Saintly dilemma - mainly for girls

[Lulabell]

Dh and I are trying to come up with names for the baby (not due til October, so we have a while), but are a bit stuck by our own criteria.

Dh is French and I'm English, so we'd ideally like names that are pronounceable for both sides of the family, and that can be used in both countries as we're not sure which one we'll be living in. On top of that, dh has stipulated that it has to be a Saint's name, and on the French calendar of Saints.

We'd always planned to use Béatrice or Héloïse, but they seem to be suggested all the time on here, which makes me think they're going to appear a lot in the near future. And slightly more of a problem is that people on here seem to associate Héloïse with the C**v word. So, we're thinking of saving those up for a couple of years, and trying a different name.

I absolutely love the name Aria, which would work except that there's no saint; the saint is Ariadne. Can I put Ariadne on a birth certificate, or is it just too ridiculous?
Also, I read Classics at university, so I think everyone will assume I've chosen a poncey Classical name.

Any other suggestions for unusual and attractive Saints please?

Thanks so much

dh has stipulated...?

I'd tell him to stipulate off!

Go for Aria if you like it.

(sorry - this post isn't very helpful is it )

i think its ok for dh to 'stipulate' i mean we all have certain criterea by which we choose names, i think ariadne on birth cert would be ok and just call her aria its nice, on the other hand heloise is lovely don't be put off by it being well used, i don't think it is really

Seems to me quite a tight, um, stipulation. How long would it take to petition the Pope to canonise an Aria?

When I was pregnant with ds2, I stipulated if it was a girl, she was going to be called Matilda. Dp threatened to leave, stipulating she would be called Annie.

Thank goodness he was a Dylan!

Just pick whatever saint's day she is born on?

But she might be born on Saint Addolorata or sump'n!

I think Beatrice and Heloise are divine btw. (no pun intended!)

I don't like Ariadne, it sounds old lady and I don't like the spider connection.

Aria I find too airyfairy (pun intended!)

Tell him to bog off with his stipulating.

An Italian-French couple I know have a Noa which I think is lovely.

fwiw I like Ariadne much better than Aria

Aurea?

fwiw I think Ariadne is a lovely name

Of course you can put Ariadne on the birth certificate if you want! However IME if you move to France be prepared that the name the teachers will call your child will be the name on the birth certificate. They will not shorten it to Aria (yes even though you are the parent telling to do so...).

There are loads of great saints names so I don't think it is restrictive at all - good inspiration in fact.

I love Jeanne - but it is very popular here as is Clara. Aurelie, Agathe and Agnes are also lovely and sound fab in French.

Personally I wouldn't rely on the Saint's name day which the baby is born. You could end up with Crepin or Narcisse....

Have you looked at www.bebe-prenoms.com/?

Thanks for all the replies! I'm not sure I understand the "boxxy" suggestion though?

I don't mind the requirement, it's something he really believes in, and I always planned to have a Saint in there somewhere, it's just proving awkward. There's loads of saints, but a lot of them are called Hildegard and the like.

I thought about the "Saint of the day" thing, but the saint for the due date is Saint Firmin, not ideal, with Denis, Spérie and Gerald surrounding, so that's a no go. Also, in France they quite like having a seperate Saint's day as your family and godparents tend celebrate it and send a card etc.

Thanks to those who like Ariadne, it's growing on me now I've written this, and it would mean she wouldn't be stuck with a girly name aged 25.

I would be more concerned with Arachne and a spider connection Bucharest, but actually dh says Ariadne sounds a lot like araignée, the french for spider, so you might be on to something

Hmm, may have to revisit our original choices.

Thanks all!

Good point Eugenie, although as I'm starting to come round to Ariadne that might be ok, unless, as dh suggests, the other children call her araignée as a result.

There are some fab saints names, I was just looking on the calendar and I'm surprised to see that Cléo, for example, is there.

Dh not keen on Jeanne, he thinks the English dont have a good track record with them Apparently Clara is a famous porn star, but I've met quite a few in France now so I'm guessing that association has died down. I love Aurélie, but I also quite like it as Aurélien.

I haven't tried that website, I've been using www.meilleursprenoms.com/ I'll give it a look.

Thanks again!

Could you put the saint part as a middle name and choose a straightforward name that works really well in both languages?

Such as:

Lucie Ariadne

Perhaps I am a bit dense, but I don't know how to pronounce Ariadne - I am sure I am not the only English person that would struggle with it.

We had the same Saints name issue with our DCs, only from a Anglo/Greek perspective. We considered Ariadne and also Sofia but settled on Lydia, all saints, but I'm not sure how they translate over, or if they're on the French list!

There are lots of lovely saints names. We're the same as you (except I'm the one sticking with a saint's name) and I'm pushing for Cecile.

I agree they won't short the name, no matter how much you tell them to.

useful website?

I've thought for to much about this for someone still in the TTC stage!

That's what I would have done yellowcircle, but dh and family all have saints as first names, and as middle names as they're named after relatives or godparents so they're saints by default. Lucie is actually a saint anyway, the problem is the more straightforward ones aren't appealing to us so much as they're very common in France anyway.

I agree Ariadne is awkward to pronounce, more manageable for the French than the English I think, but then I see a lot a names I dont know how to pronounce these days so I dont think people will be that surprised.

The French calender is pretty all-encompassing serenity, I just Lydie on there and wondered if dh would agree. Sil is Sophie so cant have that, which is a shame.

That's the website I'm on at the moment frakkin, it's very good. I'm tempted to say that dh and I should trawl it independently, make a list of the ones we like and see what matches.

Cécile is lovely by the way. Unfortunately one of dh's cousin is Célia, so it's been vetoed.

Very annoying both having large families, it wipes out a lot of names!

By "on the French calendar" I meant that dh is not very keen on a name like Lorcan, for instance. Annoying because very little that is Celtic or Gaelic makes it onto the calendar, despite the fact that those names are becoming quite popular in France. And also annoying because the French version has loads of Breton names on it, which wouldn't appear on most other versions, but are therefore allowable unfair methinks...

He also kicked Loveday into touch as there's no saint

Hi, I am in a similar situation where we need names that work in both languages(french DH).
Here are a few I've spotted in case you like any of them (all from French saints calendar):

Amandine
Charlotte
Marina
Juliette
Ingrid
Rosalie
Inès
Constance
Flora
Floren ce
Odile
Alice
Adèle

Lulabell, sorry to digress but what the hell's the "C**v word"

I think Ardiadne is quite lovely. There is an Agatha Christie heroine called Aridne Oliver too.

Of the names Zazie has posted I love Amandine and know someone who's daughter has this name.

Hi Zazie, thanks for those! I love Florence and Flora, but they're too similar to dh's name . I like Amandine and Ines a lot, I'll put those to him and see what he thinks.

Thanks

Lord my typing is terrible - Ariadne Oliver.

Didn't notice Ines but it is one of my fave names - really beautiful.