My Baby Names List 2025

[AubernFable]

I thought this might give Mumsnet a giggle. My baby name opinions are like Marmite, definitely not popular on here from what I’ve seen, but I’d love to hear your opinions, suggestions, and jokes equally. Both DH and I have long names, and I think that’s what made me so nerdy about names because of the history behind them. I love the sound of a longer first name with two middle names, as well as classic, literary or vintage names, but ideally avoiding the ‘three in the same class’ scenario.

I have collected these names from all over the place, working with young children has ruined a good few names for me- these are the survivors! I’m not currently pregnant, but I would use any of these in some combination. Since I’ve been curating this list for over a decade, I doubt anything you say will change the fact I love them- so please, keep it lighthearted! x

Also, I struggle with boys names a little more, if you have any suggestions with a similar vibe I would appreciate it.

Girls

First Names:
Florence
Cordelia
Meredith
Lavinia
Delilah
Beatrice
Matilda
Antonia
Lavander
Henrietta
Guinevere
Althea
Isadora
Camille
Felicity
Emmeline
Rosalind
Millicent
Tallulah
Veronica

Middle Names:
Ingrid
Blythe
Mabel
Violet
Bryony
Edith
Tamsin
Leona
Amelie
Sybil
Love
Sabrina
Iris
Maeve
Flora
Daphne
Juliette
Estella
Rebecca

Boys

First Names:
Archibald
Gabriel
Nathaniel
Benedict
Augustus
Constantine
Caspian
Quentin
Tristan
Evander
Valentine
Maximilian

Middle Names:
Tobias
Corbin
Able
Dylan
Basil
Silas
Soren
Spencer
Alistair
Verne
Rowan
Henry
Rupert

Thats funny DH loves Lavender and Love, both his contributions, but also thinks Lavinia is toilet adjacent. I love Maximilian because it’s a family name (so is Constantine lol) but I would use Maxim as the NN. Met a little boy called Valentine and adored it, it is a little extra I admit.

Fair enough re Sinbad- don’t have a comeback for that 😂 Abel was a typo or autocorrect, not in my notes like that but thank you!

I like your choices, Basil feels a bit rogue but I fell in love with it recently and added it.

Ooh thankyou, I didn’t know about the name Maksim before now but have seen the french Maxime. I fell for it reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier as a teen, although the character isn’t good. Love that.

I love or like
Florence, Cordelia, Meredith, Delilah, Beatrice, Matilda, Felicity, Emmeline, Millicent, Veronica, Mabel, Violet, Flora, Daphne, Rebecca, Gabriel, Caspian, Tristan, Evander, Maximilian, Dylan, Basil, Spencer, Alistair

Great list. My favourites include

First names
Florence
Cordelia
Delilah
Beatrice
Antonia
Felicity

Middle Names:
Tamsin
Iris
Maeve
Flora
Juliette
Estella

First Names:
Benedict
Augustus
Caspian
Quentin
Tristan

Middle Names:
Tobias
Silas
Soren
Alistair
Henry

My personal favourites are Antonia and Quentin!

You've misspelt some,@AubernFable

I quite like most of names, but it did make me laugh that you referred to them as marmite, and names where there won't be three in class and the first name on the girls list is bloody Florence.

It's an incredibly pedestrian top 10 name!

You've got some really dull names in there (in my opinion obviously!) like Alastiar and Rebecca then some totally mental ones like Lavander (Shouldn't it be Lavender?) and Quentin!

I do like a couple of the 'crazy' ones though such as Love and Valentine (maybe the time of year is influencing my thoughts?!)

I've trimmed your list down to the ones I like in order.

Girls
First Names:
Antonia - really like
Florence - my second favourite city after London (Oo how about London?! Only kidding)
Delilah - lovely but there is the song to worry about!

Middle Names:
Juliette - really like
Love - really like
Estella - my mum wanted to call me this but my Dad wasn't having any of it.
Leona
Sybil
Maeve
Bryony
Rebecca

Boys
First Names:
Valentine
Nathaniel
Maximilian

Middle Names:
Dylan
Spencer - only as a middle name

I like them all, apart from Archibald and Veronica - they sound ugly imo.

I don't think the others are particularly 'marmite' and I know young children with most of those names.

I like at least half on your list I think and adore some of them! Boys names…

montgomery
leander
lysander
cassius
jasper
magnus
Reginald
sebastian
theodore
frederick
orlando
vincent
zachary
isidore
cassian
aurelius

Thanks! I just love Quentin! I don’t know what NN feels right with it though.

Thank you! My bad I was up all night with the flu and was typing them from my notebook at two this morning, none of them are in the original lol.

I’m living in denial about Florence I think. I’ve met a good few children with it over the years, usually ‘flossy’ or ‘flo’, but it’s my Grandmothers name and probably one of the first names on the list so I’ve given it a pass. You’re right though and it will be moved into the middle names category :(

Hi this made me laugh, thank you, I’m so ill I needed it! So I’m the dull one (Rebecca and Alistair) and DH is the wildcard (Love and Lavender) hence the strange mix. Is Rebecca not dated enough to need a comeback yet? I do love it and it is a family name but as a middle only.

I love the names you picked out, some of them are my absolute favourites, and Spencer is only good as a middle name! Why are boys names so much harder?!

Omg thank you for the suggestions! I love or have loved a lot of these.

montgomery - Love it DH hates it. Also a family name.
leander - Family name but not in a good way lol.
lysander - I actually really like this because sounds like the above but isn’t.
cassius - DH loves, I’m not sure.
jasper -Added to the middle names!
magnus - If I had a son that looked like a little gentleman, maybe.
Reginald - My childhood dog, RIP.
sebastian - Was top of the list for years but I know so many of them…
theodore - …and even more of these! :’(
frederick - Grown on me a lot actually, hate Fred though, Freddie is cute.
orlando - Family name, I like but DH might hate I don’t actually remember.
vincent - One of my all time favourites, I love V names, was it not on the list!?
zachary - Love Zachary absolutely hate Zach and feel like it’s inevitable.
isidore - Never heard of this one and immediately added!
cassian- We have a girl with ‘Cass’ in her name! So pretty though.
aurelius- I really like this one.

Your taste is impeccable I must say, thanks again- boys names are so much harder for me!

That’s fair enough, I think I’ve heard similar in person, also that Veronica sounds like a ‘mean girls name’.

I was honestly expecting a much less positive reaction, thats why I put a disclaimer, because I always see long or more old fashioned names getting flamed on here. It could be regional too because im from the south but DH and family are northern and our families have pretty different tastes, DSiL is into more modern or unusual names (think Rae, Azra, Kyren or Evani) and those seem more common when I’m working up there too along with your ‘normal’ names like Jack and Sophie.

I love Lavender so much! I really like Valentine as well but for a girl.

Gabriel and Rowan for a boy.

Pretty names!

My favourite would be Antonia, makes me think of the novel "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather.

You have some "Downton Abbey"-names among the female names (Lavinia Swire, Mabel Lane Fox, Violet Crawley, Edith Crawley, Sybil Crawley, and Daphne Bryant).

In my native country Sweden, Love is a male name, pronounced "Loo-veh", it's a variant of Ludvig/Louis.

It’s my DH’s choice, it’s so pretty i’m surprised it isn’t as popular as Poppy or Daisy honestly. I like that too, I prefer it to the (still lovely) Valentina. I love the pretty boys name vibe though it’s so sweet and the opposite of Gunner, Hunter etc.

Ooh thank you for telling me, I hadn’t heard that before but is lovely in both languages.

I do really like it but with the english pronunciation I imagine saying ‘Goodnight Love, I Love you’ would be a mouthful.

It’s so pretty, I also love Willa as a middle name now you say it! There was a girl at my college called Antonia and I thought it was so beautiful and suited her so much it’s been on my list ever since.

I watched the first seasons when they came out and thats actually where I fell in love with the name Sybil (and the character), maybe I need to rewatch for more inspiration! I had no idea there were so many, wow.

I'd say they're all or mostly pretty popular on here, not many marmite ones beyond the vagaries of personal tastes.

The only ones I really dislike personally are Delilah, Henrietta and Nathaniel.

Not going through middle names but favourites are Meredith, Althea and Antonia for girls.

Gabriel, Constantine and Caspian for boys. Lysander too.

Lavender sounds nice in full and is a lovely flower. The diminutive Lav, is a bit less fragrant though and you won't be able to veto that at school. I would relegate to a 'nice in theory' one. I'm also not sure Guinevere would be great in practice. Bit of a single strong reference that could get boring for a namesake. Gaynor is a variant if you're not feeling Jennifer?

My favourites are easy to pick - Althea Estelle for a girl and Maximilian Basil/Soren for a boy.

The rest of the names I like fine but not in love with any.

My own kids' names would probably not be approved of on here so I wouldn't give other people's opinions that much thought though tbh.