Thoughts please - too weird (girls names)?

[inuinnit]

Our first child, a girl, is due in December.

Hubby and I have very different views on names as he has super English, super traditional name and I have an unusual name which reflects fact I'm mixed race.

Kid will be 1/2 english, 1/2 mixed Asian so not enough of anything to make it make sense giving it a traditional name from any particular culture.

We are really struggling but two names we are thinking about are:

Mandalay - pronounced 'man-dah-lay'
Inle - pronounced 'in-lay'

Both are places in Myanmar which mean something to us as it's where we got together .

But haven't seen either used as names before and was wondering if they are a bit too weird/if there's anything we're missing in terms of negative associations. Thoughts would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Mandalay makes me think of the house in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurice - " Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again..." (or something like that is the famous first line of the book)?

Autocorrect- Daphne du Maurier

I prefer Mandalay out of the two for the way that it sounds and looks. I also think you'll have less of a problem correcting people with pronounciation than with Inle.

I think it's a lovely idea, and is unique and special to you and your partner. Go for it!

Mandalay is a hotel in vegas and I would always think of that 1st.

Inle sounds beautiful the way you pronounce it and lovely as a girls name...but you and she would have a lifetime of correcting pronunciation from people assuming in-lee. I think I'd still use it though, unusual, pretty and has special connection for you.

Mandalay has the Rebecca connection for me too, so very much a place rather than a person name. I like Inle though. As with all unusual names, people will not know how to pronounce it the first time, then you'll tell them and they will.

I really like Inle, I had assumed In-lay was the pronunciation so I don't think it's too much of an issue.

It's also a short name so "Hi I'm Inle I-N-L-E" on the rare occasion someone has to write a name down isn't a big deal.

A quick google tells me that I remembered wrongly and the house in Rebecca is Manderley not Mandalay. However, I agree that Mandalay definitely sounds like a place rather than a person's name ( also makes me want to sing " Nellie the elephant"...). Inle is nice

I really like Inle

I like Inle. And Mandalay is ok too.
I'm a teacher in a very multicultural area and we come across names from different cultures all the time - some of them might seem 'weird' or unusual at first but people soon get used to a name. I wouldn't let it stop you using a name you like.

Mandalay bay is a very famous hotel in Vegas.... that's the first thing I think of!

I prefer Inle as Mandalay is too long for my liking.

Inle works well - sounds and looks lovely, meaningful, not tricky with pronounciation/spelling. Can't be shortened, doesn't need to be.

Mandalay - more people are aware of it as a place name. Also, will inevitably be shortened by people - Manda, Mandy, Dala, Dally?

Inle would win for me.

Isnt there a song? Robbie williams sung it am sure.

I like Mandalay.....Makes me think of Rebecca and Nellie the Elephant but lots of names evoke things.....

Thanks all - super helpful!

I knew about the Rebecca connection but not the vegas one - is the Mandalay bay hotel super tacky or nice? That sort of makes a difference although I don't want to call my kid the equivalent of 'Bellship'.

Shortening of Mandalay is my main issue with it - don't like Mandy, manny, dalla, etc.

Really like Inle but not sure anyone else would so comments v helpful! Have had the kind of name that people mispronounce/need to spell my whole life and although it's a bit annoying, it's really not that bad...

My first thought was Nelly the elephant, sorry.

Inle pronounced inlay will get a few looks as inlay is a word.

Re nelly the elephant - I'm a bit hazy on my nursery rhymes but isn't the lyric 'on the road to Mandalay' rather than anything weird? So it's referencing the place name rather than introducing another weird meaning in the same way. Fairly happy with the place name connection (think that's quite usual for names now e.g India, asia, Adelaide etc as long as it's not somewhere horrendous like Borstal or Bolton) but anything else is more of a question mark

Inle would be my preference.

Mandalay reminds me of Nellie the elephant. I quite like it though and i dont think its particularly weird.
I quite like both names tbh. I think they woild both work, and if tgey have meaning to you, then even better

Inle is lovely.

I think Mandalay is better than Inle. I just think of "inlay",

Inle, makes me think of inlay, which I would find to be a super weird name. Mandalay sounds like a restaurant, I'm just off to the Mandalay buffet

I like Mandalay. It would sound lovely shorten to Manda too.

Mandalay makes me think of Nellie the Elephant too, but you're right OP it's just a reference to the place - nothing silly!
I actually rather like Mandalay - I think it sounds pretty and I love the reasoning behind it. I prefer it to Inle, but I don't mind that either.