Husband's awful name suggestions!

[annaj83]

My husband's absolutely set on several absolutely awful names! I'm trying to convince him otherwise, but MIL and even some of my family are on his side. Don't know gender.
Please tell me I'm not going crazy, these names are awful
Indy
Jolene
Cosmo
Estella
Trisha
Kiana
Aliesha
Chastity

I honestly fear a child named any of those would be absolutely bullied. Any advice?

Mine was exactly the same. Pray for a midwife with a name you both love. Worked for us!

Good update OP, that’s a good place to start. Hope you find one you both love.

Don't go with Estella. Very "princessy' and it's bound to get shortened as it's such a mouthful. On the other hand, your names are classic and simple and much more relatable (I assume you're in the UK). Some of your girls names are due a come back and they don't sound consciously old lady twee either.

Estella and Cosmo are ok

I know both and not bullied

What about Alicia? I think that's nice and is a version of one of his?

They are awful. Estella reminds me of Joey's chain-smoking agent in Friends!

Cosmo reminds me of the smug twat in Bridget Jones.

I love Alesha, love the 'ee' sound in girls names.
Jolene is also nice, but so linked with the song. Joelle for something similar?

That’s quite a mixture! Some of his aren’t too bad- although I can’t imagine introducing baby Trisha to people. But then again Diana is the same type of name, at least in my head. Baby Jolene would be pretty funny.

My ex kept suggesting names that made me I finally twigged he was suggesting names of page 3 girls. Might have been a coincidence but I think not.

I LOVE Cosmo and Estelle(a)

The rest I’m with you on though!

We had a aimilar issue, I did not like husband choices and he did not like mine, we ended up with a list of 4 we ended up agreeing on. It is your baby and no one else should have a say. And never would I call a child after a family member, I wanted my kids to be their own person and not named after anyone. Good luck.

Estella isn't too bad, and Comso is a nice name for a boy. Did he have any other suggestions for boy's names?

Estella is nice, Cosmo is OK

Kiana sounds like a Disney Princess, Tricia sounds like a dinner lady from the 70s, Jolene like a US dinner lady from the 70s, Indy and Aliesha are illiterate.. and the idea of a man suggesting Chastity as a name for a daughter is more disturbing than I can say.

Either LTB, or get that name app / stick two pieces of paper to the fridge, and keep writing down suggestions till you agree a shortlist of 3-6.

He can’t insist on these ridiculous names so don’t worry, just be firm. Does he not like Diana?

Another poster who quite likes Estella (actually prefer it to trendier Stella) - it has an elegant sound to me and the Great Expectations character isn't that bad (almost as sinned against as sinner with the way she was raised).

But yes, all the rest... aren't great - although Indie (this spelling) is surprisingly trendy now, so a DD named that wouldn't stand out at least. Equally Alicia spelt this way is perfectly fine imo (can still be pronounced as "Aleesha" if wanted, it's a legitimate pronunciation).

I do much prefer your choices, particularly your classic sounding, underused girls picks - although Nell as a given name rather than a nn for Helena/Eleanor is a touch trendy for my taste (as are Charlie and Will - although lovely nn's for Charles and William! Jack is nice too and feels so well used now, I think most people have forgotten it was a originally a nn).

Estelle instead of Estella?
Indigo? Indy as nn
Julia/Juliana
Cosmo - boys name
Patricia with nn Trisha?
Katerina
Azalea - it's a flower
Charlotte

Same letters but I've suggested alternative names.

I like Indy (I'd spell it Indie) and Estella (maybe Estelle instead). The rest sound like a Jeremy Kyle guest. Is he from the US? Poor you. Luckily you don't need your family's advice - try and keep the name picking private.

@NotTheGrinchAgain

They are awful. Estella reminds me of Joey's chain-smoking agent in Friends!

Her name was Estelle. I got to name my sister as a 15 year old and I loved FRIENDS and especially Estelle. Haha - guess what her name is

To be fair, I don't like Diana either, his names feel flamboyany, but yours seem very dull in comparison. you have very very different tastes.

I'd start from scratch tbh. There are online lists of names where you can select names you like, he selects names he likes and it shows you where the overlap is. We tried it for DD and got one boy's name that we agreed on so not always perfect.

Politely tell your MIL to butt out, or only discuss names in bed so it's a discussion for just the two of you, and don't fret if you don't have a name before baby is here. It might help to see whether they look like an "X" when they come out rather than having a cut and dried name in advance.

If chastity is a family name, offer to put it as a middle name, although loudly offer MILs name as a middle name instead and watch her take your side...

I prefer Estelle to Estella, sounds a little more grown up to me. Also love your suggestion of Diana though. (Diane might be a bit less tragic princess.) Charlotte is a good idea from a PP, Clara possibly as you both like A ending names?

Names are so subjective, some people will love what you don’t like and at the end of the day baby is your baby so you and hubby need to BOTH like it.. if you don’t like any of his suggestions, keep looking!
I’ve said no to so many of my partners suggestions and he has mine!

I love Estella I loved the David Lean film version of Great Expectations so for me it’s iconic. I think Kianna and Jolene wouldn’t be my first choice but are also nice names.

I like Nell from your list.

I don't like the meaning of Chastity, and I don't particularly like the style of Kiana and Aliesha (which I would prefer to spell Alisha anyway, it's more streamlined and easy to pronounce). The rest are not too bad IMO. Indy and Cosmo both sound a bit Boden-wearing, sailing-lesson-having, middle-class-creative to me, which is not something I would personally go for but it wouldn't make me think less of the child.

But I don't think any of them would automatically be bullied. I've known children with very unusual names who were happy and popular.

Does no-one remember the creepy, Benny Hill-ish character Cosmo Smallpiece, played by Les Dawson??

I'm with you on this, OP, they are all hideous!

A few alternatives:

Indy - Imogen, Isobel (Izzy)
Jolene - Juliet, Joanna, Lena
Cosmo - Cleo, Cerys
Estella - Esme, Ella
Trisha - Tessa, Mischa
Kiana - Chiara, Keira
Aliesha - Lisa, Alicia
Chastity - Carys, Charlotte

Personally I reeeeally dislike your names, very bland! I don’t love your husbands suggestions either but they’re definitely more interesting. Apart from Chastity which is just god awful!