one more time
Unsurprisingly, despite many long discussions (most of which rapidly degenerated into vicious squabbles), we just haven't been able to find any common ground on a girl’s name.
Can you, O wise and powerful Internets, help?
A few points to consider:
- I’m not a fan of most nicknames, but I realize that they’re pretty much inevitable, so if I don’t like the most common nickname(s), even if I like the full name, I’d rather choose something else.
- I want a name that’s relatively easy to say and spell.
- Because the surname we're going to use is a common English word, a first name that's also a word or a place name (ex: Scarlett, Savannah) tends not to work.
- We’re only looking for a first name. The middle name is not in play, because we’ll be selecting one from a limited list of family surnames.
To get an idea of my taste, check out the totally awesome old lady names in the comments to one of my previous posts
Also, to point you in the right direction, here are a couple of lists:
Names That I Love, But Certain Unnamed Members Of My Household Have Rejected
- Penelope
- Eleanor/Elinor
- Augusta (I realize this violates my no-place-name rule)
- Octavia (nickname Tavia or Via)
- Caroline
- Cordelia (though I'm not all that fond of the nicknames Cordy or Delia
- Agatha
- Agnes
- Helen
- Alice
- Charlotte (mostly because one of us used to know a girl whose nickname was Charlotte the Scarlet Harlot)
Beautiful, Wonderful Names That I *Should* Like, But For Various Idiosyncratic Reasons Don't Really Care For
- Elizabeth: The full name is lovely, but it's a mouthful and I'm not really feeling any of the nicknames, both the common (Liz, Beth, Betsy, Elissa) and the more obscure (Tibby, Zibby, Sabeth)
- Amelia (can’t get over fact that it means “limbless” in
LatinGreek. I know. I know.) - Virginia
- Adelaide (I just see “laide,” meaning “ugly” in French. Plus it violates my no-place-name rule)
- Adeline
- Antonia (too hard to pronounce: An-TONE-ee-a or An-toe-NEE-a?)
- Beatrix/Beatrice (I actually do like this name a lot, but the nicknames Bea or Trixie don't work for me)
So, given those parameters, won't you please, please leave a comment with the one perfect name?
158 comments:
Prudence. And while I love the nickname Pru, I think it's also one of those names that screams to be used as a whole rather than reduced.
Amira -- it means "one who speaks" in Hebrew and "princess" in Arabic.
How about Sara or Hannah? I personally like the name Alice.
Have you tried plugging your list of names you love that got rejected in Nymbler?
anonymous@1:19
Yes. In fact, that's where I got most of the names that I *should* like, but actually don't.
Evelyn - even with the nickname "Lyn" it would go well with your last name. As an alternative, there's "Avalyn" which could be whittled to "Ava."
Josephine - Josie is a bad ass nickname and also one of my fave Steely Dan songs (which incidentally describes the kind of gal I'd like to be)
Lucinda (Lucy)
Mabel (Mothers Always Bring Extra Love)
Vivian
Annabella (then you could go with Anna or Bella or Ella, but I imagine that there might be a lot of Bellas on the horizon given the popularity of the Twilight series)
Catherine? Rachel?
If this kid that I am about to squirt out was a girl I was going to name her Rebecca Nicole but I also love Florence or Frances or Carmendy , evelyn, my nieces name is Simone. Umm this is just a random list of names that I like. I hope you find something soon.
Amber
Aurora, Rena, Alice, Clara
My daughter's name is Piper so, even though I didn't choose it, it's a favourite. I call her Pippa or Pipe. If you like Pippa as a nickname and want to stay traditional then Phillipa is the way to go.
Eliza
Portia
Madeline/Madeleine
Catherine
Nerissa
Violetta
Lucy
Vanessa
I love so many of those names!
What about Emily? It's simple and timeless. There's definitely nickname potential, but many Emilys actually go by Emily.
And I have to second these ideas from your other commenters: Ida, Ada, Eliza, Florence, Frances, Clara, Claire, Josephine, and Eliza.
Good luck, Niobe!
When my grandparents came to the US with their 3 children from Germany in the early 50's my grandma's name was Sima or Sema. My grandma was advised to change her name, when she got here. (the story as to "why" she should change her name has yet to be discovered). I learned this while my husband and I where battling infertility. I decided at that time, if I got pregnant, I would somehow use this name or something similar.
After much discussion we derived Zenna out of it. It is pronounced just like Jenna but with a Z. My husband was not sure of this name at first, but after an early delivery and having a baby in the NICU for 2 days without a name, he finally came around and now we can't imagine calling her anything else!
The names of their 2 girls is Ermtrouph (sp?) (Emma) and Hiltrud (Hilda)
Audrey
Noa is becoming popular for girls, though it might be too short for your last name (or it might be just right)
Bayla
Miriam (sometimes shortened to Mira, but that's not common)
OMG, I'm about to pee myself over Amelia. It's distracting my mission.
I'm going to email you my middle name, which may fit the bill. Or not. Believe me I'm not remotely offended if you hate it outright. I go through that with my entire name, sometimes.
Some of my favorites-
Ophelia
Talia (or Natalia)
Margo
Amelie/Amelia, etc.
Elenore
Ellen?
I love so many that others have suggested.
We are having the same problem -- only with boys names. I recommend "The Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Wattenberg, if you haven't seen it yet. Best baby name book out there, imho.
Astrid
Clara
Cora
Hazel
Isabel
Ivy
Julia
Lena
Lucy
Maeve
Mariah
Nora
Rose
Stella
Willa
Olive?
Cora, Audra, Mathilda?
This is me literally just going through my geneology and throwing out names: Matilda, Cora/ Cora Bell, Corinne, Alice, Stella, Zelma, Della, Ada, Goldie, Louise, Geneva, Adrianne, Kathryn, Pearl, Roxie, Louetta, Minnie, Sadie, Valdrie, Hazel, Ophia, Lucille, Exalona (!), Effie, Daisy....Okay I'm worn out now.
Aurora, Matilda, Philippa, Ada, Eve/a, Ivy, Avelyn (rhymes with "javelin"), Noelle.
Lydia?
Also I'd like to second Evelyn and Matilda.
Lauren, Clara, Madeline
One more... Clarice?
Adele, Camille, Elyse or Ruth? Though I also like the simplicity of Anne/Anna.
Tabitha?
Nora?
Lillian?
Rose, Lilly, Poppy, Violet
Sage, Rosemary, Pepper
Maude, Rhoda, Mary-Tyler
Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, Sophia
(spice rack or Nick at Nite...heh)
There was a lady that got her hair done the same time as GM named Alta and I always thought that was cool.
I'm due in a week and although we have technically agreed on a name, I'm not really sold on it yet. So, you have plenty of time to decide.
Here's my suggestions:
Florence (yes I know it's a place name)
Adair
Jocelyn
Emily
Adele
Good luck!
Sarah
Piper
Elsbeth
Ann
Margaret
Alyce
Deborah
Francis
April
Alaina
Shawna
Traci
Terri
Paula
Karen
Roxann
Donna
Marilyn
Linda
Gertrude
Sherry
Sharon
Chere (sher'E)
Megan
Mallory
Hortense
Violet
Rose
Lily
Sparkleberry (don't ask)
Maggie
Brandy
Dawn
Peggy
Or you could give a name that is a nick name like:
Tammy
Connie
Liz
Beth
Good luck.
Delilah or Eliana (El-ee-ah-na)
Ack! Good luck! Do the unnames household members have any suggestions?
Lilith?
I had a great-aunt named Bertha Gertrude, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I'm with you on not liking Trixie. Kinda reminds me of a stripper.
I have to second the people suggesting Prudence, Amira, Josephine, Miriam, and Astrid.
I guess I'm lucky that my husband and I agreed on names before we even decided we wanted kids! Our favorite girl names that also might work for you are Sophia and Elizabeth (nickname Ellie, which wasn't in the list, so maybe you'll like it better?).
Oooh...more name game!
Liza or Eliza - as nicknames for Elizabeth or alone
I second Audrey, Evelyn, Clara, Lydia, Lillian, and Lucinda
Elise
Bridget
Ella
Or, Tamara?
According to wikipedia:
"In Arabic, Georgian, Hebrew, Russian and other Slavic languages, Italian, Armenian and other European languages, Tamara is derived from the Biblical name "Tamar", meaning palm tree. The name also occurs in Sanskrit meaning spice and Malayalam meaning lotus flower."
What? No love for Claudie, Edie or Evie?
My secret weapon is my sister's name:
Romaney
How about it?
Sydney
Frances
Audrey
I will not stand for Octavia being off the list. Tell Whatshisname that he has no taste. I love that name. Still rooting for Ophelia/Ofelia, too.
Other possibilities:
Irma
Coral
Cordelia
Anya
Greta
Nina
Calista
Brinn
Myrtle
Aster
Astrid
Dahlia
Forsythia
Hyacinth
Hypatia
Iris
Wilhemina ("Mina")
Hazel
Henrietta
Myrtle
Etta
I also like Josephine and Prudence, too.
And I too am still giggling over your aversion to Amelia.
xxx
Phoebe. It's my four-year-old's name. You have to put up with dental hygenists and nurses calling her "phobe," but it's otherwise a great name.
CLEO
STELLA (WHICH I TRIED HARD TO GET AS MY LAST BORNS NAME, ALTHO I FAILED)
MARLEY (THE NAME THAT STUCK)
OLIVIA
LENA (MY GREAT AUNT, ALSO ANOTHER NAME THAT WAS SHOT DOWN!!!)
Vivienne, call her Vivi.
Rella
Bernice
Ada
Evelyn
Daryl (pronounced Dar-ull, not Dare-ull)
Rose
Ivy
Elaine
Doris
Marilyn
Marian
Francis
Joan
Margaret
just Maggie
Emma
Abigale (Although, it's been coming back in a big way lately.)
I didn't read previous comments, so I apologize for any duplicates.
Jill
Moira (we pronounce it Moy-ru, some say Mora)
Elise
Evelyn
Ari
Lena
Meera
from Melissa in Durham
I hear Jada is a nice name...just sayin :P
Personally love my girls names, Vivian and Rosalyn, but also love Marian-makes me think of tea roses and thorns. :)
Love the reason against Charlotte. My earl grey nearly went thru my nose. :P
oh and Miriam! I lost the battle for that name but I LOVE it.
Olivia
Grace (difficult to shorten that one)
Camille
Amelia
The name that jumped out at me from the comments was Stella. It's simple and pretty and old lady like. I'm one for old lady names as well. I tried very hard to push Ruby to my SO, if this one is indeed a girl, but to no avail.
So yeah, Ruby and Stella...
Josephine or Willow
Marianne? Always comes to my mind if I read the name Elinor.
Astrid
Enid
Esther
Lucy
Hester
Natalie
Christine
Lydia
Portia
Olivia
I have a grandma named Eunice. And her mother was Nola.
On our list we had...
Eliza (instead of Elizabeth)
Amelia
Amelie
Audrey
Lillian (which we chose)
Lydia
Evelyn
Charlotte
Norah
I think that was it. I love older names and if I come up with any more I'll let you know!
Abigail
Emeline
Wow! That is a lot of suggestions.
I have always liked Chiara - it's the Italian version of Claire - pronounced key-are-ah. But that sort of violates the easy to spell & pronounce preference. People would be just mangling that name her whole life. But I still love it.
My grandmother's name is Lavinia, and everyone calls her Vinnie. I love it. Sadly, my husband has used his veto power on that one.
Mavis
Rachel
Flora (my grandmother's name at birth but she changed it to Peggy (?!))
Louise (how cute is Lou?!)
Louisa
Clementine (though I don't like Clem)
Lucille (can't go wrong with Lucy)
Dorothea
Harriet
Linnea
Lois
Maxine
Tilda
DD's name is Riley... sometimes we call her Riles...
I love Octavia, Ophelia and Cordelia. Oh well...
How about;
Albertine
Jacobina
Georgina
Edwina
Otthilda or Ottilie or Ottoline
Timothea
Thomasina
Henrietta
Harriet
Odette
Lucienne
Vivienne
Ondine
Claudette
Clementine
Margot
Josephine
Florence
Esther
Winifred
There are the most gorgeous book by Chris riddell about a little girl called Ottoline growing up in Manhattan. My 6 year old is besotted with her...
and wishing you luck with the name game.
xClare
Violet;
Emma;
Pierrine (not that easy to spell);
Eliza/Elisa (a la Serge Gainsbourg);
Charlotte (idem);
Noelle (not so jewish, sorry;
Anna/Anoushka (but not Mercy;
Ruth (I like it sooo much);
Adele (another way for Adelaide, but no laideur);
a loved little girl in my family is named Ioana (or Joanna, a l'americaine), wich is "Jahve hannah", (I hope I didn't spell too much out of the way), and indeed she is;
Aimee (too precious?);
I love also Mylena, and many more. Give us a hint, will you?
Emily
Emma
Ella
And my favorites that don't necessarily meet your requirements:
Morgan
Kylee or Kiley
Riley
Elizabeth is the name I swore I would name my daughter one day when I was a child. I don't know why I turned away from it exactly, it just didn't feel right when the time came. I did keep the same middle name though (Ashley).
I love Claire. A couple of contenders for my daughter's name were Simone and Maya. All 3 not conducive to nicknames.
Has anyone said Bridget? Maybe?
We use Scandinavian names, and our soon to be born girl is..... Elin. Yeah. Like Tiger's wife. Although the Norwegian pronunciation is 'Ellen' but with an accent on the second syllable. We are going with Ellen without the inverse accent. (we had the name picked a while ago and expect that nobody will remember who Tiger was married to in a few years)
Middle name is Josephine.
Names we considered but did not use:
Elinor (who in your house doesn't like this?)
Mari
Maren
Ingrid (my favorite and everyone else hated it)
You've gotten so many suggestions so I won't even try to chime in here, but I wanted to let you know that we're moving very close to you soon so I'd love to get together some time.
no idea really but natasha is the one and only name that popped into my head ...
ok. had time to ponder my old list of girls names while bathing daughter #2 and after finding an old list, came up with this;
Frederica
Francesca
Esme
Eloise
Serephine
Hermoine
Verity
Gwendolyne
Jemima
Myfanwy (pronounced MIFF fan wee)
Maise
Freya
Sybella
Winsome
Isolde
Veronica
Constance
Elodie
Drucilla
Wilda
& hard to spell/pronouce very old Irish mythical names:
Grainne (pronounced GRAWN-yaaah)
Aoife (pronounced EEEv-fa)
Niamh (pronounced NEEEV)
Saoirse (pronounced sear + sha)
Our lost baby was Georgia. Our living son would have been a Stella had he been a girl. I also like Alice and Norah - although my husband's English grandmother says Norah sounds like the housemaid.
You asked for the perfect name so hear it is... Clara. It's old, and strong, and beautiful.
Wikipedia has a very interesting entry of popular given names listed by country which may be a help. I love to pull from other countries of our ancestors. It is also broken down by some demographics, which shows new trends, check out the girl's names for New York City, as heaven spelled backyards, Nevaeh is gaining some popularity.
I love Hannah, but it is now very popular, so although it is biblical and old fashioned, I worry about popular names. I also like Olivia which could be shorted to Ava or Livy.
Good luck!
Greta?
Eve?
Veronica? (A personal favorite of mine, and the name my daughter would have had under different circumstances._
Lana? (Obviously, the name my daughter DOES have. I am quite fond of it, and there aren't very many of them.)
I know the EXACT perfect name for your wee girl!
Pheobe!
Yes?
;)
I had a long list of boy names and only one girl name.
I have two girls.
I have no names left over....
My favorites:
Jillian(because if you go with Jill, everyone will think its Jillian anyway and call her that, trust me)
Irene
Nora
Hannah
And if your not fond of the nicknames for Cordelia, how about Cornelia or Cornellie? Nickname Nel or Nellie.
Clara
Margaret
Greta
Elsa
Flora
Cecilia
Sophie.
I must say that I've enjoyed having the name Alice. It's kind of old fashioned but different and there are not a lot of Alices around. We went with Cécile for our daughter. Did you say Jasmine already? It works in both French and English and is a little hard to say as a nick name (usually Jazzy is used or Jazz). There's also Elise which is nice and hard to cut short. Good luck and congratulations!
allypally
Althea (accent on the "the" with a long e)
Sal's Girl
Leona is my middle name. It was my great-grandmother's. Her full name? Melba Leona.
Ok, I'm tapped out on names, see my suggestions last go around. What I do have a suggestion for is the process by which a name may be picked.
Get a list, alphabetical if you're that kinda person, of aaaaaaall the names BOTH of you have suggested. If you're the only one that's suggesting and someone else is doing all the shooting down, whack the other person or people lightly upside the head.
Then, every week or two you revisit the list together, both reading and aloud. Each of you vetoes a name or six unless the other person loveloveloves it. If you only kinda like Emilie, and he's eh on it, toss it. Keep doing this. You go from a list of 50 (or 100) or more to fewer and fewer. The nice thing about it is that names you love may become more acceptable over time as he gets accustomed to it. Then it's easier to finagle a name you like, maybe. Or the other way around.
How about Ada?
Niobe, there are some amazing suggestions on your list of declines. Having a rather stubborn partner in naming myself, I give you the advice I was given. Float lightly over the topic until the last possible minute, and make your choice then, and hold firm. I think sometimes stubborn people can change their minds.
Octavia, Agatha! I LOVE them.
Ivy is very popular here, as with Alice and Amelia
We went through EXACTLY the same thought process when naming our daughter, including the awkward English noun as surname. Result - Anna. Perfect - can't be shortened, old but not unusual, works in almost all languages. I also liked Martha but was rejected outright by hubby.
Delphine
Vivian/Vivienne
Zelda
Lenora
Imogene
My personal favorites are Victoria and Bethany, but they both lend themselves terribly well to nicknames.
Theodora (Thea for short)
and Victoria (Vita for short)
Hilda
aurelia?
Just came across your blog...I never share my baby names, but since you are a stranger I will digress.
Reve...it means dream (nickname eve, evie, re)
Isadore...yeah, it is a *boys* name, but I think it is a great girl name (nickname issy, dora, dory)
My daughter is Dresden...it is a very old name with roots in both Irish, German and English. We call her Dre.
I never knew about Amelia!
Mathid(e/a)
Dorothe(e/a), with Doro for short, which you may or may not like
Ruth
Neus (pronounced Ne-us, so I guess it fails the easy to pronounce rule... I really like it, but the German pronunciation would go awry)
Alma.
Alexandra/Alix.
Emily (as opposed to Amelia) nn Emma/Emmy, or name Amelia with all its heebie jeebies and nn Amy
Suzanne/Suzanna/Susan, with obvious alternate spellings and nns.
Have to agree with Marianne posted above.
Corinne.
Margaret, with all the nn.
Or, you can go with the ultimate in old fashioned simplicity: Jane/Joan/Jean. No nns!
Does the winner get a coo... er, bakie?
There is a girl in my neighoborhood...well actually she is a young woman now. She was valedictorian, apple queen, incredilby beautiful, smart, good, atheltic...actually the whole family of daughters are...
Anyways her name is:
Annaliese
her sisters names are
Caroline
Delaney
Sheridan
I think those are all pretty names...never shortened.
My daughters name is Devin.
Cindy
www.bernernewf.wordpress.com
also: Celine
Georgina - could call her Georgie or Gigi. I know a gorgeous cowgirl by that name.
Henrietta- One of my friends. her dad calls her Hank, and her husband calls her Henri.
Geesh, all these names...so, inquiring minds want to know if you will ever share your real choice with us? Because now I am just too curious about your choice.
My daughter's name is Adelaide and I can assure you she is not "laide."
Um...how about:
Esme
Matilda
Vanessa
Harriette
Henrietta
Victoria (I know its a place and commonly nicknamed, but I think its a gorgeous name)
Pamela
Patricia
Naudra
Carletha
Delores
Bernice
Loretta
Anita
Hazel
Lynelle
LaDelle
Cecille
I could go on and on, but I'll stop there :D I will say I love Prudence and Lucy as names!
anonymous @12:48: Like I said, Adelaide is a beautiful, wonderful name. And I'm sure your daughter is equally beautiful and wonderful.
Wow...that's a lot of suggestions. I didn't see the 2 names we used for our daughters on there so I thought I'd throw them in the ring!
Rhiannon and Gracyn. Beautiful names that I was dead-set against anyone calling them by nicknames. However, even I have fallen into calling them by nicknames.
Rhiannon-we usually call her by her full name but also call her REE or Reese. The nickname we use most often for her is Rhino--which will be unfortunate if she ends up being a 400-lb woman one day, oh well.
Gracyn-we call her by her full name usually as well but if we use a nickname its Gray (which wouldn't work with your oldest's blog name i guess). And she calls herself Gracie.
Bonus for Rhiannon is that she NEVER has to use her last name in school. We have yet to encounter another Rhiannon since she started preschool and now that she is in fourth grade her teachers and the principal use her name like it is Cher or Madonna...no last name necessary!
Our neighbor have two girls - Addie and Story. Since we got their Christmas card, I've learned their names are really Adelaide and Astoria. Odd.
My favorite girl name is Lucille/Lucy after my Granny.
Charlotte the Scarlet Harlot? That's impressive!
Elizabeth *is* lovely - and what about the adorable "Libby" as a nickname? A bonus is that it means "loved one" in Hebrew.
I second Lucy, Lydia, Claire, and Camille (or Camilla) all lovely.
Sylvie.
It's Guenevere.
Except the spelling criteria part.
Beatrix can become Beatty which if you grew up in Australia you feel fondly about because we had a kids book called Playing Beatty Bow.
Beattie? that's better isn't it.
It was Playing Beattie Bow
And a search reveals it's actually Beatie.
If they sound weird that´s because they are all scandinavian, but these are my favourites.
- Addy
- Agnetha
- Aleksia
- Alma
- Angelika
- Annamary
- Birgitta
- Brit
- Charlotte
- Daniela
- Dana
- Edda
- Elena
- Elin
- Frida (means beautiful)
- Freja
- Karitas
- Karina
-Katja
- Kristina
- Isabella
- Isadora
- Janine
- Laila
- Majbrit
- Natalia
- Sara
- Stefania
- Sissel
Olive?
Hazel?
I think I'm stuck on colors from your pseudonym post.
Viola
Maude
Evelyn
Martha
Ruth
Clara
I love Evelyn, Evangeline, Emmaline...I see an E trend here.
I am expecting but confident it's a boy. So you should, I think, choose a name that I love so that I'm satisfied on the girl front. Deal?
Esme (preferably pron. "es-MAY")
Corinne
Esther
Lenore
Josephine
I saw it mentioned once already, but I put my vote in for Eloise. I think it's the perfect name. If you want a nickname you can go with Ella or Ellie, but my daughter is Eloise and that's all we ever call her.
Ada
Una
Margot
Constance
Dave offers his beloved Heloise.
in a similar vein, i offer Louise, Louisa or Eloise...all of which i kinda wish i'd used.
i also love Ione but i think it violates the easy to pronounce/spell preference...hmmm. what about Isolde? Imogen?
i'm in an I mood. :) and this is hard. we compromised and i'm fine with that, put it out of my mind, but some small part of me is still a little sad that after 30 years of loving names i never quite found the one for my daughter that i'd like to rhyme off my tongue like poetry.
So many names! I was gonna say some that have already been mentioned: Constance or Cecilia.
There's always Katrina! :)
Some others:
Simone
Sloane
Chance
Beatrice nn Bea (but pronounced Bee-uh).
My old fashioned family names:
Ruth
Clarine (German)
My great grandmother was "Exie" but I don't if it was short for something else...she was also from Germany.
Sybil
Bernice (pronounced Berniss)
Bess (this was not a nickname)
I like your Beatrice idea, but with nn Bea (Bea-uh).
Ottoline
Sylvia
Drusilla
Lavinia
Yvonne
Dolores
Medea
Iris
Antoinette
Also, Daphne
Also, Daphne
Don't know if these have been nixed yet, but I like Sally and Stella.
Good luck!
evangalene "evie"
atlynd
rowan
Ryann
Phillipa.
Call her Pippa. It's too cute.
I have a Beatrix. We do not call her Bea or Trixie. She's either Beatrix or Bee-ah.
Lily
Dulcie
Marni
Marcie
Due to the fact that I married a man with children with way too similar names, two of my faves are out. Also like a few others. Here's my suggestion list:
Petra
Flora
Pilar
Bythe
Susannah
Cecily
Minette (small cat)
That's my two cents. Good luck.
I am no real help in this department and it seems like you've gotten a lot of suggestions already, but my favorite girls name of the moment is Briony.
Oh, I also really like Blythe, Olivia and Netta. I know a girl named Netta (spelled Nada) who I credit with saving my life when I had breast cancer.
I am so happy for you!
I usually just lurk (bad me), but I am a sucker for names. I agree that Clara seems to fit the bill. I also like Leah and natalie. Oh and lauren or laurel.
Jane
Ruth
Katrin
Maren
Ellory
Aria
Rose
Adele
Millie?
I really love the name Suzanne. Sophisticated, (my criteria for a name is, "Can my child confidently sign their name as a Supreme Court Justice) and yet can be spunky and cute with a nickname of Suzy/Susie, or if you are a fan of the Theatre, Annie.
Manon, Susannah, Liv, Natalie, Opal, Maggie, Isla, Raina, Pearl, Evelyn, Flora, Birdie?
Oh, Niobe, I am no use in a case like this. All I can say is about nicknames. My sister has a name that is frequently shortened but my mother always corrected people and now my sister does too so she has never been called by the shortened form. Still, you never know what's going to happen so probably easier to skip the name although Beatrice is lovely.
Good luck, I know you will come up with something beautiful and very unusual.
my grandmas name was Alberta.
Julia
Allison
Alexandra (Ali nickname)
Maren
adele
stella
ursula
theodora
simone
ada
anabelle
daphna
Claire - classic, timeless, and nickname-proof. also filling that bill is Sarah, which i've always been partial too :) Or how about audrey?
mostly i'm just laughing at you, i felt the same desperation for the perfect name to somehow emerge from the internet, or anywhere! my husband didn't like any of my choices and we didn't decide on anything until three days after she was born. (and i'm not 100% in love with what we ultimately chose either!)
I like Mariam and Amalia - Mariam is an Aramaic/Arabic variation on Mary, but is very feminine and hard to nickname. Amalia is a German/Hungarian name meaning industrious. I think they are feminine, unique but not trendy/tacky, and have limited nickname potential.
Haven't read through all the comments - but my two penny's worth are: Amelie, Athena, Ava (not sure you can get a nickname out of the that one), Maya or Lily.
Here's an interesting list - maybe something will jump out at you: http://youcantcallitit.com/2009/12/14/one-mans-trash/
Cecilia
or
Margot
I recently heard an alternative nickname for Beatrix and I thought of you - Bix. Its also Hoagy Carmichael's middle name so interesting association there. Just thought I'd let you know!
Here again, to second Calliope's idea of Dorothy. As in Dorothy Parker. She seems to be up your alley, in your genre, so to speak. (More or less.)
Lula
@calliope @ jana Funnily enough, when I was little, I insisted that my middle name was Dorothy (it's not). But that was more about Dorothy Gale than Dorothy Parker.
A few of our favourites...
Millicent, Tessa, Vivienne, Elsa, Lotte, Arabella, Nova, Allegra, Nadia, Novella, Ivy, Marianna, Willow, Olivia, Eliza, Sophie, Josephine and Juliette.
Here is our old list, that competed with Serenity (we started a whole new list for beanie):
Audrey
Taryn
Minerva
Serenity had been kicked off the list because, like your rule about places, I don't think I could name a kid a word. But, Serenity was a favorite aside from that, and since she was dead I didn't think any kids would be making fun of her. I guess I didn't get to keep the baby but I got the name I liked.
Calista
I can't believe no one has suggested the name Maria. My daughter's name is Maria Katherine.
Good luck!
Lena
Clare
Lila
Hannah
Whitney
Olivia
Kyla
Bryn
Esme
oh! and Genevieve (LOVE that one)
and as for an uncommon nickname, I love love love Nell (but not Nelly/Nellie). I know Eleanor and Elizabeth are on your nix list, but it could work with Ellen, Elise, Elsa, etc.
Wish there was an edit button--Helen works for Nell too.
Also, as someone who also loves Caroline, there's always Carys/Karis.
My husband told me the name of his grade school teacher and it was Edige. Made me think of you.
allpally
My two current favorite names:
Adara. Found in many cultures, with various pronunciations and meanings. It is the name of my beautiful granddaughter, and pronounced with soft vowels. Uh darr uh)
Avanell. Also pronounced with soft vowels. (av uh nell) I can't find information about the origin of this name. It was my mother's middle name and we had always assumed that it was an invented name. But within a couple of months of giving my daughter this middle name, I met or heard of three Avanells.
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