WDYT (ready for a bashing!!!)

[ChynaDoll2006]

TTC.. last name similar to Morgan. Baby will be mixed white Scottish and black Jamaican, a bit of Chinese on the Jamaican side as well.

Girls
Keyshia
Najati
Kia
Nativity (really, is this too ridiculous?)
Aleela
Marigold
Zeilah
Chenai (Zimbabwean name, I didn't make it up!)
Iqra (though not Muslim, do you think this is a problem?)
Selafina
Marisol

Boys
Kwame
Patrice
Garvey
Vincent
Lennox
Issachar
Jawanza

Thanks

Nativity is utterly ridiculous
Vincent from your Boy's list is the best one

i am not sure about any of the others TBH

Marigold seems very out of place - if you like flower or nature names there are much better ones IMO

How do you pronounce Zeilah? I think it looks pretty written down and I'd be tempted to say it Zay-lar - is this right? It's the one I like most from the girls list so far..

Boys names - I love Kwame. I knew of a Kwame once (pronounced Kwar-me) and he was really sweet and gentle so has good connotations for me!

Hi Nikkisbump

Zeilah is pronounced ZEE-luh. Your pronunciation is quite nice though actually!

I like Zee-luh too, I think it's pretty

Are they traditional Jamaican names? Or just a mish mash of different cultures? Yes to traditional names, no to names from random cultures (ie Chenai & Iqra, if you have no family/cultural links then I wouldn't use them). Bearing in mind this, all the girls names are pretty, Nativity makes me think of African though, but still nice.

Hmm, quite an, err, eclectic mix

I'm not sure I like any of your girls' names I'm afraid, and I agree that Marigold stands out rather! How about Jasmine if you like flower names? Very pretty (and the name we have chosen for DD2 who is due next month - incidently, also mixed race).

Your boys' names are better.
Particularly like Kwame and Vincent. How about Cassius? Great name and one we had chosen were we expecting a boy.

Some of them I like. Some I would dismiss completely.

From your girl list:

I would dismiss Chenai or Iqra particularly if they don't mean anything for your culture & are just chosen randomly. Plus they don't sound that pretty to me anyway. Marisol sounds like Marigold bouillon powder (!!), don't like it. Even more so Marigold which Aleela I don't like. How about Leela instead, has a nicer ring to it?
I quite like Kia & Keyshia & Zeilah.

From the boys names, I prefer Patrice.

Sorry, meant to say "Marigold which I really don't like".

Bumble

My DP is a Pan-Africanist, so though his family is from Jamaica, he sees himself as British, Jamaican and African. That is why we thought of names like Jawanza, Kwame, Chenai etc

I think they're all fine, OP. I most like Chenai (if you say it Che-nigh?) and Kwame.

ok, after taking a long hard look at your girl baby names, I particularly like Najati. Also like Issachar from the boys names.

I really like Issachar and Kwame for the boys and Zeilah and Marisol for the girls!

They feel very sunny and beautiful.

I like all your boys names

I agree about not having Iqra and Chenai as they are not from your culture.

Marisol sounds like a haemorrhoid cream to me. And when I saw Marigold my first thought was rubber gloves, but it is a lovely name.

I do actually rather like Nativity. (Disclaimer: I like names like that. I was considering Trinity for DC3, till I noticed it was consistently in the same page/section/sentence as Destiny.)

... I mean in the Baby Name book we had

Marisol is gorgeous. Vincent is handsome.

Actually I'm now changing my mind & I think Marisol is nice...

When I worked in Africa I knew several girls called Epiphany which I really liked - similar to nativity in sentiment but to my mind prettier

Epiphany is lovely too. However it could have an unfortunate shortening.

I like Marigold, Marisol and Kwame

I like Chenai, and Aleela

I like Kwame and Patrice

Keyshia -- very popular African American girls' name
Najati -- nice
Kia -- a car, made in Korea
Nativity -- Natalia or Natalie have the same meaning. I would prefer Trinity
Aleela -- nice
Marigold -- somehow reminds me of margarine
Zeilah -- nice, also suggest Zeiba (I know one from Ethiopia)
Chenai -- Chennai is a city in Tamil Nadu
Iqra -- I think it would be a problem that it's a Muslim name and you're not Muslim
Selafina -- Prefer Serafina
Marisol -- Like a lot, I know a few Mexican Marisols, also suggest Maribel (popular in Puerto Rico and PR circles in the US)

Boys
Kwame -- quite a bad association (former disgraced mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick)
Patrice -- no, too much of a girls' name, prefer Partick
Garvey -- Marcus Garvey? Prefer Harvey
Vincent -- Love
Lennox -- ok, but I think of it as a girl's name
Issachar -- prefer Isaac
Jawanza -- sounds like a made-up African American name inspired by Kwanzaa

Huge list of Ethiopian boys' names here, plus a link at the top of the page on the right to girls' names. I suggest Ethiopian names because of the multi-cultural nature of Ethiopia (African, Christian, and links to rasta culture too)

Girls
Keyshia
Najati- nah
Kia- OK
Nativity(really, is this too ridiculous?)- YES!
Aleela- OK
Marigold- AWESOME!
Zeilah- OK
Chenai (Zimbabwean name, I didn't make it up!)- OK
Iqra (though not Muslim, do you think this is a problem?)- Meh
Selafina- OK
Marisol- Nice

Boys
Kwame- OK
Patrice- nah
Garvey- Like it, Inch Garvey is a tiny island on the firth of forth.
Vincent- OK
Lennox- OK
Issachar- OK
Jawanza- too like Kwanza

Thanks everyone for your replies! Thanks mathanxiety for the names link, I will be looking through that soon!

Great to hear peoples opinions. People didn't hate them all as much as I thought!

I like Najati and Kwame the best.

Don't like Selafina as it reminds me of cellophane (sp?), and I don't like Nativity, but I quite like all the rest of them.