Following on from the bad children's names thread...

[Caligula]

....What names were you tempted to choose for your own children which you reluctantly discarded because you knew it was wrong to name your children solely for your own entertainment, and also because you thought they might get the piss taken out of them or be considered pretentious?

Mine were

Fidel
Vladimir
Padraig
Jesus

Dickon
Clarissa
Raphael

might actually have gone for all of those but DH is a pretty good pretention filter...

i have a florence HofH . i was most disgruntled to meet another one in our local park the other day. we almost called dd minnie as ds is max, but it would just have been too cruel...

I also liked Etienne and Rufus for boys but even if DH hadn't been appalled by the idea I wouldn't have used those names.

I wanted family names: Minna, Aydel. Also liked Katerina (a complete no no with our surname), Yael (which DH couldn't pronounce and said he wasn't calling his DD after a lock!) and Agata.

DH's list included Drusilla and Frederika. FGS, Drusilla's a middle aged woman with a large chest! Oh, and Sybil was also on his list.

Fox (Like Fox Mulder)
Sol
Raphael
Fabian

Ariel

I like Minna.

Which brings to mind Effi as well. I like it, but I think people would convert it to Effing.

Hoxton chick our niece is Florence too.

Dw wanted Kitty or Honey.
Or for a boy Caleb.

Damaris & Artemis,dh wouldn't countenance them.
Caleb-again,nixed by DH.

Doormat,dd1's middle name is Eden.

Dante
Blaise
Tallulah
Dorcas

All vetoed by dp so far.

(I may sneak them in yet, as middle names if necessary )

Miaou - wow, that's the first time ever someone has come up with one of my ds's names on mumsnet! (although we spell it slightly differently).

Our shortlist for ds2 (who we knew was a boy) was:

Quincy
Lucas
Conal

For ds1 I think we had:

Declan
Connor

And our girl shortlist was:

Caitlin
Maya

Names that I really liked but ds completely vetoed:

Quentin
Aoife

Suzywong, my friend's little boy is Inigo. He's 8 months old.

I really liked Raphael for ds but dh put his foot down. Gah!

i know an effie caligula, it really suits her.

Ptolemy
Dickon

frogs has one of my all time favourites. Might still be brave and use it.

I don't do girls name. DD has the only one we've ever agreed on.

Mine 2 are pretty unusual anyhow.

Pretentious names I have toyed with for a second mini-hoppy:

Sylvester (shortened to Sly) - dh pointed out the Stallone connection and the fact that it's a cat name. I still think both the long and short names are cool;

Fabian;
Sebastian.

Dh and I were talking about naming children for our own amusement just the other day, and how joyful life would be - even simply calling out,
"Beryl! Boris! Time for dinner!" would crack me up every time, though I could never, ever seriously inflict either name on any child.

Saying that, we often wonder "what were we thinking?!" when we look at our ds's middle name - it seemed sensible at the time, but we do question our choice now. However, we absolutely adore his first name!

When i was little i always wanted to call a girl Roxanne.

You'd always have to shout ROOOOOOOOOXANNE

Dh wanted Persephone and was backed up by DD1. I had to put my foot down in no uncertain terms!

I wanted Honor or Liberty for DD and Sebastian or Christian for DS but DH was having none of it.

wistful sigh still like them ....

Well done putting your foot down over Persephone bonym. To me it's a joke posh name. Like a female version of Tarquin.

Which one, Gem? Do tell...

Milo (because it's a brand of drink here)
Ocelot (just like the word)
Plasticine (like the smell)

There's a mildly risque joke centering round the word 'ocelot', bobbybob. One to avoid, I fear.

frogs, I see your own "real" first name gets a mention on this thread as well...