Laura or Gemma?

[PimmsAndPonies]

We are expecting DC2 shortly and two of the girl names we are considering are:

Laura
Gemma

Which do you prefer? DC1 is a boy and has a very traditional boys name (5 letters), so we want a nice short traditional girl's name to go with his name.

I'm leaning towards Laura, but my OH prefers Gemma. Any comments on either name would be appreciated.

Thanks

Laura is lovely.

I used to work with a Jemma and she was the biggest bitch ever, put me right off the name Gemma/Jemma.

I'm sure there are plenty of lovely ones out there though!

Gemma. Never liked Laura/Lauren.. Very u feminine IMHO

Laura's lovely, classic - a very old name - and international, albeit the pronunciation differs.

I don't like Gemma. Really does seem very 80s to me, and a bit of a non-name tbh.

Laura

My daughter also has a 80/90s name :)

I am not keen on either but I loathe Gemma.

On that basis - Laura.

I'm a Laura. It's ok. I'd rather be called that than Gemma I think, but as a kid I would definitely have preferred Gemma, not least because there are so many Lauras of my generation.

Laurel?

I don’t think it’s time for either of them to reappear yet. I know lots of names have but not these two.

Are you hugely opposed to Lauren?

For what it's worth, I know two little Lauras at the moment, it's not "popular" but definitely still about and the parents have never had any negative comments to my knowledge.

I like both, but prefer Laura.

100% Laura!

Gemma is mega 80s.

Laura is beautiful and timeless. I also like Lauren. I'm putting both on my list

They are 80/90s names, Laura is more classic.

The 70s/80s had a lot of very lovely classic names that have become '70s/80s' to our ears because they were used so often - Laura, Rachel, Rebecca, Robert, Catherine, Helen, Philip, Mark, Sarah, Simon, David etc. Our children will be scorning Isabella, Amelia, Oliver, George and Olivia as 'very 2000s/2010s', even though they're really nothing of the sort, as they're so frequently used.

(I have to add I don't put Gemma into the above category. That genuinely is 80s in the same way as Tracy/Darren are 60s/70s)

I think both are nice actually. I think some of these 80s names are actually due a comeback. I dont think either sound dated

I think both sound so dated now. I don't know any of either name under 20.
If I had to say one I'd say Laura.
I don't like Gemma at all, but that may have something to do with the girl who bullied me as a child being called that.

I don’t really see Laura as an 80s name. It’s a classic from Victorian times, so should fit nicely in the current zeitgeist.. There’s one in the 1850s novel The Woman In White. And there’s other well known Victorians like Laura Ingalls Wilder etc. I know a couple of Lauras but they were born in the 60s.

I love Gemma, and there are three entirely fab acting Gemmas around at the moment - Arterton, Whelan, Chan - who make it cool, in my opinion. Laura is a bit blah, and it is also the name of a horrible girl from my primary school who used to bite people. So that's my twopennorth.

I don't like Jenna or Lauren.

There's also Laura who was the inspiration/obsession for Petrarch the 14th century Italian poet.

Gemma is a good time girl's name although I don't hate it. And Gemmas Arterton and Chan are so beautiful.

Oh dear. I had a horrible feeling someone with the name Gemma would read this and get upset.

I think the comments on it being an 80s name is because it's not a historically popular british name and pretty much made its big appearance in those decades, the eighties and the nineties. Laura on the other hand has been in use in the U.K. for a long time, so is often seen as more classic and timeless. Like Emma etc.

Gemma tends not to fall into the same sort of bracket for most people.

I'm not a fan of Gemma either. Maybe it's just associated for me with all the nasty girls I didnt like in the 90s! There were about 18 Gemma's between years 8-11 when I was at school.

Laura