Opinions on Brontë

[Nearlywed2038]

Hello mumsnet!!

Currently expecting my first daughter, after 2 boys (Ralph and Henry).

Both my fiancé and I absolutely love literature and like the name Bronte, as a middle name for baby girl but, is it tacky?? 🙈

I do really love the name and it pays a nice homage to one of my favourite writers, but I can’t help but feel it’s a dog name..

Opinions/first names to go with it, thanks everyone :)

I like it, even as a first name. I know one Bronte (ending in an ee sound) and she's really really lovely.

I like it, it has a very pretty sound and a great association. I believe it is more popular in Australia as a girls' name.

I love it, go for it. (Tbh most people won't even know her middle name so even if it is often disliked it's really not an issue)

My DC's middle names barely get mentioned or discussed and I only really think about them when filling in forms.

My DS has an old family surname as one of his middle names (he has two) and no one has ever mistaken it for a double barrelled surname.

Moral of the story is... choose whatever middle name you like.

I think its lovely and would have it as a first name.
If a middle name what about Rosanna for the first name?

@Nearlywed2038 Georgia Ann goes beautifully with your boys' names and both take inspiration from the Brontes.

It's quite a popular first name in Australia

My daughter is Bronte but she’s named after an Australian Olympic swimmer not the literary family!

Without the umlaut, I don’t think it’s going to be pronounced the way you think

It's pronounced Brontee among my friends. I don't hate it

I know one and think it's nice - she does get half Bron-tay and half Bron-tee but she doesn't mind. Also as a middle name anything goes really, doesn't it?

As a middle name tribute it’s fine - just not as a first name.

Brontë is FABULOUS! 🥰

The Jane Eyre character is called Georgiana, not Georgina, and she’s a vain, selfish, dissipated character.

Other character names from Brontë novels — Jane, Adèle, Blanche, Helen, Diana, Mary, Rosamund, Eliza, Bertha, Maria, Grace, Bertha, Leah, Amy, Shirley, Caroline, Agnes, Rosalie, Matilda, Nancy, Alice, Isabella, Nelly, Catherine, Frances, Zillah, Helen, Annabella, Peggy.

Makes me think of current series Married at First Sight Australia - and not in a good way I'm afraid.

If I hadn't watched it I wouldn't have given it a second thought!

I really like it and don't consider it tacky at all.

How do you think it’ll be pronounced then?

To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t mind whether it was pronounced Bront-ay or
Bront-ee.

However we live in the Essex area of England so have a strong feeling it will be pronounced as Bront-ay!

It's lovely and you like it, so go for it 😊

Any of the actual first names of girls and women in the Brontë novels would go well with your boys names.

I suppose having a 'different' middle name isn't so bad as if it was what the child would be called day to day, but something that's a surname looks like it's a family name and may end up with the kid being mistakenly called Brontë-Smith

I think it’s fine and nothing unusual as many people have mothers or other family surname as middle name anyway

I imagine she would get a range of anything from ‘Bront’ to ‘Brontay’ to ‘Brontee’.

Though if we go along with the theory that Patrick Brunty renamed himself Brontë at Cambridge in honour of Nelson being given the title of Duke of Bronte that went along with lands in Sicily he was awarded by the King of Sicily, the umlaut was PB’s own addition — the title and estate were just ‘Bronte’.

My ds is Charlotte

I think it's fine as a middle name. Most people don't know each others middle names so I don't see teasing etc. The trouble with choosing Charlotte or Emily is it isn't obvious it's a tribute to those particular authors but then maybe that's a good thing as it can be a private thing.

There's a Bronte on MAFS Australia and she seems to suit it . Must just be me that watches this rubbish !