Name preference - Ffion or Felicity

[JazzyPa]

Hello,
My second baby is due this summer and I need help with names. We are having a surprise and already have our boys names selected (and keeping to ourselves) but girls names we need help with deciding.

We already have a little girl, Beatrice, who we call Bea, and if we were to have a second daughter we are thinking of either Ffion or Felicity. We like unusual, uncommon but not too 'out there' names.

We aren't Welsh and have no Welsh heritage but always loved the name Ffion (Fee-on), since we holidayed there years ago and heard it said for the first time. Since then it's stuck. We really like how unusual it is. However, I was wondering if it would be seen as out there or weird to name a non-Welsh girl that? The Ff clearly shows it's Welsh but this is the spelling we would go for. And secondly, l've just read somewhere that the slang term for ass in French is 'Fion'. The two words sound different but this has upset me slightly, not because it's put me off the name as such but because if we were ever go to France or French speakers, would her name be laugable? Would this put you off the name? Anyone French, or French-speakers, would you have associated the two? Are there any Ffion's out there who have experienced negativity in regards to this? I'm sure there's many slang terms/meanings from other languages I don't know about for lots of names but I now know about this one, which is unnerving. I do know some French people but would rather not ask for their input, incase it puts me off their name completely. Plus I never share names with anyone I know due to bad experiences previously.

On to our other choice, Felicity. Again I think a really pretty name and I haven't heard of many. The issue I have here is we love to shorten names. Beatrice, is knows as Bea and Felicity would likely be knows as "Flick" (as I've loved it since Neighbours heyday) & I'm not really a fan of "Liss" or "Lissy" as a nickname. So if we put the names together... Bea and Flick... someone said (years ago) oh like "Flick your bean" ... and it's this reason why I no longer share name choices with anyone I know (but equally glad in a way we're thinking about this now and not when it's too late). My question is, did combining Bea and Flick make you think this? Would this be enough to put you off a name? Or am I just being oversensitive?

I can't believe that the two names I love so much, I've almost over researched and it's causing such concern (as I'm convinced this little one is a girl too).

What are your thoughts on the above? Any help would be much appreciated. And any other name suggestions would be greatly received.

Many thanks,
Jaz

@gradetoolisted, to you yes, but I know several Ffions and no Fionns.

It's obvious from the thread that there would be some confusion.

I wouldn't use a welsh or irish name because of the 'Oh, are you welsh/irish?' questions..

@KirstenBlest. Fair enough. I know several Fionns and no Ffions and agree I wouldn’t use either of them. We had an application at work from a Ffion and several assumed it was from a man.

Ah. I'd always assumed that Fionn was pronounced Finn.

I have to ask with Irish names, the pronunciation and spelling isn't obvious to me, and often I will have seen or heard the anglicised version.

I worked with people with the surnames Geoghegan, Coughlan and Keoghan, and they said Gaygun, Coe-lin and Kee-o-gun.

I think maybe they are Gaygun, Covlin and Cogan. Please correct me, if I am wrong.

Obviously former colleagues can say their own names however they wish.

@HeronLanyon

Only ever known it spelled Ffyon. Don’t think I’ve seen ffion. I like both names. Congrats op.

WTF?! Who the hell puts a y in it?!

Thought of another one. I used to deal with someone called Mahoney, and they said it as Mahnie, but someone laughed at me and said it was Ma-hoe-nie, and asked me why Firstname McMahon said his name as Mac-Mahn not Mac-Mayhun.

Who's right.

OP, call the baby Felicity.

I know several Ffions of all ages. It’s a very popular name.

@Scaredykittycat

No one will ever be able to pronounce Ffion, it’ll be a nightmare for her.

Felicity for sure.

It’s one of the easier Welsh names to say.

Ffion is a fantastic name. Felicity sounds like a character from a children’s book who is a bit twee and prim and proper

Ffion is very easy to say for an English speaker once they know how but it is harder to justify an initially potentially confusing name in the Welsh language when you have no connection to Wales. Non-Welsh people tend to think it’s made up/stupid/hard to spell or say upon first glance. Or say that it’s Irish and you spelled it wrong and it’s a boys name, because for some reason everyone knows Fionn.

My daughter is called Ffion (my close/living family are mostly Welsh) and though I find that up in Scotland where I live now everyone is super nice and says it right (some have to ask, others don’t), English family/friends aren’t all as receptive and we had to teach my husband’s family how to say it. Like I say, it’s not hard and they can do it very easily but if you don’t have a connection then I don’t see a reason to if that makes sense as you’re possibly inviting hassle where you don’t need it.

I do think Felicity works better with Beatrice anyway, they have the same feel to them without being too matchy matchy so in your situation I would probably go with that :)

See I would snigger at Flick and Bea.

I prefer Ffion.

@Serin I didn’t see that until your post but now I can’t unsee it

I love Ffion more than felicity. But they are both lovely names. Tilly could be another NN for felicity which sounds quite cute with Bea. Even though Ffion is a good solid short name people will most likely still call her Fi or even Fifi. But as long as you like those abbreviations then go for it.
Speaking as someone who always has their name shortened to a name I really dislike and spend half my life correcting people 🙈