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 would use a name where 'Gigi' is a nickname derivative, like Georgia or Georgina.

I would do something similar for her twin's name, that is something that can be shortened down to a cutesy nickname that you seem to favour.

Problem is, they might not favour cutesy nicknames when they get older. Give them the options to revert to more 'grown up' names.

I mean they would always have their middle names if they didn’t like their first name?

I don’t really like the full versions of Gigi, I really love Gigi though, and I feel like it suits her.

I’m more moveable on Lola as it was a compromise name from the start between DH and I.

Nice names but to be honest I prefer their middle names!

I absolutely love them. Don’t change them.
F everyone else!

The only time I have heard Gigi is as a shortening of another name of a child who has two G names (for example Gemma Gertrude) and it's gets abbreviated to "GG" which evoles into Gigi.
If you like it then use it - but it doesn't feel like an actual name to me.
Lola is the nicer name of the two and to me a really normal regular name and every modern primary school probably has a least one 😂

I also immediately thought of strippers, but individually I like them so I'm sure that in real life I would get over that thought very quickly.

Too cutesy for my taste, and to me that makes them seem somewhat culturally restrictive. But that's my personal impression, and others might associate names like Gigi and Lola with brain surgeons or rocket scientists.

Gigi and Lila
Gigi and Lisette
Gigi and Lucia
Gigi and Livia
Gigi and Paloma
Gigi and Celeste
Gigi and Amelie

1. you like both the names
2. there are probably quite a few more Lolas these days due to the children’s books, most people will not think Lolita
3. it can be quite hard to get girls names that have no connotations at all, due to the narratives people tell about women. Your daughters will have their own stories “Her name was Lola, She was a doctor…”
4. If they ever wanted to for any reason, they could always vary their names or even use completely different ones. E.g. the crime novelist Elly Griffiths - her real name is Domenica de Rosa

I think when choosing names for your children you have to imagine them not just as babies but also walking into a room to give a presentation on economics or politics, to a mixed audience. I'm not sure I'd want to announce I was called Gigi (or Lola ).

I wouldn’t worry about it (nor solicit opinion on MN about it).

Your children’s peers won’t have any of these thoughts about their names. Children are much more accepting than their judgemental and often very old-fashioned parents - who wouldn’t turn down life-saving surgery from someone with a “stripper” name (utterly foul thing to say, btw).

Would you say the same about Poppy? Nina (similar sound)? Sadie? Josie?

I really don’t understand this take at all, I get the connotations point. But this point just feels a little off to me, as though someone’s name should define their abilities, respectability or something else? Can’t a girl be both cute and intelligent? Sweet and an expert in something serious like law, medicine or science?

It feels like a very dated and almost classist take to suggest someone’s name says anything about who they are.

If someone wouldn’t hire my child because of their name, I’d argue it’s not someone you’d want to work for anyway.

Gigi is the kind of name used by an older woman who has been married 5 times and has had lots of plastic surgery .

Your alternative choices are questionable too. Cami? That's a piece of underwear.

Remember that you're naming a person not just a cute baby!

Honest opinion, agree with PP that they sound like dog names or stripper names to me when they are together as a pair of names. But they are not my kids and not my names and my opinion is completely irrelevant to your life.
My kids have non traditional names too, I know they can conjour certain images in peoples mind of what my kids will look and act like, which is not correct.
We all have preconceved ideas of what a person with a certain name will be like, I can picture a 'James' in my head for example, he is a neat quiet boy with a side parting and a blue jumper. Olivers in my head have sandy hair and like surfing. Kates and Marys are prim and proper, Melody is a wild child etc.
So let them judge. They will judge whatever the name.

Love the names!!

There is a top very successful US lawyer called 'Cupcake' that I have heard of so I agree this really this is a moot point.

I love the names. I had similar reactions with one of my DC from some family members but the name grew on them after a couple of months.

Use their middle names.

Gigi and Lola sound like cabaret dancers.

I think Gigi is the more problematic of the two names although they both have really awful associations all to do with child abuse or strippers.

You can call her Gigi but give her a different longer first name. Or just reverse the middle names and the first names. Plenty of people go by their middle names.

Okay well I appreciate that opinion. But I’ve already said we won’t be changing Gigi or using a longer name.

For better or worse, names do carry cultural associations for many people and your kids won't be spared that.

In an English-speaking context, Gigi and Lola do seem closest to names like Bunny, Zsa Zsa, Bobo, Dodo etc., all having a fairly well-established association with cutesy dumbness and showbiz frivolity.

You can choose to fight against such stereotyping but whether your daughters will welcome being recruited for such a campaign is another matter.

In all honesty I think of them as slightly sexy names, especially as a pair of names, and so it's very weird to think of babies with those names.

But I'm not suggesting you change them. People will get used to them.

@Fritesky they are your names, both you and your DH love them, it really dosnt matter what others think, especially strangers on the internet. I would never ever post my DDs names on mumsnet as they will be pulled apart just like every names posted on here, you will get those that love them and others that don’t, on,y your opinion really matters though.

As you say your DDs will have middle names should they choose to use those, lots of people do and what associations old women on mums net have now won’t be the same associations your DDs peers will have growing up.

I know a teenage Gigi, not short for anything, just Gigi. I’ve always thought it’s a lovey, pretty name and suits her so well. It’s also cool imo but maybe that’s just because the Gigi I know is really cool.

Know a few teenage Lola’s. Also very pretty name.

Fuck what anyone else thinks, OP. You’ve chosen the names you like so stick with it.

My DH’s grandmother absolutely hated our DD’s name. I couldn’t have given a shit.

Given your updates, I agree Gigi is non-negotiable, but it’s seems unfair for her sister to have a compromise name (especially one with pairing issues with Gigi). Were there names you and DH liked individually that were vetoed by the other? Any worth a revisit? It needs to be something with a sweet, informal vibe.

Mia Gabrielle
Cara Gabrielle
Etta Gabrielle