Opinions on these unusual names please

[toastofthetown]

I have finally managed to put together a shortlist of names with DP. We both grew up with very popular names, one of several in the class, so we want something more unusual for our children. Middle name will likely be Alexandra/Alexander, unless it clashes terribly. What do you think and do you have any other suggestions? Please be as honest as possible!

Cordelia
Electra
Elinor
Fern
Flora
Gretel
Harriet
Hebe
Hester
Isobel
Kitty
Miranda
Pepper
Petra
Polly
Xanthe

Ambrose
Angus
Barnaby
Bertram
Caspar
Cosmo
Duncan
Felix
Giles
Leon
Melchior
Miles
Monty
Oswald
Timothy
Vincent
Wilfred
Wulfric

Please don’t call a child Pepper.

Cordelia - I love it, though its maybe a little frilly for my tastes but Cordy is a cute nn too as is Della

Electra - dislike, sounds like a sci-fi character

Elinor - Meh

Fern - I know of 3 baby Fern's so it must be on the up. Its OK

Flora - love it

Gretel - love it

Harriet - love it nn Hattie

Hebe - love it

Hester - like it, though prefer Esther

Isobel - lovely but very popular

Kitty - love it as a nn for Catherine

Miranda - nice, a bit unexpected which I feel is a good thing

Pepper - Pig
Petra - pretty but not my style

Polly - I like it

Xanthe - pretty

Ambrose - love it but dh vetoed
Angus - love it

Barnaby - love it, it was on our list
Bertram - OK
Caspar - dislike
Cosmo - dislike
Duncan - nice enough
Felix - OK
Giles - no
Leon - meh
Melchior - no
Miles - dislike
Monty - sounds like a dogs name

Oswald - love it, but when I asked on here pretty much everyone mentioned Moseley

Timothy - I like it
Vincent - nice enough
Wilfred - I like it, but know a few who have been born recentlyn

Wulfric - not a fan

If I had to choose only one I'd go with Hebe and Barnaby

Cordelia - I really don’t like this but I can’t put my finger on why
Electra - no, is there someone famous and a bit trashy with this name? I think of a bleach blonde playboy bunny type but I don’t know where I got that from. Either way it seems a bit... stripper-ish
Elinor - lovely
Fern - lovely
Flora - lovely
Gretel - i don’t like this but I do like Greta
Harriet - don’t love Harriet but do love nn Hattie
Hebe - cute
Hester - gives me the image of someone really weird and maybe a bit creepy for some reason
Isobel - pretty but very common - not one to go for if you want unusual
Kitty - very cute
Miranda - no, it’s too dated and not in a good way
Pepper - I actually think this is a really nice sound, but the pig has made it unusable. The kid would be teased
Petra - it’s okay
Polly - pretty
Xanthe - I like this, but not as much as the rest of MN seems to like it

Ambrose - really dislike
Angus - like
Barnaby - LOVE
Bertram - no
Caspar - lovely
Cosmo - no
Duncan - no
Felix - lovely
Giles - okay but a bit wet
Leon - quite cool
Melchior - sorry what?!!
Miles - nice
Monty - cute but reminds me of creepy pervy Uncle Monty from the movie Withnail & I
Oswald - bit fascist for my liking
Timothy - no no NOOO
Vincent - getting very popular and I don’t like it
Wilfred - cute!
Wulfric- no. My phone also won’t accept its a name and is trying to autocorrect to sulphuric

My favorites are Flora, Kitty, Fern and Hebe. For boys I LOVE Barnaby and really like Felix.

Girls I like fern, flora, hebe and xanthe- they were all on my list but I had a boy

I’m struggling with your boys list, what about Laurence? Lachlan? Innes? Blair? Elliot? They were all on my list

We have similar tastes, OP.
Cordelia - pretty, makes me think of Cordelia in Angel (and King Lear)
Electra - Electra complex, not a great association
Elinor - prefer Eleanor but like the Jane Austen association
Fern - pretty, Charlottes Web
Flora - I find this a bit meh
Gretel - like it, Sound of Music (not sure if Gretel is a character in that but it makes me think of it anyway!). There was a girl at my school called Gretel. It makes me think little and cheeky.
Harriet - my favourite on your list
Hebe - lovely, sweet
Hester - not massively keen
Isobel - not at all unusual, there are about five in DS’s year at school
Kitty - as short for Katharine
Miranda - like the Shakespearean connotations, would be worried about Randy as a nn!
Pepper - no
Petra - nice. What about Petrova?
Polly - really like
Xanthe - not keen on X names, seems quite harsh

Ambrose - not keen
Angus - OK
Barnaby - sweet
Bertram - absolute favourite, love it
Caspar - OK
Cosmo - sounds like a Jilly Cooper character and not in a good way
Duncan - OK
Felix - not that unusual but OK
Giles - I like it but it’s quite 80s posh boy
Leon - OK
Melchior - not keen
Miles - see Giles
Monty - see Giles and Miles
Oswald - Moseley
Timothy - I like it
Wilfred - like
Wulfric - Wolfe is a cute nickname

Harriet and Bertram my faves.

I meant Wolfie not Wolfe...

Electra and Cosmo are my favourites

my god, consider the Elektra complex and step away...

Besides that and Pepper you have some nice names there. For myself, growing up with a (then) very uncommon name, I was quite fed up of the name entering a room before I did.

I went the other way and chose something a little unusual but more classic for my daughter - had a shortlist of things like Harriet, Polly, Leon, Vincent, Caspar... that aren't hugely common but generally well-known and not linked in the cultural consciousness to one character/individual/historical event. So I'd personally draw the line at Melchior. But that's only my experience. And I do have a soft spot for Xanthe, have met a few and they're always cool. I did want to call my daughter Aphra but it was vetoed.

Harriet is quite popular at the moment OP, just to warn you. You’ll probably encounter another Isobel at some point, too. I like Cordelia and Fern.

Not a massive fan of any of the boys names to be honest, but I’d probably go for Caspar.

Love Barnaby and Angus

Harriet and Timothy are my favourites.

You cannot be serious!
Please don’t inflict ANY of these names on your child. You also need to consider giving your child a ‘unisex’ name as it could be useful when your child is in their teens and unsure of their identity.. just saying

You've got some lovely names. I don't think most of your names are as unusual as you think.

Cordelia
Elinor - Prefer Eleanor
Fern
Harriet
Hester
Isobel
Kitty
Polly

Ambrose
Angus
Barnaby
Caspar
Felix
Leon
Miles
Monty
Wilfred
Wulfric

Fern, Hebe and Miles all fab!

Fern and Flora are lovely.
I really like Oswald although it's not a name I'd usually go for.
Like Leon.

I love Xanthe and Cosmo.

Oswald just makes me think of Oswald Cobblepot. Sorry

Cordelia and Gretal are really lovely

Love: Flora, Kitty, Xanthe, Barnaby, Caspar, Felix

I mean Gretel. For boys I love Ambrose and Barnaby

Do NOT call a child pepper, for goodness sake.

You names aren't particularly to my taste, but, just so you know, Isobel / Isabelle / Isabella has been very, very popular over the last 5 or 6 years, so that doesn't fit your criteria of 'less common'

Good grief. Melchior and Wulfric? Please don't use those.

Pepper is awful, please don’t use it!

Harriett isn’t what I would call unusual, I know several. It’s lovely though

Isobel is gorgeous and is my preferred spelling too, but Isabel/Isabella/Isabelle are hugely popular, so don’t use if that bothers you. She may be the only Isobel but will likely know several other Izzys

Elinor- love it spelled Eleanor
Isobel- lovely
Kitty- lovely
Miranda- nice in itself but would make me think a lot of the comedienne
Polly- very nice
Xanthe- nice

Don’t like any of your boys names