Ginevra, Genevieve

[Petcarb]

Opinions please. Not mad about Ginny/Gin nickname but don't really mind Gen. I understand Ginevra is Italian for Geneva, is it akin to naming your baby "Paris" or something? But it seems a v popular name there. And is there too much Harry Potter association? (I didn't even know until I googled it was the long form for Ginny Weasley.)

You’d get funny looks in Asia as Ginvera is a common brand of cheap body wash..
genevieve is beautiful!

Genevieve is nice.

Ginevra is Italian for Geneva but no, there's not the same connotations somehow as calling your child Paris. It's very unusual (only 5,000 in total) and considered quite a "posh" name. I've only ever known a handful. I like it! (The ones I know are young- all under 15) I've never heard anyone connecting it with Ginny Weasley (I didn't know either till you said!)

I love Genevieve. It’s in my top 10.

we have a chicken called Genevra.

Genevieve when it’s pronounced Jean-Vyev is one of my most fave names of all time!

I like both.

I do think of Ginny Weasley for Ginevra and would be surprised if you can avoid Ginny.

The Genevieves I know shorten to Gen.

Genevieve is great

Ginerva isn’t, it sounds like something vaguely medical or the name of a bank

There is a Scottish flower name Genista which is OK

I love Genevieve.

Love Genevieve also don't mind Genista as mentioned above but I'm not a big fan of Ginerva

Thanks so much. I've never heard the name Genista before, also lovely. Just need to get them past DH now!

Genevieve was one of my names if I'd had a girl baby. I didn't. It would have been the anglicised version though, because I rather love the nickname Jenny but really don't like Jennifer (awful family member association, she was never known as Jenny though). I'm also a fan of Jenna as a short version, but can also be used as a name in its own right.

I do like Ginevra and I wouldn't worry about the association with Italian city names - lots of girls called Florence, for example! and Sien(n)a, for that matter. Venetia, Venice - all there! But I'm also a huge Harry Potter fan and would always associate it with Ginny Weasley.

Lots of people misreading Ginevra as Ginerva - dunno why - Jin-EV-ra, people!

A friend has a baby daughter called Genevieve, they shorten it to GIgi which I think is lovely.

Ginevra is OK, a little try hard perhaps?

Genevieve pronounced the French way if you're thoroughly British is also a bit wanky. Pronouncec Jenna-veev is lovely though.

What about Virginia?

I really love Genevieve. It's one of my personal favourites. It reminds of Catherine Deneuve in the Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

I do like Ginevra too. It's very popular in Italy - in their top 10 I believe? It's also the Italian form of Guinevere (as in the Arthurian character), so it's not like calling a child London or something.

I think in the UK it would get misread/mispronounced as "Ginerva" which would be a pain though. It also maybe sounds more charming in an Italian accent than in an English one.

I don't think the Harry Potter thing is a big deal since the character is just called Ginny in all the movies, so that's what most of the public know her as.

I know a Genevieve who goes by Evie, which I think is nice.

Gosh, Ginevra. From personal experience, I would REALLY counsel against a name which, when someone ask, what's your name? and you answer, they say "what?!" Ginevra is one of those, it really is. For a few years, while we were living abroad, my daughter had a name like that. It REALLY knocked her confidence. She'd say it in a big loud voice, and people would say, huh?! EVERY TIME. Poor kid. We're home now, and it's much better. But Ginevra, wow.

Going to go against the grain and say that I much prefer Ginevra to Genevieve. It’s more rhythmically appealing to me and flows off the tongue better.

A close friend of ours has a DD called Genevieve and it just sounds so clunky and prissy whenever she says it aloud - probably because she tends to emphasise the last syllable, so it’s ‘Jenna-VEEV’.

Ginevra just has a fresher and livelier feel to me.

Weirdly there are only 5000 Ginevras in the whole of Italy currently alive, but of those, over 3,000 were born in 2020.
It's gone from 0.0something % in 2000 to 1.something % in 2020.
I suppose it's like the Chloe phenomenon in the UK twenty or so years back!

Of the two, Genevieve, but I'm not keen on it

I went to school with a Ginevra (she was lovely), she got "Ginny" quite a lot.

They're both lovely, but Ginevra is perhaps the more straightforward in terms of pronunciation.

My sis is Genevieve, goes by Gennie. I like Ginevra too, but I like Gin/Ginnie.

I knew a girl named Giverny, which could be an option.

Where on earth is that pronunciation from?

The usual anglicised pn is jen-uh-veev.
The French pn of Geneviève has four syllables: zhen-uh-vee-ev.