Noa and Marlowe

[Seekingmiracles]

I know the general consensus on these names on MN will be that they're hideous - BUT I love them both.
Some friends have 'stolen' our name - when I say that, I do say it with jest. DH and I had both settled on Thea pretty much and then asked our friends (due 7weeks before us) if they had any thoughts about names and low and behold.... THEA!
So these are new names to the list... I think they're quite cool, without being too weird.

I like Noa and prefer Marlo to Marlowe.

How about Thalia/Talia for a girl?

I love the sound of Marlowe but find the playwright spelling a wee bit pretentious. I would probably choose Marlow for a boy and maybe Marlo for a girl. There was a film star back in the day (female) called Marlo something.

Do you like Margo or Margot?

Noa is quite nice too...

Marlo looks a bit silly to me.

I like Marlowe. I really don't like Noa, but then I don't like Noah either. To me it's a wishy-washy negative with a vague whiff of ould fella's beard, and on a girl, with the h dropped, it's got an added element of confusion.

But I love Thea, and if I were you, I would definitely use it.

Don't like Marlowe.

Like Marla.

Daughter has a friend Noa, pronounced more like "Nor"

My Marlowe was named after Phillip not Christopher, how can an e at the end be pretentious? Is Anne more pretentious than Ann? Marlow is a town. Marlo was a drug dealer in The Wire. Or there's St Malo!

What about Phaedra? I knew sister with a Greek mother called Thea and Phaedra.

Aphra is kind of Thea-ish.

Yes! Marlo from The Wire. I knew Marlo had some dodgy connection I just couldn't remember what it was

Thanks for all your other name suggestions... Sadly I don't like any that much though...
I do now like Marlowe and Noa more than I did before though!

I love both but Marlowe slightly edges it for me. Lovely. I recently heard Thalia for a girl (pronounced with a T, not Th) which I also liked, not totally dissimilar to Thea? You could maybe even have Lia or Thea as a nickname? (in case you ever move far away from your friends!)

Noah
Tahlia?

I like them both but to me, Marlowe is a boy's name (I taught one). Noa is an Israeli name, isn't it?

I love the name Thea ..you should definitely still use it

Tricky. What a shame re Thea but I can see why you wouldn't feel like using it now. Noa pretty though I do agree people may think it's a boy with an alternative take on Noah and it sounds the same.
What about Alba, Hebe or Flora?

Why not use the name you love?

• as others have said your friend no matter how close could move away or you could and it is your friends daughter who will bear the name and she may move away as well. It is your daughter who will have the name (over which she has no choice) but if I was her and grew up to find out she could have been called Thea but instead is called Marlowe (sounds like a dog's name to me) because you were friends with some unknown person I would be a bit upset. I was called after a friend of my mother's and I dislike it now but I am stuck with it.

I'd stick with Thea. Your DD will have the name for life.

EricBana - I love Alba but we are using an S middle name and our surname begins with S also - initials would be ASS!
Do also like Thalia

I know we could move away from said friends but I kind of want a fairly unique name and having a friend with a child of the same name just makes the name lose its appeal, despite me loving the name.
I don't see the problem with an Israeli name - plenty of people use Scottish/Welsh/Irish etc names without actually being from there. And the gender confusion will only be in the written form, not much different from a lot of the unisex names out there already, it's just a less common one.

If by some miracle they decide against Thea in the end, it may well be back in the game.

Definitely not ASS I agree!

"I know they are both quite masculine names... And I get that there might be some odd looks but that doesn't bother me"

Just a gentle reminder that it's not you who's going to get the odd looks. Or have to explain "yes, it is usually a boy's name, but it's a girl's name too spelled without the H"..ad infinitum.....................

I love Marlowe but can't stand Noa/Noah. It's so earnest. Sorry.

PS I think Marlowe is lovely for a girl but even better for a boy!

It's weird strange - I despise Noah for a boy! But some how find the Noa female version quite pretty and feminine.

Seeking, I do think Noa looks nice written down, where Noah doesn't.

I love Noa. It is quite Israeli but I think works just as well out in the West. And don't worry about it being too masculine... here's Noa Tishby (Israeli model) - she turned out just fine! hairstyles.thehairstyler.com/hairstyle_views/front_view_images/10548/original/Noa-Tishby.jpg

I do like Marlowe too btw. Sienna Miller's daughter is called that.