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Original poster

Poncey Names?

306 replies

WinkyWinkola · 28/09/2006 19:11

I'm nearly 12 weeks pregnant with my second child.

DH and I have chosen names already but I'm starting to think they could be the source of mockery for the baby but I love these names. They're unusual (apart from my hearing lots of dog owners shouting, "Barnaby!," recently!) and dunno, I just like 'em.

What do you think? Am I going to subject my child to misery?

Boy
Atticus Elijah or Barnaby Elijah

Girl
Ophelia Pearl
Gretchen Violet

WinkyWinkola

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Lolabelle · 05/10/2006 11:43

Amyjade I have an Amelia and it always gets such a lovely response from people. LOVE Harrison also and DH wants that for my next if its a boy - great minds think alike...!

tb · 05/10/2006 11:47

This reply has been deleted

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purpleduck · 05/10/2006 12:15

please don't name your baby Gretchen.

Tex111 · 05/10/2006 12:20

We bottled out of naming DD Maud after lots of negative comments from friends and family. Now, though I love her name (Rosamund), sometimes I still look at her and wonder if she's really a Maud. Go with what you love and what feels right.

flack · 05/10/2006 12:44

I like all the names that Winky chose... esp. Gretchen . (honest!)

BUT, having given one of my children an unusual name, I wouldn't do it again. I don't mind people thinking it's a girl name (their problem). But I do get tired with the mispronounciations and mispellings and having to spell it and having to repeat it twice for people. It's an old fashioned boy's name, but unusual, now.

I swear I'd go for something like "Robert" or "Richard", if I had my turn over again. Even "Apple" would be better.

nuttiemum · 05/10/2006 13:19

Hi

Please go with what you feel is right no matter what anyone else thinks.

Thought my names were quite unusual but seem pretty tame compared to some in this thread...
My dd is Fern & my ds is Keir.

A relative tried to put me off by saying 'Hi Keir' (Ikea!) but both me and other half liked it so much we thought s*d it!

I've got a distant relative who called their ds Jago and everyone said 'WHAT?' when they heard it but now can't think of him as anything else.

Also got a male friend (aged 37) called Deil even though he grew up with people calling him Neil he still loves his name and never met anyone else called it.

But please be careful of Ophelia because although I think it is a very beautiful feminine name it reminds me of an old old joke Ophelia Boobs

Cheers Nuttiemum

Elibean · 05/10/2006 13:35

I still like the compromise of one unusual name and one more common one, so they can choose. My brother changed his (ordinary) first name over to his second (ordinary) name when he was 12 - just preferred it.

So we have an Elia Anne....

What do you reckon: Mischa Helene
Talia Helene
Belle Helene
Minnie Helene
Manon Helene
Mae Helene.............??

It has to work in French as well as English...not sure Manon works in English, or Mae in French, though. Actually would love to call her Annie or Anna, but blew that by giving Anne to dd1, never thinking we'd have another!

nuttiemum · 05/10/2006 13:42

Elibean

Not Minnie that's what my dd calls her privates!

Like most of others though really not sure about Manon

Nuttiemum

anniediv · 05/10/2006 13:44

What does 'Manon' mean?

nuttiemum · 05/10/2006 13:48

Hadn't read whole thread before now.

Just found someone who called dd Eleanor.

My brother liked this for first child but turned out to be a boy so he didn't use it.

I'm not sure about it because I always pronounce it how it's spelt, ie, EllenNOR but it's just Ellena - I can't seem to help myself though...

lemonaid · 05/10/2006 13:53

I think Manon works in English (perhaps because of Manon des Sources?). DS has a friend at nursery named Manon (whose mother is French) and no one seems to have any problems with the name.

I believe that it's a traditional French pet form of Marie, so the same as Maria -- as it happens, there's a lot of debate over the origin and meaning of Maria but probably the most convincing explanation has it as deriving ultimately from the Egyptian for 'love'.

Elibean · 05/10/2006 13:59

Interesting, re Manon. My mother is keen on Manon, but I'm really not sure about using it on a girl who will live primarily in the UK - even though we're a bilingual family. It would sound horrid pronounced 'Mannon'!

Yes it is a pet name for Marie, the origin is Hebrew and it means 'bitter' - not the best sounding meaning, but am not very stuck on meanings really. And in Hebrew culture, bitter things matter as much as sweet

But its not my top favourite....maybe if we lived in France (where its not uncommon at all)..

Elibean · 05/10/2006 14:00

Lemonaid, like the idea of it coming from 'love' though....is it possible to describe how Manon gets pronounced by your DS and his friends/teachers?

Elibean · 05/10/2006 14:01

Ah forgot that people use Minnie for purposes other than names....in spite of all those lovely long threads on that topic: thanks for reminding me!

lemonaid · 05/10/2006 14:07

Well, DS is only 20 months so more or less pronounced it "Muuu" along with his other friends "Abow" (Annabel) and "obbi" (Robyn)... but the staff pronounce it Man- ... Man- ... oh, you know that French "on" sound but I can't for the life of me work out a way of respresenting it in English spelling. They do probably follow the English pattern of stressing the first syllable slightly (so MAN-thatsyllableican'trepresent) whereas I assume in French the syllables have equal weight (man-thatsyllableican'trepresent).

Oh, I just love trying to explain pronunciation in plain text...

lemonaid · 05/10/2006 14:08

Or even representing...

nuttiemum · 05/10/2006 14:13

Is Manon pronounced something like Manyon

nuttiemum · 05/10/2006 14:23

I'm trying represent that strange French sound...

Is Man-ny-on or even Man-neon (as in neon lights) any better?

CountessDracula · 05/10/2006 14:24

LIKE ONION I THINK

lemonaid · 05/10/2006 14:27

It's the fact that the last "n" isn't really a "n" that's hard to represent. It's more of a ... hmm ... as if you were going to say "ong" but then you left the "g" off.

Mammina · 05/10/2006 14:28

Go for the unusual names! I could never be just 'Clare' when I was little, it was always 'Clare S' or 'Clare from Brownies'... there were just too many Clares. My mum claims there were none when she named me, and then it became more and more popular... so clearly the trick is to choose a name that noone of our generation will like. And if you like it, you can be sure 200 people just like you will like it (I was mad keen on Gabriel for my son, and now you the organic aisle in Sainsburys is knee deep in them). So the only true solution is to choose a name that you really can't stand.

Mine are Keith and Jean.

Not really.

But I have a boy and a girl, and they both have unusual names. The children they meet have no idea that the names are unusual or anything tease-worthy.

I guess it's a mark of our times and the current style of parenting that so many of us want to celebrate our children's individuality and uniqueness. More fool us!

Elibean · 05/10/2006 14:33

Oooo lemonaid, I am impressed: thats the best representation of that French sound I've seen in writing ever.

Definitely not onion. Or neon. Think 'bonjour' and remove the 'b' and the 'jour'?? Utterly impossible to do in writing, but good to know that teachers are able to do the spoken sound (am sure ds will be doing it by the time he's their age too )

If we're going to use a French name, as opposed to an English one that sounds good in French too, I want to make sure it sounds pretty in English...even if not pronounced the same. dd's name is pretty in both (to me) though pronounced differently.

Elibean · 05/10/2006 14:35

I'm a Claire, and there really weren't any others around when I as little - or very few, and spelt without the 'i'. Shows my age I guess

Astrophe · 05/10/2006 14:36

Elibean, I think Anna is lovely and you should go for it, even if your DD1 is Elia Anne. I don't think it will matter as middle names aren't much used anyway, and you could play on it as thei 'special name' that they share. A friend had her third child, a boy, and named him Jasper Dominic. Then No 4 came along and they wee sad they had 'wasted' Dominic as a middle name...so their No4 boy is Dominic Something. Its fine - nobody would even know unless you mentioned it. If thats the name you like best, I think you should use it.

poppynic · 05/10/2006 14:38

Hi. I'm coming up with a stream of wonderful names for forthcoming son which dp keeps vetoing (should that be allowed?) My current favourite is Heath (came from Film 4 programme the other day talking about English heroes - Heathcliff, (though not really after him coz he was a bastard), also the greeny Heath thing, and in the end Heath Ledger is not too bad). Anyway, since I can't have it hope someone else does. DP has also vetoed anything obviously biblical - so my Isaac is also gone. DS wants Virgil (from Thunderbirds) or Mohammed (from his very multicultural nursery). Help needed.