Baby names!

Something short like Carol or Mia would be nice. Karen is also a good one. I do like the flower name's as middle names. I have a granddaughter named Mia Isabella rose. Rose is her confirmation name

There are some wonderful Cornish names, I am Cornish born and bred. Here are some examples : Merryn, as previously mentioned, is a town in Cornwall; Demelza, Zennor, and Bethany, Lamorna are all villages.
Lowena means happy, Caja means daisy, Tegan I think is a gift, and Tressa means third.

4allweknow yes there is Welsh connection. They all have very English second names and a very unusual surname. No hiding at school !!

After living with a name I detested, and still do I gave my two daughters unusual names. My son was named after my dear father. My grandchildren all have unusual or uncommon names.

My daughter is called Kimberley .... a name I still love .... her daughters are called Genevieve and Anastasia, also lovely names although all get shortened to Kim, Gen and Ana!!! Now they are in their twenties, they like their full names!

Oh how I laugh when I'm asked my GC's names! I have an Alice, Alicia, Alexie, Ellie, Jaden, Kaiden and some more who don't clash....!!!

Whatever they choose, let the full name be something with dignity that the other children won't laugh at later. It is not kind to give a child a first name that repeats the syllables or sounds of the surname - i.e. Jenny Penny, Alison Ellison.

It is also not good to give a child a long and/or complicated/ made-up name that they always have to spell out to every new person they meet on every occasion.

But there is much worse! Some parents in the past unthinkingly called their children the following: (every one of these is true. I refer you to the books of Gervase Phinn, former school inspector.......)

Annette Kirton. Dwayne Pipes. Cortina Ford. Ida Bunnion.

I'm sure they will find the right name for the new little girl eventually!

DD1's best friend at school was called Cassandra, almost inevitably I suppose, shortened to Cassie. She was tall, willowy and had masses of blond waves and was one of the nicest girls you could meet. The family emigrated!

In the bible Deborah (not Debbie) was a Judge and had great power over men - one to ponder on perhaps.

Bear in mind that if a name is losing popularity, having been in favour five or ten years ago, the person so named will often be assumed to be much older than they really are.

Cassandra just reminds me of Only Fools and Horses!

My grandson has a friend called Walter, never expected to hear a child called that!

MissFoodLove - I have that name you profess you would have liked. As a child I hated it as I never did meet another and felt very odd; I wanted to be Hazel (??) As an adult I’ve always felt indifferent to my name.

My MiL was called Mabel but she told us her mother pronounced it May-Belle. She was always called May by the family, as was my Gran whose real name was Mary!

I had a whiskery old great aunt called Mabel Witzend!!

A childhood friend of mine was called Gleason, I`ve never come across another.
It`s a good job our eldest son was a boy, because if he`d been a girl I had Rosanna Gale lined up for him. He says he would never have forgiven me for it!

My GD is named Camille her middle name is Layla. Her mother is named Francesca.
My step daughter was going to name her daughter Chardonnay! Till I suggested maybe Blue Nun or Leibfraumilch!! Fortunately she decided on Madeline which suits her beautifully. ?

Our youngest daughter is Flora. She was the only one in her school. No one ever mentioned the margarine. She was named after the Roman goddess of spring & loves her name.

My little granddaughter (3) is Abigail. It is sometimes shortened to Abby, but she usually corrects people. I like it both ways. My niece is Julia, which is traditional yet not too common.

My theory was that names had to 'go' with the last name, and not too many syllables in total. eg Alexander McAllister... nice Scottish name but 8 syllables! Try to keep it 5 and under. I also prefer names with a traditional spelling.

It’s a nice tradition to use family names, and the older names are right back in fashion now.
My small DGS has friends with names from my grandad’s generation, born around the late 1890’s.
The girls in his class are the same, Daisy,Esme,Maude, Annabelle,Penny,Georgina.

Whatever the final choice fashion seems to play a part in names whether we are conscious of it or not. As a teacher for over thirty years it is interesting to see this. When l first started teaching, mid-1980s, there were lots of Julias, Annas and Victorias. Many girls born in the 1980s were named Gemma/Jemma or Charlotte. A little later came the Emilys, Lucys, Hannahs, Sophies, Alices, Bethanys and Megan's. At the moment l have a lot of Isabel/Isabellas.

overthehills May I refer you to my post of Wed 31-Jul-19 12:09:41 about Mabel?

Not all had whiskers!

Rosemary
It’s a beautiful name
And I’ve always loved the song
Love grows where my Rosemary goes

There are so many lovely names for girls that I don’t understand the need to ‘make one up’.

My son hated his third name so much that when he went to register to get married he didn't know how to spell it. He had to ring me up to ask!! The registrar thought it was hilarious!