Which one if your favourite?

[caitlinrose]

Names I've been thinking about this week. DH likes Sarah but I knew quite a few growing up. I know she'd likely be the only one while she's at nursery/in school/at uni but later in the workplace she will still encounter lots of older Sarahs.

Sarah
Maria
Gwen
Peony
Alice
Sophie
Valentine

Valentine and Peony are probably too out there so they are simply names I find interesting, not names for our list. Gwendolyn was on our list but just never looked right to me but Gwen sort of feels too short? Wondering if Maria is a bit boring.

Are you going for the French pronounciation then? For girls it would be Val-en-teen.

Everyone in an English speaking country will pronounce it to raise with pine and assume it was a boy's name.

You'd be complicating her life unnecessarily

• to rhyme with pine

Alice or Sophie

I like Valentina more than valentine but that's definitely my favourite on your list. Followed by Sophie (again, prefer Sofia).

I always thought Valentine from Ender's Game was pretty well-known as it's a bestseller and a classic that was also made into a very successful movie. She says it to rhyme with pine.

Maria is lovely and classic! Valentine/a is also nice, and I love Valya, which is the Russian short form.

Alice

Gwen is great

It is a bit minimal as a full name. I think the Gwendoline spelling is better

I love Alice.

The rest I'm not keen on.

Peony is one I'd completely avoid as the obvious abbreviation is Pee.

Alice is my favourite off your list

Valentine is definitely a girl name in French.

Valentina is the German version (and maybe Italian, Spanish?)

Love Gwen. I know a baby Gwenan, Gwen for short.

I like Gwen and Alice

I prefer Maria. Lovely sounding name.

Sophie

1)Alice
2)Sophie

The others

Love Sophie (not Sophia/Sofia).
I like Sarah. Rachel has a similar feel, as does Emma and I like all of those.
i find Alice a bit weak.

I really like both Gwen and Gwennie. I would opt for a longer name, my preference is Gwendolen (Welsh spelling) or Gwennan.

I don’t love the others.

Sarah - nice but I know so many. A Sarah born now might not meet many in the workplace.
Maria - nice
Gwen - like. Gwendoline is better than Gwendolyn, but some will say Gwendo-leen. Can be short for several lovely welsh names, but they'll get mispronounced. The anglicised welsh ones tend to not be great.
Peony - Pee. Will get Pee-OH-nee instead of PEE-uh-nee
Alice - love it but it's popular
Sophie - love it but Sophia is overused
Valentine - it's a boy's name

The only Valentine I know is a man, in real life.

Valentine in French is pronounced differently though.

@ShirleyHolmes , Gwendolen is a welsh name - Gwen-DOLL-enn, not GWEN-duh-lyn

This is true. However, my understanding is that Gwendolen is also the original English spelling and characters with this name and spelling appear in works by George Eliot and Oscar Wilde. So unless you live in a Welsh-speaking part of Wales I think it's fine to use Gwendolen with the English pronunciation.

I love love the name Gwen. I think it stands on its own although personally I would go for Gwendolen on the BC. Gwendolyn looks American to me, and Gwendoline I associate too strongly with Mallory Towers!

Gwen is by far my favourite on your list, OP. If I had to pick a runner up it would be Sophie.

Valentine in French is pronounced differently though.

Valen-teen like Christine

I LOVE the name Sarah & think Sadie is a cute wee nickname. Also love Maria from your list, I really like it’s simplicity yet feels very international also to me, similar to Anna.

What about Sara - or Zara.
love Alice!