Thoughts on girl name picks? Due in 5 days!!!

[Cetrion]

Hello! Would very much appreciate hearing thoughts on DH and I's picks for our first daughter. Any ratings and opinions would be great!

Leonora - Very slightly my current fav right now. Also love Nora as nn

Rosalie - Love this. Only downside for me is Rose as nn since its just so common right now but it's not massively bothering me.

Severine - DH suggestion that we both love. We worry that she might stand out a bit with a French name being raised in Scotland? (Dh is french, I am scottish)

Circe - A weirder one but both really like it!

I'm also open to any suggestions based on the names mentioned. Thanks in advance!

Would you pronounce Rosalie like Rosalind or like Rosa-lee?

Do you have the patience to explain which your way is to every person who sees it first on paper? (as you can tell I'm not wild about names with more than one pronunciation because I know I'm not that person)

Of you list, I like Leonora the best (though prefer Leonie to Nora)

You can't call her Circe surely? I really love Nora and also really like Severine. Leonora is ok but seems a bit long and fussy to me but there seems to be a theadora Dorothea revival going on right now so maybe fits with that? But I do love Nora. I'd go for that alone but leonora/nora gives options if she wants to be a famous novelist! But so would Severine! Rose names are very in so I'd not choose at the moment.

@swifty1974 Its extremely interesting that all the names you suggested are names typical among english speaking people...Also interesting that my name suggestions that you're so frustrated by are not ( maybe with Rosalie as the exception)

Severine is extremely commonplace in France. Circe isn't unheard of (mostly in Greece obv) and Leonora as well as other variations are, again, regular names in France, Italy etc

Its a tad unbecoming to assume the world starts and ends with England. If you offend anyone it's only because your xenophobia is on show 🙂

I did say its just my opinion....some of the names you hear on this forum are plain ridiculous though....no need to get all defensive....dont ask if you dont want an honest opinion....we cant all like the same things otherwise life would be very boring wouldnt it....

@AuntieStella We were thinking Rosa-lee pronunciation.

I do actually love Leonie as an alternative nn for Leonora!

I really like Severine and don't think using a French name in Scotland is an issue at all- thing of the auld alliance!

Circe- I think the standard English pronunciation is Sir-see (rather than the Greek hard Ks, different vowels too). I think it's a lifetime of correcting pronunciation (suspect she'll get "Circle" quite a lot) and Homer's Circe is a complex character whom I think one might have mixed feelings about being named after.

Leonora and Rosalie are both fine.

It's not completely unknown as a female name in France, I know two French Fedoras from when I lived in Paris, and OP's DH is French.

I don't like Leonora but I love Leonie!

Rosalie is cute, and feel like it'd be typically shortened to Rosie rather than Rose!

Not keen on the other two either, especially not Circe!

You dont know me or have any idea what I believe in and to suggest that a perfect stranger is xenophobic is a bit of a long shot....I just get a bit tired of all the pretentious names people come out with....what youre suggesting is that somehow Im some kind of biggot because I dont like a certain type of name....thats a bit of a stretch dont you think? Is it possible I just dont like the names becuase they all sound a bit like youre trying too hard?

Some gorgeous choices!

Leonora - love it, Leonie is nice, Leo or Nora as well
Rosalie - beautiful too and will sound lush in your DH's accent
Severine - not into this one, it looks like the words sever and severe neither one of which is that nice in meaning, I'd always imagined it meant "cut off" (I guess from severed) although just checked and it means serious. Are there any other choices from SH with a similar sound?
Circe - I quite like this, don't care that she's a mythical witch BUT it is very sssss-y sounding. Also rhymes with Percy I think (don't ask why that puts me off but it does). There are some other lovely classical names around if you don't think this one is quite right. Ariadne? Penelope? Hypatia? Athena?

Maybe you will know which one is the right one when you see her

BTW I think calling your child Sarah or Claire or Rachel would sound like you were trying FAR too hard, either to go back to the 70s, to get ahead of the next trend, or just to name your child something IMO really really boring.

Not really, if I met a baby Sarah or Rachel I wouldn't blink an eye but that's because like most people I think parents can generally call kids what they like (providing it's a name, although if I met a little Kelloggs or Table I'd be polite).

@swifty1974 tbf I could switch that logic back on you. You called me, a perfect stranger, pretentious based on the names that I think are nice...

You looked at my names (all but one at their most popular in non-english speaking countries) and said they were pretentious and then proceeded to suggest to me names that are very typical of British women...that very much comes across like you just have an issue with names that aren't British enough for you...

Also people who feel the need to do the whole "I know you'll all get offended but" type of rubbish 90% of the time are well aware that they're being goady...

I would say Leonora. If you don’t like Rose for a nickname then Rosalie isn’t the one. Séverine just sounds severe, and Circe (even if you like it from the myth) is likely to remind most people of Game of Thrones.

Also, while I agree with you that the world ‘doesn’t begin and end in England’ this child’s life likely will. So despite the fact that names like Circe are known in Greece it won’t stop the child having to explain it and have it mispronounced 24/7. One of my rules for choosing a name was always to try and find one that won’t invite questions or spelling problems right off the bat. My name is like that (not common in England and often misspelled or mispronounced) and it’s a pain in the butt!

So if you can believe it I've never seen/read game of thrones so wasn't aware of the circe (cersie?) character and unless google is lying to me she's not the nicest of characters 😂That might just lose circe some points and tbh it was already the least likely of the four 😂

I'd say it's a 3 horse race now

Yes - maybe you didn’t connect them because he’s sort of played with the spelling but it’s basically Circe. Not the nicest character is an understatement! Not good associations, especially if she had a surprise twin!

Circe was on the list for DC1.
Severine in ok seeing as she'll be half-french half-scottish

Not keen on Leonora/Nora and Rosalie makes me think of a rosie lee

@Kanaloa tbf Dh, our sons and I all speak both english and French and will be moving to France at some point in the near future and we currently live in Scotland so england wont really be a big part of her life. One of the reasons I like the names above is that I think they all work nicely in both french and english and wouldn't be out of place in either country (maybe with the exception of severine in scotland)

And yes game of thrones has definitely ruined circe for me 😂in particular the incest stuff is not something I want an associated with dd 😂

All this talk of England. I thought they lived in Scotland! So that's ok then. I actually agree with the op. I think the way people talk about names they haven't heard of just because they come from other countries is a bit shocking on here and ignorant. People need to stop and think before just hitting the keyboard and slagging off names they know nothing about. The ops dh is French and choosing a nice French name. Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it's pretentious or try hard. Similarly when people are very snobby about names the other way which also gets a bit unpleasant on here. I think the op is right in being a bit offended to be honest. I don't know why people cant go sorry fair enough occasionally. I'm ignorant too. I'm not that familiar with the name Severine but I think it's great. We're an international country and it's great that names reflect that more these days. I'm sure it wouldn't be tough to be called Severine in Scotland these days.

@Hadtocomment all of this ^^ thank you!

@Hadtocomment

I agree that there is far too much snobbery on here re names but realistically if you post on here you likely do want to here other people’s opinions don’t you? It would be pretty useless if we all just said ‘yeah that’s nice. Yeah that’s nice. Yeah that one’s nice too.’ I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying you think a name isn’t nice or you don’t like it when op has asked for opinions. I’m familiar with the name, I just think it isn’t too nice because it has the word ‘severe’ in it.

The greek is more like Keer-kee (keer one syllable with rhotic r not kee-er), but Circe is usually Sersee

Some lovely choices OP. Unusual without being weird or Youneek.

Severine and Leonora are my favourites, both lovely. I don't think either would be a problem, once the first introduction was made, in Scotland.

Circe I actually in a geeky way, though not sure I'd be brave enough to use. Though anyone who has read the wonderful Madeline Miller book would probably associate it with her retelling of the story and not the original myth, so largely positive and feminist.

Rosalie is the only one I'm sort of bored by, to be honest. It's objectively nice and your safest choice, but also feels a bit blend-y with other Rose names, to me.

@Kanaloa I mean lots of people on this thread have said the don't like some of or all the names I've picked and that's fine.

But I do think it's a bit suspect to say that they're all pretentious (all of them but one not being english speaking names commonly) and then going ahead to suggest common British names..

If an Irish couple came on here and said "We love the names Caoihme, Aodh and Siobhon" and someone said "They all sound pretentious/made up etc you should call them Sharon or Elizabeth instead" idk I do think that's a bit off?

Maybe I'm overreacting? I do see on here all the time though people saying names are weird, pretentious, made up etc just because they haven't heard of it 😕