What were you nearly called?

[Abigail47]

I was nearly called Deborah or Scarlett.

They were in my parents top three names.

Then they finally chose my name.

I feel a bit of a connection to those other two names.

My other girl name was to be Anne .
If born a boy Andrew .

Rhiannon. Nothing wrong with it but not 'me'.

Hang on, I've just realised the late queen had kids called Anne and Andrew . Do you reckon she deliberated over whether they were too matchy??

Graham. Bloody Graham.

Francessca

Gwendoline. I actually prefer it to the name I was given, especially shortened to Gwen.

@ Waterboatlass
Anne was after my dad's mum , and I've always assumed Andrew because it sounds Anne like.

My dad wanted to call me Ruth or Carmen.
I like Ruth ( now), but I don't think I'd have liked it when younger. Plus, I'd have been Roof to the other kids.
Carmen - all I see is a lady with a bowl of fruit on her head.
Instead I got a timeless classic. I was 1 of about 7 at school, but it never bothered me and I still really like my name.

@Abigail47 yes, it's interesting the 'overruling' bit.
Nowadays, it's definitely a joint decision but I was born in the 60s ( as were my other siblings), and my mum chose all our names. Poor dad had no choice - though I am quite happy about that.

With my own ds we had two names picked, we knew he was a boy and dh said you're the one having the operation so you choose . I chose just as I was being put under 🤣

I think they only ever had one choice for me for a girl. It was my mum's favourite name. Very classic. A popular choice but I love it (and I love that it's still in the top 100 today, rather than being associated with the 80s).

They had fairly classic choices for a boy too as I've been told they were considering Michael, Matthew or Steven. I really like Matthew and could have lived with the other two. I would have probably liked them more if they actually were my name to be honest. I think most people have a close affinity to their name don't they? Well, either that or they absolutely hate it. There doesn't seem to be much inbetween when it comes to your own name. Most people seem to either love it or hate it.

Rowena.

Not in my case. My mum and dad agreed on two names and my mum said my dad could pick which one he preferred as she loved them both and couldn't decide.

I was very nearly Myfanwy. It’s Welsh and my dad was Welsh. It’s a lovely name but I was brought up in Central Scotland and probably would have struggled, lol.

Amaryllis, Lisa or Geraint.

Thankfully I ended up with Abigail!

Laura or Angela. I would have preferred either over the name my parents actually chose.

Sibyl. Glad I missed out on a lifetime of Fawlty Towers jokes.

@Magpiecomplex 🤣🤣

Carol. And my birthday is very near Christmas. Lucky for me, my parents’ friends pointed out how that was going to play out!

I would have been Adrian and was almost called Verity! I don’t have a sister though so there must be 2 sets of parents with similar terrible taste 😂

My mum wanted to name me "Carmelia Marcella" after a character in a book she was reading whilst pregnant with me - I'm secretly gutted I didn't get this name!

My dad wanted to call me "Donna Marie" - I didn't get this name either, although he did get "Marie" as one of my middle names - the other is "Elizabeth".

My mum and godmother were both insisting that if I was a boy, I'd be named "Bilbo" and my maiden name was very much like "Baggins"

Thank goodness I'm female - my given name is actually one I always despised with a passion as a child as it was unusual but it seems to be liked by most people who hear it.

Charlotte Louise but Dad didn't want that and I got another Gt Aunt's name instead which is unusual but not that rare. I do have a unique surname - I've never met or heard of anyone outside my immediate and small family with it!

Louise
Bronwen
Dan

Juliet

Petra (what I got isn't great tbf but at least it wasn't the Blue Peter dog!). Born 1960 for context.

Had I been a boy, Zachary. Pretty put there for 1960.

My DC's names are timeless classics!