Ottoline or Mirren?

[LizzieS88]

We are having a baby girl and really struggling for names. The current favourites are Ottoline and Mirren...
Ottoline: we love but does it come with too much baggage - too posh / grand / pretentious (nb we don't like Ottilie as an alternative)?
Mirren: maybe not as pretty but it is unusual but not difficult to pronounce. Also it's Scottish, where I grew up.

What do you think?

(Other names we've considered are Charlotte but it feels a bit too common and I don't really like the royal family connection; and Rosamund, but we don't like Roz / Rozzie as she'd get called...)

Is Ottoline LINE or LEEN?

Mirren just makes me think of mirin.

I think definitely LEEN (or how we would choose to pronounce it). I did worry that about Mirin, but I don't think that's a common association? I love the actress Mirren Mack.

I like both, though they're quite different. Mirren always makes me think someone is mis-spelling the Irish Muireann, though I do know it's the Scottish version of the same name.

Ottoline Morrell will always come to mind for me, but that might be a good thing!

Mirren

Mirren - lovely Scottish name

Ottoline - far too posh and frilly

Mirren is lovely! Never heard of Ottoline and much like the different pronunciations you get if Madeline/Madeleine I wouldn’t know which to go with so it could be a lifetime of correcting people 🤷🏼‍♀️

*of

Mirren is the daughters name in Catastrophe I believe? The joke being that Rob Delaney can't pronounce it.

Ha, that's Muireann. Mirren (to me at least!) is much clearer in pronunciation!

Ottoline is ok.

Mirren doesn't have an especially attractive sound and it makes me think of the football team.

Ottoline is by far the nicest of the two

I prefer Mirren. Ottoline is too fussy for and blends into the super trendy Ottilie.

Exactly this. Love Mirren.

Definitely Mirren

Ottoline sounds nice. Not a fan of Mirren personally but I’ve never heard it as a first name.

I like Mirren

Mirren.

For me, Ottoline suffers from an unfortunate combination of being both too clunky and too frilly.

I think I prefer Merryn to Mirren though.

Ottoline would be a very grand and eccentric name to pull off. Which could be great. But maybe not if the owner of it was very shy and retiring. With more Ottilies about, perhaps she could shorten to Otty and it would fit in with that trend if she didn't want to stand out. I feel I should like Mirren (and also Merryn) more than I do. But I don't really like either that much. I prefer Morven which is also Scottish. Or Marsali.

I am calling my daughter Muireann when she's born next month. It means person from the sea. I love it.

What about Morvern, a beautiful Scottish place name. Mirren makes me think of Paisley.

Poor old Paisley. Was a hip and happening place in the 1820s.

Mirren, by a long shot.

Mirren

I feel like I might see Ottoline in a bottle as a fuel additive on the shelf at Halfords, or being insufferable having come second at a showjumping event.

Mirren, yes in a bottle with the soy sauce, but infinitely better. I like it.