Girls names, do any of these work?

[Bell99]

These are the current ones on our list: Ella, Daisy, Natasha, Talia, Natalia, Lacey, Lindsey, Lara, Caitlyn, Penny, Harriet/Hattie, Hallie, Alicia, Rose, Rosaleen, Roseanne, Rochelle, Lorna, Anita, Carys, Matilda/Tilly, Marianne. I'd welcome all feedback, good or bad, and anything I may have missed about any negative connotations or ugly nicknames or anything really. Thanks!

Is it worse to have a name that's seen as dated and associated with older people or to have a name which is popular now and potentially end up as one of several in the same school do you think?

Thanks! Nina is really nice think I may add that to the list! 🙂

I don’t like Lacey or Lindsey others are all great!

I've no idea, but the example I was thinking of was a Sheila at my school when the popular names were things like Claire and Sarah.

I like Talia, Lacey, Lara, Penny, Harriet/Hattie, Alicia, Rose, Lorna, Anita, Carys, Matilda, Marianne & Nina.

Lorna, Anita, and Marianne are probably my top three from this list, with Penny a close fourth.

If I liked both names equally, I would personally prefer a name that's a bit dated but was never extremely popular at its peak than a more current but very popular name. My reasoning is that if I still like a name despite it being 'dated', then it's stood the test of time as a nice (to me) name. Everyone will differ though.

Having said that, I don't think you should pay attention to whether name is likely to have duplicates at school/nursery. A teacher friend of mine, who called her son Oliver, had never taught a child with that name despite it being popular for years at that point. In contrast, in one of my daughter's baby groups there were two baby Evangelines, despite the name never being in the top 200.

And really, it's not the end of the world if there are duplicates!

Love love love Ella! Classic, beautiful and no wrong spelling or pronunciation. You can’t go wrong.

I like Harriet, Rose and I used to really love Caitlin ( this spelling only) but now really love Kate.

I love Simple, elegant and classic names.

Ella, okay
Daisy, cats name
Natasha, nice
Talia, better to have Natalia as full name
Natalia, nice
Lacey, awful
Lindsey, bit meh
Lara, lovely
Caitlyn, nice
Penny, cats name
Harriet/Hattie, no
Hallie, sounds like halitosis
Alicia,nice
Rose, nice
Rosaleen, don’t like this
Roseanne, nice
Rochelle, awful
Lorna, lovely
Anita,not keen
Carys, lovely
Matilda/Tilly,bit overdone
Marianne. lovely

My favourites from your list:
Lindsey, Lara, Lorna, Carys, Marianne

Don’t get too hung up on comments about old fashioned or too modern. It’s only ever on this site that I see these comments! In the real world, you’ll just introduce your baby as her name as no one will give it another thought. They might think ‘oh that was my aunty’s name’ or whatever, but they aren’t going to badger you about it. Choose the name you love the most.

You need to choose your favourite.
Most of your names are lovely.

Top for me are ..

Ella
Lindsey
Lorna
Natasha

My opinions if you're interested!

Lara the best, Lindsey the worse. Also love love love the suggestion of Nina

Lara – Absolutely love
Caitlyn – Cute, bit 90’s
Penny – I really really like Penny, but someone told me once some people use it as a nickname for a body part that totally ruined it for me.
Alicia – Nice, also a bit 90’s
Talia – really like but I do know a dog called Talia/Tally
Natalia -It’s ok and you can get Talia from it too.
Hallie – I like Hallie, also Harper, vaguely similar, some people get really bent out of shape using names that seem a bit American
Anita – not heard this in a long time, I really like it.
Marianne – Like Anita, rather like it and not heard it for years, I like Marry as a shortening.
Matilda/Tilly – Lovely but same as Harriet and Daisy, was very popular very recently. I do love Tilly though
Carys – lovely but in Wales it’s a bit 50 year old woman, though there is the odd little one springing up
Rosaleen – Very American country, I rather like it. You could also get Rose or maybe Lena from it.
Lorna – Lovely name to me, but quite a mournful sounding name, there’s the book Lorna Doone which is rather depressing.
Rose – a beautiful flower a lovely name but a bit boring, plus every other girl will have it as a middle name
Ella – incredibly popular, pretty but too popular I’d say
Daisy – has been very popular in recent years, there’s a lot of them about along with all the Poppy’s and Lilly’s. I also struggle to imagine an sensible grown up professional called Daisy but there will be lots of them one day!
Natasha – not a fan, quite 80’s/90’s to me
Harriet/Hattie – bit like Daisy in that it was very popular a few years ago so quite a few young girls knocking about with this name right now.
Lacey – naughty girl name to me
Roseanne – not a fan, bit 80’s
Rochelle – naughty girl vibes for me, round my way she’ll get called ‘shell’* *
Lindsey – awful, very old fashioned, also unisex in the past, I guess mostly female now, not sure if that would put you off.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone! ☺️

That's the problem with the Mumsnet baby board, people will be brutally honest and say what they really think or have experienced of a name, or vent frustrations of what their daughter has just named their grandchild or something! Most people are much more polite in real life!

In reality all the nice loving people in your life will generally just accept whatever name you give her, as the most important thing is that you have just brought a healthy, happy, beautiful little girl into their world. You might get the odd raised eyebrow - 'Oh? Lindsey/Rocehlle/Marianne? Really? Oh..isn't she lovely'. And that will be that.

i think your names are fine @Bell99the only thing I think, and I’ll get called old fashioned for this, but I think if you like Penny, call her Penelope and shorten it in day to day life. I’m personally not keen on diminutive names on birth certificates.

Lindsey is interesting to see and takes me back to school days. I was born in 1967 and Lindsey was popular then though outnumbered by the Julies, Traceys, Sallys, Karens, Sharons, Elaines, Lorraines, Alisons and Kims. Oh and Wendy, there were a few of those. I’m Emma which had a moment back then because of Diana Rigg in the Avengers but has never been very out or very in fashion. If you want to choose a name no one else in her school cohort has then the above are a safe bet right now (or wartime names Sheila, Maureen, Janet, Janice etc)! I think it’s better to be out of step than to pick a name that is currently everywhere but being one of many Olivias (or whatever is popular) is only noticeable in the early days.

The only other thing is to check the first name and last name don’t spell something or sound grim together or the initials don’t spell something - no one called Annabel Rachel Sarah Edwards wants a set of monogrammed luggage for Christmas. This may sound a silly thing to say but I’ve come across a few people who have suffered as a result of this kind of oversight!

That's the problem with the Mumsnet baby board, people will be brutally honest and say what they really think or have experienced of a name
That's the good thing about it. People are brutally honest, whereas in real life they won't be but won't say what they actually think.

If most of the replies on here say a name is awful then there's a strong likelihood that the name is awful.

I’m Emma which had a moment back then .. but has never been very out or very in fashion.
It was hardly used between the 1910s and 1960s.

Love Marianne (under rated and under used!

Like Talia & Natalia. Quite like Penny, too. Would you use Penelope?

Ella is nice but has been SO popular for years. Etta?

Much prefer Rosanna to Roseanne, and Rosa to Rose. Beautiful, classic names.

I like Alicia pronounced Al-ISS-ee-a, but fear she would be called Alesha a lot, which I don’t like.

OK -
Lara, Lorna, (bit wet, ‘meh’ names)
Harriet (not hugely keen on girl versions of boys names like this)
Carys (if Welsh)
Daisy, Tilly - bit cutesy

Dislike:
Rosaleen - much nicer ‘Rose’ names available!
Rochelle, Anita, Lindsey, Natasha - feel dated but not retro/classic
Lacey - hideous!
Caitlyn - really dislike, seems very American and 90s
Hallie - ditto

Love Nina too, btw!

I love Penny and Harriet, would use either of those myself if my DH hadn't vetoed them😒

@NamingNoNames yes that’s true about the name Emma, I was thinking about its popularity in my lifetime I suppose.

I agree about brutal honesty of strangers on MN being a good thing. Sometimes we need something other than polite grimaces and lukewarm responses to jolt us out of some dire choice with implications and meanings that haven’t occurred to us. Better to hear the unvarnished feedback before it’s too late.

@HorrorPudding , I think it's a lovely name. It was very popular in the 1970s and1980s but it hasn't 'dated' like Nicola and Michelle have. It's still in the top 70.

I don't get the love for Carys. There are so many my age or older. It's it sounds like a mash-up of Karen and Doris.

Lindsay/Lindsey/Lynsey/Linzi - The Bionic Woman or Lynsey de Paul.
I'd probably think a Lindsay born now was a boy.

Ooh I like Rosa and Etta, thanks! With Penny I wasn't sure whether Penny or Penelope would be better on the birth certificate

Marianne is my favourite. Beautiful name.

Hallie Rose ok

Hallie Tosis not ok

I like Marianne

I like Ella, Natasha, Harriet / Hattie, Penny if nn for Penelope, Rose, Carys, Matilda/Tilly & Marianne.

I like Lindsey but people would miss spell it. People would think Rosaleen is Rosalie. And whilst I like Lorna I know 2 & everyone calls them Laura.