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.

We took our list (didn't have 30 on it though) and passed it back and forward, each scoring one off each time and ended up with a choice of 2. We then picked the one which suited best. Actually the last two very very similar so we would both have been happy with either.

Choose Laura. It really stood out on your list as beautiful, timeless, classy, a pretty name for a girl and an elegant one for a grown woman, it's barely used these days so will stand out as original while being easily spelt and pronounced.

Or Clara. That's the other one on your list that stands out as lovely.

What sort of a family are you?

For example to my mind Clara , Lara and Sara are just slightly affected versions of safe middle class stalwarts Clare, Laura and Sarah. Whilst Luna and Sky are a bit hippie.

I knew a lovely Fleur and actually although Pansy is an insult I'd quite like a quirky Pan.
Do you think you are aimming for safe or unconventional?

@SheWoreBlueVelvet
I think we definitely want to go unconventional.

Please don't choose Pansy or Harbour. Kids can be mean, and you have lots of nicer options!

I love Alora, Lyra, Luna and Clara and I do also like Adelaide and Adeline.

Alora is my favourite. We almost called our daughter that.

Hi OP, congrats on the pregnancy and based on your requirement of unconventional here are my thoughts (I would add that these conventional does not necessarily mean Claire, Jane, Rachel etc as they are the unconventional names now!!)

1. Luna - not unconventional because Harry Potter

2.Sky - not unconventional any more. 3.Primrose - yes and a lovely name. 4.Daisy - very popular now. 5.Emmeline - popular 6.Henriette - Is this french? Not sure she would grow to like it! 7.Fleur - nice and unconventional. 8.Scarlet - very popular. 9.Lottie - short for Charlotte which would be good to use so she'd have a grown up name for later on when she wants a professional job. 10.Polly - nice and not popular. 11.Lara - conventional 12.Laura - nice and not that popular any more. 13.Lyra - sounds like a stationery manufacturer. 14.Elke - Very unconventional but not too weird and people will know how to pronounce it because Elke Brookes. 15.Posy - popular now. 16.Pansy - please don't. 17.Clara - popular 18.Levi - boy's name 19.Lovi - not heard of this one before. 20.Adaline - getting more popular 21.Alara - not heard of this one before 22.Elara - as above 23.Rosalina - pretty and not too popular I don't think. 24.Leia- as in Leah? If you use Leah that would be unconventional 25.Adelaide - unconventional I think *26.Primrose 27.Harbour - please don't. 28.Esme - Really popular these days. 29.Elora - never heard of this one. 30.Alora - as above.

So based on this (and excluding names I have never heard of), it gets it down to Elke, Primrose, Rosalina and Fleur. As you, I imagine would not want two flowery names together you could do:

Elke Fleur (this sound good actually)
Elke Primrose
Elke Rosalina
Primrose Elke
Rosaline Elke
Fleur Elke.

Of these, I would choose Elke Fleur.

I forgot Polly!

Polly Rosalina sounds nice.

We literally got all of the names we liked and went through each on carefully to see if they adhered to the following checklist:

Does the name flow with middle name and surname?
Are initials not spelling out anything unpleasant?
Does the name rhyme with anything unpleasant or have potential teasing risks for the playground (all names can but didn’t want an obvious one.)

Afew were taken off list that failed the checklist above. Then we researched popularity online and some more where removed. We then asked ourselves could we imagine shouting the remaining names in a supermarket, writing on Christmas cards and did the name flow with our family
names all together. This eliminated afewmore. With the final couple of names left we deceived to sit with them over time and see if we still likes them as time went on. We changed our mind on acouple then they got struck off the list. Hopefully you’ll be left with one in the end and if not when toy meet your baby she may suit one of the names more and help you make your mind up. It’s amazing how time helps though. When you find the right name and really whittle it down no other name will compare you’ll just keep coming back to that name.

were*

decided*

you* apologise for typos

I think one child with the same initial to you or dh/partner is absolutely fine as long as it’s not the whole family as that is alittle tacky and Kardashian like.

We each ranked the names then compared the lists. We crossed off the ones that were low or middling on both lists. We ended up with half a dozen of each sex and just left the lists at that for a few weeks, talking about it every so often. The lists just naturally got narrowed down to 2 or 3, then we started playing with combinations with middle names until we settled on one for each sex.

When I was pregnant with my first child, someone told me to always try out how a name would sound with either Sir or Lady where place in front of it...just in case!

I love Emmeline, Harbour, Pansy and Alora.
Just to add to your list, I absolutely love the names Bunty and Clover.

it’s hard to pick a name wait until bubs has arrived and see what name she suits the best, some kids just suit their names

She might just look like a Luna or another name totally different altogether

Hiya newmummy

It was really hard choosing names for me too with a hard to please partner!!! but I narrowed down a big list to 4 names that we both agreed on and the moment she was born the other 3 names almost seemed ridiculous as 1 stood out as her! It's weird how it happens but they do suit certain names and we chose Esme.

It's such a beautiful name and I would recommend it but it's always down to the baby...you will know when she's here! Good luck xxx

1.Luna - no (looney Luna, Lune Lovegood from Harry Potter)
2.Sky - no, not classy
3.Primrose - no, Hunger Games
4.Daisy - no, too girly
5.Emmeline - no, too old-fashioned
6.Henriette - OK
7.Fleur - OK (but HP link)
8.Scarlet - see Skye
9.Lottie - needs to be short for something
10.Polly - no, this is a parrot's name, and also features in a Nirvana song about drug abuse I believe. Also not a full, proper name
11.Lara - OK, reminds me of Tomb Raider though
12.Laura - OK
13.Lyra - OK
14.Elke - means 'each' in Dutch and is a German name I believe. No
15.Posy - No, not a full, proper name
16.Pansy - just no, slang connotations, too girly, nasty character in HP
17.Clara - if you insist :)
18.Levi - no, boys' name
19.Lovi - not a name
20.Adaline - not my style but fine if you like old-fashioned
21.Alara - is this a name or made up?
22.Elara - is this a name or made up?
23.Rosalina - OK, but I prefer Rosa
24.Leia - Star Wars connotations, are you sure you can pull it off? I like it, a lot, but the poor child would never hear the end of it.
25.Adelaide - see Adaline
26.Primrose - duplicate
27.Harbour - no way
28.Esme - OK
29.Elora - is this a name?
30.Alora - no, it sounds an awful lot like the Italian word 'allora', which is used in the same way 'so' or 'like' is used here.

What about Leila instead of Leia?

I had quite long name lists with most of mine, both for first and middle names.

As already recommended, you and your spouse ranking them each of them was something I found very helpful. I also had quite a bit fun with name sites with poll functions like behindthename.com to test out various names and combinations. Googling names to find out common things associated can be a good way to knock a few off the list sometimes.

Out of your list, my top 3 are:
Adaline - a strong name, reminds me of a few people and the unrelated but similar sounding name Adalet.
Rosalina -- lovely though that one brought the Mario character to mind for me after a minute.
Elora - a warm unusual Hebrew name though concerned in English it would sound like 'A Laura' in some dialects.

I just kept looking at names, re-writing lists, running the lists past my Husband, deleting names (he never would contribute a name, just say which ones he didn't like!). I spent a lot of time on Name websites like Nameberry, British Baby Names and this forum. I'd see what people had said about different names and how popular they were. I'd also compare the top name lists each year in the UK, US and Australia to see what names were rising and becoming trendy. I wanted to avoid an overly popular or fashionable name.
So yeah it's taken me literally about 2 years to come up for the name for this baby I'm about to have (I started looking into names when ttc) and even now I'm not 100% certain!

1.Luna - makes me think 'lunatic'
2.Sky - pretty name (works well on my collie!) but a bit overused and
I can't imagine a grown woman with that name
3.*Primrose - moooooo
4.Daisy - mooooooo
5.Emmeline - don't personally care for it but has the advantage of being a real name and rather unusual. It was my sister's favourite name as a child and she always adopted it for imaginary games.
6.Henriette - prefer Henrietta - Hetty a cute nickname
7.Fleur - prefer Flora
8.Scarlet - A bit overused. Think what you will shorten it to, as Lettie is much nicer than Scar which is what it will automatically become!
9.Lottie - common but very pretty, one of my favourites
10.Polly - a cute nickname, but needs a longer formal version
11.Lara - a bit 1990's
12.Laura - classic, not too common any more
13.Lyra - a bit 1990's
14.Elke - What? Makes me think of elk as in moose!
15.Posy - a cute nickname but she needs a proper one too
16.Pansy - ditto
17.Clara - I really like that. Uncommon but again a real name!
18.Levi - weird
19.Lovi - you can't just make random words up!
20.Adaline - alright. I personally prefer it to Emmeline
21.Alara - ok, but sounds like a made up combo of names, therefore a bit 'noughties'
22.Elara - ditto
23.Rosalina - I vastly prefer Roseanna but it's alright
24.Leia - 1990's
25.Adelaide - classic again, but doesn't appeal to me
26.Primrose - mooooo, but we already covered that
27.Harbour - are we talking about a yacht or a baby?
28.Esme - quite common but ok
29.Elora - ok, prefer Flora
30.Alora - made up

Just my opinion though, and you're going to get some people that like your choice and some who don't, whatever you call her! I would just wait and see what she 'feels' like. Anyway, congrats!

This is the list and I would love your opinion.
1.Luna - Lovegood. No.
2.Sky - NO..
3.Primrose - The darling buds of May. I prefer Rose which is a beautiful classic name.
4.Daisy - Not into flower names and would prefer Margaret.
5.Emmeline - Ok.
6.Henriette - looks like a misspelling.
7.Fleur - No.
8.Scarlet - No.
9.Lottie - Charlotte is nicer.
10.Polly - Put the kettle on......
11.Lara - No.
12.Laura - Better.
13.Lyra - Ok.
14.Elke - No.
15.Posy - No.
16.Pansy - I can't imagine calling anyone this name deliberately.
17.Clara - Love it!
18.Levi - No.
19.Lovi - never heard of it and dislike it.
20.Adaline - Ok.
21.Alara - No.
22.Elara - No.
23.Rosalina - Rose is prettier.
24.Leia - No.
25.Adelaide - Ok.
26.Primrose - As above.
27.Harbour - NO!
28.Esme No.
29.Elora - Sounds like a cleaning product.
30.Alora - As above.

I'm not sure if that is in any way helpful OP as our taste in names are at opposite ends. Your baby will become her name. I found the easiest thing to do when whittling down names was to imagine discarding them one at a time and see how you felt when that name was 'gone'. Sophie was a frontrunner for my first child. It stayed on my list until I discarded it and realised that I really didn't care for it so much.