Help me with my girl shortlist - it's very short....

[Yuzuko]

Hey all!
I have a son Sam ( Samuel) and a daughter called Rowan. I'm having another girl in June this year and have got stuck on a couple of names but not yet convinced. Middle name is likely to be either Rose or Helen.

1. Ariel, with the nick name 'Ari' ( pronounced 'Ah' ri , not Air-ee).
   I LOVE the boys name Ari and I'm disappointed not to be able use it. So I've been thinking of more feminine names that I could shorten to Ari. They include : Ariel, Aria, Arielle, Ariadne, Ariella..... of these I still like Ariel the best. My dh is not convinced- he thinks it's either too Disney mermaid princess... or too Israeli prime minister . Personally I like that it's a very unisex name and I associate it more with Shakespeare's character in the tempest, who is a sprite sometimes played as feminine and sometimes as male. I also love the meaning which is either 'lion' or 'eagle'.
   Someone has suggested I just stick to Ari, but feminise it slightly by spelling it Arie. Any thoughts?

2. Josie - short for either Josefina/Josephine/ Josefine. This is favourite of Hubby and he keeps on using it, just hoping it will stick! My family background is Italian so to me I like the Josefina with the 'a' sound on the end rather than the more traditionally French/English Josephine. I don't really like the meaning of the name 'god grows greater ( or something like that!) ' but I do like the sound. I also think Josie or Joey are very cute nn for a girl.

So I guess she could be:

Josefina Rose
Josephine Helen
Ariel Rose
Arie Rose

Does Anyone have any thought or gut reactions to these names???

Thanks in advance.

Josefina Rose is beautiful and it flows.

The others, not so much (or, at all).

Ariel - not keen and too many Rs with Rowan

Josephine is nicest. Josefina looks a bit made up & doesn’t go with the other two names. Josie is v cute!

I'm not keen on any but would choose Josephine from your list.

How about Adrienne or Adeline with NN Adi (Ah-di)? Bit less Disney for your DH maybe.

I prefer Ariel. I think it's quite unsual and I don't mind a Disney connection myself- besides, she's an older princess so perhaps less well known by kids these days?
Not a fan of Josephine/ Josefina and I don't like Josie at all.

Josephine is on my list, its lovely.
Ariel just makes me think of laundry detergent I’m afraid!

If you want Ari as a nickname, I think you have to go for Aria to get the Ah sound at the start.

Aria Rose or Aria Helen is pretty, but I think I prefer Josephine or Josefina.

I love Ariel, Arielle, Ariella and Aria all of them but my husband wouldn’t let me use them! I actually taught an Ariel several years ago, she was lovely and I thought her name was great like the mermaid... my colleagues however associated it with the washing powder brand so does that bother you? I’d prob spell it Arielle to avoid that. Aria also means beautiful melody, it was my favourite but I was put off by family saying it was too faddy and also there are apparently a lot of them around due to Game of thrones link (I’ve never watched it).

I like Josephine Helen of your other choices.

Josefina Rose

Josephine (Josie) Rose.

Dislike Ariel.

Josephine with nn Posy.

Thanks all. This is helpful and good to get it out of my head and shake it up a bit.

We live in Australia, so nobody knows the washing powder!!! So I guess I don't need to worry about that too much. This does make me laugh though.

Josefina is not made up, it's just not as common in the UK as Josephine. But it's more common in many countries ( Spain, Portugal, Sweden, all of South America etc) . It's like the difference between Isobel or Isobella or Maria and Mary. I do not come from an English speaking family so Josefina feels more natural to me.

Keep any thoughts coming - super helpful!

Josephine/Josie

I like Josephine Helen best. I understand what you are saying about Josefina and your background, however I find Josefina to be odd next to sister Rowan which is a sleek and tailored name. (If you did use Josefina I prefer it with the lovely and unexpected Helen). Josephine/Josie/Joey works well next to Sam and Rowan.

I'm not a fan of any of the Ari girl names except the delightful Ariadne. This may be too unusual for most people though. I however do like Ariadne/Arie next to Samuel and Rowan. Ariel also screams Disney princess and Israeli pm to me, and I'm not keen on the sounds anyway.

Yeah - I said it sounds made up. It may not be, but you did ask for opinions! Sounds worse on Italian ears I think (did you say Italian?) as its Giuseppina in that language and there’s no J in Italian.
These are a few more thoughts. Maybe being in Australia changes the Ariel thing a bit but I think there are too many Rs with Rowan & personally it’s not to my taste,

I think Josephine Rose sounds odd because both have the “ose” sound. But how often would you say the two names together? So out of your choices, I’d choose this one.

I think the whole Ariel / Ari thing is trying to hard to crowbar in your love of the name Ari - sorry. Chances are (a) she would ditch the nickname as she didn’t choose it herself, or (b) people would opt for the usual pronunciation and say it as Arry.

@LifeCasting - oh no very happy to have all the opinions! Don't mind at all. Yeah, sadly I really hate Giuseppina... sounds like a crotchety Zia 😂. I think it just the more rolling sound of the 'a' on the end that feels more natural to me. I also speak Portuguese and I like the name pronounced like that.

@FamilyOfAliens good point about her ditching the nn.
I think in Australia most people would say Ah-ri-el, not Air-ee-el. But that could certainly come back to bite me in the ass! It could be annoying... something to consider.

How about Ari short for something else that doesn't necessarily start with A? Harriet? Harriet Rose goes nicely. That said, if you don't have the laundry powder link Ariel is pretty. But would people pronounce it "Airy"? There's Ariana too which does start with a short a sound.

How about Arianna? I love Josephine.

My favourite Ari name is Arianwen, which is Welsh. I once knew a little Ari whose name was short for Arianwen :)

@masktaster - Arianwen is beautiful!

I prefer Josie or Josephine.

I like Ariella but not Ariel strangely.

I love Ari and would have an Ariana. I would spell Arya like so, but think it’s a really pretty name- could be rising in popularity due to Game of Thrones/ Pretty Little Liars etc.

I know a little girl called Arietty (like the borrower) and it really suits her. How about Artemis (nn Arti) Artemis Rose sounds really nice together.

There are a lot of -a names around now (mia, Eva, Amelia, maya, Isabella, Lola etc) so Josefina wouldn’t be my first choice. Also I don’t love the ‘f’ and would go with Josephine (or a) but culturally the f is more prominent in Italy/ Portugal I guess!

Ariella or Josephine/josephina.