Should we stay safe, or go for the name we love (that's seen as 'made-up' and 'chavvy')?

[MushroomWorld]

What the title says! I'd rather not say what the unusual name is, as it's rare. I like 1 spelling of it.

Or Olivia

I like Olivia, but love the other name. Should we just go for it?

Amberleigh even without a hyphen is very much of the ilk of "Tiani-Mae" or "Amelia-Rose"

Nothing at all negative towards them aside from the frequency of them. You can't turn round in Dds school yard without seeing a girl with a name of this style.

Olivia is far better. Olive even more so.

Amber or Ember is way nicer than Amberleigh

I wanted to give my son 4 names - trad family one first, two other family names and....

Xavier!

I chickened out at the registrar's office and still wish I hadn't, no reason why he couldn't have had one interesting middle name.

But to go a bit mad with a first name seems more risky so why not Olivia Amberleigh? Then as she gets older she has a choice.

Two sisters I know decided before teen years that they preferred their middle names & inside of two years everyone was calling them their preferred names without any need to change by law (just had to fill in extra bit for passport)

So I guess I think you don't have to decide a or b, give her both names & she can chose when she's older.

I'm Irish and my ex's middle name was majella (confirmation name) and he's found it easy enough to cope with despite being hugely embarrassed by it so if she hates Amberleigh it's not the end of the world.

I would feel sorry for her when she has to learn to write her name at school it's so long! Also with long names, her friends will shorten it to Amb or something. Like Kim/ Kimberley.

I went to Amberley Chalk Pits on a school trip. It's a place of natural interest.

Amberleigh sounds like a child from Teen Moms USA!
Olivia much nicer

I know a girl called Amberley - it's also a village near us.

I like it.

However I think Olivia is dull and pretty yuck.

I don't particularly like Amberleigh but do you know what? Who cares!

It's a perfectly fine name, it's not some dreadfully embarrasing name and most importantly you love it!

Be bold OP and go with your heart

If you go with Amberleigh, she may find herself constantly saying "Spelt like Amberleigh House, the Grand National winner from 2004". If you pick Amberley, it'll be "like Camberley, only without the C". Both options provide a fair chance of being used to tease her. If your only alternative is Olivia, then, honestly, I'd go for that - it's pretty timeless and not easy to spell wrongly or mispronounce.

Olivia Amberleigh is nice and gives her lots of choices.
I was at school with a beautiful Leigh so I like it on its own as well.

How about Everley instead?

I don't think it's that "out there". I know of an Emmaleigh

Oh no. No no no no no no. You cannot call your child Amberleigh. Truly hideous.

Olivia is such a lovely name. Go with that.

Amalie has the same kind of sound but is an actual name.

Hyphenate it and job's a good 'un! Amber-Leigh is lovely.

I like Olivia better.
Who the F cares what I think?
Go for what you love, OP.

Never ask MNers to make decisions for you. NEVER. Trust yourself.

You'll never be able to get a sign saying

Amberleigh's room

Ooft. Amberleigh
I am generally a fan of unusual names, and would say just go with your heart. But:

1. Google it with your surname first. As an unusual name you want to make sure you're not giving your kid the same name as a famous/well known person

1. I work in criminal justice and the first thing my mind jumped to was the Amberleigh centre for boys who have issues with "inappropriate sexual behaviours". It's a national centre as they take children who have committed really very serious sexual offences, and well known even up here (Scotland)

It's something that would make me a bit anxious.

But if you love the name then just go for it. Maybe consider changing the spelling ever so slightly?

go with the name you love, but think about it being used in everyday life and see if it still if you like the sound of it, also people will probably end up shortening it to Amber to which you will have to be prepared to correct a number of times ( if you don't want it shortened that is ) but other than that I'd say go for it, Olivia is a very used name so I wouldn't go with it because of that

I really don't like it - it's surprising your alternative is Olivia!

What about Amelie or Emily?

nice pub in Amberleigh. Gardeners Arms think xx

I think it's fine. As soon as she's born it'll become 'her' name and people won't be able to imagine her as anything else.

Don't get some of these OTT reactions. People call their kids far worse!!

I like Amberleigh. Lot nicer than Olivia, awful overused name.

Darn it, I thought I was going to be the first to mention race horses! What about Ginger instead?