Dacey?

[jemimafuddleduck]

After some opinions please.

We are due a little girl next month and still can't decide on names. We quite like the name Darcy - it goes with our surname and is Irish in origin which we like as my family is Irish (but we would consider non-Irish names).

My main issue with it is that we are from the South West and I worry that it will be pronounced DaRRRRRcy.

Today we saw the name Dacey which DH really likes. It's also Irish but much less common. I think I like it but there's something I'm not sure about. Will it be mistaken for Daisy? Or will people think we've misspelled Darcy?

Please let me know what you think!

Casey is so lovely!

Darcey is the feminine spelling I think, and Darcy male?

It sounds made up or misspelled tbh. Which does come across as a bit try hard.

I misread it as Darcey as well. Darcey or Daisy are nice, but Dacey just makes me think of the Dacia Duster (I know the car manufacturer is actually pronounced Datcha, but that's not the first way a native English speaker would read it).

Also, surely the relatives from the West Country would pronounce every similar R-sound in that way? If you call her Dacey, they'll still ask "Do you want to come with me tomorrrrrow for a ride in the carrrrrr to the supermarrrrrrket, Dacey, or would you ratherrrrrr go to the parrrrrrrk?" If that's their accent, that's part of who they are - surely you hear that and associate it with your (and your child's soon-to-be) loved ones? I'm sure it's a soft drawn-out burr, which (IMHO) sounds really rather pleasant, and not full-throat harsh piratey?!

I don't know anything about if the name is Irish or not. Sometimes you do get less well-known names that people don't know about. However, I
agree with the other poster that you can't trust baby sites. "Bonnie" and "Mackenzie" are listed as Scottish female names. While Mackenzie is a surname and bonnie means beautiful they're both not used as first names. I think both come from trends in the USA. I've also seen some really strange entries that don't have any connection listed as Scottish. I think some sites must rely on users entering names.

I definitely agree that baby name books make it all up as they go along. I wonder if they're compiled by a computer - or at least thickened out to make up the numbers to a more impressive-sounding number. An actual person will type 'Edward' into the program and then leave the software to add 'Edwold', 'Aedward', 'Edwood', 'Idward', 'Edwurde' etc. - all suspiciously with the meaning given as 'variation of Edward'.

Sadly, '50,000 Baby Names' is always going to sell better than '500 NICE Baby Names'.

There's no other explanation as to why the great big fat books not only include names like Adolf, Avishag, Gaylord, Hagar and Jezebel, but then fail to warn you never to actually consider using them in a Western/English-speaking context. Maybe any books published in Glasgow could give the name meaning as "Just gonnae noo!"

I agree it looks like a miss spelling. I knew a really nice person called Darcey if that is any help?

Dacey does sound made up to me, you’ll spend your life spelling it.

I don’t like Darcy much but it’s OK. Do you know a lot of people w a strong SW accent? If not I wouldn’t worry c it.

At the risk of being offensive it sounds like someone with a speech impediment saying Stacey. I would go with Darcy or Casey.

Yeah.. no... that’s not a name.
Don’t burden your child with that

What about Darbie?

I thought of Dacia too. I think people will either mishear Dacey as Daisy or misread it as Darcey/Darcy. I don't like Darcy much either as I'm not a huge fan of surnames for girls and don't understand why Darcy is considered to be a girl's name (and being childish it has 'arsey' in it which isn't really a nice sound or meaning). But it's definitely better than Dacey as people will recognise it as a name.

I'd assume they were called Darcey and it was a spelling mistake.

I knew a little girl - well same age as me - back in the mid 60's called Dacia, (Pronounced Day-sia).

Thought it was lovely at the time and still do! (She was from Irish heritage too!)

Thanks all. This is so useful to hear different opinions - but clearly everyone dislikes the name for mostly the reasons I was concerned about to begin with so at least I know I'm not mad!

Another vote for Darcy being the superior choice, I too thought Dacy was a misspelling.

@Bobbiepin

At the risk of being offensive it sounds like someone with a speech impediment saying Stacey. I would go with Darcy or Casey.

This is what I thought 😳😳

People will always thinks she's saying Stacey 😳 Please don't do it.