Can you help me with our baby names lists?

[Richmonder]

Hello,

We’ve managed to narrow down our initial list, but I feel like I missed some! Below are what we’ve got so far, please feel free to let me know your favorite or any suggestions based on what we have

For reference, I am English and DH is from a Scottish/Irish family. We also both have names that have diminutives, which we like as it offers lots of options!

Girls:

Alice
Felicity
Victoria
Saoirse
Poppy
Esme
Stephanie
Ellis
Alexandra

Boys:

William
Nicholas
Thomas
Hamish
Elliott
Edward
James
Alexander
George
Angus
Max
Lachlan

Really like Felicity, Poppy and Saoirse from you girls list. I would add Penny and Charlotte as they were also on mine.

Nothing jumps out from your boys list. We had Edward and George on ours too. What about Fergus, Harold or Albert?

All these names are nice to be honest. My favourites are Esme, Felicity, William & Thomas. I’m not so keen on Poppy, Victoria, Ellis, Lachlan & Hamish. Nothing particularly wrong with them but I don’t find them as nice as the others on your list.

IMO, top girls name is Victoria, I love it! We would use it but it doesnt work with our surname :( love Alexandra too, that was another one we considered for a while. Lots of great nicknames.

For boys my favourite is Edward. Again lots of great nicknames to choose from. :)

I like Poppy from your girls list. Like another poster said, Charlotte is a good name and offers good nn.

Like most of your boy names, which doesn't help! George was on my list.

I have a mixture similar to yours with my family and my DD is Erin :)

I really like Felicity, Victoria and Alexandra. Saoirse is nice too, but seems to be getting quite popular, I think. Stephanie is an interesting choice - not sure I like it, but there certainly won't be 6 others in the class! Alice, Poppy and Esme are nice enough but a bit too 'of the moment'. Really don't like Ellis and tbh it's not at all of a piece with your other choices. How about Ellen?

Hamish and Nicholas are my favourites from your boys' list. Thomas and Angus are good too. Also like Alexander and William a lot, but they are pretty popular. The only ones I'm really not keen on are Elliott and Max.

Alice and Esme

William, Edward and Lachlan

I would cross Ellis off your girl's list, it's a strange choice when compared with the other names, also not keen on Stephanie. Really like the rest, would probably choose Alice. I like most of the boys names, particularly Edward and Nicholas.

Girls:

Alice - love
Felicity - love - favourite
Victoria - like but don't like fairly inevitable Vicky
Saoirse - hate , find it hard to say and too frilly
Poppy - love
Esme - ok
Stephanie - don't like the sound of it
Ellis - favourite for a boy
Alexandra - nice

Boys:

William - love
Nicholas - love
Thomas - love
Hamish - love
Elliott - love favourite but like Ellis even more
Edward - love
James - love - joint favourite
Alexander - love
George - love
Angus - love joint favourite
Max - love
Lachlan - ok

Verity?
Eliza?

Laurence?
Tristan?
Peter?

Alice - lovely, very popular but very pretty
Felicity - I love this name
Victoria - I'm not keen, Partly because both Vicky and Tory are such awful nn's. Also it's very 70s for me
Saoirse - I like it.
Poppy - I like it
Esme - it's ok.
Stephanie - not a fan. Forever a middle-aged name to me
Ellis - don't like at all
Alexandra - feel as though I ought to like it but I find it dull.

Felicity for me with Alice as a strong second

Boys:

William - lovely
Nicholas - it's ok. I'm not a huge fan
Thomas - nice but yawn, I know 5000
Hamish - I love this
Elliott - this is an irrational dislike name of mine
Edward - nice
James - I just find this really dull
Alexander - lovely
George - it's ok
Angus - love love love, especially with the nn Gus
Max - it's ok
Lachlan - not keen

Angus for me with Hamish, William and Alexander as second choices

We seem to have similar taste! My favourites from your list are Felicity, James and Alexander.
Other suggestions: Sienna, Leo, Oscar

Ooh, mixed bag of responses! Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated Will have a digest and chat to DH later to see if he’s had any further thoughts or is able to cull the list further.

Names are so tricky - much harder than I thought they would be. Lots of the names on the lists I like but don’t think I love. DH would quite happily call the baby what we’ve nicknamed it, but I’m not sure “Noodle” would go down well with my MIL

How do you pronounce Saoirse?

As a lady ellis here I enjoyed reading the comments 🤣 x

I love saoirse, Alice and felicity. And Angus Edward and hamish.

I’m a Victoria and honestly I really wouldn’t do that to a child. All my life I’ve had victor, vikram, sticky Vicky, Vicky likes the dicky. Even from adults. I despise my name. Also many people asking if I can do the same as sticky Vicky.

Gus (Angus) (Magnus) (Fergus)
Gabriel
Raffi (Rafferty)
Percy
Wilbur
Henry
George

Penelope
Jean
Mai
Margot

Oh and Jeremy.

My son is Wilfred (Wilf)

Alexandra and George

Lovely lists!
I like all your girls' names except Stephanie, which feels dated to me. And while I like Poppy it doesn't feel as versatile as the others. I like Ellis very much for a girl - have long been a fan of the work of Ellis Rowan, Australian artist born in the 1840s - born Marian Ellis Rowan but called Ellis. I've also come across adult women called Ellis - unusual but interesting.
Suggestion: Cressida

I like all your boys' names but find Lachlan the least appealing as it's over-used around me. My favourites are Nicholas and Hamish.

Girls:
Alice❌5
Felicity✔️2
Victoria❌8
Saoirse✔️3
Poppy✔️1
Esme✔️4
Stephanie❌6
Ellis❌
Alexandra7
Boys:
William❌8
Nicholas✔️1
Thomas❌11
Hamish❌10
Elliott❌9
Edward❌6
James✔️2
Alexander❌12
George✔️5
Angus❌7
Max✔️4
Lachlan✔️3

@heh1991 I've met two Irish girls both pronounced a different way, first one was pronounced: soh-rah-hah
The other was pounced - sersha

I'm an Alexandra and have only ever came across 3 others in my nearly 30 years I'm also nicknamed a million and one different things - the list is endless!

Presumably Ellis Rowan was called Ellis so she sounded male, making her work more 'acceptable' in those times? Also thinking of Ellis Bell (Emily Bronte). I don't think I'd be wanting to call my daughter a name whose virtue was in not sounding feminine, iyswim.

[quote Ghosts2020]@heh1991 I've met two Irish girls both pronounced a different way, first one was pronounced: soh-rah-hah
The other was pounced - sersha[/quote]
Saoirse is pronounced Seer-sha, more or less, sometimes veers towards Sair-sha. Emphasis on the first syllable (and the r is strongly pronounced in an Irish accent).
I think the other person you met was probably a Sorcha? This is pronounced Sur-ra-cha. The 'ch' is correctly said like the 'ch' in loch, but many pronounce this as 'k' as they find it difficult to say.

I don't know of any diminutives for Saoirse OP, but it's my favourite of your girl names.

My favourites are Stephanie and Felicity. Followed by Victoria and Alexandra.
I dislike Poppy as I find flower names weak and meh. Ellis I think would forever have to explain that she isn't male.
Lachlan is my favourite from your boys list. I don't like Hamish or Angus.
I do think Nicholas is due a comeback.