What words would make lovely sounding baby names if they didn’t mean what they do?

[OliveLeader]

In light of the rise of pretty-sounding nouns which work beautifully as names (Wren, Aurora, River etc), what are some words that you think would make beautiful sounding names if the words didn’t have the meaning they do?

For instance, I have a soft spot for Farfalle. Elegant and feminine, but slightly chic! Paella would also very much work in this vibe.

Or for a boy, isn’t Faucet quite noble and yet sensitive?

I can picture an absolutely adorable little Miasma and her brother Artery - don’t they just sound nice?

Duvet. Pronounced duvé!

Amygdala is a great name.

Ironically I think they would be an West London instagrammer with a penchant for sharing their very expensive jewellery and location tagged domestic routine before falling foul of house robbers.

Many years ago we were in Zimbabwe and the trend at the time was for low income people to give their children "aspirational" names associated with white/well off people.

We went to an art gallery and in the foyer was an exhibition of paintings from children at the local primary school. Amongst the names were Mortgage, Cheque, Mercedes (I know that's a real name) and Telephone. The (male) receptionist at one of the hotels we stated at was also called Telephone.

Duvet IS pronounced duvé isn’t it? Duvay. It isn’t doo-vet.

It was meant to be a joke on the back of a previous thread where someone explained a name using its actually pronunciation but the joke failed 😂

Neuralgia

Zucchini
Courgette
Endive
Romaine
Alfalfa
Maris Piper
Coffee
Mocha
Radish
Lentil
Fennel
Chive
Mint
Dill
Paprika
Tapioca

My first language was Polish though born and bred in london and I recently saw a tiktok of a non Polish speaker talking about random words she'd heard during a trip which would make brilliant baby names.
Jajka (yaykar) for a boy. Eggs.
Makrela, Insulina and Lyszka (whishkar) for a girl. Mackrel, Insulin and Spoon.
Yet I was given grief for Kaia being too out there 🤣

What an interesting thread!
Most of the names I might have come up with seem to have been thought of already.
The only name I could think of was Lemur.
Also Tamarind has a nice sound to it.
I think lately a name I've found to be very pretty is actually the name of a river and the name means either Muddy River, or Oyster River, neither meaning is as nice as what I think the name is:
Susquehanna.
(suss- kweh-hannah).

Serendipity

For the win!

Archipelago
Corona
Fandango
Miasma

Oow. I like asphyxia.

Maybe we could recycle some if the old currencies:
Peseta
Lira
Escudo
Guilder
Drachma

Farthing
Dinar
Franc
Ducati
Florin
Tolar
Markka
Talonas

Penny...oh , already an established name!

Decoupage

I taught a Sultana. And I once met a Brilliant.

Mulatto. I always think it sounds like such a nice word.

Emetic would be a boy, quite a serious child.
Anaemia.
Eclampsia.

Memory is a female first name in southern Africa - although almost any word can be... Punishment springs to mind (male), with Admire (male) being one of my favourites.

Anna-Glypta

I expect someone is already using as a stage name.

Alice Cooper has a daughter called Calico. I think that's a lovely name.

Oregano

I’ve read through all these and I’m amazed that Syphilis has only been mentioned once. Beautiful name. She would go on to be a ballet dancer in her youth and then a really fierce dance teacher with a cane in middle age.

I know someone called Melena, had no idea until I saw it on here just now that that it meant something else!

Noisette

Latrine

Reminds me of Ma Crepe Suzette by Kenneth Williams.

https://old.frenchwithshelley.co.nz/index.php?id=1873

Omg I still watch that every now and then it's genius!