Perdita - honest opinions

[BexJ78]

For ages and ages, DH and i have said that if we ever had a girl we would call her Perdita or Purdie for short. However, i am now half way through my pregnancy and DH now says that he is worried that a) she will get called 'pervy' at school;
b) that it is too wannabee-ish.

We both have very traditional names and are from families of traditional names, but i really like it as i think it is unusual without looking contrived.... what do you think? I have canvased other MNers on my antenatal thread, who suggested we could shorten to Dita, which is nice, but the only dita i've ever heard of is dita van teese.
in a quandry so need some help! thanks all.xxx

Makes me think of a pampered Burmese cat. Which is strange given that it's a mother dalmatian's name... And I went to primary school with one, I think. She was alright, afair. Not spoiled or lost or cat or doglike at all.

Dita is cute.

Only if you are posh/can pull it off/feel confident shouting it across waitrose asda

I dont like it tbh but that could be because my son watches Tractor Tom incessantly and the cat on it is called Purdie!! x

I used to work with a Perdita, and she used to get annoyed by people mispronoucing her name. She liked it pronouced Perd-it-a, but it was more commonly pronouced Purr-deeta which she disliked. She was mostly called Perdi

Yep, 101 Dalmatians. But Purdy makes me think of the truly gorgeous Joanna Lumley with THAT haircut in The Avengers. Pretty cool.

It means loss in Italian. Lost would be "perduta". In my opinion, it woul be difficult to explain to her when she asks in a few years' time. But then again, I am Italian, it might matter less to non-Italian speakers.

No, not keen I'm afraid. Weren't the dogs in 101 dalmations called Pongo and Perdita?

Sorry, not keen. It sounds a bit 'trying too hard'.

I think of Agnes from Discworld tbh. Prefer Agnes too.

I think it's a beautiful name, and most people don't seem to let the fact that names mean something silly in another language stop them calling their child that.

Purdie is an ultra cool nickname, as is Dita.

She's going to be the most glamorous teenager in the school, isn't she? I can just imagine a girl about 5'10, long blong hair, swanning in to the common room: "Hi, I'm Purdie"

I actually considered it myself but couldn't go for it as a Renaissance Lit scholar because of knowing that would mean I was Hermione, stuck as a statue for however many years.

Yes Perdita was Rupert Campbell-Black's illegitimate polo playing daughter in Polo.

I love it! It means 'lost one'.

The main dog characters in '101 Dalmations' were Pongo & Missus. Perdita was another female dog who I think had been kidanpped by Cruella de Ville. When P&M rescued their puppies they also liberated Perdita and hers. They all went back to live in St John's Wood, since Perdita, who had been lost, didn't know where she had come from.

I have a Hermione - so Perdita's mother in the Winters Tale. I like it (also expecting a girl), but think people may think it a little odd as we would then have mother and daughter?!
Erm, have also read Jilly Cooper (in my teens I hasten to add) and Rupert C-B's daughters are Tabitha and Bianca. Perdita is Daisy the painter's daughter in Polo I think!!!!

Yes but Daisy had a flng with Rupert back in the day et voila! Perdita was the result.

Horrible name.

101 Dalmations
Purdah mmmmm

Could be shortened to Purdey

bluesatinsash - I had forgotten that in the intervening years since I had read it - wow I bow to your superior knowledge!

I just instantly think of the dogs!

Riders/Rivals/Polo are my 'guilty pleasure' what can I say .

Also v. raunchy reading for a 15 year old (when I first nicked my sister's copy 23 years ago!).

Sorry, dislike (I have an irrational dislike of posh-sounding names like this) - sorry

I also think you'd get people pronouncing it wrong

could be shortened to piggy a la tottie de bouvier in the times.