How did you narrow down your name list

[newmummy0094]

Hi
We are having a baby girl soon and we have made a list of all the favourite names. The problem is we have 30 altogether and know idea how to narrow them down.

How did everyone narrow down there lists.

My daughter's initials are ARN which I didn't pay attention to now & her uncle, my BIL, calls her Arnie... so yes initials are important

It all rather depends on your surname and how they go together. I personally don't like made-up type names but if you like them, go for it.

Try saying the names out loud with your surname and saying the initials too, you don't want to end up with initials that spell out STI or PIG etc.

Minor point - If your name starts with a vowel be extra cautious about ending on one or a soft sound as it can be a pain on the phone, saying your name!

Maybe you could cut some out by imagining if you would like to be called those names now, as a woman. For exmple Posy and Pansy are much more suited to a little girl rather than a woman. And Harbour would be an awful name to be called!
Then scratch off those that might be hard to pronounce or spell, like Elke.
Then those names that sound potentially made up... Alora, Elora, Alara, Elara.

I'm genuinely not trying to be rude btw, but think it might help!

Out of your list Laura is screaming out to be picked! Beautiful, classic and a real name!

1.*Luna - like it.
2.Sky - a bit dated.
3.Primrose - I like it but it would only suit a very certain type of child/person.
4.Daisy - overused
5.Emmeline - like it
6.Henriette - is this a made up spelling?
7.Fleur - weak sounding
8.*Scarlet - like it
9.Lottie - only nice as a nickname
10.Polly - bit cheesy
11.Lara - nice but Laura is far nicer
12.Laura - love and underused these days
13.Lyra - not as nice as laura
14.Elke - horrible
15.Posy - would only suit a baby/child not an adult
16.Pansy - as for posy
17.Clara - a bit popular at the moment but nice
18.Levi - boy’s name
19.Lovi - sounds made up
20.*Adaline - I like this but with the usual spelling - Adeline
21.*Alara - sound made up
22.Elara - sounds made up
23.Rosalina - a bit ‘meh’. Prefer Rosalind or Roslyn.
24.Leia - ok
25.Adelaide - ok
26.Primrose - repeat
27.Harbour - what? You want to make a child after a thing that stinks of rotting fish and seaweed??
28.Esme - ok but overused
29.Elora - sounds made up
30.Alora - sound made up and like a Harry Potter spell

I’m a teacher and had a terrible time with names! My daughter is Lara, as I’ve never taught one and loved the names, so I’m biased! Based in the names I’ve recently heard, my daughter was the only Lara at Nursery and at school, some names such as Luna do Sky/e are becoming very popular. Also you play Lara’s theme from Dr. Zhivago.

1. Luna - No will be called Loonie

2.Sky - No too popular, 4 at Nursery! 3.Primrose - Pretty 4.Daisy - No 5.Emmeline - Lovely (also in the chorus of the Hot Chocolate song) 6.Henriette - too rah rah 7.Fluer - pretty 8.Scarlet - No all those I know are awful 9.Lottie - No 10.Polly - Reminds me of a parrot 11.Lara - Lovely 12.Laura- no 13.Lyra - We had this on our list 14.Elke - No sound too much like Elk and then makes me think of a moose 15.Posy - No 16.Pansy - No 17.Clara - Pretty 18.Levi - No 19.Lovi - No 20.Adaline - I don’t like the spelling 21.Alara - No 22.Elara - No, sounds like a witch 23.Rosalina - Will be called Ros 24.Leia - I knew one, a bit flaky 25.Adelaide- orrery 26.Primrose - Twice? That’s cause it’s the best! 27.Harbour - Hopefully this is the silly name we all think is great with hormones! 28.Esme - Too popular! 29.Elora - Stop switching letters round to make different names. 30.Alora - Call her Primrose

Sorry I copied and paste the list and didn’t finish it!

Habour -no, people will Out a town in front of it eg Portsmouth
Emse - way too popular
Elora and Alora -no

@fartootiredtostayawake I've just added Lara to my list after reading your comment ! Thanking you 😂

Regina, Lara is a fab name!

You could wait... Or choose then you've got the rest of the time to relax in the mindset that the names sorted, personally I love giving my children their identity in the womb I feel they grow into their names also they're the first gift you give them so very special sometimes combining special family loved ones, tradition or personal favourites chosen for meanings, saints or what they represent and honour.

Luna - quite pretty but I just heard of one about six weeks ago. Frank lampard's daughter?

2.Sky - love it. Skye like the Isle of Skye
3.Primrose - No. So uptight.

4.Daisy - ok. Perfectly fine
5.Emmeline - long. Cow's name? Emma is the best Emma name iykwim!
6.Henriette - no. really unattractive. Sounds a bit jeeves and wooster. Tuppence and Henriette get up to high jinks
7.Fleur - ok, but hard to say. Either you sound pretentious giving it your best french accent or you sound like a yorkshire man determined not to give it a french accent. Flora is lovely though. Simpler to say.
8.Scarlet - ok, bit harsh.
9.Lottie - lovely. Not rare but it's spread throughout many ages so not a glut of them any one year.
10.Polly - yes very pretty I like it.
11.Lara - I like it. Dr zhivago. Like it.

12.Laura - OK. comes under my perfectly fine column. It's pretty but somehow................. I would pick it over LUna in a heartbeat though.
13.Lyra - ok, but maybe a bit like Lycra
14.Elke - lovely, I like it! German? Like elke brooks. I also like Silke
15.Posy - LOVE it!

16.Pansy - no. risky. What about Tansy?

17.Clara - Love it. Gorgeous.
18.Levi - for a girl? No..
19.Lovi - sorry what.
20.Adaline - no keep it simple. Adele is nicer.
21.Alara - ''sorry what''
22.Elara - ''sorry what''
23.Rosalina - ok, but frillette-ita
24.Leia - Nice. LIke it. Prefer Leah. Not religious but bible over starwars.
25.Adelaide - ok, prefer Adele or Edel so maybe yes to Adelaide if you nn Adele.
26.Primrose - no I still really dislike it! It hasn't grown on me since the beginning of the list!
27.Harbour - ''sorry what'' category. What about Honor ?
28.Esme - like it but it will date your child. It was very popular a few years back.
29.Elora - no. Too frilly and also too sorry what.

30.Alora as above.

My hormone names were Alpine and Milano

I don't think Milano pizza chain existed then. OR ifit did I hadn't noticed it. Consciously. I really liked Dominic for a boy and now I wonder what I was thinking! Imagine if I'd had a son called domino and a daughter called Milano. I would have said ''yes, I really liked pizza'' and air freshener.

1.Luna- Maybe
2.Sky- No
3.Primrose- No
4.Daisy- Maybe
5.Emmeline- No
6.Henriette- No
7.Fleur- Yes
8.Scarlet- Yes
9.Lottie- Yes
10.Polly- No
11.Lara- Yes
12.Laura- No
13.Lyra- Yes
14.Elke- No
15.Posy- No
16.Pansy- No
17.Clara- No
18.Levi- No
19.Lovi- No
20.Adaline- Yes
21.Alara- No
22.Elara- No
23.Rosalina- No
24.Leia- Yes
25.Adelaide- No
26.Primrose- No
27.Harbour- No
28.Esme- Yes
29.Elora- No
30.Alora- No

I can never understand the issues that people have with choosing a name for a new baby, why is this? If you have all the advice for a chosen name, as in far too many, you will get confused and never get to grips with what to choose..
I decided to have a great grandfathers name for my son, and for my daughter I had the name of a pretty young blonde woman, who used to advertise milk ads on telly, in the 60 era. job done. but wanted to choose names, that went smoothly into a surname.

N0bodysM0t Yessss hormone bands are a thing I hope Harbour is the OPs! I actually loved Spencer and defended it to the hills for my Daughter. She’s called Stella thankfully 😂.

Didn't have a problem. DS name is the only name I liked. Middle names are after DH and my best friend who passed away. DH didn't get a choice in the matter. Not that he minded.

If I have a girl I also have her name sorted. DH again doesn't have a say. It's the only name I like.

If we have another boy then all hell is going to break loose because I'm not prepared for another boy. And there's way too many names I can't use because DH has so many boys on his side of the family...

1.*Luna - dog
2.Sky - ok
3.Primrose not keen
4.Daisy yup
5.Emmeline not keen
6.Henriette ok
7.Fleur like
8.Scarlet - not really
9.Lottie yup
10.Polly not sure
11.Lara yup
12.Laura - not keen
13.Lyra - yup
14.Elke - unaware of this name
15.Posy - like
16.Pansy not keen
17.Clara - yup
18.Levi - no
19.Lovi - no
20.Adaline -no
21.Alara -no
22.Elara -no
23.Rosalina - not sure
24.Leia- spelling
25.Adelaide -yup
26.Primrose -no
27.Harbour- no
28.Esme - ok
29.Elora - no
30.Alora - no

my opinions as above

Love Laura and Clara. Adaline and Emmeline are nice too.

Luna - kids will add on tic! Favourites: Lara, Charlotte (not the shortened version of Lottie and nickname will be Lotto) and Scarlet.

IIRC DH and I took it in turns to cross names off the longlist until we were down to three or four names. Each time you aren't trying to pick The One Perfect Name (which is a big difficult decision), you are just eliminating one name from a long list (which is a smaller decision and relatively easy).

1.Luna no*
2.Sky no
3.Primrose no
4.Daisy no
5.Emmeline yes
6.Henriette no
7.Fleur no
8.Scarlet no
9.Lottie I don’t it on its own what about Lotte?
10.Polly no
11.Lara yes
12.Laura outdated
13.Lyra no
14.Elke yes
15.Posy i love it but no it’s OTT
16.Pansy no
17.Clara yes
18.Levi no, it’ a boys name
19. Love no, love*
20.Adaline no
21.Alara no
22.Elara no
23.Rosalina no
24.Leia may the force...no
25.Adelaide no

27.Harbour no?
28.Esme bit boring
29. Elora no
30.Alora no

So in short, Emmeline, Elke, Clara and Lotte.

Clara is my favourite x

1.Luna pretty
2.Sky no.....it’s the sky fgs
3.Primrose.....name of a cow and very prim
4.Daisy quite common
5.Emmeline lovely
6.Henriette no
7.Fleur lovely
8.Scarlet lovely
9.Lottie no
10.Polly no
11.Lara no
12.Laura no
13.Lyra no it’s like Lycra
14.Elke elk the animal
15.Posy name for girly bits
16.Pansy wouldn’t want to be called this myself
17.Clara clunky
18.Levi no
19.Lovi lovey? Really awful
20.Adaline pretty
21.Alara no
22.Elara no spelling it forever
23.Rosalina no
24.Leia no
25.Adelaide no
26.Primrose as above
27.Harbour ridiculous
28.Esme yes
29.. No
30.Alora no

So in short

Luna
Emmeline
Fleur
Scarlet
Adeline
Esme

I would name her Emmeline Fleur.

Don't spend so much brain drain on this - just pick three that you both like enough and put them together. As long as it doesn't sound like a dog, spell a rude word in the initials or has an odd spelling that will waste time and perhaps draw too much attention, it will be fine. And if she hates it, she can change it when she's 18. See it as a useful practice for making sensible decisions more quickly, which is what the rest of your life will need!

I eliminated any with the same initial as me or DP (and for Dc2, DC1’s name).