I give-up, after 9 months and hundreds of these threads, we settled on a name only for a close friend to call her baby the same thing.

[artichokes]

She announced it yesterday.
The name was Nina.
My DD2 is due in 2 days. We have no names, it took ages to settle on Nina, and now I am so bored with name hunting.

Someone just tell me what to name her. Pretty please?

It should be classic but not boring and I tend to like short names.

norkmaiden the other choice she has is think her friend is maybe not such a good friend at all and start winding up the friendship.

I'm not kidding, that is how pissed off I would be if a good friend did this to me and that is not something I would take remotely lightly.

Leda?

Sorry to post and disappear. DH turned out with a lovely take-out so I had to run.

My friend did not know Nina was our choice. I told her when she called me yesterday and I asked whether she would be flattered or annoyed if we stuck with Nina. She said she would have no problem at all.

The problem is that we grew up together in a tiny village and are both in touch with most people there. Eight years ago another friend from the village had a little Nina. I had already felt slightly strange about that. Now three of us might have Ninas (there were 12 people in our whole class). Everyone will think it odd even if my friend does not.

I guess it has just taken away my certainty about the name. We may still go with it but it feels weird now.

Right, I am off to read the thread properly and look at all your suggestions .

That is quite understandable then. I went to school with a Freyja who is now 38. I am convinced that her school friends naming their children after her has contributed to the rise of the name!!!!

I'm a big fan of Nina, but I think Anya, Thea and Joy have some of the same modest beauty!

skidoodle - If a friend would wind up a friendship over a name I would consider them too high maintenance tbh - and unlikely to be there in tough times (which we've had).

artichokes. DS1 and ds2 were named after family members so there's no way we would have changed those- they were chosen for a reason. Ds3 sounds as if it was a case similar to yours. We thought for months and could only really find one name. We're very happy with it still but I still can't think of any other name that would suit him.

As your friend is fine about it you may find it brings you all closer in some way. My friends are always extra interested in the kids who share names. It sort of happens that way.

if its your one and only name I would stick with it.

jimjam - it is perfectly possible to choose a name that doesn't belong to anyone you know without making something up.

DD has a very real name but it is not popular in this country (not even in top 5000 the year she was born).

I would have been a sobbing wreck if someone I knew well had chosen the name 2 days before she was due.

But perhaps, judging by it's gross unpopularity, I am the only person in this country who actually likes it

LuLu- depends how big your family is! Mine is huge. And anyway people then just copy you and use the name themselves.

DS1's name wasn't listed in any of the lists the year we had him, and people would say 'oh how unusual'. It's now in the top 50 and I hear it quite a bit.

LOL "Unless you call your baby something made up it's going to happen that they'll share names."

Do you really have tens of millions of friends?

Because otherwise, there are plenty of names to go around.

Interesting to be princess-like. Although I don't see how I'm being any more princess-like that someone who says:

"but this is THE name. it's the ONLY name we can use. the fact that you have just used it and might be upset by our choice is utterly irrelevant"

My position is that there are many names in the world and few good friends. Pick a different name to avoid making a friend sad.

I guess you have many, many friends but have only heard of a few names

Cara?

artichokes, dd3 is Serena. but everyone calls her Nina.

Skidoodle I have enough friends that to find a name that a) we liked and b) would go with our surname -which actually ruled out lots. Meant that every name was used by some friend. I have 3 boys. By the time you get to the third you can be struggling.

I wasn't going to cal my child Bernard (apologies to any Bernard's out there) because of an insane friend.

But I wonder if artichokes concerns are actually twofold. She seems both

a) concerned about the feelings of her friend
b) actually a little bit put off by the fact that there will be other children around with her DD's name, perhaps making it a little less special to her DD.

I challenge someone to produce me a boys name that a friend hasn't already used (or I haven't already used). Because by ds3 there was literally nothing left.

Bernard is my DD's name

Yes I can understand b). In which case if there are other options then she might choose one of those. But if any other name is going to feel second best then I would just stick with it.

When we thought we were having a girl it was dh's daily suggestion LuLu

I would stick with Nina if you love it and spent ages deciding. I would explain to your friend that you agonised over this for ages and this was the only name you agreed on, and its a beautiful name. I'm sure your friend would be ok about it! I really don't understand how your friend could get really really upset about it for very long unless they are completely bonkers.

On the other hand, you may end up going through the same conversation with other friends time and time again: "What did you call her?", "She's called Nina", "Oh...isn't X's daughter called Nina", "Yes, it was a real coincidence, I loved the name and we blah di blah di blah". It could get quite wearing.....in whch case, go for something else. You've got from now to 6 weeks after birth to make your mind up!

How about Martha?

Ha ha ha - my DH suggesed Albert if this one is a girl... (but we already named the frog in the garden Albert so I need to think of something else).

if dd4 was a boy, i was going to call her bernard lol.

dd4 has a v popular name. itys #6 in the uk names currently. but surprisingly no-one in the immidate families on either side have used it. so i bagged it lol.

The other option is a longer name that the family shorten to Nina. Such as Serena or Cristina.

I know an Albert. We quite liked it but had a cat called Bertie so that was out!

Carys?
Lydia?

I love the name Nina, and I honestly think go for it if your friend doesn't mind. But as others have said your dd may not look like a Nina - in which case what about:
Rosa (I love this too)
Orla
Kitty
Nancy
Honor

Night everyone - I'm going to tuck myself in bed with the Oxford dictionary of names. Will see if I can come up with anything for you artichokes.

'night lulubai. give Bernard a big kiss goodnight from all the babyname MNers

Lots of lovely names here. Thanks! DD1's name has been mentioned lots. I love:

Iris (but can't use with our last name)
Rose/Rosa (ditto above)
Nancy (am trying to persuade DH)
Anya (too close to DD1's name)
Thea (am trying to persuade DH)
Esther/Hester (DH says no)

Nina was so perfect! But I think it is right to say that I feel different about it now. I will have 100 other friends asking why I copied etc. I will get bored of explaining and worried they are all making assumptions that are wrong.

Arrrggghhhh.

The good news is that there was a typo in my OP. I have 12 days to go, not just 2. So 12 days to agonise and come to no conclusions...

OP, you said that you and your friend both grew up in a tiny village. Does that mean neither of you live there now, and do you both live in separate towns/cities or whatever? Because if so, that makes a big difference IMO. Your daughters won't be going to school together every day, being Nina A and Nina B in the same neighbourhood. Yes, there will be overlap when you go back to the village but surely that can be managed? Especially since you have said now you've told her she doesn't mind.

You will get the 'oh, that's the same as X' conversation a fair few times in the first few years, yes, but that'll have worn off by the time your daughter is really old enough to understand and it will just be the way things are.

IF you still did feel that you couldn't go for it, my favourite alternative is Anna. Quite a few people have mentioned it here and it has the same simple but attractive feel to it, for me.

Having just read the message above, where I think we cross-posted, I'm guessing my favourite is already taken for you! Darn it..

Of the list you've just posted I like Thea and it would go well with your DD1 (if I'm right about that).