I'm ^not^ pregnant, nor will I ever be again..so I'm sharing this name...

[ArsenalsPlayingAtHome]

I've had all my babies, so don't need to keep this name to myself .

At the time that my DDs were born, I tried (& managed) to give them fairly unusual names..then lo..after a few years they were everywhere. They are now in the top 10 .

Anyway, out of all the baby name threads I've snooped on, I've never come across this...

I give you...

Angelou after Maya Angelou, obviously.

Maya has been done to death, & rightly so, because it's beautiful & Maya Angelou is a hero to so many people, not to mention all the parents who have chosen it without her in mind.

If I was expecting another DD I would use this.

What do you think?

I was thinking last week that Merle and Greer would make great, cinematically inspired, sibling names.

MA’s “real” given name was Marguerite. So that could be an Angelou-tribute option.

Greer is awful. Germaine has made somw v strange comments lately

Greer Garson not Germaine Greer.

Picknickers I was reading that thinking...are you in some parallel universe for a second! .

No love for the name Greer here, sorry.

Battleax Yy to Marguerite also, love it!.

@ArsenalsPlayingAtHome this opens a small wound for me but has made me smile.

When I was 8 or 9 I read a short story with a really interesting name I'd never heard of. The story explained it was from Norse mythology.

I thought I'd love to call a daughter this name. No-one ever used it and it was beautiful.

20 odd years later I find myself pregnant. But this beautiful name is suddenly everywhere! And I don't know why (still don't). I ended up with 2 sons so it became irrelevant but frankly that doesn't stop me feeling peeved!

The name? Freya.

I had Merle on my shortlist for dc2 6 years ago! I put it here for opinions and along with the rest of my shortlist it got roundly dismissed as awful (I can remember Errol and Erland also on there).

My genius name I’ve come up with now I’m done having children is Magenta. You can be Maggie or Gen, and I think it has a lovely sound, easy to spell, recognisable but never seen it as a name.

(Think I’ve suggested it on here before - one day I’ll meet a mini Magenta and be convinced it’s my doing )

My man was Marguerite nn Margot.

Margot and Angelou are lovely French sounding names and would make great siblings

NAN!!!!

ThinkofaWittyNameLater Freya....that really is everywhere .

Youarenotkiddingme your nan had such a great name .

I was at uni with a girl called Merle
O'Byrne

Coriander Magenta was on my list but DH 100% vetoed it (and in any case we had boys). I think it’s a fabulous name so that’s what I named the hamster

It’s awful.

I really like Meriel, which I think is underused, Merry is a great nickname

But it was her surname (from her ex-husband, who was Greek/Greek family). She kept it because it is an attractive sounding name, I suppose, and her original one was quite dull (Johnson). But it's a surname.

Plenty of actual girls' names you could use like Angel, Angela, Angelina, Angelica, Angelique.

Or for a tribute to MA, Maya or Marguerite.

Angelou is a big fat no for me.

Merle will always be the name of the racist biker from The walking dead for me!

Greer sounds like the name of a vaguely sinister Dickensian lawyer.

Greer and Spittlewick, Attorneys-at-Law - that sort of thing.....

Is the end of Angelou pronounced like "loo" in English? If so, I don't like it.

Pemba

*But it was her surname (from her ex-husband, who was Greek/Greek family). She kept it because it is an attractive sounding name, I suppose, and her original one was quite dull (Johnson). But it's a surname.

Plenty of actual girls' names you could use like Angel, Angela, Angelina, Angelica, Angelique.

Or for a tribute to MA, Maya or Marguerite.*

But I like it. I do like Marguerite also, but as I've said Maya is everywhere. I don't like Angel, Angela, Angelina, Angelica or Angelique, everyone knows those names are out there, it's not like I wasn't already aware of those names. I like Angelou because it's her last name, and because it's not one of the similar sounding names that you listed, which wouldn't really be much of a tribute/homage, would they?

It's a surname though - hate surnames as first names, especially for girls. Taylor etc. are bad enough, why introduce another one?

Pemba because I love it!

And it is a first name, anyway, for a boy, (the male version of Angela, I assume,) which I didn't realise when I posted.

Also, it's only one phoneme away from Angela, which seems to meet your approval.

It's hardly like I'm advocating the name Thatcher, Churchill Johnston or Smith as a first name!