Audrey or Tabitha?

[BarbaraBeast]

Baby 3 (gender will be a surprise) is a way off yet but I liked both of these names when I had my first daughter and ended up giving her Audrey as one of her middle names. Tabitha wasn’t used in the end.

Audrey was my fabulous Grandma’s name and as she’s recently passed away it would mean a lot to me and my family for a new baby to have the same name. It would no doubt be shortened to Auds or Audie if we went for it. There’s just something about it though that doesn’t grab me 100% (until recent years I just saw it as a Granny name and not much more). We all miss her like crazy and it would be fab to have a mini Audrey.

My husband and I both love Tabitha (I don’t mind the comments about it sounding like a “cat name” as my son has a “dog name”). I like the nicknames that go with it and also think it goes well with my older childrens’ names. I think I prefer it as a name but obviously it doesn’t have the same family connection as Audrey.

Luckily we have a boy name sorted so no worries there!

Which do you prefer? Or any suggestions of similar names we may not have thought of?
Thanks in advance!

Ottilie is beautiful, classic but unusual.

I prefer Tabitha, and I think Tabby is a cute nickname! Not really keen on Audrey.

What about Aubrey? It always seems a bit less ‘granny’ than Audrey. Think it was traditionally a boys name but is definitely used for girls too now.

I prefer Tabitha.

Audrey just makes me think of little shop of horrors, but I doubt most make that connection (although I think they’re doing a remake soon, if it’s a success it might be more of a connection).

Perhaps I'm old fashioned BoldRoo, but Aubrey is very much a boys name to my ear. Sounds very odd for a girl.

Tabitha - it's a fantastic name

Audrey is a current and very longstanding Corrie character, and I don't go a bundle on the big soap names

but Aubrey is very much a boys name to my ear. Sounds very odd for a girl.

Agree completely. It's a boy's name, traditionally and still. Like Max and James

Definitely agree Aubrey is traditionally a boys name, but I know one little girl called it and a friend in her 20’s has it as a middle name, so i don’t think it’s unheard of to use it for a girl.

Think I’ve seen a couple of women on American TV called Aubrey as well, perhaps it’s used more widely there?

Anyway, I much prefer Tabitha over Audrey. The little Tabitha’s I have known have really suited their name too.

Definitely agree Aubrey is traditionally a boys name, but I know one little girl called it and a friend in her 20’s has it as a middle name, so i don’t think it’s unheard of to use it for a girl.

Think I’ve seen a couple of women on American TV called Aubrey as well, perhaps it’s used more widely there?

Anyway, I much prefer Tabitha over Audrey. The little Tabitha’s I have known have really suited their name too.

Definitely agree Aubrey is traditionally a boys name, but I know one little girl called it and a friend in her 20’s has it as a middle name, so i don’t think it’s unheard of to use it for a girl.

Think I’ve seen a couple of women on American TV called Aubrey as well, perhaps it’s used more widely there?

Anyway, I much prefer Tabitha over Audrey. The little Tabitha’s I have known have really suited their name too.

Definitely agree Aubrey is traditionally a boys name, but I know one little girl called it and a friend in her 20’s has it as a middle name, so i don’t think it’s unheard of to use it for a girl.

Think I’ve seen a couple of women on American TV called Aubrey as well, perhaps it’s used more widely there?

Anyway, I much prefer Tabitha over Audrey. The little Tabitha’s I have known have really suited their name too.

Have no idea why that’s posted 4 times, apologies.

After a bit of deliberation with my husband (& with everyone’s different perspectives taken into account-thank you all again!), I think we’ve decided if we do have a girl she’ll have Audrey Tabitha as middle names (DD1 has 2 middle names as well) and we’re going to try to find a first name to suit. It’ll be a mouthful but i know most people will never know her middle names

We like:
Cleo
Ottilie
Beatrix
Nellie

Cleo Audrey Tabitha gives the initials CAT. I like it!

All nice except Nellie. All the Cleo’s I’ve met have been amazing so that has positive associations

Audrey. I loved Tabitha back in the 1960s when Bewitched was a popular TV show but definitely prefer Audrey now.

I bet there are loads of Tabitha's in their 50s. The actress was Elizabeth Montgomery.

Tabitha

From your new list, Ottilie tops it for me!

(OAT)

I’m biased but Tabitha is GORGEOUS - gentle and beautiful but strong and dignified at the same time. Audrey is cool and has a great meaning but is also sort of ugly somehow. Saying that, it was on my list. Beatrix and Nellie are fabulous and were also on my list! I prefer ‘Nell’ as the first name though with Nellie as nickname so it’s cutesy and more dignified for when she’s older. Ottilie is really awful in my opinion. But for a short while it was on my list too! I feel like everyone ‘discovers’ this name and thinks it’s like a beautiful hidden gem and then gradually realizes that it’s not a hidden gem at all and it becoming very faddy and overused. On this board the other day someone called it ‘the preposterous Ottilie’ and described it as try-hard and desperately aspirational which I found myself agreeing with. Its also ALWAYS mispronounced - it’s meant to be said like ‘Oh-teel-yuh’ sort of (I can’t think of a way to write it but pretty much like this) but everyone will call her ‘Otterly’. It’s sort of quite undignified to me now - a bit of a joke name like ‘Nevaeh’, because of its reaction on naming boards which has really put me off. Cleo is cool too, a strong sounding but cute name. Overall I love your list! Ottilie just ruins it a bit.

With Audrey Tabitha as middle names, I agree Cleo sounds best, although Beatrix is my favorite name.