Please rank

[xxMountainMamaxx]

DH and I are looking for names that are strong and timeless. We don’t care about popularity.

Please rank our girl names:

Olivia
Charlotte
Anna
Violet
Susannah
Emily
Julia
Lily
Leah
Alice

xx

Like
Emily, Violet, Lily, Leah

OK
Olivia, Julia, Anna

Not so keen
Susannah, Alice, Charlotte

My cat is called Alice, as was my nan (I didn't name my cat). Both Alice's are/were gentle, loving and popular

Violet is the nicest. I like most of them. Not so keen on Leah, Julia, Emily. But they're fine.

Leah 0-/10 Sorry I dont like this name to me its a clicky American one

It's an old testament name - Leah was the wife of Jacob and the sister of Rachel. Nothing American or 'cliquey' about it.

Top for me would be Leah, Anna, Emily
Bottom would be Violet, Charlotte, Alice and Olivia.

Anna, Charlotte, Emily and Alice are my top four.

And I I don't dislike any of them, they're all lovely.

Charlotte
Violet
Julia
Alice
Emily
Susannah
Anna
Olivia
Lily
Leah

I really like every name on your list so this is difficult. I'll put them in groups:
Favourites (not in any order):
Anna, Susannah, Julia, Alice.

Still love but a bit less:
Violet, Lily, Charlotte

Like, but not favourites:
Olivia, Emily, Leah.

I only like Julia from your list, Most of the others are very boring.

Also Leah just sounds like 'leer'.

Violet, lily, Olivia, Alice, Emily, Julia, then Charlotte. In that order. Not a fan of the other two.

Charlotte
Emily
Alice
Violet
Susannah

Anna
Lily

Olivia
Julia
Leah

OK so completely ignoring current popularity, from best to worst in my opinion! (they are all decent names though to be fair)

Alice
Charlotte
Emily
Olivia
Susannah
Julia
Anna
Lily
Violet

Favourites from the top:
Susannah - love, love, love this!
Violet
Alice
Charlotte

Less keen:
Anna
Olivia
Emily
Julia
Lily
Leah

I’d say Charlotte, Anna, Alice and Emily fit the timeless criteria

Olivia is too trendy for that it will date, ditto Lily.
Violet isn’t timeless, it’s just come back after a long hiatus so probably also trendy.

Susannah, Julia and Leah are not that well used so harder to call. They’ve been consistently used over many years but never trendy so would suit if you don’t want a top 10 name but do want a familiar name

Personally I think Anna or Alice fits the criteria best, timeless very well used but unlike Charlotte or Emily never had a recent moment in the spotlight so no danger of trendiness.

I love your names! The only ones I'm not so keen on are Violet and Leah.

Olivia 6/10
Charlotte 7/10
Anna 8/10
Violet 4/10
Susannah 8/10
Emily 5/10
Julia 4/10
Lily 5/10
Leah 2/10 - find it awkward to say but that’s my problem obvs.
Alice 5/10

Congrats. All lovely. My 4 and 5 are comparative to others in the list and are lovely anyway. Only exception for me is Leah.

Susannah - an underused classic. I love it. I knew one at university who went by the nickname Zanna.
Anna - I do know a lot of teenage Annas but it's such a lovely classic name and fits any type of person!
Charlotte - lovely
Violet - I really like this. But written down I often read it as violent.
Alice - gorgeous.
Emily - lovely. Popular for a good reason.
Lily - nice. Maybe a little bland. But nice.

Olivia - I'm not keen. But I think it's because I know so many. I prefer Livia.
Julia - feels really 70s to me. Juliet is nicer.
Leah - this is one of my pet hate names. I think it's because of her Biblical character...

Olivia - 7/10
Charlotte 1/10
Anna 1/10
Violet 6/10
Susannah 5/10
Emily 7/10
Julia 4/10
Lily 6/10
Leah 7/10
Alice 8/10

These are great responses! Are any of our names pretentious or frilly? Do they fit any sort of person? That’s our aim!

DH likes Laura, but I’m unsure if it will sound dated since Julia seems to garner that reaction? Really impressed with you all xx

Alice
Anna
Emily
Olivia
Charlotte
Leah
Violet
Julia
Lily
Susannah

I think Laura fits your criteria perfectly

If want to avoid anything too frilly/girly then I would go for Alice, Laura, Charlotte or Susannah

If timeless is what you are after, then get rid of Leah, Violet and Lily. And definitely no to Laura!

Leah and Laura are both pretty 80s to me. And definitely not timeless or classic. I'd say they're both pretty naff.

Violet is horrible - don't fall into this trap - basically it's become popular as just about the LAST of the 'flower names' to be revived. And there's a reason for that - it's one letter away from 'violent' - a really harsh sounding, and Vi has got to be the most unattractive short form ever. Lily is prettty meh.

From the rest:

Anna - absolute classic, not over popular, totally timeless. Annie is a lovely way to get a nickname out of it.

Julia, Susannah - slightly dated in that they were more popular in the 70s-80s and neither of them are now. But, both classic strong names. I like Susannah lots, Julia less. How do you feel about Susie/Jules? I'd rather have an Annie than either of those...

Alice
Emily
Olivia
Charlotte

All of these, you can't put a pin between them. They're all classic names and they are all popular too, which to me makes all of them slightly boring. Charlotte would be my pick of these, I love Lottie. Olivia is SO overused that classic means nothing, it's almost a default name. Alice and Emily I find prim and dull with poor options for short forms.

So I would 100% have an Anna!

Olivia - timeless but overused
Charlotte - timeless + if it's good enough for a princess
Anna - timeless - I'd choose it
Violet - not keen. Shrinking violet?
Susannah - really like
Emily - timeless but very popular. Much prefer Emma
Julia - I don't like Jules/Jools so a no from me, but fine in itself.
Lily - I don't like Lil, so another no, but is pretty in itself
Leah - fine but a bit nothingy
Alice - Favourite, would have used it for DD3 had there been one.

I agree with PPs that Anna is the most timeless of your choices and is a beautiful name (as is Alice!)