ok... our 3 fave girls names... open for critique by you honest (savage?!) Mumsnetters!!!

[beaniepix]

DH and I settled on our fave boys name about 2 years ago, but choosing a girls name has been a MUCH longer / more difficult process. We LOVE Isabelle and Lucy, but Isabelle is dreadful with our surname (which ends in -ell) and my sister is called Lucy. We APPEAR to have finally settled on 3 favourite names that we both agree on... but there isn't one which particularly leaps out at me. Still 26 weeks to go and we don't know if it's a boy or a girl but and I thought I would throw it out there for your opinions!

Our list is :

Anna
Sylvia / Sylvie
Niamh (pron. like Eve but with N!)

My concerns with each are: Niamh - obvious lifetime of mis-pronounced and mis-spelt name, Anna is so sweet but been around a lot for a long time - it is individual/special enough; and is Sylvia... can't explain this one... is it huggable enough - I think I still think of it as an older person't name...

Would LOVE other people's points of view!

Also... my Granny had daugher called Sylvia who died aged 6 months (Spina bifida I think). There is a lovely photo of my Mum aged around 9 holding Sylvia. Is it lovely to use a name that has meaning in the family, or a terrible omen to name a daughter after a baby who died? I'm not superstitious and think it's silly to attach meaning to this, but still can't help but want all the positive luck for our baby...

Anna is my fave, then Niamh, don't like Slyive, too old lady for me.

My dd is an annalise and we call her Anna and her full name

In her life she 3 I have met 1 Anna and 1 much older Annalise so not that popular

I love sylvie as well very cute!

Bad enough to spell it Neve, louisejohnson, but at least everyone would merely think you're a huge fan of the actress. But spelling it Neeve - people will just think you can't spell! Awful idea! Like those people who spell Siobhan phonetically because they've never seen it written down, so the child ends up as Shivorn or similar.

Anna is such a lovely name and she could be Anne/Annie if you/she wanted later on. Sylvie is quite elegant, old-fashioned, but v feminine.
I think Niamh is lovely as well, but you're quite right about the spelling/pronunciation problem. I have a very 'Irish' name, live in Ireland, and get it mis-pronounced/spelled daily. I love my name, but wouldn't name my child something that people would get wrong all the time. There is nothing wrong with anglicising a name if you don't mine the 'new' spelling - ie Neve. It may not be "right" but with names, what is right? It's your choice and preference that matter.

Anna is the nicest name by a mile. Followed by Niamh, which most people can pronounce I think. Maybe use Sylvia as a middle name?

Anna

Anna is by far the best. It suits all age groups, has nice variations and it's not too popular.

Niamh is nice but there are far too many at the moment.

I'm not sure about Sylvia/ Sylvie I just think of it as a middle aged name, but I can see your reasons for using it.

OOh - we must have very similar taste! My DD is Isabel Anna and both Lucy and Niamh were very strong contenders. Never thought of Sylvia though - not that keen as I immediately think of Sylvia Plath, although Sylvie is pretty. Pity about the 'el' name thing, as Annabel might have been good. I like Anna - stylish and strong! Another name that was one of our strong contenders was Elizabeth.

Anna is a good name, doesn't date and has been around a long time but never too popular / obscure.

I have a Niamh and tbh it's not been a big problem re the spelling etc.

It's more popular now so folk are more aware of the proper spelling ime.

Not keen on Sylvie/Sylvia at all and Anna ... Not my cup of tea either. I also have an Eilidh which is nice

Oh and FGS don't spell it Neeve. That's daft!!

I like them all. Sylvie is my fav though.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your comments! I often wondered whether it's useful to get other people's opinions as surely myself and DH should just make our own minds up - but I have to say I have found it extraordinarily helpful to hear all your views.

I think Niamh is slipping lower down our list of preferences (also I think my parents and my Irish relatives would be horrified at anglicising the name - having said that, if we wanted to, they would just have to get used to it).

I think we might just keep Anna and Sylvie (poss christened Sylvia with nn Sylvie) as our two favourites and if it's a girl we'll see which suits when we meet her!

My Mum would definitely not cope with having a daughter and granddaughter called Lucy, but if we go with Anna we will definitely use Lucy as the middle name. Not so sure whether Sylvia Lucy works... will have a think about it. Sylvie Lucy definitely not.

Anyway, thank you all again for all your wonderful comments!!! (I was half expecting a bit of a slating for some reason - must have been reading too many "I'm thinking of naming my DD Gargoyle or Moonshine" posts - you're all wonderful!

what about Sylvie Lucia? similar but works as opposed to Sylvia Lucy?

very DH wouldn't let me have Sylvie

Anna is lovely strong classic name

DH wouldn't let me have Sylvie either! I love it beautiful name, I also really liked Silke, pronounced Silka but that got vetoed straight off - sigh lucky had DS really...

NOT Niamh. I know about 5 of these!! The others I love though.

Love Niamh.
Don't like Sylvia but love Sylvie.
Anna is okay: it strikes me as better as a middle name.

Niamh Anna gets my vote!

Neve/Neeve is hideous though, sorry!

dont really like any of them, but i like niamh is bprob the best out of them, i really like evie