Julia, Juliet or Lara

[Glitterywellies]

We are expecting a second little girl in July and have more or less narrowed it down to these three names. I'm not asking which one people prefer as that is very much personal preference and if I wanted the most popular name I'd go with Amelia or Sophia or something! But my DH and I have quite different taste and we each have different favourites and different reservations. Could you help us resolve these?

Re JULIET:

1. Is this name becoming a bit trendy? It seems to be suggested fairly often on here but it is something like 500th in the popularity list which would suggest not... is it becoming popular among a particular (middle class?) demographic (eg Wilfred is seemingly not popular in the charts but half the boys under 4 I know are called Wilfred)?
2. Is Juliet chavvy? Is it pretentious (my DH has raised both of these worries...!)? Is it naff/cheesy/sickly sweet?
3. Our DD4 is called Rosanna. Is Rosanna and Juliet too similar to Romeo and Juliet, will people think it's silly?
4. Do you think a Juliet is likely to face constant and tedious references to Romeo and Juliet, maybe even teasing, to the point where she wishes it wasn't her name?

Re JULIA:
Is it boring? Dated?

Re LARA:

1. Is it boring?
2. Is it becoming common or trendy in any demographic (I know it's in the top 100)? I really don't like the name Laura as it is so very common, and if Lara were to be similarly common or even halfway there it would put me right off it. Right now I'm thinking it seems classic, elegant and not very common - is that right do you think, and do you think it's in any danger of being the next Amelia?

Thank you!!!

I like Lara

It looks very unlikely to be the next Amelia, if you check the official statistics, the number of “Lara”s has remained pretty static each and every year since 2003! That’s a long time. So that suggests it’s extremely unlikely to suddenly burst in popularity when its held so steady for SO long now.

I love Julia! One of my chickens is called Julia :)

Really like Juliet.

I like Lara and Julia, Juliet is a chavvy character in one of the soaps at the moment.

Julia is lovely.

I love Lara and Julia. I hate Juliet with a passion. It's a very trendy name where I live, I know three all under the age of 7 and I'm bias in my dislike of it as not one of those three girls are particularly pleasant.
I think Julia sounds more timeless and classic out of the two but I still like Lara.

Re JULIET:

1. Is this name becoming a bit trendy? No, I don't hear any here (But I'm in Northern Ireland)
2. Is Juliet chavvy? Is it pretentious - No, neither. I really like it.
3. Our DD4 is called Rosanna. Is Rosanna and Juliet too similar to Romeo and Juliet, will people think it's silly? - Maybe. A bit Valentine's themed. Roses and Juliet. Maybe. Although they won't always be together.
4. Do you think a Juliet is likely to face constant and tedious references to Romeo and Juliet, maybe even teasing, to the point where she wishes it wasn't her name? - No.

Re JULIA:
Is it boring? Dated? - I love it.

Re LARA:

1. Is it boring? - Maybe a bit bland but still lovely. Hard to dislike I would think. It's very....neutral.
2. Is it becoming common or trendy in any demographic (I know it's in the top 100)? I really don't like the name Laura as it is so very common, and if Lara were to be similarly common or even halfway there it would put me right off it. Right now I'm thinking it seems classic, elegant and not very common - is that right do you think, and do you think it's in any danger of being the next Amelia? - Maybe. For what it's worth, here in Northern Ireland it feels like there are hundreds of babies and young girls being called Cara, for similar reasons. Pretty name, hard to dislike as it's quite neutral.

(Fwiw I love Laura, sorry, I know you said you don't)

Love Julia so much

Also know a fab Juliet which gives me bias, but it is more ‘trendy’ than Julia

I’m a Julia.
Pros
Not so popular that there are loads of kids with the same name. Usually in a crowd of people I’m the only Julia - which I like.
BUT Popular enough that you can buy stuff with your name on it in gift shops. Haha
Easy for people to understand and spell.

when I’m abroad people know the name, as Julia seems quite international.
A few people have said they really like my name as it has a romantic feel to it.

Cons
some people like to shorten it to Julie when speaking to me which I hate.

Other than that I like it.
Hope that helps :-)

I love the name Juliet and think it goes very well with Rosanna.

I also like Julia and think that would go well too.

Lara, not so sure, I know more children called Lara.

@Jem018 Snap! Same pros and cons too.

Thank you so much to everyone for the responses so far, really helpful. Thanks especially to @cushtynumba for the detailed response, much appreciated!

@kanga83 You say Juliet is very trendy where you live, do you mind telling me where that is? We are in London

I know a lovely Julia and a Juliet....wondering where Kanga83 lives (is it Birmingham)

I like Lara, but I love Lana (I would say this as Iv got one 😍)

@glitterywellies I'm in Kent, Canterbury way. London you will get a mix of names wherever they end up (we moved from London back to Kent a couple of years ago).

Lara. My dd is Lara and I love it!

Julia or Lara ...both pretty timeless names .

Juliet - more often talked about on name forums than used in real life. Neither pretentious nor chavvy. I don't think it's either cheesy or sickly sweet. I really like Juliet for Rosanna's sister as I feel it holds its own more than the other 2 names (distinct sounds and presence) however I know what you mean about the Romeo and Juliet sound - not sure about this. It would concern me too, though I don't know if it's actually a problem. Again, don't know about 4th question... you would hope not...

Julia is not boring and not dated. More timeless classic. Lara is okay but I do find it a little boring. All 3 are good names - and I see your dilemmas as well. Probably not much help here!

I had a friend at school who was a Juliet, she definitely got a lot of the Romeo and Juliet stuff as this was a text we had to study. I dont think it bothered her that much though. I dont find it a heavy or pretencious name.

Julia I find a bit middle aged woman sounding but probably because those are the only Julia's I have met.

I like Lara a lot. It sounds classy to me but also pretty.

I like Lara best. Can’t be nicknamed a nice classy name that has held steady in the charts for 15 years so not even on an upward trajectory. Why would you worry it’s going to be an Amelia when the numbers have stuck so consistently to the same level.

FWIW, I've got a 7yo Juliet (in London) and we've never met another - nor do I know any friends of friends with girls called Juliet (if you see what I mean). We get lots of unprompted positive comments about her name.

Lara is lovely

Love Juliet, really lovely and classy. Lara is also lovely but I think Juliet goes better with Rosanna in my opinion

I know a Juliet and a Juliette. Seems a solid name to me, to the best of my knowledge neither got much childhood teasing. One early 30s, other late 30s/early 40s.

I really like it, it's well known but not overly common. I don't think it's particularly pretentious or chavvy - just a nice normal but not overused name.

Julia and Lara are nice too.

Hi OP

My real name is Julia and I love it. One downside of Julia / Juliet is that certain people will decide to shorten them to “Julie” (which is a completely different name and is quite irritating).

At school some people will go on about Romeo to a Juliet - but that is because people are irritating and not because the name is bad.

Lara is okay but I would assume that the parents are German or Swedish (because all the Laras I know have foreign parents). There’s nothing wrong with that though.