Opinions on the name May?

[twofluffybunnies]

May Arabella is what I’m thinking.

Opinions?

It's OK. Unexciting but inoffensive. I prefer Arabella May.

Boring. Arabella is nice, but too many kids and dogs are called Bella

I feel like Arabella is a bit twee as a first name, but I adore it which is why I want to use it as a middle.

I’m not sure how I feel about it as a first name. And it would probably be shortened to Bella.

It is something I’ve thought about though.

Does your surname begin with a Y? That would be cool!

Hopefully doesn't start with a D though and she would be mad to marry one!

I think it's lovely. It's a bit boring and overused as a middle name but a great choice for a first name - strong, timeless and not too popular.

May is sweet.

May Arabella is nice as is ..
May Mirabel
Mary Cicely

It's lovely, very pretty.

I am a primary teacher. Currently I teach a May who is in Y5 and a lovely girl. So I say go for it, Mays are likely to be lovely!
(Disclaimer: don't spell it Mai as in my experience they are far less lovely!) 🤣

I love the name May! I disagree that it’s bland - it’s actually really refreshing to hear such a pretty and simple classic among all the Bella type names and Lila / Layla / Lyras.

My mum is called May and she dislikes it because it’s so short that people often mishear her name. She says she has to elongate it when she introduces herself and she has to say ‘my name is May’ otherwise people think she’s saying’I’m me’ rather than ‘I’m May’.

Same on the phone. If she says ‘hi Sophie it’s May’ then sometimes people think she’s saying‘hi Sophie it’s me’.

May the force be with you in making this bad decision!

Even more so if their surname is Yam

All of this.

Will she be born in May?

If so, I quite like it. If not, just the idea of it makes my teeth itch. (I’m a mathematician - in my world things are right or wrong!)

Bad decision? How come?

I think May is beautiful. Elegant and classy.

I think it’s very pretty!

I would be less concerned about her being born in May than pp. I see May as a name in its own right for some reason.

April and June however…. (I have a friend called April, it’s a very pretty name, but it drives me slightly mad that her birthday is in a different month)

I really like it! I’ve worked with children for over thirty years and have come across a Mai but not a May. My mum had a friend years ago called May and she was lovely 🙂

May is a classy and elegant name. I think you should go for it!

I have a May! She is primary age and so far no regrets. Lots of people commented they liked it when she was a baby as it's a well known name but unusual as a first name. Yes it's not the most out-there or exciting name so not everyone will love it, they don't have to. I think it's pretty and it really suits my daughter.

I like it, simple and pretty and not used too much.

If I had another girl i’d have chosen Maeve but May is also nice

There have been threads on here claiming May is not desirable when hyphenated, as in Ellie-May.

Fwiw I think May is sweet and I don’t feel as strongly that “ just having the hyphen” makes it somehow a different sort of name, but that is the opinion of many, which is probably worth mentioning.

I feel slightly differently in that I think the shorter syllable tends to sound better after - which I guess is names like May and Grace do get used as middle names a lot. For me “May Something Else” sounds a bit like a “May I have another biscuit?” question.

They are both pretty, classic, elegant names, neither particularly over-used so I don’t think you can go too far wrong.

However, for the reasons above I much prefer Arabella May. I just think the rhythm and flow of it is better and that Arabella is the prettier first name of the two.

I think May is beautiful, a lovely name. My grandma was May and it is my middle name (long long before it was everyone's bloody middle name!). I had a couple of friends once who seemed to latch on to what was once an unusual middle name and just called me May, which I loved.

Go for it!

I like May as a first name. It's simple and classic., up there with Rose and Grace. Everyone says those 3 are overdone as middle names and perhaps they are, if used without special meaning just 'because', but as first name options all 3 are classy.

I taught a May once and she was lovely (she'd be mid teens by now). Made a change from the trendy Maya, Maisie type names which are similar but much less classy.