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If you could change your first name what would you have ?

(160 Posts)
nanna8 Sat 06-Sept-25 12:49:49

I don’t mind my first name at all but I was thinking of other names that I like,too ( I ran out of breeding daughters to name eventually !) .
How about a top 3 ? Just now mine are
Freya
Helen and Isla. One of my grandchildren is Isla, I love it.

Kate1949 Sat 06-Sept-25 13:07:56

My parents were from Southern Ireland so all us kids have Irish names. When I went to grammar school which was not Catholic (my primary school was as we are Catholic), I hated my Irish name. I wanted to have an English name such as Susan, Pauline, Jacqueline etc. Now I am proud of my name and my heritage.

Sago Sat 06-Sept-25 13:10:01

Kate1949

My parents were from Southern Ireland so all us kids have Irish names. When I went to grammar school which was not Catholic (my primary school was as we are Catholic), I hated my Irish name. I wanted to have an English name such as Susan, Pauline, Jacqueline etc. Now I am proud of my name and my heritage.

Me too, such an Irish Catholic name, I went to school with Bernadette’s, Theresa’s and Mary’s.

I wanted to be Tina or Tracey.

hollysteers Sat 06-Sept-25 13:19:29

I’d love to be an Astrid or if a boy Florian. On nights out with my girlfriends, I often give myself another first name😁

lixy Sat 06-Sept-25 13:24:07

Always disliked my first name but have stuck with it as it would upset my parents to change it. I am named after a saint and that has a,ways seemed too much to live up to.

Top three choices:
Penny
Gerry
Liz

Babs03 Sat 06-Sept-25 13:25:07

I have always liked Elaine.

farmgran Sat 06-Sept-25 13:36:09

I like Edwardian names like Kitty, Milly, Annie, Georgina.
My sister in law shortens my name to Anne and I really like that.

JamesandJon33 Sat 06-Sept-25 13:47:45

Love my first name but where my parents got it from I will never know. Never met another until I was about fourteen. Much more popular now.

Witzend Sat 06-Sept-25 14:03:06

Mine is a classic, ‘royal’ name, and TBH I’ve never wanted to change it.
I do really like Helena, but a Gdd has nabbed that one!

crazyH Sat 06-Sept-25 14:17:30

I love my first name - I know where she got it from, but why I’ll never know 😘

Marg75 Sat 06-Sept-25 14:45:38

Eve has always been the name that I would like to have, to me it's earthy and sexy, something I'm not! When I was at primary school and we all used to play games involving having a different name I was always Isobel!

Franski Sat 06-Sept-25 15:08:41

Felicity
Verity
Kitty

Grandma70s Sat 06-Sept-25 15:14:00

When I was a child in the 1940s and early 50s, I longed to be called Beryl. Not sure why I picked that, but I think it was because there were two ballerinas I admired, Beryl Grey and Beryl Goldwyn. When I passed the entrance exam to go to my senior school, our names were published in the local paper. To my joy there was a Beryl among them. I had such dreams of what she would be like. What a disappointment she was! Fat and not particularly bright.

I am fairly happy with the names I have, which are classic and haven’t dated, but would have preferred something more exotic. Perhaps Miranda or Lydia. If I had had a daughter, she would probably have been Caroline or Annabel, but I only have boys.

Dee1012 Sat 06-Sept-25 15:27:42

I've always liked biblical names...some favourites; Esther, Leah, Naomi, Rachel, Rebecca, and Sarah.
If faced with picking one, I'd opt for Rachel.
I can remember watching Samson and Delilah as a child with my Nan (she was fond of Victor Mature) and deciding that I wanted to be called Delilah!

Crossstitchfan Sat 06-Sept-25 15:32:41

My mother insisted my middle name was one she heard in a song in the War. I am grateful she didn’t give it to me as my first name. My adult granddaughter loves it! Thank goodness she had a son recently!!

Crossstitchfan Sat 06-Sept-25 15:34:18

Oops! Forgot answer the question! I would have liked Amy, Helen and Kate.

kircubbin2000 Sat 06-Sept-25 16:24:29

I like Jenny or Alice.

TerriBull Sat 06-Sept-25 16:58:21

Catherine! it was my maternal grandmother's name, one of my mother's names and it's also one of my 3 Christian names, 3 rather than 2 plus a confirmation name, so that makes 4. Catholics, when I was growing up gave their children as many saints or biblical names as possible. I think I often complained to my parents about my third name not being my first name, because I didn't like my first then, but I'm ok with it now, in the sense that I don't hate it. I'd have chosen the female version of my first son's name if he'd been a girl, which ends in dra rather than der, he goes by the diminutive, widely used for both sexes.

Georgesgran Sat 06-Sept-25 17:05:05

My name isn’t a popular one, though I’m aware of a few, but not personally. My GGM was a Phoebe, but DH didn’t like it for either of our DD’s. As a child, I was very interested in Grace Darling and I think I’d have liked to have been called Grace (although graceful, I’m not!).

Casdon Sat 06-Sept-25 17:06:02

When I was younger I always liked the name Caroline, but I think I’d go for something Welsh now - I like Eleri, or Alys.

Grammaretto Sat 06-Sept-25 17:08:22

I always said I would name my DD with the name of my DGGM who was born on board ship and named after it
However I had 3 boys and then DSiL pinched MY girl's name for her DD! A year later we had our first and only girl but had to find a different name for her. 😔
Isn't it hard! All those names and yet when you have to choose, you can't!

Would I want a different name? I'm Sìne at Gaelic class. I quite like that.

Grandma70s Sat 06-Sept-25 17:08:45

Katherine, with a K, is one of my names, too. I like it better with a C.

Both my grandchildren (16 and 13) have three first names (if you see what I mean). I think it was the fashion when they were born, and still is for many.

petra Sat 06-Sept-25 17:15:36

I’m just grateful that my father didn't get his way with naming me. He wanted Ethel 😱

Casdon Sat 06-Sept-25 17:36:40

petra

I’m just grateful that my father didn't get his way with naming me. He wanted Ethel 😱

My poor neighbour was Euphemia - with apologies if anybody here is called that, it must be one of the most dreadful names ever.

grandMattie Sat 06-Sept-25 17:39:28

I have a French first name, unusual in the UK. I loathed it as a child but I’ve got used to it and am the only one I know with this name.
I can’t think of any name I would prefer now. Then? It was Alice.