Baby names!

Cassandra just reminds me of Only Fools and Horses!

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.

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

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!

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!

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....!!!

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!

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.

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

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.

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

My grandson, now 17, is called Wren. I still cringe when I have to tell anybody!

The thing to remember is that you are naming an adult rather than a baby. They aren’t babies for very long. Their name will be read out at school, university, when they marry.....so it’s very, very important.

My grandchildren have three names each. One is the name they’re known by, the other two are family names. All are quite nice, much to my relief!

You have three weeks to finalise baby’s name before registration. Plenty of tie to get a feeling for what suits. All of my granddaughters were known as ‘Daisy May’ until their proper name was decided upon.
My grandson, unfortunately, was known as ‘Li’l Spud’.
He’s almost two now, and despite having a very nice name, is often referred to as Spud!

I would opt for Maria - it can be pronounced and recognised practically anywhere in the world. As far as I know there are no nasty or obscene connotations or abbreviations either.

My younger sister was Mia long before we ever heard of another - the first was probably Mia Farrow, way back. It wasn't her given name, but my brother who was under 2 when she was born, couldn't pronounce that. He called her Mia, and she's been Mia for 60 odd years now.

Whatever it is, you have to think of the whole name. We'd picked Daisy for DD1 until a friend nearly choked laughing at it. She said that with our very Yorkshire surname it sounded like the farmer's prize cow. She was right.

My DD and SIL didn't discuss names with anyone, they just announced the name after their babies were born which I think was quite nice, also it meant there was no chance for anyone to say they didn't like the name they had chosen

I think Catherine is lovely as it's a classic name which I don't think dates. I also like Mia.

We thought about Flora for DD1 until a relative said 'you can't name a baby after a margarine'. Rather took the shine off that one ?

I love the name Ethel. Probably because I've always been a Just William fan.

When I worked in a secondary school it tended to be that the students with the most unusual names or most peculiarly spelled names were the worse behaved. We used to say that all the parents’ efforts went into devising the name and nothing on the parenting!

I have a Neil and a Gregg. No middle names and wanted ones that wouldn't be shortened (though occasionally get Gregory!) as are my niece/nephew Amy and Joe (and of course some people assume Joseph) for same reason.

My niece named her daughter Gracie, which is a little different to all the Grace's. My neighbours granddaughter born around same time is Lettie. She was often tempted to say Lottie at first, got told off by her son more than once when that slipped out lol.
My step niece has just had a boy and they've named him Rex.
Friends GD is Phoebe which is a pretty name.

Doing old baptism transcribing there is an occasional pretty name which pops up, Kezia(h) and Thirza are two which you don't see now.

Scottish and Irish names have had a huge comeback esp with Gaellic spellings.
I once mentioned to the mother of a Caitlin that it was the same as Kathleen. It is.
She disliked being told that because Kathleen isn't as trendy as Caitlin.
Sheila anyone?

Ethel was on our list when our DS was born 40plus yrs ago. It wasn't popular then and never joined the pop charts.
The name we chose for him which was then an " old man's name" became the most frequently used name ever. We were the first!