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

(161 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.

Ladyleftfieldlover Sat 06-Sept-25 18:42:15

I was the first grandchild on Dad’s side of the family and they took ages choosing my name. Consequently I have one name ( my brother and sister have two each and my children have three. I have a French name (last registered as a name in the UK in 2018 I think) and often spelt wrong. I love the names Catherine, Charlotte or Araminta.

Oreo Sat 06-Sept-25 18:40:48

Worth a try, just to see their faces 😂

Curlywhirly Sat 06-Sept-25 18:38:08

Ah now that's an idea, perhaps I should introduce myself with my Gransnet name 🙄 instead of my disliked real one!

Oreo Sat 06-Sept-25 18:26:33

Curlywhirly

I'm half Italian and would have loved an Italian name - Francesca, Bianca, Sofia, Carla, Giorgia, Gemma, anything but my awful English name!

Aww, never mind, Curlywhirly is at the very least, an unusual name and an icebreaker at parties 😁

Curlywhirly Sat 06-Sept-25 18:23:08

I'm half Italian and would have loved an Italian name - Francesca, Bianca, Sofia, Carla, Giorgia, Gemma, anything but my awful English name!

Oreo Sat 06-Sept-25 18:18:48

When a young teenager I wished I had been called Annabelle, or tbh any long fancy name😁
When older I liked my own name but if I had to choose another name right now it would be Lily or Iris.

merlotgran Sat 06-Sept-25 18:17:48

I wouldn’t want to change my name now but at school it was unusual.
We all had nicknames for each other anyway so it didn’t matter.

Crossstitchfan Sat 06-Sept-25 18:08:59

Casdon

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.

Oh, I don’t know! My husband’s grandmother was called Tryphena!!

Casdon Sat 06-Sept-25 18:02:59

My neighbour was actually shortened to Eufy (pronounced Yoofy), but everybody took the mickey out of her and called her Euphemism, which was unkind.

Grammaretto Sat 06-Sept-25 17:58:04

I quite like Euphemia and Ethel!
Euphemia is Effie for short. Wasn't she the beautiful child in Silas Marner who toddled into his life and changed him for the better?

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.

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.

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 😱

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.

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.

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.

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!).

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.

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

I like Jenny or Alice.

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

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

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!!

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!

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.

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

Felicity
Verity
Kitty

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!