Maria or Louisa

[fryupdown]

My partner and I have whittled our list down to these finalists. DP prefers Maria and I prefer Louisa. Though he likes the name DP wonders if Louisa is "a bit much" and doesn't like the shortening Lou. Neither of us want to use Louise. My worry with Maria is that it's overused (most popular name in the whole world).

What do you think of the names?

It's definitely going to be one or the other because we've gone over and over and over all the names we both like and these two are the ones we are both happy to compromise on. So now it's just deciding.

Also, did any of you wait until seeing your DC to decide on their name or were you set on one beforehand?

Louisa. But you could combine them and run with Marissa or Larissa

I really like them both, not sure which I prefer!! I know that Maria is/has been very commonly used in Spanish speaking countries but it's not too common at all in the UK, if that's where you are? So I wouldn't worry about that.

Louisa is lovely

Maria

Louisa

I love Louisa
Could you have Marie as a middle name?

Maria

They are both nice but Lucy and Louisa more popular in the UK, Maria stands out more

Louisa 100%!

Definitely Maria, it’s not that common in the UK, Louisa seems dated, the ones I know are 40+

Maria must be the most commonly used girls' name in the world. It's nice enough though. I think I prefer Louisa. Re. the 'Lou' thing, well it's inevitable that at some point people (school pals for example) will call her Lou but you can just stick to calling her Louisa at home.

Maria us my favourite girls name! Love it. It's not commonly used in UK at all. I only know 2 who are both Italian. It's very rare to meet a British girl called Maria.

Maria is a brilliant name, I like that it sounds strong and pretty and that it travels well. It's easy to spell and to say and as it is well known, Maria is not particualrly tied to preconceptions.

I don't know anyone called Louisa or Louise who is not called Lou at least some of the time. It is fine as a name but not something I would choose.

Also I did wait to see my children to give them a definite name, just incase they came out and the name suddenly felt all wrong. But each time the name felt right and I didn't change it.
Probably good as my sister nearly named her baby while still a bit loopy from the c-section meds and wanted to call her Fizz after the character from the tweenies.

Maria! I think Louisa is quite 80s and dated (although it is pretty). Maria isn't a common name in the UK at all.

Louisa, Lulu for short

Louisa.

Both nice. Maria is my mum's first & DDs middle name. Lucia is a nice name too.

My Louisa has never had her name shortened to Lou or Lulu. She gets Isa or Elle. She's 10 and I've had comments about how you never hear the name these days and how pretty it is. It also travels well.

My name is Maria and I've never particularly liked it... so my vote is biased to Louisa.

Louisa. It's more youthful and less frumpy.

Maria, beautiful name

Louisa

I don't think I've ever said this on Mumsnet before, but those are both beautiful names.

They're elegant and timeless.

Both are nice. I slightly prefer Louisa but you really can’t go wrong with either of them.

Louisa is nice, I like Lucia, if you haven’t considered already, this feels like a halfway point in terms of style and sound

I've never met a Louisa I didn't like.