Margaret or Lavinia

[Summer8summer8]

Hi which name is better for daughter: Margaret or Lavinia?

That should say I WOULD shorten to Margot!

Lavinia sort of reminds me of lavatory and vagina...

Pretty much what some people said in the early - mid noughties about Florence and look how that took off.

Margot is nice too

Hurrah for Margarets! I have one. Anybody who knew her as a small child calls her Daisy. At secondary school and sports she started later she's Margaret. Her friends call her Peggy. Love the poster who calls her Margaret "Ret".

It's an excellent name.

Those who say it is dreadful could do well to remember that there are more polite ways of saying it isn't to your taste. Just as with any name there are actual human beings who either have the name themselves or have given it to their child.

Margaret. I don’t like Lavinia.

And Peggy!

Those who say it is dreadful could do well to remember that there are more polite ways of saying it isn't to your taste

If people ask for opinions on a name on a baby board name then they’re going to get them so if I think it’s awful I’ll say so and I did. It’s no more or less valid than your assertion that Margaret is a great name.

There’s little point in asking if you(generic you) just want mealy-mouthed platitudes and not what people really think(Both positive and negative) And of course there are real people out there with those names but that doesn’t mean that I have to love their names. Plenty of people would hate my name. That’s fine. It doesn’t bother me.

Margaret. I like it. Lavinia shortens to Lav.

I know a Maggie in her 20s. It felt an uncomfortably close to Thatcher when she first acquired her name in the late 90s but it’s just her now, and she gets no judgement on the name.

I know a few Maggies and never associated it with Thatcher. I must know dozens of Margarets and the same.
I wouldn't associate David with Cameron or Tony with Blair either.

My mother was also a Margaret, shortened to Ret - her dad agreed to the name only if she would be Margaret with no shortenings like Maggie or Meg, and she was Margaret for a long time - but of course her uni classmates knew better! In the Scottish tradition, she was Margaret after her maternal grandmother because she was a first daughter - and as it turned out I was second daughter and so got my paternal grandmother's name, also Margaret, as my middle. Two of my cousins got Margaret as a first name - one has always been and still is Daisy, the other was Maisie and now Margaret professionally and May personally. There are certainly a lot of choices with this name!

Margaret

I love the name Margaret. Gorgeous!

In my brain only:
Margaret = classy, lots of nice shortened versions
Lavinia = only one I knew locally was a traveller and a horrible woman to boot!

I’m currently deciding on baby names and Lavinia is top of my list! My Nan is called Lavinia and all her life she has been know by ‘Lovey’ which I think is adorable and timeless. Don’t let people put you off, kids will always find a way to shorten names and be mean!

Neither.

I like Lavinia...it's very glamorous

Margaret

I like Lavinia but the Lav connection takes the edge of fior me.

Margaret is a great choice.

I like Margaret best but it does bring back memories of a TV sketch where the shop assistant shouts out “ Margaret, Margaret have we got any pirate number puzzles?”

That was so long ago it will have no relevance to your little Margaret 😊

Thank you all for your ideas :)

Love Margaret

Loathe Lavinia

What did you go for in the end?

Both bloody awful. I really hope you have/had a rethink, there are so many nice names out there…

How are people getting Daisy from Margaret?