Gwenifer?

[Tirnanogg]

I'm looking for a proper unicorn of a name. I would like a first and middle name, ideally allowing Gwen as a nickname, with a nod to the name Jennifer in there somewhere (both grandmothers!) AND be a legitimate, not totally made up name.

We're Welsh-speaking Welsh and Cornish, living in Wales, but I'd like it to be something the English side of the family can say.

I came across Gwenifer this morning, which seems to satisfy most criteria, but is it a real name?!

Why would they think it was Welsh? I didn’t say it was Welsh anywhere and the OP didn’t ask for a Welsh name. Gwennifer clearly isn’t a traditional Welsh name either. The OP said she wanted a unicorn of a name, I suggested a name which I have only known one child to have. Obviously it’s then up to the OP to research the name and decide whether it meets her criteria. It’s not my problem if somebody incorrectly assumes the name is Welsh or thinks it’s more popular or known than it actually is! I never said the name was Welsh, if people think the name is Welsh that’s on them, maybe they will also think Gwennifer is a Welsh name too but so what? This is not a thread asking for Welsh baby names, it’s a thread asking for alternatives to Gwennifer that could be easily pronounced in English. I don’t think Gwenore misses that criteria but obviously if the OP wants something with more traditional roots she can make that decision, I’m not forcing any of my suggestions on anybody! I was just suggesting a list of names I know which start with Gwen, I wasn’t saying OP had to go with any of them and never stated that any of them were Welsh.

In terms of Gwenno, I’m not saying there’s anything abnormal or remarkable about the name. You seemed to be criticising me for not suggesting the name Gwenno and I was just explaining why I didn’t suggest it as the only 2 people I know who have used the name gave it to their working sheepdogs. That’s just explaining why I personally didn’t think to suggest it, doesn’t mean I think there’s anything wrong with the name.

I would use Jennifer as a middle name.
Don’t overthink it - my 2yr old is going to arrive at school not knowing her name. I was persuaded that she needed a more conventional first name but she is universally known as Loveday (actually her middle name). My parents were stunned and amazed when there were no fewer than 4 granddaughters called Loveday at a Christmas drinks party…..

"You seemed to be criticising me for not suggesting the name Gwenno"
Not at all. I only said that 'Gwenore' is not Welsh or a name.
Like Gwenifer, I wouldn't know how to say it.

Sheepdogs tend to have one syllable names.

Wow, thank you all for your thoughts!

Please be reassured we will NOT be using Gwenifer - I had a suspicion this would be the response, but I wanted to give it a fair hearing!

By 'unicorn' name I didn't mean one which would be incredibly rare, but rather that I suspected I was asking for the impossible.

DH has now announced that he doesn't like any Gwen names. Which means my list of names he doesn't like has got even longer and I've made no progress on names that he DOES like. Ah well, three months to go!

Yeah this was my first thought.. so I wouldn’t

I guess you don’t like Gwendoline or just Gwen? - I would think of Gwendoline as in Christie these days, not M Towers

But it works fine as a nn for any name in the Jennifer / Guinevere / Genevievre sphere because they are all versions of tue same name

I like Genevievre best personally

I'd go with Guinevere or Gwenan.

The Arthur and Guinevere reference is never going to come up.

Ah, just read your update wrt your DH.

Would you consider naming her Jennifer? It's a lovely name and rarely used.

When it's closer to the time your H could maybe come up with a list of fifteen names and you can do the same. You can both eliminate ten names from each other's lists, leaving ten in total to choose from.

Sometimes men don't see the baby as real until he or she has arrived home from the hospital. This makes it difficult for them to imagine a real, live child with a name.

OP says: Please be reassured we will NOT be using Gwenifer... DH has now announced that he doesn't like any Gwen names.

Just repeating a little louder for those at the back 🙂

Gwenaëlle shouldn´t have an i / y in it (not in Breton and definitely not in French, which I do speak). But it still sounds nice with a y to me personally.

Heil would be unfortunate, I agree.

Jennifer is a lovely and relatively uncommon name. I think I've only ever known two Jennifers.

I was going to say, give us another syllable to work with, that DH does like!

Ghenwyfar - is an alternate spelling of Guinevere. It’s more authentic as the latter is a frenchified version.

What about Jennigwen?

@istoodonlegoagain , there are lots of -wen names for girls (Anwen, Bronwen, Morwen etc), so Jenniwen would fit in nicely

@KirstenBlest Who are you - the name police? Why are you policing someone else's thread? Just let people make suggestions and let the OP choose to like or dislike them 🤷‍♀️

@HoHoHoliday , are you the thread prefect?

It is a lovely name that does not seem to be used anymore, even the various shortenings e.g. Jen, Jennie are so sweet.

I think Jennifer is such a lovely name and is going to make a come back soon.

You can call her Jen as a nickname too.

Don't mess with the classics, timeless for a reason.

Gwennan and Genevieve are both lovely

That looks like a yoonique spelling of Genuine 🤣🤣🤣

Jennifer is lovely, but I think it would lead to confusion in our family which is already abundantly blessed with Jennifers!

Names are such weirdly personal things. I'm never sure we got the right name for Dd2 (a late suggestion when she was a couple of days old - she's now 5) and I think that doubt, coupled with pregnancy hormones, has made me a bit irrational about needing the perfect name for this one. Hormones definitely play a part - I had about five minutes a few weeks ago when I felt Bluebell was the perfect name!

Has he ever made any suggestions? Saying no is much easier than continuing to make decent suggestions...

@istoodonlegoagain , I sneaked a better one in earlier . Love your username BTW.

Just let people make suggestions and let the OP choose to like or dislike them

This reminds me, we had a name picked out for dd before she was born and referred to her as this throughout, her name was confirmed from the second we knew she was a girl. After she was born I had this weird 'epiphany' and was utterly convinced she should be called Cherry-Blossom. I called her this for about 4 days and then DH, who had been quite understanding of my 'vision' quite firmly suggested it might not be in her best interest and we should revert back to chosen name. I agreed but was quite upset about it for a few weeks 😂

Did you start a thread about it on here, @istoodonlegoagain ?