I'm not expecting right now, but if I was, would I be mad to consider this name?

[Lockheart]

The name is Colorado. For a girl.

I won't bore you with the long backstory, but a lovely man who helped raise me passed away last year. He used to call me Colorado, in fact I can't recall him ever using my actual name. As a result it's a name I'm very fond of, even if it's not a proper name-name (iyswim). Recently I've been thinking that if I ever had a daughter I think Colorado would be quite a beautiful name.

Sentimentality aside, am I being completely ridiculous?

I'm not a fan of using names of places or flowers, or cars, or alcohol for people, but, for that type of name it has a nice kind of ring to it, is easy to spell and pronounce, and, at least you have a sentimental reason - that you could tell people about - for wanting to use it.

It would make for a great middle name. Lovely story behind it.

Yes it would be a lovely middle name, and I also like Colly for short, although it sounds like a dog breed I grant you.

Back, what are the alcohol names? I can't think of any and am intrigued!

Chardenay
Bailey
Brandy
Martini

that I can think of off the top of my head.
I kid you not

I'm the same Back. As a rule I don't like place names / car names / alcoholic beverages etc and all the other names I have picked out are verging on the dead boring - completely unlikely to ever become the subject of an AIBU thread

It's just recently I've been thinking about it and it's grown on me. I suppose, because it's a name I answered to for many years, it's more "normal" to me if you see what I mean.

Not Colly, I think I was definitely thinking for a first name though.

My friend is currently in an NCT group with a little Bacardi.

Ah yes, forgot about those!

I was thinking vodka, gin, whisky, wine... Couldn't think of those being used as a name!

What a lovely story. I think I'd use it as a middle name.

I think it would be nice as a middle name

I don't dislike it but I think the 'o' ending is odd for a girls name, but I'm sure I'm just not thinking of some obvious examples! Colly may be an inevitable consequence..

Middle name.

My daughters middle name is valentine as she was born on 14th feb, if she was born on a different day it wouldn't have been ( some people have questioned it!)
Go with your heart...

Fine to use as a middle name but pretty awful as a first name IMO. I really dislike place names as first names though. Colly sounds like a pretty awful nn also.

Terrible as a first name regardless of any sentimental back story. Would definitely use it as a middle name only.

Colorado with a capital C is a place name, obviously, but with a little c it's a Spanish adjective meaning 'coloured' or 'red'.

As previous poster has said, the 'o' ending is masculine; the female equivalent would be 'colorada'.

I think it's awesome! Especially with that story. You could call your baby Colorado if it's a boy too, i think that would sound even better.
I desperately want a boy called California, but think I'll save that for a short story and in RL go for Calvin

Slightly mixed opinions then like I say, I'm not in the market (as it were) for a child right now, so thankfully the chances of me getting to inflict it on anyone anytime soon are slim.

I disagree that an "-o" ending is masculine though. I know a Jo, a Mo and an Akiko who might disagree with that! And there's Cleo, Coco, Margo, Calypso, Bo, Yoko etc.

BackforGood, AyeAmarok and Lockheart - You need to check out a thread called "AIBU to comment on a baby name?" by TrixieBlue2016. It's the funniest.

On a more serious note, I think Colorado is fine but she will have to explain it every time she meets someone new - unless you make it a middle name. And it WILL get shortened - but thinking about it, Lori or Lora are both nice.

Your baby - well, later, maybe!!!! - your choice, of course. And your story about the name is lovely.

Just a bit about the 'masculine' - it's not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. In origin, colorado is a Spanish word and in Spanish the 'o' ending is masculine.

That's not the same for all languages, obviously. But the names you quote are female names in their native languages. Would you be happy to give a girl a boy's name from English, Greek or Japanese (to use your examples) regardless of its original associations? If so, fair enough

There has been some dicussion on Mumsnet in the past about using Beau (French, masculine) as a girl's name. Some people were in favour. It might perhaps be interesting to look at that?

Makes me think of Oregon on Fresh Meat.

Although I think she was actually a Melissa.

Jameson and Islay are another two alcohol baby names I can think of - although the first was presumably a surname that lent itself to the whisky and makes total sense as a name (same as Addison, Harrison, Eddison, Robinson etc).

Islay is an island in Scotland which also explains why there is a single malt named after it!

Forgot to add my main comment: I too think Colorado as a middle name would be better than first name, because of the gender question and also having to explain to people. But at least it is a well known word that people would know how to pronounce and spell.