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 understand what you are saying re Gigi but she’ll be the one having to live with it, and choosing what is considered a cute nickname as a name because your DH and you always talked about it / she can use her middle name / etc is very selfish. It’s not about you, it’s about her.
I would definitely resent my parents if they gave me a nickname as a name.
The other ‘cute’ names you are quoting are real names, Gigi is a nickname. And quite low class in France as well.

This.

You do not have the power to opt your children out of names having cultural associations. Nobody does. It's immaterial whether you think it should be a thing, it is. What this means is that when you as a parent choose a name, you're also choosing any cultural associations that come with it.

Lola is a shortened Lolita - you really don’t want people to associate that with your daughter do you????

The trick is to pick a name that can carry them anywhere. I considered some quite quirky names when pregnant and 18 years later one Dd would have rocked it the other is more low key fun but quite studious heading for a heavy weight type job and keeps her head down and would have hated some of the names I considered. Dd1 would detest being called Gigi dd2 would be fine with it. You just can’t know.

While I absolutely appreciate that I did ask for opinions, to continue hounding on about it after I’ve specifically said we won’t be changing Gigi feels really cruel? I’m probably just being overly emotional but it’s starting to feel like a lot of peer pressure to conform or as though I’m being told I’m selfish or horrible to keep the name I love.
There were 67 baby Gigi’s registered in England and wales last year, it’s hardly unheard of, we aren’t doing something no one else has done before.
Again I appreciate I did ask for opinions and I am going to get just that, but I wasn’t expecting to be called selfish tbh that’s really hurt! And I imagine the 67 mums of those baby Gigi’s born last year would be really hurt by that narrative too.
I get it the internet and it’s easy to forget words have consequences but when you call me selfish or implicate things about a name I’ve said we won’t be changing it wouldn’t hurt to be aware that’s a real person you’re saying that to and real baby you’re talking about.

Also I find the would Gigi work as a doctor or in a boardroom point really frustrating. There is growing trend in “softer” names for young baby girls. Along with Evie, Poppy and Elsie for example by the time my Gigi is old enough to be a doctor our associations with names and sounds will have changed as the current wave of baby girls age into real careers which aren’t dictated by their name.

There was a time where Katie, Charlie, Bella, Abby etc. all weren’t acceptable as full names but I struggle to believe anyone here would actually be unhappy with a doctor named Katie or Abby?
It’s a very shortsighted view which doesn’t take into account current naming trend and how perceptions will change as a result.
Currently I can’t imagine a teenage or young adult Mabel or Edith as I associate the names with older women but as the current wave of Mabel’s and Edith’s grow up I’m sure my perception will change and I will associate it with those age groups.

Gigi and Romy are nice. I don’t know what people are talking about re the medical school and Oxford BS.. Gigi is short for many names like Georgiana, Georgina etc so I suspect plenty of Gigis have graced the halls at Oxford or at medical school.
Boris Johnson named his daughter Romy so while that may not be a big sell, fancy people are using that name!

Totally agree with everything you say OP.
Gigi and Lola are FAB names. Disregard this nitpicking, haughty lot and stick with what you chose and love.
I especially like Gigi.
Bash on.

To add...how very mumsnet to worry about a name that suits a doctor. Ha ha.

I’m just genuinely curious how many mumsnetters make their life decisions based on someone’s name! Are they really checking the GP website before registering to make sure every doctor they might see has a “name that works for a doctor” I think not!

To add again...

"While I absolutely appreciate that I did ask for opinions, to continue hounding on about it after I’ve specifically said we won’t be changing Gigi feels really cruel?"

Some posters on here forget that they're just on a forum and decide they should have the final word in someone else's business. They get genuinely annoyed and actively horrible when a stranger doesn't crumble under their criticism.
It's them, not you. Promise.

If you like it stick with it. We are all different. Personally I don’t like any cutesy names for girls but that’s just me. I like strong women names not cutesy show girl ones. Doesn’t mean I’m right or my view more valid.

That said when I posted dd2 name someone said it sounded like a boat. Fair comment I guess!

I love those names. Especially Gigi which I think is unutterably glamorous!

Only silly judgemental people think that way. Ignore them.

That was my first thought too @BreadstickBurglar. They dont have positive connotations for me I'm afraid.

Not names I would pick as I think they sound more like cat/dog names but your kids, you choose the names and everyone can should keep their beak out.

And to add in the case of literature/pop-culture many many names are or can be associated with complex characters in literature.

Nancy from Oliver’s Twist
Fantine in Les Mis
Sonya from Crime and Punishment
Sabina from Spy in the house of love

Or for a more direct lolita equivalent, “the girl” from Marguerite Duras’ the lover which is auto-fiction therefore Marguerite.

Then add just the genuinely tragic figures, Ophelia, Anna Karenina, I could continue but the point is in literature and pop culture many many names are associated with tragic or complex stories, if we avoided all of those names we’d have hardly any left to use.

The thing is when you go on MN about baby names it always ends up like this, without exception. The names are nice (I’d still prefer them to be abbreviations of a longer name, but that’s me not you.

For the record I have never known the first name of any doctor I’ve ever had, bar one (my c-section consultant).

England too 🐴

It's not pronounced jee-jee like the horses.

Oh.... that's how I'd say it.
How is it pronounced then?

We are saying it with a soft G more like Zhi Zhi like the start of gilet.

With a soft 'g'.

Like the g in Faberge - is the quickest example I can think of.

Oh ok.
It sounds ok as a name and you like it so that's the important thing, but it still (to me) sounds like a shortening of a name.
I have a feeling she'd get asked "What's that short for" or "What's your legal full name" a lot in life.
I still don't understand the comments around Lola on here.
Lola is a lovely name and as popular and ordinary as Evie, Ellie, Ava, Ella etc.