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’ve already answered this, just read one of my other comments.

@Everlore i think that’s a valid point re younger people; but there are so many on this thread pointing out the associations that there are clearly enough people who are thinking of them.

In any case, originally the OP was asking why she was getting so many slightly funny reactions from family/friends to the names. Fair enough: she might well not have known the cultural associations of them, or how the names together might sound to lots of other people. Clearly, no-one is going to say in real life to a new mum in person what their first thoughts are; but presumably it’s been useful to OP to know why she may be getting slightly “off” or lukewarm reactions? And changing the name Lola to Lila does remove them by quite a lot.

Considering you know I’m not going to change it, what are you hoping to achieve by calling me selfish? Is the goal to make me cave and say awww okay what do you think I should name my baby then?

You are welcome to disagree and not like the name, but calling it a selfish choice is pretty unfair.

I think it is selfish not to think beyond "well I like it, so who cares what anyone else thinks".

Because you are not the one who will have to live with it.

Gigi is a name growing in popularity, someone in the early part of the thread said they knew several born this year.
My children may not like any name I give them. Like I’ve said by sisters name is Anaïs she goes by her middle name Marie as she doesn’t like her first name. You run that risk with any name you give your child.

I think Gigi and Lola are lovely names

See of the two, Gigi really is the one that sounds the most nickname-y. Which is why you’re getting the comments about the nicknames, which you wouldn’t with Lola plus something else short like Eva. I don’t think you need to change Lola’s name unless you really want to if you aren’t changing Gigi’s name, that’s not going to make much difference to Gigi as she’s the one with the nickname name.

If you aren’t open to changing Gigi’s name to something like Georgina then you’ll have to get used to saying “no, it’s just Gigi.” (And then in a few years you won’t have to do that anymore as it’ll be Gigi saying it.)

I love Lola!
Not too big on Gigi

Lily, Poppy, Elsie, Bonnie, Daisy, Rosie, Millie, Evie, Hallie, Lottie, Maisie, Nancy, Lola, Nellie

Alfie, Albie, Louie, Teddy, Tommy, Reggie, Ronnie, Sonny, Bobby, Toby

These names were all in the top 100 baby names last year, all of them generally nicknames. I think Gigi will be fine in a cohort where these names are well used and not the only person with a “nickname” name.

I wasn’t keen on my sister’s favoured name for my niece, but had the sense to keep schtum. My mother didn’t, unfortunately, and it caused quite a row 😬

In the end, my sister stuck with the name because she loved it - and my mother was so delighted at being a grandmother that she almost instantly forgot she’d ever disliked it. It wouldn’t surprise me if your family are exactly the same 🙂

I think both names are great and love your middle names. Personally, I think Lola sounds stronger than Lila - I think Lila is a bit nothingy. It's like Isla for parents who thought that was too popular now. And Charlie and Lola would be a bigger reference point for the name now than a Barry Manilow song.

I think Lina is a great international four letter L name.

I think Gigi has the more difficult name combo - her middle name isn't exactly any easier than her first name.
Lola and Gabrielle sound lovely - any chance of switching Lola's middle name to her sis?

Please could people remember that @Friteskyhas already had her babies, and they already have their names, and that 3 weeks postpartum is a fragile place to be at the best of times.

Exactly this! Some of the posts are downright bloody rude.

Oh dear, you’ve had a battering here. I wonder if you’d felt the negativity IRL and hoped that would be contravened here. Unfortunately there is a reason it’s good not to share baby names before birth or invite opinions. People here are reflective of RL, but far more honest and straightforward that anyone in RL would be. I remember starting a baby thread on a particular name that got roundly criticised and I couldn’t shake that off, but made sure not to ask opinions again. Like others have said. Your beautiful babies, you pick the names, and they will inhabit those names as they grow.

As an aside, I’d never think to pronounce GiGi the way you have said, and would think it GeeGee.

Given how incredibly small-minded and reactionary most of these comments are I would say that the, now thirteen pages, of mostly negative comments should make you more determined than ever to use your original names OP! Would you really want to saddle your girls with the sort of prosaic, unimaginative names that the nervous nellies posting on here, horrified by names as tame and commonplace as Gigi and Lola, would find acceptable! What an incredibly boring and beige world these people must live in.

Fab names!!

Yes very small minded and parochial as well. My children don't go to school with a parade of Olivers and Olivias but children from a very wide range of ethnic backgrounds so Lola and Gigi would not be considered unusual in the slightest.

Ok but you are getting comments already, which should tell you that you’ve gone a bit further down the “nickname” route than the normal.

And you are the one who’s upset enough by the “is it a nickname?” Question to start a thread.

You’ve picked names that sound like nicknames- it doesn’t help that the two Gigi’s people will think of (the one from the film and the model Gigi Hadid) for both it’s a nickname.

So the question needs to be - is this a problem you need to fix or is it something you need to get a thicker skin about?

Changing Lola’s name won’t stop people assuming Gigi is a nickname. But the question therefore is - does it matter? You don’t think it does, so why bother asking about changing Lola’s name?

I’m changing Lola’s name as at the beginning many people said that together it conjured an image of show girls but separately less so.

Exactly
I actually like them but in a lot of English speaking countries they have negative connotations and sound a bit "stripperish"

I don’t get why you’re arguing with all these commenters, though? People don’t like the names (for whatever reason). You do. You’ve made your decision. That’s fine.

What’s the point in justifying said names and decision to strangers on the internet? It achieves nothing, you’re not going to change anyone’s mind, and you’ve said yourself that this thread is now upsetting you. So, perhaps it might be a good idea to hide it?

OP, I think you should keep the names you loved.

The would it suit a surgeon, scientist, Judge?
narrative is just so small minded and outdated now.

My children have grown up with all sorts of names in their school from fictional characters like Khaleesi, names from different cultures "posh" names and names people on MN consider chavvy and made up names like Nevaeh.

None of the kids at school bat an eyelid. My dad said my daughter's name sounded like a cow's name. I rolled my eyes and ignored him.
Your family will get used to the names and soon they won't be able to imagine them called anything else.