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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Olive, Zara, Milla, Theodora, Letty or India

43 replies

GigglingPinkGiraffe · 02/04/2022 16:21

Thoughts on our shortlist, or similar name suggestions:

Olive
Zara
Milla (Millicent, Amelia or Camilla full name)
Theodora (Thea or Teddy for short)
Letty (Violet or Charlotte full name)
India (I guess Indy for short)

If we don't use Olive as a first name it would be the middle name.

OP posts:
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Madrenetterhere · 02/04/2022 16:24

LOVE Olive it's my little girls middle name! Butttttt don't like the rest of them in particular Milla just makes me think of milia (whiteheads) lol sorry.

KELLOGSspeck · 02/04/2022 16:25

Love India but spelt Indiya

isthatanotherbastardgrey · 02/04/2022 16:27

Zara for me, but I'm biased as DD is a Zara 🙂

wintersdreams · 02/04/2022 16:29

I love Letty Smile

Clockstooforward · 02/04/2022 16:31

Olive or India

ISmellBurnings · 02/04/2022 16:40

India. Thea or Zara. Love these.

Milla is such a nothing name and I can’t stand Olive, so frumpy.

Electrox · 02/04/2022 16:48

I like Zara best.

NannyR · 02/04/2022 16:52

Really dislike Olive (oily, murky green fruit) but I love Olivia. Zara is fab and I love Letty but would use Laetitia personally.

Diverseopinions · 02/04/2022 16:52

Lettice, as in the character in 'Murder at the Vicarage' by Agatha Christie. Just as parents went from like Olivia to thinking Olive is actually OK too, so same would work with Lettice - no different from choosing India, which sounds like a country...Lettice can be like salad, but so what.

Your names are a bit pretty-sounding without a meaning and without a serious-sounding version of them , and also liable to be duplicated, with too many of them in the class. A good name with soft sounds and 'y' sound at end, but more unusual, is Clemency - a serious and meaningful association, but pretty, flowery sounds, like in Clementine.

halfsiesonapotnoodle · 02/04/2022 16:53

Zara is without a doubt the nicest. Milla reminds me of whiteheads or a miller and don't get me started on the ugly noise that is A mealy a.

LittleBird4 · 02/04/2022 16:55

I like Zara and Letty.

Diverseopinions · 02/04/2022 16:59

Portia is an unusual version of the pretty, classic name, and has gravitas.

Grumpasaurusrex · 02/04/2022 17:14

Theodora is my absolute favourite 😍

Ellmau · 02/04/2022 19:56

Olive - I prefer Olivia. Olive makes me think small and brown/green.
Zara - my favourite of your shortlist. Very nice classy name.
Milla (Millicent, Amelia or Camilla full name) - meh. Quite like Camilla.
Theodora (Thea or Teddy for short) - I like this, Thea nicer than Teddy for short.
Letty (Violet or Charlotte full name) - I don't really see this as a natural short for either. Maybe for Violette - or Juliet?
India (I guess Indy for short) - not keen.

urbanbuddha · 02/04/2022 20:04

In order

Theodora (Thea or Teddy for short) like the name love the nns
Zara
Letty (Violet or Charlotte full name)
India (I guess Indy for short)
Milla (Millicent, Amelia or Camilla full name) don't like Amelia

I don't like Olive even although I know a lovely little one.

DotDotDotDotDot · 02/04/2022 20:10

My favourite is Theodora, I like both your nn suggestions too. Although people would pronounce it Fea-dora around here which isn’t as nice.
I also like Violet/Letty. Wouldn’t Charlotte naturally be shortened to Lottie?
I don’t like India as a name, it feels a bit colonial to me.

IsThePopeCatholic · 02/04/2022 20:15

Theodora / Thea are great. Hate Teddy. I don’t really like the other names.

YellowAndGreenToBeSeen · 02/04/2022 20:24

I find Olive to be an ugly name. Makes me think of a just post war Britain, 1948, drab and depressing.

I really like Thea. Beautiful name (and could also be Althea)

BonjourCrisette · 02/04/2022 20:32

Olive - really like
Zara - OK
Milla (Millicent, Amelia or Camilla full name) - don't like Amelia, Camilla is meh, Millicent is OK
Theodora (Thea or Teddy for short) - OK
Letty (Violet or Charlotte full name) - like Letty but not Violet or Charlotte and they don't work with the nickname very naturally. I like Lettice and Letitia,
India (I guess Indy for short) - really dislike, dated and wasn't that nice the first time round

merryhouse · 02/04/2022 20:43

Much prefer Olivia to Olive, who is stolid and practical and very early 1950s.

I'm leaning to Dorothy more than Theodora (maybe I just don't like a long O?). Wouldn't use Teddy, it's a baby boy or a soft toy.

Zara's okay... I remember when I was little thinking that Princess Anne just wanted to be A Bit More Special than calling her daughter Sarah Grin

Milla is a bit nothingy. Millicent is a totally different feel. Prefer Amelia to Camilla but would use either of them in preference to Milla.

Are you white British? India is a bit dodgy for a white British person.

If I were told that Letty is short for Violet or Charlotte I'd think it was a bit contrived because you thought Laetitia sounded too posh.

Jemima
Cecily
Irene
Amy
Marie

maybein2022 · 02/04/2022 21:02

Theodora is my favourite, and is on our list, although we are considering just Thea by itself, rather than a NN.

I like Zara. Olive is one I’ve never been able to warm to. Letty as a NN for Charlotte is a big stretch IMO. Love Charlotte though!

Milla are you pronouncing it Mee-luh or
mill-uh? I like the first way, but would then spell it Mila which I love. Amelia is my favourite of the longer names, but it’s hugely popular (which doesn’t bother me at all, but it’s an issue for some!)

So, I think I’d either go for Theodora NN Thea, or just Thea, Zara or Charlotte.

maybein2022 · 02/04/2022 21:02

Oh and I LOVE India. Love it. But I am not sure about using it.

GigglingPinkGiraffe · 02/04/2022 21:31

Thanks all. Zara was our favourite but we had hesitations (mainly around the shop name which no one has mentioned... while we can't get away from that, it clearly isn't as big deal as we worried). Lots of good points here though.

India is off our list thinking more about the potential connotations of colonialism.
Theodora I adore but worry about the F/Th - I have begun overthinking the pronunciation despite not having an accent which would lean toward fea-dora. We like Thea but again overthink Fea/Thea now.
Letty - I am hesitant about what full name would actually work. I don't like Laetitia. I like Lettice but couldn't do it - not brave enough!
Olive seems very marmite and Milla generally disliked.

OP posts:
DramaAlpaca · 02/04/2022 21:33

Zara is my favourite, and I like Olive too.

Luredbyapomegranate · 03/04/2022 02:20

@KELLOGSspeck

Love India but spelt Indiya
Dear God… not India, unless you have Indian heritage it really isn’t good, and dopey younique spellings don’t help that.

Olive only in a salad

Theodora is lovely. Dorey might be a more unusual / alternative nn. If you are worried about the th/f thing then Leonora might be an alternative

Zara is ok

Letty is ok. Not sure she’ll use it though

Milla is meh, I like Camilla though. The world does not need another Amelia