Alternative/abbreviation to Judith?

[Nellie2710]

My husband and I are expecting our first baby in November. I sadly lost my mum 7 years ago and I would love to have her name as the baby's second name, but at risk of sounding like an awful person, I just don't like my mum's name (sorry mum!)!

We love the name Alice for her first name. My mum's name was Judith. Her middle name was Mary (and so is mine) so that's an option too, but I feel I am doing her an injustice if I don't have Judith as her middle name.

So... can anyone think of an alternative/abbreviation. My dad used to call her Judy but my husband's vetoed that!

I think we'll probably just end up with Alice Judith, as many have said you don't use middle names much now anyway, but worth seeing if anyone can think of something else!

Thanks :)

[EssexCat]

Jude. One of my closest friends is called Jude and I absolutely love it. Not even sure what her full name is actually!

[Biscuitsneeded]

I would just go with Alice Judith. Loads of people have middle names that are not 'of the time' but are the name of a family member. By the time Alice grows up, Judith might even be a cool name again and she might want to use it! I alos think Alice Judith flows nicely.

[Purpletopaz42]

I think Alice Judith sounds lovely. I was just looking through a baby names book I've got and under Judith variations it has Juditha, Judeena and Judita, don't know if you like any of those? I was also thinking if you go down the Mary route, maybe a variation on Mary like Marie, Maria or Mariah

[Pemba]

There's nothing wrong with Judith, I'm not particularly fond of it either but that's probably just because we perceive it as dated. Objectively the sound of it is absolutely fine, it honours your mum and its only a middle name anyway so won't be in use daily.

Or you could have 2 middle names so Alice Nameyoulikebetter Judith.

[Pemba]

Could reverse your mum's names, so Alice Mary Judith, I think that flows well.

[simbobs]

Jude is quite popular now but often for boys. Sounds nice but doesn't really honour your mum, so either use her name or don't do it. I'm not sure what the point of middle names is, unless you have a very common surname.

[Ihaveoflate]

I love the name Judith. It's my daughter's Hebrew name (Yehudit).

If it's a middle name, noone will actually use it on a daily basis anyway. I would go for it and honour your mum.

[goldfinchonthelawn]

Jude is an obvious alternative. But I think Alice Judith sounds lovely. You rarely get to use the middle name, anyway.

Jodie/Jody/Jodi are English versions of the name. And Jutta (pronounced Yutta I tghink) is a nice Scandinavian version if you like those more.

[TeenDivided]

I think Judith is a fine name.
I also thik that if you want to honour your mum it needs to be her name Judith, or the name by which she was known, Judy. Youcan't start using random other similar names shortenings.
Or just use Mary which is also lovely.

[DorritLittle]

Alice Mary Judith, I think.

[Yika]

Jude is the obvious shortening I think but Judith is actually a lovely name and goes well with Alice.

[Weefreetiffany]

Ju
ditty
didi
jif
juju
juditherino if you’re not a fan of the whole brevity thing

[MoulinScrooge]

I’m a Judith, not keen on the full name but I’m abbreviated to Jude which I love and often get complimented on. As a child I was Judi and someone I know as an adult calls me it. I hate it but she’s too nice to correct. I think the suggestion of Alice Mary Judith is a good one. Not keen on it without the Mary.

[MotherOfWhippets]

I think it's fine. Alice Judith or Alice Mary is pretty. We all have three names in our family so you could have Alice Mary Judith 🤷🏻‍♀️ I wouldn't go with Jude etc as a PP said it's not your mum's name.

[DoYouRememberDiedreBarlow]

Alice Judith has a lovely ring to it op! I like Jude as well.

[thirstyformore]

Use Judith. It's lovely and has meaning. My DD has her great grandma's name as her middle name. It's not been in the top 100 names since the 1950s and even then it wasn't that popular!!

[DuneFan]

I think Judith is lovely and goes well with Alice.

What about your mother's maiden name as a middle name alternative?

[kuvira]

If it was me, I would go for Alice Judith or Alice Mary Judith. Personally, I just don't really see the point in changing honour names, unless the relative strongly disliked their name and didn't want it to be passed down.

I think Judith is a nice name and has a lot of history. The Biblical character was cool and appears in many stunning paintings. It's dated now, but name trends are cyclical so it will likely be back in fashion at some point.

[WildfellAnne]

Judith is really nice, and I also like Judy and Jude. I would use Judith definitely.

[LubaLuca]

Judith's a nice name, nothing wrong with it at all. My friend Judith gets called Jude, but if you're using it as a middle name you'd never need to shorten it.

I have an out of fashion biblical middle name to honour a relative. It's unimportant in daily life so even though I'm not a huge fan of it and it doesn't really go with my first name, I don't care. And if anyone asks about it I have a little story about a wonderful aunt of my dad's who I never met.

[Cindie943811A]

The nice thing about using Judith is that when you tell people they are almost bound to remark on how unusual it is which then brings back memories of your mum when you tell them why you chose to use it.
Very common in the 50s so almost bound to gain popularity in the next 20 years.

[WildfellAnne]

There are lots of international variants:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_(given_name)

[oakleaffy]

If you are going to remember your Mum, it has to be Judith or nothing.
Jude is a male name, and Judith does sound very middle aged - but there’s no escaping the fact that names do “ Date”
Ethel is a very old ladyish name, and Cyril is an elderly man’s name- as is Norman.
The hip and happening names of today will be impossibly dated in 60 years time! .

[Nellie2710]

Thanks all for taking the time to get back to me.

Having read through I think most of you are right that I should just use Judith otherwise it's not quite honouring my mum, which is one of the reasons I didn't really want to use Mary as that's more of a family name. I think as much as I'm not a huge fan, it's not a name that will be used daily and at least I know she will always have a piece of my mum with her!

I love some of the suggestions though so thank you :)

Thanks again :)

[oakleaffy]

Good choice !
I really wish I’d named my DS “ William” as a middle name- after both his Grandads..
But DS has no middle name at all.
Stupidly I thought he could choose one as he got older, but it doesn’t seem to work like that.