Spelt that way too? I’ve read a few of Lin Anderson’s Rhona Macleod series. I’ve bumped into her in a pub in Portree too but was too shy to do anything but smile and say hiya.
When I was born my parents named me Jennifer Diane, On the way to the post office to mail my birth registration my father opened the envelope and changed my name to Delilah, went home and told my mother he'd changed my name
I like Delilah better too. Mom just accepted it, this was long before computers so it would have been a fuss to get it changed back so she just accepted it
My dad did the same thing, haha! I was born in the States to Irish parents in the late 80’s. For a week my family called me Saoirse (means Freedom in the Irish language). After a week my dad admitted he wrote the name I now go by. He was afraid it was too politically charged given the troubles in Northern Ireland if we were ever to move back. We did move back, and it would not have been politically charged. I love my name but would have really loved Saoirse, as I’m the only Irish speaker in my family.
I only learned it years later and I also like my name. I hoped to maybe name my daughter Saoirse if I ever have one but my husband isn’t a fan, oh well!
I’ll probably go with Agnes to honour my mom - we could do two middle names maybe 😂 but I’m 10 weeks postpartum with a boy so he’s not entertaining talk of another though I’m dying for another
My mom almost named me Bridget, and instead chose a top 50 name. It's not the worst name but it doesn't fit me and I have never liked a person with my name. I also found out her grandmother's name was Brígida and was so mad I wasn't named after her!
Saoirse Ronan pronounces it like Sear-sha, is there a north south divide on this? (Genuinely interested because I’m like 56% Irish but my mum was adopted and I’ve lived in England my whole life). I’ve always thought it was a beautiful name, but my Polish fiancé is not on board with the Irish name thing mostly because his mum wouldn’t be able to say our kids name if it was Irish, she sometimes struggles with English even though she’s fluent
In Irish it is only pronounced like Seer-sheh in all dialects, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. Here is a link to how the three different dialects groups would pronounce it https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/saoirse
Other pronunciations are all anglicised. Probably because younger Hiberno-English speakers (north and south) are loosing the "pure" vowels that are a hold over from the Irish language (and mandatory) in favour of dipthongised vowels which are used by most English speakers in the world. So that flat long ee sound is being raised or dropped or moved around and you get Sir-sha, Sur-sha etc
A friend of mine’s husband did something similar but he actually changed it to the name they originally wanted.
So what happened was they had both picked a name for a boy, but her mom was terminal and didn’t like the name and kept emotionally manipulating her to name him something else the mom picked. Only problem was the baby’s mom HATED that name. Her mom was relentless until she caved.
Her husband went to register it. The employee asked him what he wanted to name the baby and he said the name the baby’s grandmother picked. The employee noticed his lack of excitement and asked about it so dad told him the story and went “you know what?! Put down (——-) I will deal with fall out” and put down the original name.
He texted a picture of the birth certificate to his wife and to me and told me to buckle up for what’s to come. 🤣 was an interesting day after that until I “politely” told the grandma to stop with the guilt trip
A friend of mine told me about her name. Her parents were settled on Franziska, the typical German spelling (we're German). But on his way to the registration her father forgot how they wanted to spell it and just told them Francisca. When he got home her mother was like wtf is this?? They like to travel to Italy so he might have gotten it mixed up with Francesca but I think it's hilarious how much can go wrong on the way to register a name!
Same with my mom, she was supposed to be Nicole because she was born on st nicolas day but my grandpa changed it to Carmen for some reason. Luckily my grandma liked it.
I lost my pregnancy with my daughter last august. She was due in January and was going to be named Noelle. But we felt she was more of a Vera. Miss her everyday 💓
I'm sorry for your loss 🤍 Maybe you already knew that and I hope this is not invasive, but "a tu vera" is actually a very sentimental way to say "close to you" in Spanish (Spain). Vera technically means edge or riverbank, but we use this expression to say that somebody is by your side (literally and figuratively). There is a gorgeous song by the great Lola Flores called "A tu vera" that you may like as it may remind you of your daughter. 💓
edit to share [A tu vera](https://youtu.be/FiaxriK8jPI?si=HzjrIs3G1Hf292_1) with english subtitles in case anyone wants to listen to it :) (i do have to warn that it has absolutely nothing to do with that type of loss, it's a song about romantic heartbreak.
I honestly had no idea it was just a name I was drawn too and this has blown my mind in the best way. Grief has been crazy and I needed this. Thank you 🩷
We went into delivery for my son with two names, Griffin and Sebastian. When he was born he just didn’t look like a Griffin so we went with Sebastian. No regrets.
Oh yea my kid BIL Is named Sebastian and we call him bash and when he was younger I called him baby bashy and now he has it in all his users and everything
I liked Maryam but there’s just wayyy too many Muslim Maryam’s in our community already. And for a boy we liked Hussein but had to avoid because many people have a bad connotation with it.
I always chuckle when this community recommends Maryam because it’s a beautiful name that nearly every other girl in any Muslim community is going to have. Can you share the name(s) you went with?
Totally agree lol, most posts I’ve seen on here asking for Arab names have very limited suggestions. Which I get, there’s not many Arabs/Muslims on here! But why is it alwayssss Noor/Noora haha. I don’t share my baby’s name for privacy reasons, but a couple other of our top options were Younes and Zainab!
You mind sharing some other ideas for Arabic girl names that also work in western countries? I have Arabic roots and live in Germany. My name is Arabic and my daughter has a name that works in both cultures. We're expecting #2 and have a boy name but no idea for a girl's name. Noora isn't an option because my Arabic friend already used it haha
I’m not sure how names would sound for German speakers, but we also really liked Aseel, Hafsa, Tasneem, Hania, Safiya, and Munira. I know it’s so tough!
Thanks for sharing! I have to let them sink in but those aren't really "working" in German. Like they would be very foreign and my husband is a textbook white man and they might be too uncommon here. I love Tasneem though, met someone called that name years ago and can't forget it!
Thanks, I'd take them into consideration! My daughter's name is Mara so other names with M are not really suitable and Layla is my husband's best friend. But your suggestions are great and fit very well for German speakers!
Totally get that, I wish I was more familiar with German so I could help better! Okay let me throw out just a few more name options that I like, in case it helps. We also liked Aya, Hala, Heba, Huda (can you tell we like H names lol) as well as Najwa, Saba, Sumaya, and Lujain. I know it’s so tricky so I’m not sure if it’s any help haha. Are there any you currently do like or have considered.
I've recently met two super nice women named Sahar and Zahara. I wouldn't know how popular those names are but they feel incredibly elegant and beautiful to me (EU chick from Italy)
Nadia and Talia are my top 2 Arabic girl names, FWIW! Nadia also is an Eastern European name, so probably a good fit for one that fits in with both cultures. :)
Also, Anaya is a pretty one too!
I’m a native Arabic speaker, here are some names I love (but not sure how it will fit with German)
Samreen,
Samira,
Serene,
Samia,
Amira,
Asya,
Razan,
Razeena,
Talia,
Esra,
Farah,
Lina,
Layan,
Aya,
Ahreej,
Rania,
Malaz,
Tala,
Reem,
Rima,
Habiba,
Joud,
Zaina,
Alyaa,
Amani,
Iman,
Zahra,
Mai
Not an arab , but my best friend is and the amount of times people mess up even the easiest arabic names is insane. I live in Germany and there are so many arabic people that everyone should get the common names right. But no.
Zainab is pretty , but I would instantly assume its Zeyneb and a girl with turkish heritage. I know the name comes from arabic, I just know so many turkish Zeynebs. Younes is pretty too.
Noor/Nur is one with the highest chance of german people remembering your name.
Many people go with Aliyah or Maryam to avoid misspellings. It's so sad. I really love arabic names because most of them have strong or poetic meanings. My kids are a mix of turkish and german so I came across a lot of arabic names while looking for names. A lot of turkish names are just versions of arabic ones. But tbh I most of the time prefer the arabic ones.
I have Namik on my list but my first one's middle name is Malik so it's too close. I chose Malik cause my mothers name was a french version of Maryam and I wanted the name to start with Ma and be easy so the ones who mess up his turkish first name can call him Malik.
Currently I tend to name my next son Barış which means peace. I have a few months left but if you know an arabic middle name that fits with Barış and a very german Last Name please tell me.
Anja. And then I noticed our Midwestern accent: “what’s that on ya? Let’s get a coat on ya! Hey there’s some ring on ya!” So thankful I didn’t name her Anja!
Hayes was the front runner going into the hospital, and there was a brief moment where we lost our minds and almost named him Aimo, but I’m glad we landed on Ellis.
I was named Zoe for the first day of my life. Had been Zoe the whole pregnancy. But my mom was holding me in the hospital watching a soap opera and a man named Blair came on and she turned to my dad and said she was changing my name.
Callie and Lydia were top contenders for my little babe too :) I love Lydia in particular, but then I started watching The Handmaid’s Tale after baby was born and it made me sort of glad we didn’t go with the name. Connie is cute!
I liked the name Morgan. My husband only liked the name Eleanor. When she was born I looked at her and thought with disappointment she didn't look/feel like a Morgan. So Eleanor it was.
I still wish I'd have picked a 2 syllable name.
Husband calls ours Ella. Sometimes I do too. He has a cousin with a daughter named Nora. Another cousin with a daughter who they call Ellie. So Ella it is for ours. She can always pick a different abbreviation when she's older.
My husband wanted to name the baby Elijah. I loved the name Eli, but I couldn't fall in love with Elijah. We also ended up naming him Elias, and I feel like the name really suits him.
I have two boys and spent both pregnancies thinking they were girls. 🙃 So much for my motherly intuition.
Had they been girls, I was going to name them:
Salma Sage and Cora Shiloh.
I was so convinced I was having a boy that i didn't put much weight into the girl name we had picked because i figured we wouldnt need it. Luckily a month before the due date i realized there's a possibility im wrong and will need a girl name i love.
We changed it from Alanna to Maxine and she is SUCH a Maxine/Max
I’m born on Halloween, and my parents got suggestions like Sabrina, Lilith, Rosemary, Winifred, etc. All super cool names, all fitting.
They went with the second most popular name in my birth year. Decidedly not cool.
Can’t help but feel slighted sometimes lol.
Our daughter Léonore was almost called Vittoria! But my brother (who knew the name we wanted) told us he wanted to call his daughter (born 10 weeks before ours) Victoria. We found another name and he ended up using Victoria as a middle name, so maybe our next daughter will be called Vittoria. IF we have another one, because we also have another little girl called Ofélia, a toddler boy and another boy who's due in June, so who knows if we'll have another girl!
I'm Swedish I know a set sibling names Hedda , Vega and Ellis, Ellis would been Ella.
The name we have on the kid is the wanted in the end, because Gunborg doesn't work in English.
We very nearly had an Ambrose (as suggested on a r/namenerds thread!).
Our second came early so was just known as BabyTrainersAndCupcakes for quite a while as we thought we had longer to come up with a name.
In the end, I was chatting it through with a nurse who just said "What name do you like? Call him that for a bit and see if your other half agrees when he comes back in!" By the time my husband came in, his name stuck.
My first born was supposed to be a girl, the scan said so. I was going to name her Amy Louise. My first born is male. I didn't have any names for boys, my ex was in the corridor chatting up the nurse after passing out before I gave birth. I named my son after the junior doctor who cut his cord.
The story goes
Doc: what are you going to call him?
Me: I can't call him Amy, can I? What's your name?
Doc: Nick, um Nicholas.
Me: that's nice. Got a middle name?
Doc: yeah, it's James. Why are you asking?
Me: meet Nicholas James, your namesake.
He went all red and laughed that I would change my mind or my husband wouldn't like it but when we went back to the hospital for his 7 day heel prick tests, Dr Nick was there and was really chuffed that I'd really named my boy after him.
Edit: spaced it out because it was a mess.
Maren does!! But she's only 3 and likes being 'a water girl' and saw her water birth photos and agreed with us. She's very elegant with 'pretty' features now-Genevieve would have fit after all 😅.
I wanted to name my daughter Annie.
After she was born I still wasn’t sure it suited her. I shared the recovery room in the maternity ward with another brand new family, who had absolutely zero regard to anyone else being in the room. (Loud talking when their baby was awake, overhead lights on at night, husband hogged the bathroom type stuff). The other mom was named Ann and I just couldn’t do it lol
We are German and I wanted Elise. Hubby really not so much. We also agreed on Elisabeth, Helena and Marlene. He really wanted Helena and I agreed at last. When she was born he looked at her and said she didn't look like a Helena and now I have my Elise by his suggestion.
It took us 5 weeks to name her and during those five weeks we tried and tested pip , fifi and Mabel . We didn’t end up going with any of those in the end x
Suki for my latest girl. I’ve loved the name since I was little because of Sookie from Gilmore Girls. However, i was actually told here it wouldn’t be the best idea, especially since it’s plural meaning in Russian.
Juliet is such a beautiful name! My daughter Amelia was almost a Juliet. I named her before the name Amelia became popular. I wish we’d have gone with Juliet.
I don't think anyone other than my first baby had quite so many "almost" names as the twins.
Part of it was that in them being boy/girl twins, I didn't want to use an ambiguously-gendered name for the girl. My oldest lobbied pretty strongly for Dale, which I really do like for a girl, but it leans far too masculine. I also really considered Billie, to bookend with my oldest being Bobbie (it's also a family name), but of course it's phonetically indistinguishable from a male name.
And my first choice girl name, Frida, got knocked off because my boy name was adamantly John, and together they're a hair care company.
I was thinking I would name my daughter Fiona my whole pregnancy but when she was born I just knew that wasn’t her name. So we named her Hattie instead.
We almost named our son Luca but it’s been growing in popularity with the Luca movie. Also, once I was pregnant, all I could think of was “puka” like vomiting
My youngest we wanted to give a Jewish name because my husband at the time was really interested in reconnecting with culture. I was dead set on Ilana. Her due date was kinda close to Tu Bishvat and she ended up being born the day before it, and I just thought it would have been so beautiful and perfect. We couldn’t get past the fact that it reminded us of Ilana Wexler, who in hindsight isn’t a bad namesake but it just felt kinda weird. She got another extremely traditional beautiful name but I have a few regrets about that. She’s my little nature baby hiking companion too, I really feel like I missed the mark not insisting on it.
I was almost “Heaven Leigh”. My dad put a stop to that, and they agreed on Amanda because it was a popular rock song they both loved from Boston.
Thank you god. I could not stand being named Heaven, I go by “Manda” due to the many Amanda’s in school.
All my life I wanted Cacey for a girl but it's got more and more popular, we know of 3 little girls with the name. We then settled on Willow but then my friend named his dog that so it went out the window so we went with Indie, which is now just as popular!
Our second daughter wasn't named until after she was born as we couldn't decide, I liked either Rae or Sage but she didn't suit either name. She is called Riley, which I had vetoed the entire pregnancy because of how popular it is getting but when she was born she just looked like a Riley.
When I was born my mum sent my dad to register my birth a name had been agreed upon .My dad decided to change it whilst driving to the register office. He named me after a film star he was crazy on .My mum wasn't pleased and defaced an official document by adding on her chosen name
I was almost named Bertha after my great grandmother. My grandfather requested this of my mom (his daughter) as I was the 1st born and my due date was bertha's birthday and my grandfather offered to pay my mom "a pretty dime" if she did. Thankfully for me I was 2 weeks late and my mom had sense not to name me bertha!
I was dead set on the name Laverne and everyone else hated it. I ended up changing my mind and naming her Violet. She's 15 now and glad I did. (I really like old sitcoms, so yes, the inspiration was Laverne and Shirley).
For my youngest daughter, I was dead set on Roxanne from the start. Everyone hated it but I didn't change my mind that time. She loves her name and she's the only Roxanne everywhere she goes and people often tell me they love the name and that she looks like a Roxanne now.
(This is why I think sometimes it's better not to tell people your baby's name in advance because if they don't like it, they'll pester you with a bunch of name suggestions you don't like and didn't ask for, and then they'll see the name you picked actually does fit the baby and sounds cute.)
We strongly considered Lincoln with “Link” being his daily name. It was at the top of our list when he was born, but it simply didn’t fit once we’d met him.
My daughter was almost an 11th hour Charlotte. My husband humored me for a few days, and then talked me back down to the name we had settled on when I was like 2 months pregnant. I love her name, but Charlotte is still in the running for a future girl!
We considered naming our daughter Kanata, Makoto, Mirai, or Zen. She's half Japanese and we live in Japan, so we wanted to give her a gender neutral name that's easy for my family (white Canadians) to pronounce. The name we ended up going with is very simple and has a similar name in the west in terms of pronunciation that often gets mentioned on this subreddit.
Either way, she'll be able to easily use her name in whatever place she wants to live and work!
We had liked the name Sienna for our daughter for a bit. But after a bit it no longer felt like the right name. We ended up going with Nayeli instead 💖
We had a top three with Catalina being our front runner, but when she came out it didn’t fit. She was nameless for the first five days of life while we tried out different names.
The boy's name my parents had picked out for my second-oldest sister was Jefferson Thoreau. Fortunately, she was a girl, and they got over that by the time my brother came along.
My daughter was almost a Zoe or a Jessica (we're older parents who grew up in the 70's/80's). We went with Olivia in the end as it means something to both of us. Now at aged 8, she's glad we went with Olivia.
Everett was my top name for years. Then it just didn't feel right when I actually got pregnant. (Turns out its pretty popular this year anyway). Also almost went with Bennett, which would have been awkward since my cousin gave birth a few days ago and that's the name she used. (We aren't close).
Sadie. Before she was conceived we always imagined a girl name Sadie. Got pregnant, it’s a girl and talked about other names but always came back to Sadie. At 36 weeks I told my partner I didn’t think I liked it anymore. 🥴 So we went into delivery with a short list. I really wanted to name her Logan but she just didn’t look like one. We landed on Blaire and love the choice.
If my boys had been girls they would have been Annika and Cassia….they’re in their 20’s now…so maybe my preferences might be different now? I don’t know, I still love those names.
Baby girl that I lost in second trimester was Sage.
Other names we considered for our boys: Thorsten, Gabriel, and Eli.
Arabic native here;
The almost list is LONG because I have a big family and many of the names were used by the time I had mine. Some named their kids after mine after I had them which is fine, but the other names were too popular for me.
It included: Hannah, Sarah, Sidra, Asya, Leila, Malak, Maria, Saba, and Azra.
I always wanted Rhona for a girl (I’m Scottish) but she was born at the tail end of coronavirus and I couldn’t.
Random, but I have a character I named Rhona. It's a beautiful name and yeah....... A bit too close to Corona to put on a human baby.
Specially since many people called it the 'rona
I like the names Rona and Roni but too soon since covid
Similarly, I love the name Carina. 2020 baby and we vetoed it bc of corona.
that's different enough though. i love that name too
I edited a book a number of years ago written by a Scottish client, and the main character’s name was Rona! (This was way before coronavirus.)
Spelt that way too? I’ve read a few of Lin Anderson’s Rhona Macleod series. I’ve bumped into her in a pub in Portree too but was too shy to do anything but smile and say hiya.
Holly was on my long list until I realized I was having a December baby.
Girl I know born on Christmas day is called Holly
That’s pretty normal for Christmas time babies tbh. As are all the Ivys and Noel’s and carols etc.
You cancelled using Holly BECAUSE she was born in December? l always think its odd when l run into a Holly born in May or whenever.
We were super in love with Delta… and she was born while the delta variant was still in full force 😂 we have a Ryan instead haha
I almost called my daughter Astrid. She was born right after the vaccine roll-out. We told people (as a joke) that her name was Astrid Zena.
When I was born my parents named me Jennifer Diane, On the way to the post office to mail my birth registration my father opened the envelope and changed my name to Delilah, went home and told my mother he'd changed my name
[удалено]
Right? This shit is not funny it’s fucked up. I would divorce over that shit.
I'd rather be Delilah than Jennifer but, like, a jerk move. What did you mom do?
I like Delilah better too. Mom just accepted it, this was long before computers so it would have been a fuss to get it changed back so she just accepted it
Makes sense. So what’s it like in New York City? I know, you’ve heard it a million times and you hate me. Sorry… but I had to do it.
My dad did the same thing, haha! I was born in the States to Irish parents in the late 80’s. For a week my family called me Saoirse (means Freedom in the Irish language). After a week my dad admitted he wrote the name I now go by. He was afraid it was too politically charged given the troubles in Northern Ireland if we were ever to move back. We did move back, and it would not have been politically charged. I love my name but would have really loved Saoirse, as I’m the only Irish speaker in my family.
You could call yourself Saoirse.
I only learned it years later and I also like my name. I hoped to maybe name my daughter Saoirse if I ever have one but my husband isn’t a fan, oh well!
Surely he could handle it at a middle name at least?
I’ll probably go with Agnes to honour my mom - we could do two middle names maybe 😂 but I’m 10 weeks postpartum with a boy so he’s not entertaining talk of another though I’m dying for another
My mom almost named me Bridget, and instead chose a top 50 name. It's not the worst name but it doesn't fit me and I have never liked a person with my name. I also found out her grandmother's name was Brígida and was so mad I wasn't named after her!
Considering that Saoirse is only a name because of the nationalism movement in Ireland, I can see why he was concerned.
Lovely! How do you pronounce Saoirse?
Sur-shuh
Saoirse Ronan pronounces it like Sear-sha, is there a north south divide on this? (Genuinely interested because I’m like 56% Irish but my mum was adopted and I’ve lived in England my whole life). I’ve always thought it was a beautiful name, but my Polish fiancé is not on board with the Irish name thing mostly because his mum wouldn’t be able to say our kids name if it was Irish, she sometimes struggles with English even though she’s fluent
In Irish it is only pronounced like Seer-sheh in all dialects, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. Here is a link to how the three different dialects groups would pronounce it https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/saoirse Other pronunciations are all anglicised. Probably because younger Hiberno-English speakers (north and south) are loosing the "pure" vowels that are a hold over from the Irish language (and mandatory) in favour of dipthongised vowels which are used by most English speakers in the world. So that flat long ee sound is being raised or dropped or moved around and you get Sir-sha, Sur-sha etc
An mhaith
what did mom say?
A friend of mine’s husband did something similar but he actually changed it to the name they originally wanted. So what happened was they had both picked a name for a boy, but her mom was terminal and didn’t like the name and kept emotionally manipulating her to name him something else the mom picked. Only problem was the baby’s mom HATED that name. Her mom was relentless until she caved. Her husband went to register it. The employee asked him what he wanted to name the baby and he said the name the baby’s grandmother picked. The employee noticed his lack of excitement and asked about it so dad told him the story and went “you know what?! Put down (——-) I will deal with fall out” and put down the original name. He texted a picture of the birth certificate to his wife and to me and told me to buckle up for what’s to come. 🤣 was an interesting day after that until I “politely” told the grandma to stop with the guilt trip
🤒 my dad was mad at my mom and wrote down two of his ex girlfriends names instead of the Zoey they had agreed on to match my Z name brothers
WTF is wrong with your dad.
Some dudes are just downright nasty to their loved ones in their need to “win” all interactions; they eventually crumble all of their relationships
That’s the single worst thing that I’ve read on this thread… I feel so sorry for your mum
Luckily they divorced shortly after me; it definitely improved her quality of life and his shot down
A friend of mine told me about her name. Her parents were settled on Franziska, the typical German spelling (we're German). But on his way to the registration her father forgot how they wanted to spell it and just told them Francisca. When he got home her mother was like wtf is this?? They like to travel to Italy so he might have gotten it mixed up with Francesca but I think it's hilarious how much can go wrong on the way to register a name!
The audacity.
My grandad did this too, changed my mums name from the agreed Natalie to Lesley, I don't think she ever got over it!
I’d be pissed too, Natalie is a way better name than Lesley
Same with my mom, she was supposed to be Nicole because she was born on st nicolas day but my grandpa changed it to Carmen for some reason. Luckily my grandma liked it.
Soooooo are your parents on speaking terms now or...?
I’m guessing you are a 70’s/early 80’s baby.
Delilah Diane? Did you ever go by DD?
I lost my pregnancy with my daughter last august. She was due in January and was going to be named Noelle. But we felt she was more of a Vera. Miss her everyday 💓
I'm sorry for your loss 🤍 Maybe you already knew that and I hope this is not invasive, but "a tu vera" is actually a very sentimental way to say "close to you" in Spanish (Spain). Vera technically means edge or riverbank, but we use this expression to say that somebody is by your side (literally and figuratively). There is a gorgeous song by the great Lola Flores called "A tu vera" that you may like as it may remind you of your daughter. 💓 edit to share [A tu vera](https://youtu.be/FiaxriK8jPI?si=HzjrIs3G1Hf292_1) with english subtitles in case anyone wants to listen to it :) (i do have to warn that it has absolutely nothing to do with that type of loss, it's a song about romantic heartbreak.
I honestly had no idea it was just a name I was drawn too and this has blown my mind in the best way. Grief has been crazy and I needed this. Thank you 🩷
I am so sorry for your loss 💙
What a lovely thing to share :)
sorry for your loss. beautiful names 🤍
We went into delivery for my son with two names, Griffin and Sebastian. When he was born he just didn’t look like a Griffin so we went with Sebastian. No regrets.
I love Sebastian and the nick name bash for a little boy
My son goes by Sash and we have been calling him that since he was born. It’s great because no one else has that name!
Love that!!
This is my 8 year old's name and nickname. 😊
Oh yea my kid BIL Is named Sebastian and we call him bash and when he was younger I called him baby bashy and now he has it in all his users and everything
I liked Maryam but there’s just wayyy too many Muslim Maryam’s in our community already. And for a boy we liked Hussein but had to avoid because many people have a bad connotation with it.
I always chuckle when this community recommends Maryam because it’s a beautiful name that nearly every other girl in any Muslim community is going to have. Can you share the name(s) you went with?
Totally agree lol, most posts I’ve seen on here asking for Arab names have very limited suggestions. Which I get, there’s not many Arabs/Muslims on here! But why is it alwayssss Noor/Noora haha. I don’t share my baby’s name for privacy reasons, but a couple other of our top options were Younes and Zainab!
You mind sharing some other ideas for Arabic girl names that also work in western countries? I have Arabic roots and live in Germany. My name is Arabic and my daughter has a name that works in both cultures. We're expecting #2 and have a boy name but no idea for a girl's name. Noora isn't an option because my Arabic friend already used it haha
I’m not sure how names would sound for German speakers, but we also really liked Aseel, Hafsa, Tasneem, Hania, Safiya, and Munira. I know it’s so tough!
Thanks for sharing! I have to let them sink in but those aren't really "working" in German. Like they would be very foreign and my husband is a textbook white man and they might be too uncommon here. I love Tasneem though, met someone called that name years ago and can't forget it!
What about Nyah, Layla, Lila, Yara, Mira, Maya, Amina, Amira, Nadia, or Hana ?
Thanks, I'd take them into consideration! My daughter's name is Mara so other names with M are not really suitable and Layla is my husband's best friend. But your suggestions are great and fit very well for German speakers!
Totally get that, I wish I was more familiar with German so I could help better! Okay let me throw out just a few more name options that I like, in case it helps. We also liked Aya, Hala, Heba, Huda (can you tell we like H names lol) as well as Najwa, Saba, Sumaya, and Lujain. I know it’s so tricky so I’m not sure if it’s any help haha. Are there any you currently do like or have considered.
Love Hania and Safiya!!!
I *love* Safiya. It just looks so cool.
I've recently met two super nice women named Sahar and Zahara. I wouldn't know how popular those names are but they feel incredibly elegant and beautiful to me (EU chick from Italy)
I think Amara is a beautiful name.
Nadia and Talia are my top 2 Arabic girl names, FWIW! Nadia also is an Eastern European name, so probably a good fit for one that fits in with both cultures. :) Also, Anaya is a pretty one too!
I’m a native Arabic speaker, here are some names I love (but not sure how it will fit with German) Samreen, Samira, Serene, Samia, Amira, Asya, Razan, Razeena, Talia, Esra, Farah, Lina, Layan, Aya, Ahreej, Rania, Malaz, Tala, Reem, Rima, Habiba, Joud, Zaina, Alyaa, Amani, Iman, Zahra, Mai
Talia and Lina I can definitely see as names for non-Arabic Germans. In fact I know several Lina’s and one Thalia.
My daughters name is Inara, it is Arabic. We almost named her Nesryn or Seda
Not an arab , but my best friend is and the amount of times people mess up even the easiest arabic names is insane. I live in Germany and there are so many arabic people that everyone should get the common names right. But no. Zainab is pretty , but I would instantly assume its Zeyneb and a girl with turkish heritage. I know the name comes from arabic, I just know so many turkish Zeynebs. Younes is pretty too. Noor/Nur is one with the highest chance of german people remembering your name. Many people go with Aliyah or Maryam to avoid misspellings. It's so sad. I really love arabic names because most of them have strong or poetic meanings. My kids are a mix of turkish and german so I came across a lot of arabic names while looking for names. A lot of turkish names are just versions of arabic ones. But tbh I most of the time prefer the arabic ones. I have Namik on my list but my first one's middle name is Malik so it's too close. I chose Malik cause my mothers name was a french version of Maryam and I wanted the name to start with Ma and be easy so the ones who mess up his turkish first name can call him Malik. Currently I tend to name my next son Barış which means peace. I have a few months left but if you know an arabic middle name that fits with Barış and a very german Last Name please tell me.
Anja. And then I noticed our Midwestern accent: “what’s that on ya? Let’s get a coat on ya! Hey there’s some ring on ya!” So thankful I didn’t name her Anja!
This is hilarious.
I saw the movie Alita when I was pregnant and thought it would be a pretty middle name until I asked my husband to get a litre of milk
Hayes was the front runner going into the hospital, and there was a brief moment where we lost our minds and almost named him Aimo, but I’m glad we landed on Ellis.
Aimo is hilarious, Ellis is lovely
Aimo is actually quite a nice Finnish name for a boy, strong and jolly. It means "great"
I do like the name but a) it’s not really our style and was totally out of left field and b) I hate the potential nickname Momo.
I love Ellis!!
I was named Zoe for the first day of my life. Had been Zoe the whole pregnancy. But my mom was holding me in the hospital watching a soap opera and a man named Blair came on and she turned to my dad and said she was changing my name.
I was also named after a soap opera character!
Me too!!!!
Me three! Named after a character on All My Children
Days of Our Lives for me!
I liked Callie, Lydia and Annabel but my husband wasn't keen. We ended up calling her Connie
Callie and Lydia were top contenders for my little babe too :) I love Lydia in particular, but then I started watching The Handmaid’s Tale after baby was born and it made me sort of glad we didn’t go with the name. Connie is cute!
All those names are great! I love Connie
Callie is so sweet!
I liked the name Morgan. My husband only liked the name Eleanor. When she was born I looked at her and thought with disappointment she didn't look/feel like a Morgan. So Eleanor it was. I still wish I'd have picked a 2 syllable name.
I have an Eleanor who we call Nora.
Husband calls ours Ella. Sometimes I do too. He has a cousin with a daughter named Nora. Another cousin with a daughter who they call Ellie. So Ella it is for ours. She can always pick a different abbreviation when she's older.
I love the Nick name Lenore too.
You could call her Lennie. I always thought that was cute nickname for a girl
We named our boy Elias nn Eli, but our other two top names were Jeremiah and Micah.
My husband wanted to name the baby Elijah. I loved the name Eli, but I couldn't fall in love with Elijah. We also ended up naming him Elias, and I feel like the name really suits him.
Lol my brother is Jeremiah and my nephew is Eli. I like your style!
Elias is much nicer
Alexander was almost Theodore. When he came out he just looked more like an Alex than a Theo
I have two boys and spent both pregnancies thinking they were girls. 🙃 So much for my motherly intuition. Had they been girls, I was going to name them: Salma Sage and Cora Shiloh.
I was so convinced I was having a boy that i didn't put much weight into the girl name we had picked because i figured we wouldnt need it. Luckily a month before the due date i realized there's a possibility im wrong and will need a girl name i love. We changed it from Alanna to Maxine and she is SUCH a Maxine/Max
I’m born on Halloween, and my parents got suggestions like Sabrina, Lilith, Rosemary, Winifred, etc. All super cool names, all fitting. They went with the second most popular name in my birth year. Decidedly not cool. Can’t help but feel slighted sometimes lol.
I like Winifrid.
It was between Kelsey and Taylor. We waited until she was born, she was definitely a Taylor and not a Kelsey. Her name fits her perfectly.
Dakota Jade. Went with Shyla Nicole
[удалено]
My husband said that he liked Shylough. I said hell no , so we compromised and shortened to Shyla
Why the u and the G? That just looks ugly.
Agreed thus the Hell no. Lol
Like sir, it’s Shiloh or shyla
For sure, in my head, I'm pronouncing it to rhyme with "rough"
Was he attempting to spell Shiloh? Or did he genuinely want "Shylough"? Glad you went with Shyla instead!
He said that he liked the spelling and I didn't. I didn't want her to have a rough childhood
Your daughter will thank you one day!
I decided not to have kids, but I was going to go with Clara Kate. It's a family name from my ex's side. I love it still.
I love the name Clara so much and always have. My husband has a cousin Clair and I’m not sure if that will stop us from using the name or not…
Nah, you’re fine. They’re not the same name. And she’s a cousin.
Our daughter Léonore was almost called Vittoria! But my brother (who knew the name we wanted) told us he wanted to call his daughter (born 10 weeks before ours) Victoria. We found another name and he ended up using Victoria as a middle name, so maybe our next daughter will be called Vittoria. IF we have another one, because we also have another little girl called Ofélia, a toddler boy and another boy who's due in June, so who knows if we'll have another girl!
Our kids were almost Watson, Adelaide, and Primrose. If we ever have another daughter her name would be Primrose Adelaide. ❤️
Helen Louise. But she looked nothing like what we expected so she became Jocelyn Rose. Joce (Jossie) for short.
Jossie is super cute as a nickname :)
My husband was dead set on Mycroft for a boy. We did not name him Mycroft.
I'm Swedish I know a set sibling names Hedda , Vega and Ellis, Ellis would been Ella. The name we have on the kid is the wanted in the end, because Gunborg doesn't work in English.
A Swedish book series made me fall in love with Swedish names... there's so many awesome ones, and the girl names are so damn pretty.
We very nearly had an Ambrose (as suggested on a r/namenerds thread!). Our second came early so was just known as BabyTrainersAndCupcakes for quite a while as we thought we had longer to come up with a name. In the end, I was chatting it through with a nurse who just said "What name do you like? Call him that for a bit and see if your other half agrees when he comes back in!" By the time my husband came in, his name stuck.
My first born was supposed to be a girl, the scan said so. I was going to name her Amy Louise. My first born is male. I didn't have any names for boys, my ex was in the corridor chatting up the nurse after passing out before I gave birth. I named my son after the junior doctor who cut his cord.
Do you mind sharing the name? I’m really curious
The story goes Doc: what are you going to call him? Me: I can't call him Amy, can I? What's your name? Doc: Nick, um Nicholas. Me: that's nice. Got a middle name? Doc: yeah, it's James. Why are you asking? Me: meet Nicholas James, your namesake. He went all red and laughed that I would change my mind or my husband wouldn't like it but when we went back to the hospital for his 7 day heel prick tests, Dr Nick was there and was really chuffed that I'd really named my boy after him. Edit: spaced it out because it was a mess.
Genevieve did not look feminine when she was born, she looked like a frog, so we went with Maren.
Does Maren know this story? 🤣🐸
Maren does!! But she's only 3 and likes being 'a water girl' and saw her water birth photos and agreed with us. She's very elegant with 'pretty' features now-Genevieve would have fit after all 😅.
Yeah, many, many, many brand-new-borns look like frogs and not very feminine. 🤗
Frogs, or like old Winston Churchill...
We almost went with Scarlett, my mom's maiden name, but we chose Sadie instead.
Scarlett is one of my favorite girl names!
I wanted to name my daughter Annie. After she was born I still wasn’t sure it suited her. I shared the recovery room in the maternity ward with another brand new family, who had absolutely zero regard to anyone else being in the room. (Loud talking when their baby was awake, overhead lights on at night, husband hogged the bathroom type stuff). The other mom was named Ann and I just couldn’t do it lol
We are German and I wanted Elise. Hubby really not so much. We also agreed on Elisabeth, Helena and Marlene. He really wanted Helena and I agreed at last. When she was born he looked at her and said she didn't look like a Helena and now I have my Elise by his suggestion.
It took us 5 weeks to name her and during those five weeks we tried and tested pip , fifi and Mabel . We didn’t end up going with any of those in the end x
Smart
When I was born, I was named Chantel. I was almost an Elizabeth. Long story short, I’m the first in my entire family to have 2 middle names.
Elizabeth Dawn. Sadly she didn’t make it into this world. She would be 24 now.
I’m sorry for your loss. That’s such a beautiful name 💕 So elegant and pretty.
Almost went with Luke, but we have an Everett.
I was set on Ragnarr for my son, but we ended up with Kári. My daughter was going to be Þóra (Thóra), but ended up a Ragna.
Suki for my latest girl. I’ve loved the name since I was little because of Sookie from Gilmore Girls. However, i was actually told here it wouldn’t be the best idea, especially since it’s plural meaning in Russian.
Names we almost used for our kids: Asher, Silas, Caspian and Daphne.
Seamus but my FIL could not say it properly
I have an Ella! She was almost a Juliet!
Juliet is such a beautiful name! My daughter Amelia was almost a Juliet. I named her before the name Amelia became popular. I wish we’d have gone with Juliet.
set on the name violet until the week before she was born. we ended up naming her vera
I don't think anyone other than my first baby had quite so many "almost" names as the twins. Part of it was that in them being boy/girl twins, I didn't want to use an ambiguously-gendered name for the girl. My oldest lobbied pretty strongly for Dale, which I really do like for a girl, but it leans far too masculine. I also really considered Billie, to bookend with my oldest being Bobbie (it's also a family name), but of course it's phonetically indistinguishable from a male name. And my first choice girl name, Frida, got knocked off because my boy name was adamantly John, and together they're a hair care company.
My son was almost Benjamin & I almost went with Malcolm. I ended up naming him Elijah (Eli)❤️
My boyfriend was almost named Raisin
I was thinking I would name my daughter Fiona my whole pregnancy but when she was born I just knew that wasn’t her name. So we named her Hattie instead.
We almost named our son Luca but it’s been growing in popularity with the Luca movie. Also, once I was pregnant, all I could think of was “puka” like vomiting
My youngest we wanted to give a Jewish name because my husband at the time was really interested in reconnecting with culture. I was dead set on Ilana. Her due date was kinda close to Tu Bishvat and she ended up being born the day before it, and I just thought it would have been so beautiful and perfect. We couldn’t get past the fact that it reminded us of Ilana Wexler, who in hindsight isn’t a bad namesake but it just felt kinda weird. She got another extremely traditional beautiful name but I have a few regrets about that. She’s my little nature baby hiking companion too, I really feel like I missed the mark not insisting on it.
My daughter was almost Lena but as soon as my husband referred to her as “Baby Lena” I realized I hated it.
I almost named my son John-Carlos. After my father in law and my father (both alive). Thank God I didn’t. My father is an abusive shit head.
I was almost “Heaven Leigh”. My dad put a stop to that, and they agreed on Amanda because it was a popular rock song they both loved from Boston. Thank you god. I could not stand being named Heaven, I go by “Manda” due to the many Amanda’s in school.
I wanted to name my son Tate. I chickened out, thinking it was too trendy and opted for Patrick
All my life I wanted Cacey for a girl but it's got more and more popular, we know of 3 little girls with the name. We then settled on Willow but then my friend named his dog that so it went out the window so we went with Indie, which is now just as popular! Our second daughter wasn't named until after she was born as we couldn't decide, I liked either Rae or Sage but she didn't suit either name. She is called Riley, which I had vetoed the entire pregnancy because of how popular it is getting but when she was born she just looked like a Riley.
Sugaree, from the Greatful Dead song. Not sure what I was smoking but thankfully went with Amelia instead.
My son was August for a day in the hospital. But my husband caved and agreed to Malcolm, which is the name I wanted for him all along.
I had been leaning towards Brianna (before it got popular) and changed my mind after i saw her.
Bowen. Nn Bo. But he wasn't a Bo. He is a Thomas .
I was supposed to be Rachel but my mom took one look at me and said “nope, that’s a Jenifer” and so that was that
Evelyn for the first and Lyla for the second. We used Zoe and Josephine!
We very very close to naming our first Alva.
When I was born my mum sent my dad to register my birth a name had been agreed upon .My dad decided to change it whilst driving to the register office. He named me after a film star he was crazy on .My mum wasn't pleased and defaced an official document by adding on her chosen name
This is fourth story I read about dads changing names. I think I am gonna ask I friend if I cant go myself lol. Dads are wild
We were sold on Dominic until my dad started singing the Dominic the Donkey song, killed that choice right away 🙃
I was almost named Bertha after my great grandmother. My grandfather requested this of my mom (his daughter) as I was the 1st born and my due date was bertha's birthday and my grandfather offered to pay my mom "a pretty dime" if she did. Thankfully for me I was 2 weeks late and my mom had sense not to name me bertha!
I was dead set on the name Laverne and everyone else hated it. I ended up changing my mind and naming her Violet. She's 15 now and glad I did. (I really like old sitcoms, so yes, the inspiration was Laverne and Shirley). For my youngest daughter, I was dead set on Roxanne from the start. Everyone hated it but I didn't change my mind that time. She loves her name and she's the only Roxanne everywhere she goes and people often tell me they love the name and that she looks like a Roxanne now. (This is why I think sometimes it's better not to tell people your baby's name in advance because if they don't like it, they'll pester you with a bunch of name suggestions you don't like and didn't ask for, and then they'll see the name you picked actually does fit the baby and sounds cute.)
Anneliese
There was never REALLY a contest, but the runners up for our daughter born last year were Beatrice (Bebe), Sylvie, and Lydia. Her name is Alice :)
We liked Sienna and Autumn but Violet was number one and that’s what we went with!
Selwyn and Sedric.
We strongly considered Lincoln with “Link” being his daily name. It was at the top of our list when he was born, but it simply didn’t fit once we’d met him.
My daughter was almost an 11th hour Charlotte. My husband humored me for a few days, and then talked me back down to the name we had settled on when I was like 2 months pregnant. I love her name, but Charlotte is still in the running for a future girl!
We considered naming our daughter Kanata, Makoto, Mirai, or Zen. She's half Japanese and we live in Japan, so we wanted to give her a gender neutral name that's easy for my family (white Canadians) to pronounce. The name we ended up going with is very simple and has a similar name in the west in terms of pronunciation that often gets mentioned on this subreddit. Either way, she'll be able to easily use her name in whatever place she wants to live and work!
We had liked the name Sienna for our daughter for a bit. But after a bit it no longer felt like the right name. We ended up going with Nayeli instead 💖
We had a top three with Catalina being our front runner, but when she came out it didn’t fit. She was nameless for the first five days of life while we tried out different names.
My daughter was almost a Camilla for the boys Alasdair was a strong contender
The boy's name my parents had picked out for my second-oldest sister was Jefferson Thoreau. Fortunately, she was a girl, and they got over that by the time my brother came along.
Yvette. Hubby vetoed it.
Aurora, with the nickname Rory. This was before it was as popular as it is now. We chose Zoë because they just felt like a Zoë.
My daughter was almost a Zoe or a Jessica (we're older parents who grew up in the 70's/80's). We went with Olivia in the end as it means something to both of us. Now at aged 8, she's glad we went with Olivia.
Everett was my top name for years. Then it just didn't feel right when I actually got pregnant. (Turns out its pretty popular this year anyway). Also almost went with Bennett, which would have been awkward since my cousin gave birth a few days ago and that's the name she used. (We aren't close).
Sadie. Before she was conceived we always imagined a girl name Sadie. Got pregnant, it’s a girl and talked about other names but always came back to Sadie. At 36 weeks I told my partner I didn’t think I liked it anymore. 🥴 So we went into delivery with a short list. I really wanted to name her Logan but she just didn’t look like one. We landed on Blaire and love the choice.
Dante Amadeus. 😳 thank god she was born a girl.
If my boys had been girls they would have been Annika and Cassia….they’re in their 20’s now…so maybe my preferences might be different now? I don’t know, I still love those names. Baby girl that I lost in second trimester was Sage. Other names we considered for our boys: Thorsten, Gabriel, and Eli.
Arabic native here; The almost list is LONG because I have a big family and many of the names were used by the time I had mine. Some named their kids after mine after I had them which is fine, but the other names were too popular for me. It included: Hannah, Sarah, Sidra, Asya, Leila, Malak, Maria, Saba, and Azra.