Phoebe or Cosima

[TeddyPlaygroup90]

My husband and I had complete agreement for our first daughter, we picked her name before she was conceived and didn’t change the entire way through.

This time…it’s a bit different. I like Cosima, for sentimental reasons and a link with my first daughter’s name. My husband prefers Phoebe. We’ve narrowed it down to those two.

They both have their drawbacks (one people don’t always know how to pronounce, the other people don’t always know how to spell). But they’re both beautiful.

If you had to pick one of them, which would it be?

(P.S. I also like Zelda, but first daughter has a Z name. Would that be a bit much?)

Thanks all!

I prefer Phoebe.

Cosima is more unusual, but to me it's very belonging to a certain social group and that would put me off.

Zelda is too Sabrina the Teenage witch for me!

If you have a Zoe a Zelda is a bit much. I prefer Phoebe but really hate pheeeeebs

Phoebe is lovely.

Cosima is too fussy for me & Zelda is a warrior isn't she?

I like Phoebe. It's not so unusual that no-one knows how to spell it, and it's elegant.
Cosima is a bit too unusual for my liking and I wouldn't be sure how to spell it even if I'd heard it. For instance, is it Coss-eema, or Cos -ima, with a short 'a?' And is the accent on the first or second syllable?

Cosima

I prefer Cosima. Phoebe just makes me think “feeble”

Cosima is lovely and more unusual.

I prefer Phoebe

Phoebe

Phoebe is lovely.

Cosima is a bit clunky.

And agree that Zelda sounds like a witch's name.

Is popularity a consideration? Phoebe hasn’t troubled the top ten but it’s been consistently in the top thirty for fifteen years so there are quite a few of them about. Lovely name though.

Yeah I think two Z names might be a bit much! Was really just asking for confirmation that I was right to discount it as an option.

Cosima is pronounced Cos-ima. People may not know how to pronounce it at first but it’s not hard to say once someone tells you how.

I’m in Ireland and the only Irish name I like that I’d actually use is Réaltín which has three alternate spellings and hardly anyone outside the country can pronounce, so Cosima doesn’t seem that mad to me!

I absolutely love Cosima! Such a pretty name.

Phoebe is beautiful but over the last 10-15 years it has been incredibly popular. I know so many young Phoebes.

How about Ramona, Miranda, Phaedra, Lilian, Rosamund....?

@ZoyaTheDestroyer

Is popularity a consideration? Phoebe hasn’t troubled the top ten but it’s been consistently in the top thirty for fifteen years so there are quite a few of them about. Lovely name though.

The only way that popularity is a consideration is that my first daughter has a name that nobody else has been named in my country, at least for the past ten years. We picked the name for very sentimental reasons after a horrible tragedy, and we loved the meaning. We didn’t pick it because we wanted an unusual name, our second choice was Holly.

But now that we have a child with an unusual name part of me is slightly worried that Phoebe is a bit plain and that the new baby won’t think her name is as special as her sister’s. Which is probably what is putting me off Phoebe if I’m honest, because it’s a beautiful name but I know a few.

That’s the problem with having a super meaningful name for the first I suppose. If I’d gone with Holly maybe this would be a lot simpler! 😂

phoebe

Cosima is lovely.

But now that we have a child with an unusual name part of me is slightly worried that Phoebe is a bit plain and that the new baby won’t think her name is as special as her sister’s. Which is probably what is putting me off Phoebe if I’m honest, because it’s a beautiful name but I know a few.

You might find it's the other way round, with the older one complaining that she got the super unusual, no-one uses it anymore, associated with a tragedy name and her sister is called Phoebe!

Cosima is beautiful.

(I also like Zelda)

I prefer Cosima to Phoebe.

However, I really prefer Realtín over both of those, though I'd spell it Reiltín. It's so pretty and it means 'little star'.

@NuffSaidSam

But now that we have a child with an unusual name part of me is slightly worried that Phoebe is a bit plain and that the new baby won’t think her name is as special as her sister’s. Which is probably what is putting me off Phoebe if I’m honest, because it’s a beautiful name but I know a few.

You might find it's the other way round, with the older one complaining that she got the super unusual, no-one uses it anymore, associated with a tragedy name and her sister is called Phoebe!

Her name is actually remembering the moment when we realised everything was going to be ok, which happened a long time after the event itself. So it’s a name remembering a really happy, beautiful thing - not the sad part. I’m big into name meanings and I would feel it was unlucky to tie a new child’s name to something horrible.

But I do take your point on the rest of it! The problem is that so much depends on the temperament of the kid which you can’t know in advance. I just thought that if they both had unusual names they could at least bond over it if they hate them and give out about us when they’re older! 😂

@DramaAlpaca

I prefer Cosima to Phoebe.

However, I really prefer Realtín over both of those, though I'd spell it Reiltín. It's so pretty and it means 'little star'.

Your spelling is more correct, so if I did use it I’d probably go for that.

Problem with Reiltín is that while it’s a beautiful meaning, I’m not fluent as Gaeilge and I think if you go beyond the more common Irish names (Ronan, Áine etc.) people assume that you have some degree of fluency with the language so I worry that would be a burden. Everyone I know who has a less common Irish name is fairly proficient with the language. To be truly fluent in Irish you need to have it at home/in school and that won’t be the case with us.

Can you tell I’m an over thinker? 😂

Phoebe, it was our runner up girls name

Phoebe

Cosima. I'm obsessed with this name. So beautiful. Phoebe makes me think of Amoeba for some reason.