Please help...changing DD name

[rubyred84]

I'm so conflicted over what to do about my daughter's name. She is 8 days old, and we called her Bryony. It wasn't an easy decision...we spent months looking for a name that we loved as much as her sisters name (Imogen), and thought we had decided on Ottilie (nn Ottie). We announced it via text to family when she was born, and the responses we got were "wow, never heard of that before". Literally nothing else. I spoke to my mum and asked her what she thought, she said it was a name she had never heard of and just thought we were setting the baby up for a lifetime of explaining her name, spelling it etc. Also, she hinted it was a bit pretentious. So, after a few days we decided on Bryony, and this is what we have "announced" her as. Cards etc are arriving with this name on.

But I'm now not so sure. It was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to give her a name. I just don't feel it's a pretty/beautiful name anymore, and I don't know if it goes with Imogen. But I am used to calling her it now (for a few days i called her Ottilie by accident).

I would love others thoughts. Do you think Bryony goes with Imogen? Is Ottilie really that pretentious? Should we have stuck to our guns and gone with Ottilie? Does Ottilie even go with Imogen? Is Bryony a "pretty" name in your opinion?

I was due to register her tkmorrow but ive cancelled for now as we have time. I feel like I need to go back to the drawing board for a bit to make sure we are certain on her name.

Others that have come to mind that are prettier and match Imogen are Phoebe, Freya (a bit of an issue as DH has a close-ish friend who's daughter is called this), Clara....

Im still sad at our family's reaction to our first name announcement...we werent asking fir their opinions, it was the proper announement! So now I'm totally unsure of myself and what to do.

I'm just a bit lost and would really appreciate some help.

Not so keen on Bryony - and def coudl get shortened to Bry - for some reason it sounds a bit like briny

Otililie is pretty but a bit garbled - I think Phoebe goes best with Imogen although really like Freya
try them all for a bit you have time,

Bryony is beautiful and very uncommon now. Ottilie is also pretty but I know what your mum means about being a wee bit pretentious and I think the possibility of them being "immy" and "tilly" a bit twee. But this is your baby and go with the name you are happiest with.

rubyred my sister is called Imogen and when she was born (she’s 28) my nan constantly purposely pronounced the name wrongly, spelled it wrongly and generally made out that it was the most outrageous and unusual name ever known to man.

She is now one of the older Imogen’s around and people constantly compliment her on her name still.

My point being that people get used to names and names do get more popular and well known as time goes by. Don’t worry about your family not being immediately enamoured by it, names become intrinsinctly linked to a person (think of the people you hate that means their names are off the table!) so they will love her they will love the name

I absolutely love Ottilie. If I had another DD it would be my next name. A couple of mine have been mentioned in this thread already.
We got a similar reaction with DD2's name OP, but everyone loves it now and a few more have appeared.
I'm not keen on Bryony, I think the spelling will always be queried too.
You go with what YOU and DH want though. My dad was the biggest complainer of our 'weird' name, but loved it within weeks and said he couldn't imagine her called anything else.

Imogen and Bryony are lovely! Not so keen on ottilie and it’s very popular right now but you have to choose what you like the best and ignore others, I’m surprised your family had never heard of an ottilie though!

I prefer Bryony to Ottilie , but both names are becoming more popular. They are hardly eyebrow raising.
Give yourself longer to think about it if you want to.

I like both but prefer Ottilie. I agree that bryony is not as "pretty".

Both lovely names. It's not easy to make decisions when your emotions are running high after giving birth. Don't be concerned about what others think or say, many grandparents take a little time to get used to a name they are not familiar with and then find they love it. Go with your heart and what feels right when you look at your little girl.