Veto my extremely long shortlist

[Edenember]

Agnes
Alyse

Arrietty
Aurora
Beatrice
Betsey
Cecily
Clara
Daisy
Eliza
Eloisa
Erika
Eve
Flora
Florence
Francesca
Freyja
Harriet
Heidi
Honor
Indiana (Indie)
Ingrid
Iona
Isla / Eila
Isolde
Isotta
Louisa
Lucinda
Luna
Mary
Nancy
Nell
Ottilia
Pippa
Poppy
Romilly
Rowena / Rowenna
Sarah
Thebe
Theia
Tilda
Xanthie

Names that have already been knocked off- Aphra, Astrid, Autumn, Eleonora, Eseld, Iris, Ivy, Imogen, Norah, Tabitha, Evelyne, Zorah.

Is Floure Flower?

She will have these names on her exam certificates. Read out at Graduation, Wedding or other official ceremonies, by people who don’t know how to pronounce her name

I'm really not understanding the Floure and Alyse spellings? Is Floure pronounced like Flower or Fleur? Either way, just spell it normally (although don't name your child flower).

And if Alyse is supposed to sound like Alice as others have said, it's just totally butchering the name. Alice is beautiful and elegant as is, Alyse will be pronounced as Elise/Elyse constantly and just looks disjointed and weird!

Removed the ones I don't like...

Arrietty - love this! From 'The Borrowers'
Beatrice - As long as you don't mind the fact that they will share a name with princess beatrice
Cecily - St. Cecilia is patron saint of musicians. Always liked this name.
Eliza
Florence - one of my favourites
Harriet - very austen-esque
Heidi - love the book character
Iona - a lovely song by the waterboys 'peace of iona'
Isolde - I'm a bit of a fan of arthurian legend...
Louisa
Pippa - Maybe philippa with pippa as nickname?
Rowena - name of my SIL, always liked it.

@hopewish Thankyou for your thoughts x

@SarahTTCx Floure best way I can describe how Floure is pronounced is like floo-er , meant to be with a slight French rolled r at the end really. I like the medial ‘Lou’ sound, not keen on Fleur X

@YinMnBlue see above for pronounciation, yeah but anything ceremonial is rehearsed, I think it’s burdensome and laborious to have to spell your first name all the time, but for the very niche and infrequent situations where a middle name is used, i don’t believe its too much hassle to educate people on these occasions.

I think for actual first name options I have - Erika, Eliza, Freyja, Rowena, Theia and Tilda. I love Eliza but terrified of it being shortened to Elle or Ellie . Lucinda was a close contender but vetoed due to Lucy nickname.

Good shortlist.

I think Theia will cause her problems though, it will always be mistaken for Thea and she’ll have to correct it a lot. Same with the Norse spellings of Freyja and Erika. Do you really want to give your child the frequent hassle to deal with?

@minipie Thankyou. I really love the letter E. My taste veers from liking quite ugly names 😂 to vintagey twee, so it’s difficult to come down on one side. I don’t think I’d settle on one of the frillier ones as a first name, I’m going more towards ‘strong’. It has to sit beside a couple of other girls names that are quite different in style, so I’m trying to think of one which will kind of tread the line and unite these 2 names. I really want a Nordic reference on their somewhere to pay homage to heritage... but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the first name. I do take your point though... I would never use the ‘Erica’ version, has to be Erika, but I’d possibly be swayed with Freya for the sake of ease as it’s still a fully Norse name. To me Erica loses all its Nordic feel spelt with a c and just becomes an English name when girls were named after a male family member.

I know a baby Clara and a grown up Poppy both beautiful names

@minipie by the way when I said this name would have to sit beside 2 other girls names a meant as a sibset/ stepsibset. Just for clarity 😂 . It’s proving quite a task to try to think of ones that sound cohesive when taking these other names into account.

@minipie by the way point also accepted re Theia, although it’s a name I can see taking off more in terms of popularity and therefore more in people’s consciousness as one they can say and spell. Someone has to ‘introduce’ it, names like Xanthe would’ve got looks of you’re absolutely bonkers back in the day and now are widely known. I guess it’s just whether you want your baby to be the one to be educating people on how to say and spell it, or wait until other people do it, by which time it may become so popular you don’t like it any more 😂

@itbemay1 between those 2 Poppy takes the biscuit for me, I do like P names as I think they often sound quite spunky, however it’s just so popular. There are some names I think are so gorgeous, such as Freya, that I love them despite their popularity, they just transcend it for me. But I’m not sure Poppy has as much pull as that for me to counteract the popular factor.

I guess it’s just whether you want your baby to be the one to be educating people on how to say and spell it

Yes exactly. You love these names/spellings enough to outweigh the annoyance of corrections, but you can’t guarantee she’ll feel the same...

Freya is fab. Freyja could be a secret family spelling that you use in birthday cards etc? Once she’s old enough to understand and not be confused.

@minipie Freya’s a gorgeous name however it’s spelt, it’s one of those I find so beautiful I can’t help but love it despite its popularity and take the view of only my Freya will matter. Perhaps Freja is a good, less consonant heavy halfway house?

Mmm possibly, yes. Certainly a bit easier to explain “with a j instead of the y” rather than “with a j as well as a y, no the j goes after the y”.

Beatrice
Cecily
Eloisa - Prefer Eloïse
Florence
Francesca
Heidi
Lucinda

Mary
Nancy
Poppy
Theia - Prefer Thea
Xanthie - Xanthe

Although, also may be more likely to get mispronounced with a J sound.

Isolde is gorgeous (as is Aphra from your veto list!)

Betsy is definitely a name in its own right, doesn’t have to be a diminutive, but it is getting increasingly popular.

@minipie agreed on both counts. I’ve just thought of another one I like which is bound to be contentious - Edwina . (Prepares for onslaught😂)

@MarieQueenofScots agreed... I absolutely adore Isolde but don’t know if I’d dare. I reckon a few people braver than me might dare first, then I’ll definitely kick myself 😂

It’s definitely on my “final shot” baby name list!

Agnes - really like it
Alyse - looks made up
Arrietty - also looks made up
Aurora - too Disney
Beatrice- nice
Betsey - nah
Cecily - ok
Clara - really like it
Daisy - too cutsie
Eliza - ok
Eloisa - prefer Eloise
Erika - not keen
Eve - not keen
Flora - love, esp as nickname for Florence
Florence - like
Francesca - like
Freyja - like
Harriet - like
Heidi - not for me
Honor - like
Indiana (Indie) - dislike
Ingrid - dislike
Iona - like
Isla / Eila - like Isla super common in Scotland
Isolde- nope
Isotta - nope
Louisa - nope
Lucinda - nope
Luna - I quite like it, maybe as a mn
Mary - sweet and underused
Nancy - nope
Nell - sweet and underused
Ottilia - nope, I like Ottillie though
Pippa - nope
Poppy - nope
Romilly - nope
Rowena / Rowenna - nope
Sarah - nope
Thebe - nope, love Hebe though
Theia - nope
Tilda - nope
Xanthie - nope, but Xanthe yes

@MarieQueenofScots it’s beautiful, and strong. I love it, it was my absolute top
Name for ages and the only reason it’s fallen a few points is because of my own reticence about using it.

Heidi, Louisa and Xanthe are the nicest.