Our name choices don’t seem very liked

[Fritesky]

DH and I have just had our twin baby girls, they are 3 weeks old and we have named them Gigi and Lola. We love their names and put a lot of time into picking them. We are a Anglo-Franco-Italian family so tried really hard to pick names that everyone would be a fan of.
Since then we’ve told family, friends etc. our babies names and got lots of “oh are the nicknames” and “oh that’s interesting”, which I guess just makes me feel really crappy. We haven’t registered the girls yet so we could change the names, but I’m not sure if I want to. Their full names are Gigi Apolline and Lola Gabrielle.

What are your thoughts?

I love Gigi and Lola. Such pretty names

@MimiSunshine It’s just a bit more special than Lola. Lila isn't special. There are many girls called Lila, Lilah, Lyla, Delilah, Isla, Mila, Lyra etc.

@Fritesky , Giselle would be Jizz-elle.
If you like the names use them.

One thing I have learnt from googling Italian girl names after reading this thread is that Ginevra is the 4th most popular girls name in Italy. I only know it as the slightly random full name for Ginny Weasley. I had no idea it was so popular!

I love Ginevra! Unfortunately, my husband said no to all my Potter name suggestions! Still, managed to sneak in a middle name with a Taylor Swift connection so I am happy!

Yes, and some of them are fine, like Jack for example. I just think nicknames like Gigi sound infantile.

I love Lila! Matches perfectly with Gigi & sounds nicer as a paring in my opinion. Both being named after models is absolutely nothing to worry about - can only be a positive! Two beautiful, successful ladies. I wish you all the best OP. ❤️

I like Gigi but not sure about the pairing with Lola. I’d maybe look to change Lola

Is that really something you’re considering when you’re about to have surgery? Like really think about it?
Is someone’s name something you consider when engaging with your colleagues? or when hiring?

People who continue to go on about the respectability of the name are really showing them up as shallow and bigoted people.

Because people in real life aren't as brutal as they'd like to be, and try to be more gentle in criticism.

As pp said, in real-life and on here, you'd have negative reactions. I don't see why you bothered asking if you aren't going to change the names based on the feedback?
(Edited: I mean the above genuinely, not trying to be nasty. At the end of the day, if you both like the names and you aren't going to change them, just call them your chosen names)

I'd have thought it's more about whether the hiring manager takes you seriously as a candidate than whether the patient takes you seriously.

You can call other people bigoted all you like, but some people will have that reaction and it seems unwise to give your child a name like that as a full name.

Because and this may be shocking to you,

1. We have changed one of the names from Lola to Lila, to remove the showgirl association
2. Internet forums are not a sentence to do what the majority thinks. I’m well within my rights to hear what people think, decide that doesn’t bother me and use the names anyway … as they are my babies! Not your babies or anyone else here’s, you all have your own children to name whatever you like and can base that decision on whatever factors matter to you.

I said pretty early in that I wouldn’t be changing Gigi and some have continued to suggest I should, calling it awful or me selfish for wanting to use it. It’s not conceptual, it’s my child’s names and it’s down right rude and disgusting frankly to continue saying that to a new mother who has made it clear she won’t be changing the name.
There are also plenty of people who don’t think we should change the names, what makes you more right than them? Are you the supreme Lord of baby names? I must have missed your appointment to that role!

I imagine hiring managers will feel pretty different when the grads applying have a whole host of names from Evie to Gigi to Oakley and River. Gone are the days of everyone being named Kate and Jack.

Genevieve is nice name that could be shortened to GiGi. OP though doesn’t want to use a long name and abbreviate it, not sure why. I know someone who called their daughter Vicky, I always thought she got a bit short changed not being a Victoria.

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Is it a risk you really want to take? There are so many lovely names that could be shortened to Gigi and Lola so it seems like a no brainer really.

I don’t want to use the long names as we don’t like the long names, the same reason we don’t want to use Kate or Emma, we just don’t like those names for our babies. They are lovely names but not what we like.

I think I’m quite happy to take the risk. I work with a Cat (no full name just cat), Abi, Elly, Rosie, Olly, Cody and Daisy which all wouldn’t have been acceptable as full names at some point, they have all made it just fine!

It's not you that will be affected though, is it?

I have a long name that can be shortened in lots of different ways and I've gone by different nicknames over the years, as well as going through a phase of using my full name.

I'm very glad my parents didn't choose one of the nicknames as my full name because if I hadn't liked it I wouldn't have been able to reinvent myself that easily.

I think there's a real risk that your daughter will not thank you for putting Gigi on her birth certificate.

But you seem determined to do so even though you supposedly came on here to ask for advice before you register them.

Supreme lord of the baby names 🤣 did you read my post properly? I never actually said one way or another whether you should change the names. I said call your kids what you want.

I was merely pointing out people in real life might have similar thoughts to those posted here, but are trying not to be so brutal about it.

As someone who's fairly regularly on interview panels we do not pay attention to names.
It's an HR regulation to do blind shortlisting, and to be able to justify hiring decisions. The whole point is to avoid appointments based on things like if the face or name fits. I actually wouldn't trust a workplace environment (or surgery) which appointed in any way other than qualifications and skills.
Gigi will be fine! I love love love Appolline though, hopefully that's still one of the middle names!

I have a short name that can’t easily have nicknames, so does my DH. We have managed fine without needing to have nicknames? Both girls will also have their middle names if they ever decide they really hate their name, but like I said earlier my sister has a perfectly normal name and she hates and goes by her middle name, so picking something else wouldn’t remove the risk of them not liking their names, it would guarantee I didn’t though.

Also like I’ve said, we have actually taken on board some of the advice and swapped Lola to Lila, so you’d be hard pushed to say the thread hasn’t been worth it. I don’t need to change Gigi’s name just because strangers on Mumsnet think I should, that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to find out why and see if that bothers me. The nickname/respectability point doesn’t bother me. The showgirl point did so changed one name to balance the association.

@Fritesky , If you didn't want opinions, why did you start a thread?

You've had 12 pages of generally negative comments about the names. The daughters will be living with the names, and chances are the names will be viewed negatively.

I think Lola is better than Gigi.

I think we are going to do Gigi Apolline and Lila Gabrielle for full names.
Thank you for confirming what I thought about hiring!

I think both Gigi and Lola are lovely names. I'm aware of the connotations of both, but think they are pretty much irrelevant nowadays. The utter bollocks some people spout about high court judge names is ridiculous, there's a million things women have to battle against in the workplace and other women judging a made up future situation on the basis of a NAME says a lot more about them. If you actually like Lila, then change it, but not because of a bitchy pile on on MN.

I’m sorry, I did go off a bit there. I didn’t mean to come across so harsh I think I’m just a mix of emotional, tired and feeling slightly protective of my babies names so feeling a need to defend them. I do apologise though, that wasn’t fair.

Lila is better than Lola, but that doesn't help poor Gigi, does it?

It doesn't really matter whether you and your husband have both been fine with the names you have. What matters is whether your daughters are fine with it. And you can't know that until it's too late.

But clearly you're set on it, so let's hope she is happy having "Gigi" on her degree certificate.

Seems like a selfish decision to me though. You are naming someone else, not yourself.