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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

A friend used our name!!!! HELP

83 replies

Sparkle880 · 27/05/2020 23:10

Okay I really need help with this, my husband and I are due DC2 (although we don’t yet know gender I have an inclining it could be a girl). We have been set on the name Penelope for years and both LOVE it. However one of my friends (not a close friend) has just announced the birth of her daughter and has used that name! While we have few friends in common we live locally and it’s likely we would both send our kids to the same school, one of the reasons I loved the name is because of how original I feel it is. I need advise please and names similar to Penelope as other options (so far I quite like Summer, Enya and Alyssia). Thanks

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Original poster
Sparkle880 · 28/05/2020 07:51

I love Cassie, but is was our family pets name so I can’t really use is. What are people’s thoughts on Delilah x

OP posts:
LotusClover · 28/05/2020 07:58

For what it's worth I strongly dislike Penelope but think Summer, Alyssia and Enya are lovely. The "pene" part also apparently means penis in Spanish (this is what I've heard from a lot of people on here, so I guess it's fairly well known)

Delilah is okay. A bit posh and fancy for me.

Whatsyourflava · 28/05/2020 07:58

I'd personally just stick with Penelope. Just explain to your friend beforehand that it's been your favourite name for ages. It's really not that obscure a name- I can't think she'll be in the least bit surprised about someone else using it

If not Delilah is gorgeous

Clementine
Imogen
Felicity
Margaret (Maggie)
Edith
Martha
Jemima

Dozer · 28/05/2020 08:01

Just use it!

What your friend might think or there being more than one DC in a baby group/class at school don’t matter.

AugieMarch · 28/05/2020 08:05

I like Delilah. But I agree with the comment above that the other names you’ve listed don’t seem in the same style as Penelope to me at all. They almost a different category of name to me. Penelope seems to have more in common with names like Wendy, Margaret, Dorothy etc to me. I’d think about what it is you like (eg is it the era it evokes, the number of syllables, the ‘p’, an association you have with the name) and go from there.

sashh · 28/05/2020 08:07

Ùse Penelope.

My brothewr was going to be an Andrew, but my mum's friend used it 2 weeks before my brother was born (on St Andrew's day).

Mum used a different name, they moved house two years later and we have not seen them since.

Original poster
Sparkle880 · 28/05/2020 08:23

Thanks everyone, I understand that the names all seem a bit random, I think I like the femininity of them, I also like that they are not overly popular but appreciate some are on the rise. Xx

OP posts:
AJPTaylor · 28/05/2020 08:32

Honestly, anything could happen. If you like it, use it! Unless your surname starts with P. Cos if there are 2 of them in the class she will be called Penny P.

Ditzyduck · 28/05/2020 08:39

I was gonna suggest Delilah til I saw you asking about it , that's rising in popularity too. I think it is down the same sort of lines as Penelope.
It's a lovely name.

Ughmaybenot · 28/05/2020 08:44

Penelope is a lovely name, and penny is cute. If you love it, just use it. Chances are you’ll meet a few others along the way, it’s gaining in popularity at the moment.
I absolutely adore Delilah (husband has said absolutely not, the bastard!) and also like Felicity and Adeline. Maybe Florence or Rosalie?

GatoFofo · 28/05/2020 08:51

I think that your daughter(?) may thanks you for giving her one of the other names.
I have an adult friend called Penelope and she hates it, was bullied at school for it and said that she thinks it sounds ugly. When she meets people she tells them that Penny is her full, official name.

CeibaTree · 28/05/2020 08:52

When I was at primary school, half the boys were called Ben or Tom and no one seemed to mind. I assume as it was a small town that some of the mothers must have known each other pre-children and so it can't have been a big deal to use the same names within a friendship group.

Penelope is a top 50 name now, so I don't think people would assume you are copying your friend.

missmouse101 · 28/05/2020 09:03

Fenella? Phaedra? I dislike Penelope and Delilah I must say.

ButDoUAvocado · 28/05/2020 09:05

Love Enya, it’s really nice. Not common but not wacky either.
Alyssia and other variations are getting popular, I know a couple of children called it and Elyssia and Alicia and Aleeza etc.

Philomena?

badg3r · 28/05/2020 09:07

If you like it just use it! One of our kids has a known but underused name. There were 80 or so born in the whole of England they year they were born. We moved abroad where the name isn't even common enough to make official name tables. There is another kid with the same name at nursery 🤣

justanotherneighinparadise · 28/05/2020 09:07

The worst person I’ve ever had dealings with was called Penny, so I’d consider that a lucky escape.

Callimanco · 28/05/2020 09:09

Your daughter will (hopefully) be Penelope for 80 or 90 years. Don't be affected by the fact that it's possible that between the ages of 3 and 11 she may not be the only Penelope in her class. That's silly.

BikeRunSki · 28/05/2020 09:10

Just use it. If you know her well enough to ee’ve a card/text of congratulations jokingly say “amazing name, it’s what we’ve been planning for years if we have a girl”. If you don’t know her that well, then it doesn’t matter at all.

ScarletFever · 28/05/2020 09:14

Seriously, why wouldn't you use it?

Its not like any name is unique truly? apart from completely ridiculous ones that no one in their right mind would use

BikeRunSki · 28/05/2020 09:14

My dc both have another child in their class with the same first name and are “Tim G” for example. Neither of them minds, I really don’t get why this is a problem. I have a known, but unusual name for my age, and I was so envious of my sister who must have had the most common name in her birth year (3 in her class at primary, 8 in her year at secondary).

PrincessHoneysuckle · 28/05/2020 09:15

Alyssia is gorgeous,better than Penelope

sofato5miles · 28/05/2020 09:16

Just use Penelope, once you are out of the baby years you will see it doesn't matter

peperethecat · 28/05/2020 09:21

I would stick with Penelope. If she was your best friend or your sister then I would pick something else, but honestly, for a regular friend that you might not even be in touch with in five years' time, I would just use the name you love.

EmbarrassedUser · 28/05/2020 09:21

Hmm...a name similar to it.

Penelope.

I’m going to use the MN favourite here, no-one owns a name so if you like it then Choose it. Who cares if she’s not the only one in her class and who cares if anyone thinks you ‘copied it’. You love the name so go for it.

mistermagpie · 28/05/2020 09:28

I don't like the name personally but the little one I know has a sister called Lydia, how about that? I also like Clementine and Angelica for very feminine names.

If it helps, I had a favourite name for a girl. It was just what my daughter was going to be called if I ever had one. Let's say it was Polly. So I had two sons and couldn't use Polly and then got pregnant with a daughter who was going to be Polly. However, a close relative gave birth to a daughter about four months before mine and guess what they called her? So it was back to the drawing board.

My daughter was born and we picked a new name. She is now totally that name and I can't even imagine calling her Polly, it wouldn't suit her at all!!

So even if you are dead set on a name you can find another!