Phoebe

[LolaBumble]

Help I’m 39 weeks pregnant

Just now considering Phoebe… I love the nicknames Pheebs and Bea.

Would Alys work as a middle name?

My husband is not sure because he thinks of Phoebe Buffay - but I think that’s just because he doesn’t know any other Phoebes! I have a friend called Pheobe and think of her when I hear the name instead.

Perfectly nice name. Phoebe Buffay certainly isn't the only one. I've taught loads of Phoebes over the years. There are 5 in my school currently, which is fewer than I'd have guessed - it's fairly popular!

I have a Phoebe. Never regretted it. Still love it. Alys sounds fine with it. Dd has a similar middle. Anything short and sweet goes with it. Sometimes call her feebs but she’s mostly just Phoebe. As pp she’s definitely not feeble. She’s incredibly sporty, feisty and funny.

Ha! I'm going to upset MN now, I have a Phebe, yup no 'O', DH picked the name but I didn't like the silent o & found out that the name has been commonly used without it.

My Phebe is 23, small but definitely not feeble! And apart from cursing me for making her life difficult by removing the o she's been quite happy with it. She's mostly called Phebe, occasionally Peebs, & I call her Fifi.

Even now typing this I find the look of Phebe infinitely more pleasing than Phoebe, no idea why??

Because you used it? Pheobe seems more popular.

I like Phoebe, it’s really popular.

MN generally disapproves of alternative spellings & Phoebe is the more common spelling. 😁

I love Phoebe, not common at all at the moment either

I don’t like Phoebe but Alys works well as a middle name.

I have a Phoebe who is the very opposite of feeble! I call her Bee or Fee. She loves her name (she's grown up now) and I don't think there's any connection ever been made with Friends. She did go through a phase of being obsesssed with Charmed and there's a Phoebe in that. She's also loves the meaning of Phoebe.

No that's a spelling mistake. It's PhOEbe.

@TreadLightlyToo , Pheobe is more popular than Phebe though.

@dailyconniptions , cross-posted. The spelling was taken from Baby name explorer.

Anyone thinking it sounds feeble obviously doesn't know their Greek mythology! It's a beautiful name and works well with Alys.

I'd assume Phebe was pronounced Feeb. Never seen that spelling before.

I beg to differ. My great auntie was called Phoebe and it regularly appears in the Victorian novels I read, just because you might not have heard of it before Friends doesn't mean it wasn't popular, in the UK at least where it has been in regular use for a couple of centuries at least, I know Friends was on a while ago but I don't think it's quite that old!

Love Phoebe Alys !

I like Alice. As someone who always has to spell their name, I would personally avoid a name with an unusual spelling though. Not a fan of Phoebe, but it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks - it’s what you like that matters!

I love it! And I love Alice too and think they go nice together. Good luck with it all OP

I love it, I regret using the name for my daughter. Not many seem to use it but that is a good thing. Far too many Noah’s and Lilly’s.

I think it’s regional as I know quite a few in the south east and it’s been in and around the top 20 (17th most popular name last year) for about 20 years so definitely used a fair bit!

@Everlore , I said not popular not that I hadn't heard of it. By popular, I mean in the top 100 names. The ONS stats show that. Baby names since 1904: how has yours performed? - Office for National Statistics
Phoebe Waller Bridge, Phoebe Philo and Phoebe Cates were named before Friends was first aired.

I probably don't read the same novels as you.

I have a forename which is a fairly commonly used English name with a variant spelling. Yes, it is a little annoying to constantly have to spell it out, but the spelling my parents used is the correct spelling in our culture. I also have a relatively short 'foreign sounding surname' which hardly anybody who reads it seems able to pronounce correctly and which is commonly spelled wrong, despite it not being that complicated. However, I've never thought of changing it to a nice 'normal' English name, as I know so many people sadly felt compelled to do in the past.
I don't think anyone should feel they have to anglicise their names just to fit in. The OP has said that Alys is the Welsh spelling so I don't see why she should feel the need to ignore her Welsh heritage and use the standard English version just to make it easier for people who struggle with spelling anything more exotic than John or Jane!

I dislike Phoebe. I think it’s because the look and sound of the name contradict each other in my brain.

alys I like. Although Phoebe and alys together take me to Alyssa Milano’s character on charmed.

my favourite welsh name is Seren.

My mother is a Phoebe and I always had trouble spelling it as a child as it has both the ph and the oe to cope with. Combining two unusual spellings by adding Alys is just a bit unfair on a small person. Love the names but sometimes you have to imagine being the person who spends their life spelling them out to people.

@Everlore , OP has another thread about the name Alice (that spelling) as a first name.
Page 2 | A Welsh middle name for Alice | Mumsnet

I LOVE the name Phoebe!