Help!!!!!! Olivia or Harper????

[BettyBoo246]

I have one week till due date and have no idea which name to choose for our girl, Olivia or Harper 😐 Please help which one?! I know the inevitable beckham connection with Harper and also how common Olivia is but I do love them both

There are 4 Olivias in DD1's class, and another couple in the other class in the year group. Isabelle/Isabel/Isobel/Isabella is the other one there's loads of - between the two that's most of the girls.

I know Olivia is the no 1 name but I only know one aged 18.

Olivia

How about Olive

Livia is beautiful.

Elisia and mila are both beautiful and much better than Olivia (which is lovely but overdone) and Harper (will not age well).

I'd choose elisia as mila might get mispronouned (miller instead of mee-la).

I still think Olivia. Mila is fine and Elissa looks like Alicia or Elisa misspelled. The Beckhams are so famous that it's not like sharing a name with the child of an obscure Towie person - they started the Harper trend. Yes it's also a literary name but hardly an obscure one so I'm not sure that balances out the naff celeb factor.

Rose is very pretty. I'd be tempted to go with Rose Olivia as Rose is much less common as a first name than second name.

Like a pp said, Olivia's popularity might decline but I think Shakespearean and biblical names always remain classic even when out of fashion. It might become a Sarah/Emma or a Matthew/Chris type name, but I don't think it will ever become a Tracey/Lee. So if you love it, use it.

You said you like names ending in 'ia', so have you considered

Julia
Lydia
Maria
Sylvia all lovely classic names but not so popular as Olivia.

Also Celia or Cecilia. Sophia is lovely too, but has the same issue as Olivia of being mega popular. Even more so at the moment.

And Alicia of course! (but don't pronounce it the Al-eesha way).

Elysia is lovely too.

Harper is an ugly name.

If it just between Olivia and Harper then Harper by default as if you call your DD 'Olivia' then you might as well call her 'Beige'. But really, Harper isn't good.

Mila - lovely, well-known but not used a lot. Elisia - not sure what you mean. Alicia? Elise? Elisa? Alyssa? Alicia (Ah-liss-i-a) is lovely and Alyssa (Ah-liss-a) is nice.

I know two Harpers but not a single Olivia!

Olivia is very popular but at least it’s a nice name

@whatausername how nasty is that?! Just because you need to be unique? By the way, you're not

Gee whizz, sensitive much? Okay, first of all that level of PA only works with grumpy teens. My previous list contained plenty of uncommon and top 10/20/whatever names but thanks for your 'revelation'.

Nothing wrong with common names but as a PP said "the world has had enough". Olivia has taken the concept of popular names to a whole level. And Harper just isn't that nice a name and some PPs did have a point about the way in which it will age.

Olivia is pretty and classic.

Harper I'm afraid is chavvy because of Beckhams. I'm also not a fan of surnames as first name.

Mila is sweet but you will need to explain spelling and pronunciation. I've heard of several recently.

I like the sound of Alicia/Elyssa/Elisa but spelling would be an issue.

I like the Aurelia suggestion. Amelia? Talia?

Rose for middle name is lovely.

As you can tell mine have boring classic easy to spell names!!!

Of the choices so far, Olivia is still my favourite. I only know one, aged about 13. I do second the suggestion of Aurelia though, that’s a lovely name.

Harper - Beckhams
Mila - Kunis, and quite bland
Elisia - will spend a lifetime being called/spelled Alicia because people mishear

I don't get the whole "Harper won't age well" thing. It's a classic name, the Beckhams didn't make it up

I like mila
Lydia would be good
Lyla?

Harper isn't a classic name for a girl. It was the middle name (family surname which was common practice) of the author. She wasn't known as that - it was her pen name. She was known as Nelle. Harper is a surname that has historically been more frequently used as a boy's name. Paul Simon's adult son in his 40s is called Harper.

But leaving all that aside, what is nice about it? Someone who harps on or a harpy, not even someone who plays the harp as that's a harpist.

How is Harper a classic name?

There's Harper Lee, and as PP have said, it wasn't even her given name.

It's now spiked out of nowhere, thanks to the Beckhams.

Elissa looks like Alicia or Elisa misspelled

Only to the ignorant, it’s an ancient name.

I prefer Olive to Olivia. It’s got the same ring but is a bit less frilly. All the Olivia’s I know are shortened to Ollie or Livvy. I like old fashioned names.

Piper is very like Harper and not so Harpy-esque.

I don't think you quite get the concept of 'classic name' twatty.

I mean would you also say that Tracey, Kimberley, Bayley, Madison, Teddy, Darcy for a girl, Tiffany, Hunter, Archer etc. were 'classic names'? After all they are not made up, they were already in existence as place names or surnames, or toy names/nicknames. So by your logic almost every name is 'classic'.

I love the name Olivia, it's my gorgeous step daughter (24) but I just feel now it's really common, so if you don't mind that I definitely prefer it to Harper. Personally though if I were you and you love them both I would pick Harper as it's less common in my experience. I didn't immediately associate it with the beckhams,but then I'm not really into all that.