Melisande and/or Octavia & Petrina

[Cortina]

I like Melisande (I think this appears in a French opera as well as an Enid Blyton book I remember from childhood)!

Not sure if anyone has ever heard of a child/baby with name? What are your thoughts?

Octavia - another on my list but I've gone off it since I heard someone shouting it in a shopping centre.

Coming around to Petrina but unsure?

Melisande - never heard of it, but I quite like it. Although child would spend it's life being called Melissa and/or having to spell its name out.

Octavia - not my cup of tea, too haughty and standoffish

Petrina - ditto above

Have a good friend called Petrina. I like it.

Not keen on Melisande or Octavia.

Love Octavia.I have a friend whose DD has that name.

Not sure about Melisande but Petrina is nice.

Love Melisande! That's really unusual.

Not so keen on Petrina or Octavia. I have to agree with LadyMetroland that they sound a bit haughty.

Melisande - smelly sand
Petrina - latrina

Octavia is ok.

Petrina, Haughty? haha tell that to my sis! she's the least haughty snobby person in the world. She's annoying and loud and pushy, but she always shortens her name to Trina.

I think Melisande /was a mythical water witch (well, at least she was in an Anya Seton novel!)

Very nice IMO.

Also like Octavia-good feminist name-not sure about Petrina-sounds a bit like pet food.

I'm sorry, but I'm PMSL at the idea of someone shouting "Octavia, Octavia!!" in a shopping centre. Wouldn't get that round where I live you see.

Not keen on any of them tbh. All sound really snobby and pretentious to me.

Not keen on any of them really. It's just my opinion, but they all sound very haughty to me.

Sorry

Melisande would be shortened to Meli which could lead to smelly Meli and Petrina is a cat food Reality is correct Octavia is a bit mad old aunt.

all a bit snooty. sorry.

No no and no.

And in the book you remember from childhood Melisande was stuck up and snobby and was often referred to as Smellisande.

That's right! It's one of the lesser known EBs isn't it and a good one from memory

Those were the Six Cousins series or Mistletoe Farm series. They were my favourite EB books.

Well those and the Willow Farm books.

O/T but Willow Farm/Six Cousins - wasn't there a wandering vagrant with wisdom called Tammylan? Maybe I should add Tammylan to my boys list! There's a thought!

There was also Darrell Rivers in the Malory Towers series so I could add Darrell to the list? (EB chose that one as her second husband's surname was Darrell Waters).

Debussy wrote on opera called Pelleas & Melisande which is lovely - as is the name Melisande. Go for it!

Tammylan was from Cherrytree Farm.

Wow, check you! I thought I was a fan

Thanks for the opera reference, thought it was but had no clue what it was. What's the country of origin/origins of 'Melisande' then?

I have a very odd memory. I can't remember something I was told a few minutes ago but I can remember tiny details of events that happened 15 years ago and books that I read as a child.

I'm a bit like that too, hence the Tammylan memory.

I am hopeless with names (when people are introduced) at parties.

I can remember Melisande goes into town, or the village at least in one of them and meets a boy called Richard who owns a black horse called Lordly One.