Help narrowing down names

[cassrose]

Hello! I don't know if I'm having a boy or girl but I'm having trouble narrowing down my list. For a girl the middle name will be Rose. For boy mn options are - James, John, Joseph, Thomas, Louis, Hugo, Jude.

I'm open to other options but feel like I'm looked at soooo much already and narrowed down.

Girls Names:
Charlotte - Lottie
Harriet - Ettie/Harri
Ellie
Adeline - Addie
Amelie - Ellie / Millie
Georgia
Florence - Flo/Florrie
Maisie
Eloise - Ellie
Penelope - Ellie/Nellie

Boys Names:
Lachlan - Lochie
Oliver - Ollie
Lincoln - Linc
Rafael - Raffie/Raf
Marlow - Marlie
Isaiah - saia (zai - uh)

Some good names there. I'd narrow it down to these:

Charlotte
Harriet
Georgia
Florence
Maisie
Eloise
Penelope

Lachlan
Oliver
Rafael

My favourites are Harriet, Maisie, Georgia and Penelope. And Rafael for a boy.

You really seems to like the name Ellie so one of those Nellie/Ellie variants. For this same reason I would narrow boys down to Oliver (Ollie).

I like Amelie for a girl and Marley for a boy (not keen on Marlow and the spelling Marlie doesnt look right to me, espec for a boy)

I like:

Charlotte (Lottie) Rose
Harriet (Harri) Rose
Florence (Florrie) Rose
Maisie Rose
Penelope (Nellie) Rose

Oliver (Ollie)
Rafael (Raffie/Raf) - also like Rafe
Isaiah (saia)

Like all your middle name options.

I like Florence and Marlie
Maybe you'd like Marnie for a girl?

I like Charlotte and Rafael the best (Rafa for a nickname though).

Girls Names:
Charlotte - Lottie - I like Charlotte.
Harriet - Ettie/Harri - Harriet is gorgeous but my preferred NN would be Hattie
Ellie - no. Dull, popular and boring.
Adeline - Addie - I like Adeline but would you pronounce it to rhyme with een, ine or in? I prefer it rhyming with Caroline.
Amelie - Ellie / Millie - Amelie is a lovely name but really doesn't need a nn.
Georgia - I dislike this
Florence - Flo/Florrie - I like Florence but not with Rose
Maisie - don't like
Eloise - Ellie - don't like
Penelope - Ellie/Nellie - don't like

Amelie Rose or Harriet Rose would be my choices.

Lachlan - Lochie - is ok
Oliver - Ollie - I like Oliver, not so keen on Ollie
Lincoln - Linc - I like Lincoln but linc is awful
Rafael - Raffie/Raf - love this
Marlow - Marlie - I don't like Marlow, I really dislike Marlie. All the Marlows I know (two!) are girls
Isaiah - saia (zai - uh) - I don't dislike Isaiah but I see it as very religious.

Rafael Hugo is lovely.

Choosing names is really hard when there’s so many you like!
Out of your choices I would choose
Harriet for a girl and Oliver for a boy.

Thank you all very much. It is indeed difficult when I like so many. I've narrowed them down to (and in my order of preference):

Charlotte -1st equal
Harriet -1st equal
Georgia
Florence
Eloise - Ellie

Lachlan - Lochie
Oliver - Ollie
Rafael - Raffie/Raf

I am in NZ and I'm a little worried about the way that our accent sounds with some names, especially Oliver and Rafael.

Girls Names:
Charlotte - Lottie - both fine
Harriet - Ettie/Harri - Harriet nice but not keen on the nn, but like Hattie a lot
Ellie - overused and past its peak
Adeline - Addie - dislike
Amelie - Ellie / Millie - don't like Amelie, but nice in French, overused and past its peak
Georgia - fine, like it, also like Georgina.
Florence - Flo/Florrie, prefer Floss
Maisie - ok
Eloise - Ellie - ok but yet another El- name
Penelope - Ellie/Nellie - Penny is better

Boys Names:
Lachlan - Lochie - not sure
Oliver - Ollie - fine
Lincoln - Linc - not sure
Rafael - Raffie/Raf - seems a bit downmarket, too OT
Marlow - Marlie - Just no. Marlow the place is lovely, but leave it as a place name
Isaiah - saia (zai - uh) - a bit too OT

Charlotte - Lottie - Charlotte is OK but I find Lottie very twee
Harriet - Ettie/Harri - a bit harsh
Ellie - dull
Adeline - Addie - like Adeline but not Addie
Amelie - Ellie / Millie - OK with Mllie as nickname
Georgia - fantastic, strong, elegant, not overused
Florence - Flo/Florrie - like
Maisie - nice, outdoorsy sounding
Eloise - Ellie - Eloise is OK but Ellie is dull
Penelope - Ellie/Nellie - like Penelope with nickname Nell. Not keen on Ellie/Nellie

Lachlan - Lochie - no, reminds me of lochia
Oliver - Ollie - like
Lincoln - Linc - like Lincoln but Linc sounds strange
Rafael - Raffie/Raf - OK
Marlow - Marlie - not keen
Isaiah - saia (zai - uh) - like, but not sure about the nickname

Boys middle names:

Not James. It is the most common UK boys middle name by far and on every thread about boys middle names several people say 'James sprang to mind'.

Of the rest I like John, Joseph, Thomas, Hugo. Would you consider any of these as first name?

Best of the bunch I would say are

Georgia Rose
Oliver John

Charlotte Rose
Marlow James

Harriet and Oliver. But Oliver is the best of a bad job for me.

Charlotte Rose - Pretty, strong and classic.

Lachlan James or Oliver James/Jude - Nice flow to these.

Thanks for all of your help. I've narrowed to:
Charlotte Rose
Harriet Rose
Georgia Rose

Lachlan Hugo or Lachlan James
Oliver Hugo or Lachlan James

I know James is super common but I love the way it sounds. Hugo is my best friends 4 yr olds name whom I adore.

I'm an Ellie so obviously I'm biased 😉 I love Oliver on your boys list x

From your narrowed names please go with James as a middle name for a boy. On the female side Georgia Rose doesn’t go for me, one of the others.

Charlotte Rose is my favourite for a girl.
Lachlan James is my favourite for a boy.

So nice to see a thread about children's names that does not go for some of the weirder options I've seen on other threads. Lots of potentially lovely names here for both a boy and a girl.

I do think all parents have a responsibility to choose very carefully, as it's your child that is going to have to live with the name. If that name is unusual, has a difficult spelling etc the child could have a traumatic time at school and beyond. I am surprised that some parents think they have the 'right' to name a child something outlandish 'because they like this name and are on an ego trip.

However I think a good approach (if you must have a special name that may be contentious) is to have it as a middle name. Then the child has the option to use it or not and it's a win-win. But well-chosen names like we have here shows how it should be done!

these are all great choices, I guess you can just wait and see what s/he looks like!

I don’t know about NZ but James isn’t very common for babies in UK. Jamie is a lovely nn, and also like Hattie as nn fir Harriet

I prefer Harriet from your girls list but like the nickname Hattie rather than Ettie or Harri.

I prefer Oliver to Lachlan but Oliver is very popular in the UK (I don't know it's popularity in NZ). Have you considered Lorcan?

My favourites from your list are Georgia, Harriet and Oliver.

You seem to be rather fond of Ellie and although it is a personable name names beginning with El are currently overused although according to a quick search of Dark Greener Ellie is on the decline and is quite low in the top 100 other El names such as Elsie, Elle, Ella etc are all much higher in popularity and not so long ago Ellie was v popular...If that even matters to you! It might not and I quite respect that too as everyone is trying to be so different nowadays and are attempting to go for names that are unpopular.... then lots of women go for the same unpopular names...like Penelope. Perhaps Penelope became popular because of the Kardashians.

I am trying to avoid names ending Lie/Ly as they tend to be very young sounding, even the classics Emily and Lucy are overused and a dare I say a little twee.

Georgia and Harriet aren't names I'd pick but they are a little less usual than the others. Oliver was the only name I liked from your boys list but again he will be one of hundreds of others and will likely have to go by his surname aka Oliver D. or Oliver J.

It will be interesting to see the Top 100 baby names of 2020 I'm quite excited to see what tops the charts.

Lachlan James is lovely. In NZ it’s a reasonably popular name, most often shortened to Lachie. It fits in with the Scottish vibe of names that are more popular in NZ and Australia like Cameron and Hamish. I like the pairing with James.

For girls Harriet is the least common and probably my favourite. I know a few Charlotte’s of a variety of ages and a few Georgia’s.

Harriet (Hattie)
Rafael

They were both high on my list!

Girls Names:
Charlotte - Lottie - nice but fairly dull, Lottie is pretty though
Harriet - Ettie/Harri - as Charlotte, I much prefer Ettie to Harri
Ellie - it's a nickname for Eleanor. Also dull.
Adeline - Addie - love it! Very unusual but classic
Amelie - Ellie / Millie - also like it a lot, Amelia is super common though so there'll be a million Millies
Georgia - quite nice, pretty
Florence - Flo/Florrie - I love it although it is getting very popular. Don't like Flo though.
Maisie - I really don't like it as a name for an adult, it is a childhood nickname to me
Eloise - Ellie - love Eloise, don't much like Ellie
Penelope - Ellie/Nellie - lovely name, prefer Nellie

Boys Names:
Lachlan - Lochie - love it
Oliver - Ollie - fine, very popular
Lincoln - Linc - don't like, too 'American' for me, goes with big trend for surnames as first names for boys
Rafael - Raffie/Raf - love it, also love the nicknames (whereas to be honest don't like most of the nicknames in the list compared to the full name)
Marlow - Marlie - nope, also can be a girl's name
Isaiah - saia (zai - uh) - love it, love the nickname