Rank my (current) Girl’s List

[Edenember]

Eve
Esme
Eliza
Tilda
Rowena
Cordelia
Orpah
Iona
Eila / Isla
Imogen
Saoirse

If you can be bothered, feel free to give reasons, be as brutal as you like 😊

@Ninkanink I like your thinking...

What about Ophrah

@floridapalmtree do you reckon? I thought it was really well known and pedestrian all round now, because of Saoirse Ronan.

@NotNowPlzz not Oprah(it was a misspelling). Orpah which is a biblical name. I’m happy being alone in absolutely loving it, but my one worry would be if she was a bigger girl people night call her Orca. I’ve honestly thought about that.

Too many for me to rank all. My favourites are Ella and Eve. Don’t mind the others except Tilda as it reminds me of rice (Brand name)
I’d find spelling Saoirse harder - maybe have to spend time spelling it for people?

Saoirse is obviously a very common in Ireland but in the UK I think the vast majority of people will still look slightly agog when they encounter it. The Saoirse Ronan effect will take another couple of decades to filter through to the masses.

@Bagadverts Thankyou... Ella wasn’t on there

@ShoppingPrecinctPrincess ‘the Saoirse Ronan effect’ love it

Long week...I’m lucky have bank holiday weekend.

Eve Yes although Evelyn nn Eve
Esme - Yes
Eliza Okish
Tilda No ( a rice brand )
Rowena No but only because knew a not every nice one !
Cordelia No
Orpah No
Iona Yes nice name
Eila / Isla Yes only as Isla
Imogen Okish
Saoirse No

@Bagadverts ha. Enjoy 😊

We used Eve for our daughter born last year. Everyone on mumsnet always says it's over used and it so very nearly put me off, yet it was like 180ish on the name list in 2019! And it will be individual to your daughter, she will make it her own. If you love it, use it I say.

@Sunnyday321 thanks. I feel like the only person in the world who really doesn’t like Evelyn. It lacks what I like about Eve (the strong e sound).

I like Emse, Imogen and Iona best. I see you've thought about 'I own a...' so wondered if you like the name ILONA? (In capitals because a capital i and l look the same). Same 'I' sound as in 'it' rather than 'eye' though.

Congratulations on baby though, hope you find the name you love.

@poppyseeds13 I know, it’s odd. I’ve been looking at ONS and I knew it was at 181, others on my list are far more common but Eve tends to be the one singled out as being too popular. I think it’s because of all the (more popular) variants - Eva Evie etc, and people lump them in together. I think you’ve also got to pay attention to regional distribution as well if worried about popularity, the names aren’t evenly spread around the country, there are naming trends specific to areas.

You can also legitimately pronounce Evelyn as Eve-lyn though. So that could be an option.

@Twatterati I had come across this name, as I love -ona, but I’m not keen on the ‘ill’ sound at the start. I love how it looks on paper. Thankyou for a thoughtful suggestion X

@Ninkanink you can, but generally people won’t. I don’t particularly like the Lynn sound either tbh as that name has a bad association for me. Ex MIL. shudder

Oh well if it’s got a negative association then that’s fair enough!

I still think Isolde is lovely and I think you should just go for it!

@Ninkanink I’d love to. You seem persuasive, I wish I could enlist your help!

@Edenember - the person I know with that name (an adult, and only one I've ever met) pronounces it

I-lona

so stressing the second syllable (and not making the second syllable sound like 'loner', it sounds softer if that makes sense?)

Such a hard decision always. Mine only have first names as we could never agree on second names! TBH they're pretty lucky they've got first names 😂

Eve - nice, especially if it doesn't become Evie which is lovely but overused
Esme - not my cup of tea but nice enough
Eliza - classic
Tilda - rice
Rowena - sounds like a sparky middle aged woman...I do like Rowan though
Cordelia - pretentious
Orpah - sounds too like orca and people will think you've misspelt Oprah
Iona - not keen
Eila / Isla - ditto but like Ilsa
Imogen - nice but quite popular if that's something that bothers you
Saoirse

Eliza - lovely
Isla - (not Eila) really nice although popular
Eve - sweet, lots of Evies around tho
Imogen - ok, not sure about NN (Immy?)
Iona - ok

Esme - never liked it, just isn’t pretty
Tilda - rice
Rowena - sounds elderly
Cordelia - very posh, NN Delia? Cordy?
Orpah - meant to be Oprah?
Saoirse - most people outside Ireland can’t pronounce or spell it which would be a massive pain for the kid growing up.

Eliza and Isla are really lovely.

[quote Edenember]@Ninkanink I’d love to. You seem persuasive, I wish I could enlist your help![/quote]
I’m pretty good at persuasion, I think...

I actually managed to miss Eliza on your list. I think that’s very pretty too. Eliza and Isolde sound good together so maybe you could go for Eliza this time and Isolde next time (if there is one!)

If you like Eila/Isla, do you like Ailsa? Just a bit more interesting....