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

I am proud of my name - Margaret. It was my aunt's name and she died the year before I was born. When doing my family history I learnt that her (and my mum's) grandmother was a Margaret, and her mother as well. There was also a great aunt with the same name (same family branch). I'd love to be able to go even further back into the 1700s to see if there were others with the same name.

valdavi

I love nearly all the Irish girls names.

I would've liked Anna, Florence, Orla for myself.

So do I.

I have a fairly unusual first name which was shortened by one of the girls I shared a flat with in London who was from New Zealand and who was not familiar with the name and she asked me if I would mind her shortening it and I said I was ok with it. I wish I hadn’t.

I met DH around the same time and he used the shortened version and he only very rarely uses my full name which is much nicer. Too late now.😩

I love the name Anna.

I have a granddaughter called Isla too😊

That’s why I hate my name as it’a unisex. I wanted a solely female name. It was my father’s choice. My mother wanted to call me Caroline which I would have preferred.

He could have changed it within the first year. Sadly too late now!

I love the name Anna as well, and have never forgiven my parents for leaving the ‘a’ off so I was just plain old Ann. I was mortified when I was about 7 or 8 and a spiteful nun at the Convent I went to said it wasn’t a proper name the way I spelled it, as it didn’t have the end ‘e’, and forever after, she called me ‘Arn’. I could have murdered her!

Spartacus, so I could tell everyone "I'm Spartacus.".

My grandaughter is also Isla.... Rose is her middle name,her big brother got to choose it...he loves Rose in Titanic..🤣 No idea about me.. but I love Isla

My first name is one that could be shortened, and depending on which name and the tone used, I could gauge my mothers mood and respond accordingly, was often good early warning.
Both my next sister and I have French second names and would sometimes have fun having a French day.
But back to the choice of names. That tends to be dependant upon what I am reading at the time.
So have liked Eleanor for many years.
Also Elizabeth as had a good friend who mattered a great deal , and of course the great Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, who it must be said , was a great model for me. Katherine is my other choice.
I didn't like the name Maureen, as many years ago there was someone of that name used to bully me, and try and drop me in it. Then another Maureen I got to know, used to wear a lot of purple and the colour and the name sort of stuck in my mind, but years later met a lovely person called Maureen who became a great friend and has been my friend for over 40 years. So that of course means my view of Maureen has changed!

I always wanted to be named Elizabeth. I remember going to Sunday school with my little brother and I made up our names I said I was Elizabeth and he was Michael. My mother thought we were being given special names maybe saints names.

Bazza

I also loathe my given name, this month I would choose Anna but I change it on a regular basis. Our granddaughter was to be called Maud 😱 but fortunately it rhymed with her surname. I love the one she ended up with. Naming a child is a nightmare! Will it date? How will other people perceive that child/person? Will it be abbreviated? Then you have to look at initials. I have an Irish friend who spent the first two years of her life being called Baby. She is now called Marion, but was eventually christened Eileen.

My daughter’s first name begins with ‘R’, and her second began with ‘A’.
When she started dating, I was terrified she’d marry someone whose surname began with ‘T’!
(Thankfully, she didn’t!)

My sister & I had very ordinary names and when we were young in the 60s, we used to say to one another " let's pretend we're ladies" and we'd become Marion & Carol! I certainly wouldn't choose either now. Although we didn't use if for DD, I've always liked the name Dulcie. My DM had a cousin called it & I love how it sounds

I disliked my first name for a long time, mainly because people mispronounce it, now I just politely correct them or ignore it. I think I’d like to be called Helena but, there again, people would probably mispronounce that as Helena which I don’t like! 😂 Oops, sorry if anyone here is called that. 🫢

I've never really disliked my first name but if I had to choose another it would be Clarissa- I just love that name but have never met one in real life!

Babs03

I have always liked Elaine.

This is my first name and I have always liked it. If I were not an Elaine I think I would like to be Rosalind/Rosamund, Catriona or Bethan.

Davina
Sophie
Louisa
Jennifer
Pamela

Cleopatra

Aphrodite

Cinderella

The first two are quite bad enough, but Cinderella, WithKnobsOnIt??
I assume you were tongue in cheek?

My name too can be unisex Which I hated at primary school, plus I had to spell it. It is more popular now but it tends to be spelt incorrectly But I am used to spelling it out by now

My name is common in Germany and France (my mother was German) but considered old-fashioned here. Another gransnetter shares it I think as it forms her username and she posts often!
I like it because it’s uncommon now but is commonly abbreviated to the name of a character in Friends which I don’t care for.

The name not the character!

I went to visit a friend in hospital. She didn’t tell me which ward she was in so I went to the reception desk. She is known by the name Carol but her given name is Daphne. It would have been useful to know that! She has quite a common surname so I was there ages.

I was named Norma, after my father, who was Norman. My mother told me that the other name they were considering was Michaela, after Michaela Denis, the wildlife film maker. I had been adopted, and later discovered the name given to me by my biological mother, on my original birth certificate was Rosemary. Rosemary Cloony was a popular singer at the time, and had a number one in the charts on the day I was born. I wonder if that is where my name came from. I'm quite happy with Norma.

Musicgirl

Babs03

I have always liked Elaine.

This is my first name and I have always liked it. If I were not an Elaine I think I would like to be Rosalind/Rosamund, Catriona or Bethan.

I was nearly called Catriona, but my parents weren’t sure how to pronounce it - CatriONA or CatREEona? I’d have liked being Catriona, either pronunciation.

My parents were very conscious of the meanings of names. This proved useful to me at my university interview (for English). I was asked if I knew the meanings of my names, which, thanks to my parents, I did.