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Original poster

Please, tell my wife that her names suggestions are awful!

897 replies

Demainsdeslaube · 12/12/2023 21:25

Hello everyone!

I am 5 months pregnant, and my wife and I are having a hard time agreeing. After weeks of "arguing", we decided to forget about all the previous names suggested before and make a new list.
I absolutely hate all the names she wrote down :

  • Bradleigh ( her favourite)
  • Dallas
  • Paris
  • Lisandry
  • Helen ( The only one I like)

Whereas my favourite names are:

  • Romy ( She likes it but not love it)
  • Dahlia
  • Neva

She is so sure, those are pretty names. Pleaaase help, she'll be reading all the comments!

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6
T1Dmama · 15/12/2023 08:16

Helen is the only normal name, the others are either weird, Chavvy or sound like a boys name (assuming it’s a girl).

My ex and I couldn’t agree on a girls name, we ended up buying a name book & each writing down the ones we liked and then comparing lists.

Some of the names I liked, I look back on and think OMFG!! And my daughter now 13 says she’d have been changing her name if we’d called her that! 🤣

I think you have to really think …. Is this name something you’d want to be called?!…. Does it suit both young and old…. Does it have abbreviations which sound awful or do the initials all spell something she’ll be picked on for.

There really isn’t any point in arguing though, at the end of the day neither of you’d should settle, you both have to agree.

Look at names in subtitles on films, look up names on lines, get a book out of the library, anything.. but don’t argue because this is so important and you
domt want to give your child a name they’ll hate or either of you hate.

T1Dmama · 15/12/2023 08:52

Demainsdeslaube · 13/12/2023 09:09

Yes, we like :
Maude
Maeve
Clementina
Helena
Back to Emma
Elisa

After some thoughts , seems I am obsessed with names now hahaha, my wife is French but I am not. So, Helena (Hélène which is at all not an old woman's name in France, culture really is, a barrier sometimes).

There are French names I love, but I am afraid it would be hard on our child in the UK : Manon , Baptistine and Garance.

Show quote history

Please be careful with names like Maude and maive… they really are very old fashioned and the child will likely hate it… clementine sounds like an orange .

Elisa is pretty, you could also go Eloise?!
Helena is pretty and love that it has a link to your wives heritage.
Would Lyndsey be close enough to her family members name to honour her?
Emma is ok too,

I think of choosing an ‘out there’ name you should choose a standard middle name, if your DD hates her name it’s very easy to change the name to the middle name without needing to do so legally.

When I was pregnant I loved the name Snead (hate it now and glad I never chose it!) I also loved Nadine… till my SIL pointed out that it might be shortened to Nads…. I didn’t fancy standing at sporting events shouting ‘GO nads!’ 😂

My exH hated all my choices and we only had a boy name up until our 30 week scan when we were told the sex!

We sat with a book and literally read out any I liked.. we avoided A as our last name begins with A and we didn’t want AA for obvious reasons.

Names my friends chose that were unusual but still nice included

Elise, Aaliyah, Faye, Matilda but shortened from birth to Tilly.. Madeline (Maddie)

There we’re a few Lily’s, Roses and Daisy’s at school,

it’s such a hard discussion…. I even know 2 people from school who had their baby and after 3 months changed either the spelling or the name entirely!! I didn’t even realise you could do that, but apparently you can in the first year. One called her DD. Meghan and changed it to Madeline. The other simply changed Ayla to Isla (apparently pronounced the same).

But as said be unselfish, this is a name your child will be ‘wearing’ for the rest of their life unless they change it at 18…. So think about the potential for bullying, any weird words the initials spell etc.

But most of all, good luck with your pregnancy, and I hope you & your wife find a name you both love and the child can be proud of xx

T1Dmama · 15/12/2023 09:23

Helena is beautiful ❤️

FlipFlop1987 · 15/12/2023 09:24

Shodan · 12/12/2023 21:31

Romily would (almost) be a combination of your Romy and her Bradleigh 😁

This is a good option if you are both really attached those thise names

FlipFlop1987 · 15/12/2023 09:34

mathanxiety · 15/12/2023 04:59

Nevaeh is a name invented in America. It's "heaven" spelled backwards. It is not an Irish name.

Are you thinking of Niamh?

Neva would not be pronounced like 'never' or 'nevva'. It has one V, not two. Therefore the E is long.
It's the name of the river that flows through St Petersburg, in Russia.

The surname-as-name trend was once very popular in Britain. It's still done in Scotland.

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We adored Niamh but being English the spelling and pronunciation would be a constant battle so we went with the English spelling of Neave. If you like the sound of Neva or Nevaeh and Meave then Neave is a blend of them all!

Mirabai · 15/12/2023 09:45

FlipFlop1987 · 15/12/2023 09:34

We adored Niamh but being English the spelling and pronunciation would be a constant battle so we went with the English spelling of Neave. If you like the sound of Neva or Nevaeh and Meave then Neave is a blend of them all!

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It’s better not to saddle kids with made up spellings imo, it looks slightly illiterate, quite apart from the offence it causes the Irish to anglicise names.

MerryChristmasToYou · 15/12/2023 09:46

@mathanxiety , the Lena is a river in Russia and the name Lena can be Leena, Lenna or Laina

GoatsInBoats · 15/12/2023 09:51

T1Dmama · 15/12/2023 08:52

Please be careful with names like Maude and maive… they really are very old fashioned and the child will likely hate it… clementine sounds like an orange .

Elisa is pretty, you could also go Eloise?!
Helena is pretty and love that it has a link to your wives heritage.
Would Lyndsey be close enough to her family members name to honour her?
Emma is ok too,

I think of choosing an ‘out there’ name you should choose a standard middle name, if your DD hates her name it’s very easy to change the name to the middle name without needing to do so legally.

When I was pregnant I loved the name Snead (hate it now and glad I never chose it!) I also loved Nadine… till my SIL pointed out that it might be shortened to Nads…. I didn’t fancy standing at sporting events shouting ‘GO nads!’ 😂

My exH hated all my choices and we only had a boy name up until our 30 week scan when we were told the sex!

We sat with a book and literally read out any I liked.. we avoided A as our last name begins with A and we didn’t want AA for obvious reasons.

Names my friends chose that were unusual but still nice included

Elise, Aaliyah, Faye, Matilda but shortened from birth to Tilly.. Madeline (Maddie)

There we’re a few Lily’s, Roses and Daisy’s at school,

it’s such a hard discussion…. I even know 2 people from school who had their baby and after 3 months changed either the spelling or the name entirely!! I didn’t even realise you could do that, but apparently you can in the first year. One called her DD. Meghan and changed it to Madeline. The other simply changed Ayla to Isla (apparently pronounced the same).

But as said be unselfish, this is a name your child will be ‘wearing’ for the rest of their life unless they change it at 18…. So think about the potential for bullying, any weird words the initials spell etc.

But most of all, good luck with your pregnancy, and I hope you & your wife find a name you both love and the child can be proud of xx

Show quote history

maive? Snead? Do you live in Mordor? Grin

angstybaby · 15/12/2023 10:03

Lisandry made me think of misandry - hatred of men. Or maybe that was the point

angstybaby · 15/12/2023 10:06

Aurelie sounds dangerously close to orally.
Also, lune is loon/loony.

Barney60 · 15/12/2023 10:11

Sorry to say but i also dont like any of them, Lisandry sounds like an illness to me.

Frazzledstar1 · 15/12/2023 10:21

MerryChristmasToYou · 15/12/2023 07:57

@Frazzledstar1 , given that Amelie, Elodie and Ottilie are said as Amely, Elledy and Ottily in the UK, wouldn't Ophélie be said as Offaly?

Is that not how it’s pronounced? It’s how her mum said it, albeit in a French accent so probably sounded much nicer anyway!

pollymere · 15/12/2023 10:21

Melanie (with the accent so Mel-annie), Chloe, Amelie, Sophia, Marie, Katy.

Or Genevieve and call it Gennie...

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 15/12/2023 10:33

Kgiggl3s · 15/12/2023 06:08

My friend has a girl called Edeigh which I love

Pronounced 'ee-dee'

That's somewhere close to bradleigh

Cannot believe the amount of MNetters who can read 'I am pregnant' and 'my wife' and not understand who is pregnant 🙈

That's an awful name. Ok I know all names must originally have been "made up" but "Edeigh" is so obviously in the made up/ typo/ illiterate category.

VanityDiesHard · 15/12/2023 10:59

TreacleMines · 15/12/2023 00:21

Paris is a literary name. And Dahlia is a flower name from long before the black Dahlia ( which btw was a nickname for the victim not the killer) and it’s pronounced differently. Object to the name is you like, but at least have the correct information.

Edited
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Paris is only 'literary' (classical) if it is for a man, as in the Judgement of Paris. For a woman, it is tacky and stripperish (I don't care how much money Paris Hilton has, she is still tacky af as is Paris Fury).

VanityDiesHard · 15/12/2023 11:02

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 15/12/2023 10:33

That's an awful name. Ok I know all names must originally have been "made up" but "Edeigh" is so obviously in the made up/ typo/ illiterate category.

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Right!? So vulgar and ignorant. The name is Edie. Some of these made up names bring to mind the wise old saying 'better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than open it and remove all doubt'. If you give your child a name like Edeigh or Bradleigh, you are a fool and your folly is on display for all to see. Unfortunately, though, the innocent child is the one who will suffer.

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:03

VanityDiesHard · 15/12/2023 11:02

Right!? So vulgar and ignorant. The name is Edie. Some of these made up names bring to mind the wise old saying 'better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than open it and remove all doubt'. If you give your child a name like Edeigh or Bradleigh, you are a fool and your folly is on display for all to see. Unfortunately, though, the innocent child is the one who will suffer.

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What’s your opinion of Ashleigh?

(Asking for a friend)

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:06

Frazzledstar1 · 15/12/2023 10:21

Is that not how it’s pronounced? It’s how her mum said it, albeit in a French accent so probably sounded much nicer anyway!

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Her mum would have said

“Oh-Fay-lee” not “oh- fah-lee”

an é shouldn’t cause too much of a problem in the UK, pretty much everyone manages café, surely?

MargotBamborough · 15/12/2023 11:11

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:03

What’s your opinion of Ashleigh?

(Asking for a friend)

Show quote history

Honestly?

It's still not my cup of tea but I think it's less bad for some reason.

I grew up considering Ashley to be a boy's name, then I heard of Ashley Olson and it became apparent that Ashley as a girl's name was quite common in the US. I sort of put it in the Courtney/Whitney/Britney box.

That said, Ashley/Ashleigh isn't that different from Kayleigh/Hayley, again, not my cup of tea but pretty normal names (if a bit dated now).

I cannot explain why it is Kayleigh but not Kayley and Hayley but not Hayleigh, but don't have such strong feelings about Ashley/Ashleigh.

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:16

Cool, I’ll take “less bad for some reason” over branding my parents “vulgar and ignorant”.

Incidentally I had no idea it was a boy’s name in its other form till I was about 12. It was not common for boys in my part of the UK.

tensmum1964 · 15/12/2023 11:17

Lisandry sounds like a disease. Helen is boring and generally a name for over 40's. Bradleigh, Dahlia Neva and Paris are a bit chavvy. Dahlia and Romy are OK but still not great.

VanityDiesHard · 15/12/2023 11:19

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:03

What’s your opinion of Ashleigh?

(Asking for a friend)

Show quote history

Not great, but not as bad.

MerryChristmasToYou · 15/12/2023 11:19

Edeigh doesn't look like it's pronounced Edie, it looks like a jumble of letters and I think Id read it as Ed-day.
Ashleigh looks like a bad spelling of Ashley. If you/your friend prefer that spelling, then fair enough. I think of Ashley as female if scottish, male otherwise.

Kayleigh is from the Marillion song, I think, so that spelling was more familiar. Hayley was first used for Hayley Mills so that's the usual spelling for any on my age group.

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 15/12/2023 11:19

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 11:03

What’s your opinion of Ashleigh?

(Asking for a friend)

Show quote history

Pointless. Also potentially confusing- is it supposed to sound the same as "Ashley" or is the "Leigh" bit supposed to be the same as "Lee" so Ashlee?

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 15/12/2023 11:23

MerryChristmasToYou · 15/12/2023 11:19

Edeigh doesn't look like it's pronounced Edie, it looks like a jumble of letters and I think Id read it as Ed-day.
Ashleigh looks like a bad spelling of Ashley. If you/your friend prefer that spelling, then fair enough. I think of Ashley as female if scottish, male otherwise.

Kayleigh is from the Marillion song, I think, so that spelling was more familiar. Hayley was first used for Hayley Mills so that's the usual spelling for any on my age group.

I agree. Inasmuch as English has any consistency in pronunciation "Edeigh" would be E (open e as in egg) Day.