Rachel

[MissisBee]

DH and I have only had one name conversation so far (I'm only 9 weeks).

Rachel was his first suggestion for a girl. It's a name that would never had occurred to me, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.

I currently don't know any Rachels. Any I have known would be about my own age but it doesn't have the feel of an 80s name to me like, say, Joanne or Julie.
I do have a penchant for biblical names generally, although I read today that it means "ewe" in Hebrew!!

So, do you like it?
Is it dated?
Does it make you think of Friends?

Personally I think you can tell the meaning and cachet of a name by how it is used in popular culture. When I think of films or TV shows it's been used in, Rachael ( or Rachel ), is a classy, intelligent, sensual and beautiful woman.

Lovely timeless name!

< not biased at all...> 😀

Great name, it's one of DD's middle names and I occasionally wished we hadn't used it because I'd be tempted to use it as a first name.

I love it and like that it can't be shortened.

yes it can ... I call my friend 'Rach'

'Rach' sounds awful but all the Rachel's I know (and there aren't many of them) are 'Rachel'.

Love it, would have been our choice if we had had a girl.

I know an adorable little Rachel, she is 5. Her sister is called Esther.

I really like it but both Rachel's that I've known have been, shall we say, slightly unhinged and not in a fun way.

Another Rachel here, it's nice enough.

I don't object to being called 'Rach'. But very few people ever shorten it. It's not like 'Rachel' is hard to say.

On that note, i was at university with a Rae. Now that is a gorgeous name.

I love the name Rachel - where I'm from (NI) it is very very popular, I could name you at least 20 that I know of and two of my best friends have the name, as does my mums best friend.

Much less common in England though I think, I'm yet to come across any since moving here. She will be one of very few babies her age with the name, but it's definitely not too unusual or outdated

Lovely name. I do think of Friends but your daughter's contemporaries wouldn't! I know a couple of adult Rachels, no little ones so definitely not overused.

i think its actually a very common name, i know lots of them, so it would be nice to give her a bit more unique middle name maybe, but its nice

In the bible Rachel and Leah were sisters who both married the same man. Rachel was beautiful but Leah was unattractive. Rachel means 'ewe' but Leah means 'cow'.

I had better not tell my Dd Leah that story.

I love Rachel, Leah and Sarah.

I like it. It's on my list if dc3 is a girl. I currently have 2 dd's with similar names (biblical, classic, common 20 years ago but hardly used now) and they get nothing but compliments.

Im not keen on rach though, that's my only reservation.

Elorna I'm also in NI!