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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Baby girl names

39 replies

Thalia2008 · 22/06/2023 21:15

We are expecting a girl in a month and have a few name options, but are struggling to pick one. We would really appreciate any opinions and preferences (or dislikes):
Elena
Lea
Sasha
Natalie
Mischa
Isabelle
Mari
Poppy
Zoe
Alisha
Cleo
Helena
Quite a few (!) and it is very difficult to shortlist.

OP posts:
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Katela18 · 23/06/2023 08:24

I love Helena and Zoe.

Your whole list is lovely, I'd just avoid Cleo personally but only because it's the name of my aunts cat. Along the same lines is Clelia

Thalia2008 · 23/06/2023 10:04

shoopshoopdedoo · 22/06/2023 22:29

I like Sasha, Mischa and Zoe. Prefer Eleni to Elena if there is any Greek connection (looking at your username!)

Eleni is pretty, reminds me of the Cretan lady in the book 'The Island!'

OP posts:
DuchessOfSausage · 23/06/2023 11:49

Natalia is elegant-sounding

BloodyCatArgh · 23/06/2023 12:14

Nice list

I'd scrap Elena/Lea/Helena due to multiple pronunciation/spelling issues

Isabelle is less interesting than your other names (and I prefer Isobel)

There are multiple Cleo's at my DC's nursery (if popularity bothers you)

My favourite is Mari

KeepSmiling89 · 23/06/2023 12:18

Elena - LOVE this name and was one of my favourites when pregnant with DD
Lea - nice, but a bit 'meh' in my opinion
Sasha - lovely name
Natalie - used to be a favourite, but not as much anymore
Mischa - not too keen on this one
Isabelle - lovely, but used quite a lot now
Mari - alright, not one of my favourites
Poppy - beautiful name (I'm a sucker for flower names!)
Zoe - not so keen
Alisha - not so keen
Cleo - sounds more like a cat's name to me (just my opinion!)
Helena - depends on pronunciation (same as 'Elena' with an 'H' or like Helen-ah?)

Thalia2008 · 23/06/2023 12:30

KeepSmiling89 · 23/06/2023 12:18

Elena - LOVE this name and was one of my favourites when pregnant with DD
Lea - nice, but a bit 'meh' in my opinion
Sasha - lovely name
Natalie - used to be a favourite, but not as much anymore
Mischa - not too keen on this one
Isabelle - lovely, but used quite a lot now
Mari - alright, not one of my favourites
Poppy - beautiful name (I'm a sucker for flower names!)
Zoe - not so keen
Alisha - not so keen
Cleo - sounds more like a cat's name to me (just my opinion!)
Helena - depends on pronunciation (same as 'Elena' with an 'H' or like Helen-ah?)

Thanks. For Helena, was thinking a pronunciation of Hay-lay-nah, very similar to Elena

OP posts:
Thalia2008 · 23/06/2023 13:26

Thanks for all the feedback! Don't want to cause too much confusion, but I am also going to throw Irina into the mix ...

OP posts:
Kaamos · 23/06/2023 13:27

I love Isabelle and Helena

DuchessOfSausage · 23/06/2023 13:48

Irina is nice but will get misspelt and mispronounced. Erina, Eye-reena etc

ColdHandsHotHead · 23/06/2023 15:08

Thalia2008 · 22/06/2023 21:33

Thank you for your suggestions! I tend to agree, plus those names are less likely to be shortened or given a nickname

Sasha is a diminutive of Alexandra.

SlippedCondom · 26/06/2023 17:25

I like Zoe :)

midsomermurderess · 26/06/2023 17:27

I like Misha and Sasha.

Magenpie100 · 26/06/2023 19:08

Lovely shortlist :-)

Elena - sounds just like eleanor to me.. I like Eleni more
Lea - nice
Sasha - love this, it’s the Slavic form of
alex isn’t it?
Natalie - sounds Christmassy, but it’s nice
Mischa - this is a Czech boys name, short for Michael, but I absolutely love the sound for a girl.
Isabelle - a bit trad compared the the rest of your list
Mari - pronounced like ‘marry’? I prefer pronounciation Mar-ri but not sure how you’d spell that, maybe Mahri?
Poppy - I really struggle to see this on an adult, a very ‘little girl’ name to me.
Zoe - lovely and underused!
Alisha - sounds lovely
Cleo - really like this
Helena - bit less interesting than others on the list but nice enough
Irina - eye-reen-a? I-rin-a? I-reen-a?

Hadtocomment · 26/06/2023 19:27

Elena - nice but a lot of El names around at the moment and lots of Ellies. As someone suggested, Eleni is nice, then there's the shortening Leni which I really like.

Lea - I really like all versions of this like Lia and Leah etc. It's a beautiful and elegant name. But there are a lot of short L names about at the moment too like Lila and Lena and Luna and Lara and so forth so would it feel a bit lost in amongst them?

Sasha - I don't love this but maybe as a shortening? I like that I haven't seen it on here much so sounds quite fresh.

Natalie - I really like Natalie and it's a bit more distinctive and nice to have some consonants. I also like Natalia but that's quite long.

Mischa - I like this. I think Sounds a bit like Sasha but I like it better because of the sound being a bit more definite with the M.

Isabelle - nice name but very popular and has been for a while so doesn't feel so special or distinct at the moment.

Mari - I like. Quite different in style to the others for some reason?

Poppy - I'm not too keen on Poppy. It's ok.

Zoe - not sure quite I'm not more keen.

Alisha - it's ok. Not my favourite.

Cleo - I like Cleo. I also like Cleia.

Helena - I do like Helena. At least it sounds a bit more there and not quite so vowelly. But it sound sound a bit upper crust and a bit formal to me, but maybe that's the Helena Bonham-Carter association in my head. She's a great actress though so that's not a bad association at all. But I do feel it's not easy to shorten and therefore sounds quite formal, which I wouldn't like to have for myself.

My favs are probably Natalie, Mischa and Cleo as they sound more distinctive at the moment. With Eleni, Lea and Helena runners' up.

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