Which name to pick: The longstanding favourite or the newcomer?

[TheBirdintheCave]

TLDR: Would you choose Hero or Marcella?

Currently, finally, expecting our second child after three miscarriages including a failed IVF round. I'm 27 weeks now and my husband and I have tentatively started talking about names again as it seems like this baby will be sticking around 😅Sex is unknown as we've decided we'd like a surprise this time.

Baby's older brother is Gilbert John Joseph and our surname is one syllable and rhymes with disc. We like unusual but recognisable classics. Shakespearean and old English/Germanic names tend to be a hit with us.

We think we're settled on our boy name of Conrad Richard Anthony as it ticks all of our boxes but are torn between two for our girl name.

Option 1:

Hero Jane Rose: This is the longstanding favourite, the name we've had picked for a girl forever. It's me who's wavering on it. I just don't feel like it goes with Gilbert plus then baby will have four one syllable names in a row and I can't get over how strange that sounds.

Option 2:

Marcella Jane Rose: This is the newcomer which has outstripped Hero for me over the past year or so. Marcella is an old family name on my dad's side. I feel like it goes so well with Gilbert and my husband is warming to it. In his words 'It's growing on me more and more.' She'd likely be known as Marcie or just Marcella and we'd use the English/French pronunciation over the Italian.

Which would you pick from the two?

Middle names are non negotiable by the way. I know how much everyone here despises Rose as a middle name BUT if baby is a girl she would be the sixth generation Rose* so it's very, very special to me. It's my middle name and my nanna's first name, her mum's first name and her gran's first name etc etc.

Jane is after my husband's mother who died of cancer a few years before husband and I met.

*As an anecdote, it did skip once as my great, great granny was called Elizabeth Doolittle. Yes, really 😅

I do like Hero, but it is a lot to live up to and I think that Marcella goes much better with your surname.

Marcie is a lovely name.

Hero is the kind of name that feels great in your head but might not work day to day

I'd go for Marcella over Hero, I just prefer it.

@PickledScrump Uh nope, it literally is down to them. Prior to the film's release it was a male name only. It's Hebrew.

@TheaBrandt I don't think I'd mind it but then, I have an odd name already so perhaps I'm just used to it 😅

@TheBirdintheCave i was talking about the name Hero not Ariel

@PickledScrump OH 😂My apologies! Then yes, Hero is unisex. Well, sort of. The Greek Hero is feminine and the Japanese Hiro is masculine.

Thing is it’s your child not you that has to shoulder it. She might be a super confident type but then she might not. That’s why most parents play it relatively safe. It’s not about you and your knowledge of Japanese literature.

Neither, both awful!

Hero and Gilbert sound good together.

but I’d wait until the baby was born- I think it helps…sometimes they’ll just look like a Hero …or a Marcella - and you’ll know.

having two names at this stage is good going- I’d wait for the baby to arrive before making a decision.

you’ll get a 50/50 split on here about name choices as it’s down to personal taste

Not sure about Hero - I see the literary background but I do think it could be a hard one for teenage years and not too easy to abbreviate for a nickname if she hates it. I immediately thought of "I can be your hero baby" which we always changed to "earhole" instead when Iglesias sang it.
Marcella reminds me of the detective on the Crime series.

@Toddlerteaplease Well, my husband and I like them. Your personal opinion doesn't make a name good or 'awful'. I'm sure I wouldn't like some of the names you'd choose either :)

@TheaBrandt Fair enough I suppose and other people's reactions is definitely something we're taking into consideration. But, on the flip side, it would be a boring world if we all used the same top 50 names just in case.

@milkingtime I've never really got on board with the whole 'looking like a name' thing. My son just looked like a squashy lump when he was born 😂

@achangewoulddougood The detective was what originally put my husband off Marcella as he loathed her!

I'd go Marcella. I know one and she's lovely and elegant. It's one of those names that makes you go oh, initially, as it's uncommon, but then you get used to and realise ita lovely and no confusion over spelling etc. And it isn't so uncommon like Hero which might not land with a lot of people.
I don't think you need to place any value on how much either flows with middle names. In day to day life that is irrelevant really

Marcella is gorgeous!

what about Marcella Hero

or are you planning more kids?

@Zephyry Yeah I really feel like Marcella hits the same sweet spot as Gilbert in that regard. With him we get a lot of 'Oh! Gilbert!' reactions, like people have just remembered the name exists. Or little old ladies gushing over Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables 😅

@Newsenmum No more kids. This baby is our second and last :) And middle names are honour spots in our family so they're already taken.

I love the name Hero and have done ever since reading Much Ado About Nothing at school! But you're right, it doesn't quite work with Gilbert.

Honest opinion: I'm not hugely keen on Marcella. Marcie is very sweet for a little girl but not so great for a grown woman, I don't think. But it works better with Gilbert.

I'm having similar issues - I think it's very tricky picking names that work for every stage of life. I was saddled with a nickname I hated as a little girl/teenager. It stuck with me through adulthood and now I don't mind it.

But if you love Marcella and prefer it with Gilbert over Hero, then go for it!

They’re both nice, but I really like Hero! It’s unique, strong, and cute. The only issue I can imagine is if it ends up being shortened to ‘Ro’ (which is a great nickname), she’d be Ro Jane Rose. That’s not really a problem though!

Everyone saying they’d assume it was a boy’s name would then realize it’s a girl’s name when they meet the child named Hero who is…a girl.

@TheBirdintheCave ha yes we had Gilbert on our list due to a shared love of AOGG, but another name won out in the end!

Go Marcella! It's a fantastic name, you aren't sacrificing the individuality aspect but there are options for her to shorten etc to make it her own - no option with Hero

What a helpful response. You seem really nice!

My vote goes to Hero. Lovely name. And personally I think it goes with Gilbert.

I do like Hero I just think it’s a lot for a shyer child and there’s no way of telling her nature.

But I’m coming at it from the lens of having teens who would have hated to be called the more way out names I considered when pregnant.

I’m not keen on either. I don’t mind unusual names but these are odd to the point where I would encourage you to rethink because it’s not very fair to raise a child with names like this. Kids just want to fit in on the whole (I have an ‘unusual’ name which my parents thought was lovely but it makes me cringe).

@Naptrappedmummy I could understand that with Hero but Marcella as well? That's just a normal (albeit uncommon) name to me 🤔 It fits in with all the other 'elle/ella' names surely?

I don't think a little Marcie would seem at all out of place next to Livvy, Lottie, Sophie, Rosie, etc.

It’s ok, probably more normal than Hero, but still kind of old fashioned and not in the way that has made a comeback. Sorry I’m not trying to be an arsehole for the sake of it, but I (and most people I know with a ‘lovely, unusual, old’ name) would’ve much preferred a boring normal name that dates us to our actual age because at least we wouldn’t cringe saying it out loud.