Molly or Nell?

[VeronicaFranklin]

We're having our first baby and the names we have narrowed down are:

Molly Florence
Nell Grace

We're leaning towards Molly as it slightly better fits our surname and we feel it flows better.

So difficult choosing names! We original liked Penelope but my mum poo poo'ed it straight away! 🙈

If Penelope is really still your favourite then I would go with it. Feels more complete than Nell (which I also like) - and gives you the option of Nell nickname.

And definitely don’t discuss name choices with family, really not a good idea. My BIL and SIL made this mistake and MIL took it upon herself to try to convince them to chose a different name. They didn’t, so now we all know that MIL hates the name. Some things are better unsaid.

Ignore your mum. Penelope is a great name, better than your other two.

I like Nell, but not as a name in itself -if short for Eleanor or Helen etc it’s great.

Molly is a bit twee and tired -it’s been around for years. I’d expect a Molly to be in their 20s.

Our Elinor is a Nell, or even a Nellie!

Im not personally keen on Molly (nothing bad or offensive about it just my preference) but I LOVE Penelope with the nickname Nell. I even prefer Nell as a stand alone name to Molly.

Firstly, your mum had her chance to name a baby, now it’s your turn. NEVER discuss names in advance- only tell them when it’s a done deal ( I learned the hard way). Nell was high on my list, but I told my brother, who called dibs, as he wanted it, and then didn’t use it when he finally had a baby!
I think Nell is elegantly simple as a stand alone name or as a shortened name for Penelope. Molly has had a great run, but has been overused and is dated. Congrats!

Penelope is much better! Your mum had had a go at naming babies, now it's your turn.

Nell Grace

I like Nell but Nell Grace is a bit abrupt- I'd mix up the middles if I were you, to vary the number is syllables.

Oh and ignore your mum! Penelope Grace, nn Nell, is even better. ❤️

I'm not keen on either, but do like Penelope. What about Penny? It's a lovely name.

Penelope Grace. Beautiful 😍

I know it's not an option but I like Nell Florence

But if it has to be one of those, Nell is superior to Molly.

I love Penelope Grace or Penelope Florence. Both beautiful.

I also like Molly.

Not so keen on Nell.

Penelope is a 1000x better than Molly or Nell. Why not call her Penelope with the nn Nell?

Nell Florence

beautiful!

Molly. I much prefer Molly to Nell

I think Molly Grace sounds the best, especially if it goes with your surname and you haven’t been put off it like your first choice.

I really like Molly.

But really, you should ignore your mum and go for Penelope. She doesn't get a say, she's named her child(ren) already.

I like Molly Florence. Penelope is also cute. Sorry but I really don't like Nell. Eleanor would be better. Grace is ok just very dull, so overused as a middle name.

I like Molly Florence.

I keep telling my mum we haven't got a name but we have picked one and I've dropped it into baby name lists as she's so insistent on going through them. She doesn't like the name but hey ho it's our baby and I was called it for 6 weeks so she doesn't like many names as it is.

Penelope is a lovely name nn Nell.

Penelope is great. Do it!

Lots of Ellen's in my family known as Nell

I love both! I think Nell is a lovely name. Penelope's ok but I'm not so keen on that or Penny. But Elinor shortened to Nell is lovely. And Nell on its own is lovely. I don't know what else it might be short for - Helena? That's quite nice too. Molly is also really nice. I like both your names a lot. Both Nell Grace and Molly Florence are really lovely.

Getting picky, it's true that Grace, like Rose, seems to be the middle name Jane equivalent of its time. I think if you have middle names it's quite nice for them either to be meaningful like a tribute to a family member or nice person or friend or something like that. But both are lovely names.

I'm not a big fan of Molly (though love Polly). I like Nell but prefer it as a nn for Eleanor or Penelope.
Penelope Florence is a gorgeous name and Nell is the perfect nn.
I would avoid Grace as a mn just because it's the ultimate filler mn alongside Rose and May.