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?

Yes, I have the same question, @Fritesky ?

@marshallzumarubble , The name is growing in popularity but so far has peaked at 69.

It takes 10-16 years to be a surgeon, so a surgeon would be at least 28. Only about 31 Gigis have been registered in the past 10 years.

I have to say I don't know the first names of the surgeons who operated on my daughter (3 different surgeries).
Nor do I care.

Exactly, and has nobody heard of Dr Pixie Mckenna?

It did confuse me that surgeons aren't referred to as Dr.
They are Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss Surname.

@Toerags , Name given at birth Bernadette Anne McKenna.

Fun fact - that’s because doctors originally were those who held a doctorate (it was an academic title first and foremost). The title was given to medical doctors as a courtesy but surgeons didn’t use “doctor” up until quite recently - it’s why dentists (ie dental surgeons) were never called doctor until recently.

Me too! I heard it for the first time on the Victoria Beckham documentary, one of the models was called Apolline. I really like it.

Randomly I know 3 (london/French families) it's quite "old lady" i think in france so getting a revival

I know, but she still uses pixie in a clinical setting so it may as well be her actual first name.

I would assume Lola is short for Apolline and Gigi for Gabrielle....

Why on earth would you assume that?

@ToeJob , because if you saw the name Gabrielle, you would immediately think it was going to be shortened to Gigi, not Gabby, Gaby or Gab, and Lola was always short for Apolline never Dolores. Obvious really. Not.

I'm afraid I wondered the same op.

The two together does kind of reinforce the literary references.

It's a shame because I also can see how they sound cute together.

The middle names are lovely: could you use them as BC names?

Alternatively, give them longer names they are short for? Genevieve for instance? Just don't go for Lolita! ETA Or Dolores!

I used to work with a doctor called Gigi. She was great and there was no problem.

I think they are both brilliant names and I wouldn't change either of them at all

It's a shame because I also can see how they sound cute together. they do if they are kittens or poodles.

I think all your names, first and middle are lovely. I teach primary and neither Lola or Gigi would raise an eyebrow at all. As the mother of a Doctor with a cutesy girl name I too am amazed at the misogyny on this thread because that’s what it is. If you don’t think your daughters can be taken seriously or considered educated or authoritative and responsible because of a girly name you are saying women are less than men. It should be perfectly possible to be a woman called Bonnie who has all of these attributes and decides your surgery or reads the news , it’s frankly ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

Gigi and Lila are much better together OP. If you’d have asked that question at beginning, I would have said they were perfectly fine. I actually prefer Lila as a name so hopefully (minus the overly negative posts) it’s been helpful overall!

@lemonadelouis , it’s frankly ridiculous to suggest otherwise. In your opinion.

It’s your choice but they unfortunately do have a certain feel to them to English language people due to use in certain “industries” in fiction etc. they seem more like nicknames, but I’m British. I love Gabrielle

@DuchessOfNarcissex That a woman with a very feminine/ girly name can be educated, intelligent, rational and responsible is absolutely not a matter of opinion!

@lemonadelouis , the names in question are not very feminine/ girly, they sound like pets' names to me.

It isn't because they are cutesy or girly at all: it's because of two works of literature which centre on two girls, one called Gigi who is being groomed as a prostitute, and the other Lola or Lolita who is the subject of a paedophile's fantasy.

It's not misogynistic to think those associations, reinforced as they are by being strung together in a mouthful, are problematic.

I think one without the other probably works ok: I think the children's cartoon Charlie and Lola was fine.

But placed side by side the brain, which tends to work by association (fish and chips, Laurel and Hardy, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility), immediately links the two works for those who know of them.

@Calliopespa I understand this, and have some sympathy for posters pointing out the associations they have with the names and in-fact the OP has taken this on board and changed Lola to Lila for this very reason.
Unfortunately very many posters have solely criticised the names because they are girly, and not serious names for grown women preventing the girls from being Doctors or Lawyers.