Girl and boy shortlist help

[BMag]

Hi all,

Feel like I’ve been staring at this list of names for so long I’ve gone blind to them and would appreciate some honest opinions!

I already have a 2 year-old DD called Anwen, ideally the new baby’s name will complement her name but I’m not overly fussed if none of them do...

Girls:
Audrey
Odette
Cleo
Iona (pronounced yo-na)
Imelda
Yvette
Octavia

Boys:
Vince
Ioan (yo-an)
Griff
Tristan
Gideon
Bruce

OH is Welsh hence the couple of welshies in there.

Thanks in advance!

Iona & Gideon would be my choice of those.

I'd choose Odette or Griff.

Audrey - getting popular, it’s ok
Odette - no, makes me think of odour. Sounds a lot better in a Fr accent.
Cleo - love it!
Iona (pronounced yo-na) - Scottish pronunciation (I-oh-na) is fairly popular so you will be for ever correcting - also makes me think of Yoni (vagina)
Imelda - it’s ok, makes me think 50s Ireland
Yvette - no, vintage but downmarket
Octavia - love it!

Boys:
Vince - no - naughty boys name.

Ioan (yo-an) - love it!
Griff - nice. Is there a full name?
Tristan - nice
Gideon - nice - should be used more
Bruce - it’s ok. People tend to find this name comedy though so I wouldn’t.

I like Octavia and Tristan best, then Cleo and Ioan.

@partyatthepalace very thorough thank you!

Didn’t know Yoni meant vagina, learn something new every day… what language / dialect is that in?

Griff isn’t short for anything in Welsh but I guess you could extend it to Griffin, don’t think I’d do that though.

Had no idea Audrey was getting popular either! Here I was thinking I’d found one of the few nice old-timey names that haven’t come back round yet.

Thanks for the heads-up about the Iona pronunciation by the way, I’m already living with that with Anwen (always gets pronounced An-win or, more weirdly, An-wan).

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Two votes for Octavia is pretty surprising, personally I love it but was worried it’d sound a bit wanky (we live in Manchester and I have a very northern accent and northern family, so I know at least a few family members will roll their eyes at it lol). My mate’s little girl is Ophelia and it’s really grown on her so I reckon we could get away with it!

In terms of welsh names, my top ones are

Cerys, Huw, Owen and Hywel.

Love the Welsh names. I would personally stick to another Welsh name

I love Audrey, that’s my favourite of your list. It doesn’t seem to have been in the top 100 since the 50s, so if it is becoming popular it will come out of nowhere. I have seen more people mentioning it and asking about it on here but that doesn’t mean it’s going to suddenly become the next Olivia or Isabella. Although it might of course.
Like all your boys names, probably Griff best.

Griff is very cool. I like that with your Welsh connection.

I like Iona and Octavia for a girl and Gideon and Tristan for a boy.

I dislike Yvette and Griff

Octavia and Griff. I know several Griff's (live in Wales), all of them are Gruffydd.

Octavia is ridiculous sorry. Proper posh parody name

Loads of your other names are gorgeous though. Audrey is number 294 in the charts- i I would not call that overly popular! Just depends what you class as "popular" @BMag

The last two years that we have official statists for, the name Audrey rose 4 places in the chart between 2018 and 2019. At that rate it'll still be outside the top 200 names for the next 10 years @partyatthepalace

i love Tristan and Griff

Audrey - nope
Odette - nope
Cleo - ok
Iona - meh
Imelda - nope
Yvette - nope
Octavia - meh

Vince - no
Ioan - ok
Griff - ok
Tristan - ok
Gideon - meh
Bruce - no

I like Griff and Bruce for boys.
My first thought was that Audrey would sound nice with Anwen before I even saw your list, so I'd vote for that! Imelda is nice too.

I love Audrey! It is on our maybe list for a girl and for boys I quite like Tristan!

Cleo and Tristan are my picks!

Cleo and Griff

I like Octavia and Tristan the best.

Yoni - ha! - it’s probably Sanskrit - but I guess as part of the rise of Yoga it’s being used fairly widely as a polite word for lady parts (Yoni eggs, Yoni steaming, there is a eco sanitary ware brand called Yoni etc) - don’t think it’s a total no no or anything but would want to think c it.

Audrey - it’s getting v popular amongst my young london hipster colleagues along with names like Jean and Ernest - so deffo part of the next wave of vintage names to come up Again not a reason not to use it.

Love Vince or Vinnie as a nickname

Octavia and Tristan or Gideon

Love Ioan and Griff.

Def not Gideon or Bruce.

Don’t like any of the girls’ names.

Octavia and Gideon. I love Audrey too but would avoid the same initial as Anwen.

I like all your names except Bruce and Tristan.

Una for a girl?