Which of these three girls' names is nicest?

[artichokes]

I am sure I will start another 200 names threads before this baby actually arrives but tonight DH and I have a shortlist of three. What do you think of them?

Katherine (known as Kitty)
Dorothea (known as Dora or Dotty)
Sophia

One I love and he is unsure, one is vice versa and the third we both think is nice but neither of us love.

Katherine is favourite, but Kitty is very popular on it's own atm. Kitten as a short? I love Dorothea, but like Thea for a short version, maybe Dolly, at a push. I used to love Sophia, but it's just been over-used recently imo.

Love Dorothea/Dotty, would give Dora (the explorer) a miss.

Thanks everyone

Dorothea is the one I love and DH is unsure about. It is special to me as my much-missed late mother loved Middlemarch and when she was dying she urged me to "nature the Dorothea in myself and shun the Rosamund".

Katherine/Kitty is DH's fav. I am just worried that Kitty may be perceived as twee and Katherine is a little too safe. I do like it though.

Sophia is the one we both like but neither of us are in love with. It is probably safest as nobody hates Sophia (except Soupkitchen!)

Katherine

I would go with Dorothy (rather than Dorothea).

Friend has a Sofia, which I rather like as an alternate spelling

Favourite is Sophia (I would say that, it's dd's name )

We call her Phia for short. I think it's a lovely name, but a surprising amount of people call her Sophie (which drives us bonkers).

DD's middle name is Katharine. So good name choices imo!! I also like Dorothea, but it reminds me of the priggish character in Middlemarch.

Oh dear OP, I've just seen your post about your late mother's love of Middlemarch, sorry

Katherine/Kitty.

That's what DS1 would have been called if he had been a girl.

I like all of them, but think I would go for Dorothea

What about using 2 - Dorothea Katherine?

What about Katherine shortened to Kathy?

Don't worry GetOrf . I am not a huge fan of the character either, she takes herself waayyyy to seriously, but my Mum admired her and Mum's use of the phrase "nuture the Dorothea in yourself" makes me want to call my baby that.

sophia

Katherine

I like them all very much. ds1 would have been Sophia if he had been a dd.

Dorothea is very nice and unlikely to be as popular as katherine or sophia if you would like your name to be a little unique.

Dorothea is my favourite of the three - she's the heroine of Middlemarch - but for myself I would avoid the abbreviation Dotty, as to my parents' generation it means slightly mad.

Sophia

Oops - somehow missed the other mentions of Middlemarch.

Sophia.

Katherine, but pls spell it Katharine

(Katharine = Greek
Catherine = French
Katherine = mish-mosh)

And as well as Kitty she could have Katie, Kate, Kat, Kathy...