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.

Oh I realised I didn’t help that much. But ariella is much nicer than Ariel and gets rid of any negative connotations. And cute nn option of Ella also. I don’t like josie as a nn though but I do like Josefina.

Sam and Rowan are lovely names
I like these with it,

Joanne nn Jo
Dara - lovely meaning to this name

Josefina sounds nice.
I'm not an Ariel can but I'm in the UK so think washing powder too!

Arielle

Love Josephine / Josephina!

Josephine Helen. Arianna is also a great suggestion and a lovely name.

I prefer the spelling Arielle or Ariella to Ariel. It's Hebrew for Lion of God. Arya/Aria is also lovely. But if you love Ariel use it! Ariel/Arielle/Ariella Rose sounds beautiful!

Josephine with either middle name would be beautiful. Ariel is still mermaids! And sounds like Aerial to me.

Save Ari. Who knows you may have another boy in the future. It sounds like you had it in mind for a boy and are trying to crowbar it a bit for a girl.

I love Josephine with either middle name.

I’m Australian and I’ve only known people here to pronounce it ‘air-ee-el’

I do like Ari as a name on its own though, I think it’s very pretty

Josefina is lovely, but I hate josie... would nick name to fina instead

Thanks so much everyone- this has been great. I can see that Ariel is definitely more problematic ( particularly pronunciation wise) and less popular, and seems to be a bit love or hate. That's quite similar to when I named my daughter Rowan - people either hid a grimace or really liked it!

Josephine seems to be more popular than Josefina- which I guess is to be expected on a UK forum too. I guess I'll sit on them both a bit more and fingers crossed I get some more inspiration for 😱 another name!!!! I wish I had more that I liked... it's so hard!

@Yuzuko
I have a friend with an Italian parent called Livia, nn Liv - I LOVE this name.

I'd feel weird using it though as we have no connection. But it goes well with Samual and Rowan....

@Megan2018 Livia is gorgeous - but one of my very bestest friends has called her daughter that - so it's a bit 'taken'!

Josephine is the only one I like from your list but go with whatever you love best as none are ridiculous like some suggestions on here

I like Josephine best - it's a lovely name. Ariel is a bit Disney princess to me, and names like Arielle, etc, seem too flouncy, a style very unlike your DD's name. I originally thought you were suggesting June as a name, which I really like!

Ariel is a boy's name. Ari is not a very nine name. Too similar to 'Arry.
Josefina is too long.
Rose is overused as a middle name.

Josephine Helen.

nice not nine.

Josef would be relatively common amongst Continental European immigrants to Australia so Josefina would be reasonably familiar in spelling. Josefina Helen is a lovely combination. Years ago a friend called her daughter Josie because she said it sounded a jolly, cheerful name and it certainly suited her wee girl. Also has a modern ring to it, in contrast to the the more traditional Josefina

Arianne

I love Josephine but am biased as is name we've chosen, well is top of our shortlist, for our little girl whose due soon. We'd chosen Harriet as likely middle name but I also think Helen or Helena would go lovely names. We'd toyed with Rose as middle name but didn't seem to flow. Considered Rosa as well though as the extra syllable seemed to work better.
I think Josefina is also lovely - as you say though you will probably get people on here not liking the variation being a predominantly UK forum.

All of the Ari names I like but don't personally love. I think with a British accent Ari would sound a bit like a cockney trying to say Harry so if you were UK based I'd be less keen but don't think that would be a problem in Aus and Ari with an Italian or Portuguese accent would be lovely. Think my favourite out of the full names is Aria though game of thrones reference does put me off slightly. I think Aurelia is a lovely name as well which I think Ari could work with as nn.
Harriet I also think is a lovely name in its own right.

Josefina nn Josie is what I'd go with.
Ariel nn Ari not nice at all.

Love Josefina.

Josephine Rose

I would go with Aria, it's the right sound to get to Ari and a recognised girls name.
Josefina just looks odd to me, I like Josephine but it's very old fashioned. I love Posy as a nn though.

Yeah Rose and Helen are family names - which I always use as middle names and honestly don't really care if they go together or are pretty 😬(cruel mummy here!). My dd is Rowan Maria and ds is Samuel Roy.
I suppose another middle name from family could be Francesca? Josefina Francesca? Too long and flouncy?