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?

I had assumed it was a posh Home Counties name

Pfft. I strongly disagree. Retirement home, as somebody mentioned, sounds more like it.

Please do not call your child Amberleigh. It sounds like the name of one of those red-neck pregnant at 15 girls on that Teen Mom tv show.

Last night I dreamed I went to Amberleigh...

What about Annerley instead?

Or Annaliese? Love that!

Well from personal experience I've had the 'offending' name Amberley for 30+ years and I still have people telling me how nice it is.

I have never been teased about it and would never want to change it. Yes sometimes you do have to spell it to people but so many names can be spelt different ways nowadays that you have to do that with a lot of names anyway.

I think it's fine. I'm a teacher and we get all sorts of unusual names these days - I'm sure the other kids at least won't bat an eyelid. I think it will get shortened to Amber, though.

Olivia's nice but it has been extremely popular. Having said that, there are fewer children being given the top names these days than there were in, say, the 80s, so you might be surprised how few of them you actually come across.

Amberley or Amber Leigh.

Either will be shortened to amber.

It is indeed like the estates in novels: Pemberley or Manderlay.

It rolls off the tongue fine.
I, bizarrely, have recently thought Julie would be a nice name. Dull for a 48 old secretary but gorgeous if you imagine a Parisian 20 year old.

For me, personally

Olivia - yes
Amberleigh - no
Amber Leigh - much better than Amberleigh

Are they the only two choices?

my name is mostly unheard of in the uk and is easily spelt (6 letters) but has been a pain my entire life spelling it out everytime over the phone/meeting new people etc because they don't know how it would be spelt & then proceed to tell me how it's different and never heard of it before etc etc. it bugs the life out of me, for this reason i have named my child a name that will have no query of how it's spelt. it's totally up to you's at the end of the day though, you might even change your mind completely once you meet them

I never thought I'd hear myself say this since 2003 but pick Olivia.

The point about naming a child is that it is not to please yourselves, but to give the child a name that will not make their life difficult. Amber or Olivia are fine.

No. Use Olivia.
Your daughter is the person who would have to live with that other name. Don't do it to her.

What about Kimberley?

I work near Amberley Rd, so it reminds me of that. Also, it sounds a little like Anne Boleyn.

Ultimately, it's up to you. She can always go by Amber if she's hates it.

I think most of us probably have names we weren't brave enough to use ...?
I certainly have one. And I don't regret for a second choosing the more conventional name.

stick with olivia

I'm with catrash it really does sound like Amber Leaf- which is an inexpensive rolling tobacco used by the young folks to roll jazz cigarettes.

It sounds a bit like Ann Boleyn .....

IMO Amberleigh is not great...

Good grief, I thought it was going to be Jaycelynn-Sofyee or Jezrabell-Mae or Tarquinnette-Satine.

Nothing wrong with Amberleigh, she can always shorten it if she wants! Go with the name you love.

I like it, but prefer the spelling Amberley. I know an Amberley whose a really nice person. Also there is a town near my home town called Amberley but that wouldn't bother me. Dd could shorten it to Amber, Leigh or even Amy (just about) if she wanted to. I say go for it, OP but spell it Amberley!

Who's not whose!