What names didn't you use?

[SnowAndIceLobelia]

And why?

The names I liked if either DS were to be a girl included;

Isis (obviously could not use, sadly)
Leveret which I maintain is a fabulous name but DH did not agree
Hebe
Hera

DH did not like either

Boys

Tobermory (love it still but it sounded wierd with our surname which rhymes!)
Agamemnon (we are not Greek and it was a bit of a pregnant hormone name)
Ezekiel (DH vetoed).

Both DCs have quite normal fairly old fashioned names of the David / Stephen variety which i love because it's unusual on 14 and 12 year olds now.

Boys- Ryan and Luke my DP didn't like.
Michael- I didn't.
I wish I had called DS Thomas but all the tank engine stuff at the time put me off.

Girls- Anna and Lola my DP didn't like.
Leonie- I didn't.
I love DD's name and she really suits it.

@greglet
Scandinavian names!

DD- boys name was Mitchell.

DS1- girls name was Brooke.

DS2- was Aston for a while, girls names vetoed by DH were Layla and Lyla. We never settled on a girls name.

DS3 - Stanley, I wasn’t brave enough to use it as his first name, it’s his middle name though.

Sebastian and Raphael - too posh apparently!

I had a soft spot for Ruby but DH wasn’t keen

Lily we didn’t use because it was so popular at the time although ironically I’ve only met 1 other of DD’s year group, and hardly any others!

@SnowAndIceLobelia Tobermory is a name, in The Wombles though!

Amber..... 'have you looked at me recently?' Said the red headed DH, 'Ah, yes DH, I take your point!' Just to add insult to injury we only needed a red based name to turn her into a full set of traffic lights due to our surname!! sigh I still really like the name.

If 1st had been a girl - Fearne
if 2nd had been a girl - Blaire

we had boys, first was always his name, 2nd hubby vetoed my suggestion due to a local dialect and how common it could’ve have been shouted…
liked Cole too for 2nd

I recently learned that a Hebe, as well as being a beautiful flowering shrub of the genus Veronica, is a term for a paedophile who is attracted to young teenagers rather than primary school kids.

So I'm really glad you didn't use that!

@spiderlight we missed out on Rowan as well! I'd always meant to use it for a daughter. When we were thinking about names for our first, it came up, but DH didn't like it very much - he was worried people would pronounce it RO-ann (like Rowan Atkinson) instead of Row-an like the tree.

In the event our first was a boy. The other names we considered were all quite ordinary (Christopher, Thomas) and we ended up calling him a fairly classic name.

When our daughter came along I didn't even consider Rowan as I thought it had been vetoed. Some years later she had a Rowan in her class and her dad said "Oh, that's a nice name." 🤷🏻‍♀️ Bit late now! But if we'd had another, I'd have named her either Rowan or Rose.

@MonsteraMama it is a lovely name, but I know an Eowyn and she's known as Winnie, which I don't care for very much...

Names which were possibly never serious contenders:
Finnbar (I liked Finn as a nickname but there are loads of boys named Finlay or Findlay around here)
Aidan which DH didn't like
We had trouble thinking up any boys' names we really felt strongly for or against, to be honest.

Sophronia - this was DH's idea - then I read a book by Dickens which has a horrible Sophronia in it. I don't think we'd have gone with it anyway!
Maewen - which is from a book, but I thought it would be confusing to spell or pronounce.
Claire, Amy and Laura - the only names DH really liked. Sadly we have close relatives using Amy and Laura already and we didn't want to duplicate. I didn't feel strongly drawn to Claire.
Isabella - we so nearly went for this, but it was not that long after Twilight, which put me off a bit. We'd have called her Ella but that was something like the second most popular name at the time. Then my sister said she really liked it so we left it for her to use.

Dd1 I wanted Tempest. It would have suited her!

If she'd been a boy she would have been Indy.

Dd2 I struggled with and landed on Cleo or Lillian. Didn't really.like either though. Luckily DP came up with one in the hospital.

Jemima.

My DH and I loved it but I read on here about its link with racial stereotypes in the US and it put us off using :(

Willoughby.

Decided it was a bit too Jane Austen!

Hermione.

It was 2004. DH's favourite name and he conceded to Potter mania.

DD would have been a perfect Hermione as well.

Boys:
Gerard "Gerry"
Gilbert "Gill"
Odhran
DH simply didn't like them. I maintain that they are my favourite boy names. DS1 and DS2 have great names, but they definitely aren't what I'd have chosen on my own.

Girls:
Annika (DH wasn't fully on board, but could be persuaded)
Jocelyn (we agreed on this for a girl, but never had a girl)
Maeve (we agreed on this for a girl, but never had a girl)
Gwendolyn (would've been a middle name)
Saoirse (DH was not on board due to spelling)

Oh I did not know that! That must be where dh got it from. I never watched it.

I did not know that either! Very glad I did not use it then!

Before people think I am shockingly ignorant I have to say I am not from the uk so a lot of cultural stuff and slang is new to me.

Imogen (still love that)
Naomi (DH said Campbell)
Esther (DH said Rantzen)
Etta (knew my dad would say it wasn't a proper name)

Lawrence (my mum said it was 'wet')
Theo (same as above)
Samuel (DD vetoed it because there was a boy at nursery she didn't like with that name)

Magnus and Abraham (Bram) were both vetoed by DH. I still love them both. DS is 17 now and really likes Magnus but detests Abraham 🤗

I really wanted River for a girl (big fan of the shows Firefly and Dr Who!) But everyone talked me out of it.
I also LOVE the name Violet but my partner didn't like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was a little bit put off by the possible nicknames Vile or Violent, but still, it's so beautiful! I have a fair bit of regret for not trying harder to convince my partner to use it.
I really love Rowan for a boy but one of my partner's best mates is called Rowan so we couldn't have used it. Didn't have a boy anyway but it's probably the only boy name I like.

My DD is also a teen now and says she would have liked to be called Imogen but hated Etta.

I wanted to call our son Barnaby but DH hated it.

Girl:

Harriet
Maeve
Fearne
Hazel
Autumn

Boys:

Jonah
Bruno
Freddie
Samson
Ace (think this was preggo hormones as I reallly dislike now)

Indiana, Albertine (vetoed)

Jean, Rose, Pearl, Olive, Mabel (had other names we loved more for our two DD's)

Elliot, Finn, William (had a name we preferred for DS)