle names when honouring a family member, I wouldn't have them otherwise.

Okay, scratch Blythe. What about something along the lines of:

Theodora Verity
Theodora Juliet
Theodora Constance
Theodora Susan/Susanne (to honour my mum?)
Theodora Felice
Theodora Vesper

Other ideas?

I don't know why but Theodora Violet just popped into my head?And you have 2 names there with the V sound

I like Theadora too. Thea isn't very out there at all and I'm not in London. There are lots of Theos around, so I just felt it's the feminine version of it. I know a Theadora too. Dora is definitely too explorer.

I love my 'v' sounds.

Sadly DH hates the name Violet, even though I think it's sweet!

Out of your list of middle names, I actually prefer Blythe. When is DD3 due? It could be Autumn too to go with your list of cold weather names ;)

Or Holly and Ivy?

Theodora Constance is lovely.

Theodora is great, and Teddy as a nn is too

DD2 has the middle name Blythe and we've had loads of compliments

Lemon I certainly like it; it feels quite Byzantine! Would need to work on DH with that one, though, as he still associates Constance with 'constipation'.

Head I'm actually not terribly keen on maintaining a theme of seasonal-sounding names; it was an accident to get a theme with the first two as both names were chosen to honour family/friends!

Oh I love a theme with children's name. How about Susan then? Is your DH keen on that one?

I like Theodora, with Juliet/Constance/Susan as middle name.

Theodora and Wilhelmina were my dad's two suggestions when naming me! He did not get his way, and whenever I moaned about my (short, boring) name, my mum would remind me of what I could have ended up as! I do quite like Thea now though (big fan of Thea Gilmore).

Lol Spider! How funny.

Head, DH would probably prefer Susan most over the others, I just worry that it feels a bit boring!

I definitely prefer Wilhelmina, and Willa is a great nn. Mina would be nice too.

Not keen on Theodora, Thea or especially Teddy on a girl.

I'd like Wilhelmina Susan or Wilhelmina Blythe.

Theodora for me too

Is Theodora better than our other names that we've considered (Felicity, Georgina, Juliet)?

Liking Constance, Susan or Felice with Theodora - think you need to keep the syllable count down a bit so it flows.