The Baby Name Wizard

Ah CB, yes I know you and my hubby are right, dammit! I guess Violet will have to be abandoned along with those other lovelies, Rose and Lily. Sigh.
I have just stumbled upon another name though: Aven. Pronounced A-ven. An old Irish name meaning "fair radiance" - perfect for 2 blondes who are sure to have a blonde baby! Now I just gotta convince Mr Leaf...

Leafy: Maybe Melody? Or maybe show him some recent stats. I remember another poster awhile back was planning a crash course for her partner in current naming trends to show him that her picks were not as strange as he thought.

Leafy - I wouldn't do Vi0let Leaf personally. Our last name isn't nearly as nature sounding and even with as much as I like Violet, I'm trying to not set up my new baby with a name that is easy or easier to bully.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! I'm compiling a list and will go through it with my husband. He's also one who will just seem to randomly veto without a reason.

We have a Swedish friend who pronounces Linnea lin-NAY-uh. I also have a friend from high school who pronounces her name the same way, so that's how we would pronounce it. Although lin-AY-ah and lin-NAY-uh are practically the same.

I have heard from a number of people that I showed the name to that they thought it was pronounced linn-ee-uh and/or line-ee-uh (not sure on the where the stress would be), which is part of my concern.

Lucy # 13, I totally agree.

I find it bizarre that the submissive institution of must-have-daddy's-surname still exists in the US. Seriously, why?? I have no problem with differently-named parents *agreeing* to use the father's name, but it seems to be so set in stone that there is never even a discussion. As a Swedish woman in Copenhagen, I don't know one single person (woman) who would accept that. And I also don't know a single person (man) who expects it to be like that. (Well, truthfully, I suppose there are a few, but I certainly don't wanna know 'em).

Statistics - I remember reading these numbers a couple of years ago (but can't find the source, so give and take 5%):

Middle and last names of children born in Copenhagen 2000-2005

40% Firstname Momsname Dadsname
25% Firstname Dadsname Momsname
20% Firstname Dadsname
10% Firstname Momname
5% Firstname [Other]

On a related note, it is also not uncommon for a man to take his wife's last name as his own. Not prevailing, but common enough that nobody would bat an eye.

My (male) partner and I were pretty even in our suggestions. I had to prod him to do his "name homework" but he did end up picking his own choices. One motivation was we played the bracket game on a long car trip- 16 of the names were mine and 16 his. It was a good way to talk out a lot of our suggestions and come up with a top two names for each gender that we both really like.

(I posted earlier about looking for a sibling name for Unity- our top four are Juniper and Rosemary for girls and Solomon and Cedar for boys.)

Also on the topic of last names- my daughter has both of our last names. It's really important to me and I'm glad we did it even though it's long and I'll totally understand if she wants to shorten things when she's older. I also know couples who combined their last names without the hyphen, like this: Stacy Moss and Jason Green became the Mossgreen family. (Not their real names obviously.) I understand that some people still choose to take their husband's last name but I do think it's weird when the baby automatically gets dad's last name and not moms.

Also a pet peeve of mine: when a woman hyphenates her last name with her husbands but he doesn't do the same for her.

My Tirzah-quiz answer:

D. Both Mom and Dad made lists and participated in the narrowing and final decision.

I'll add, though, that I (mom) was very likely the more opinionated participant. I am also much more interested in names in general than the dad.

We didn't compromise on the name itself, but we compromised on the number of first names (one only) because the dads name was in the middle name slot.

The 5% "other" intrigues me. Dh and I joke about changing our last name - just to liven up the last name pool, you know? Our top contenders are Codemonkey, Fromtexas, and Suburbia. Afterall, there are way more Smiths than smiths - maybe it's time to update, folks! ;)

I chose to take my husband's last name so that our family would all have one name. Part of the deal was that our first boy would have my maiden name as a mn. I hope we do this for all our children though.

Re Linnea:

I love the name... but I have to say I prefer it pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. The only Linnea I ever met (a young woman speaking at a conference I attended, I believe she was Dutch) pronounced it this way, rhyming with 'zinnia', and I thought it sounded fresh and charming. Lin-NAY-ah is pretty too, but that sort of rhythm is awfully trendy, it reminds me a bit of Aaliyah, Neveah etc. (Lynnayah? LaNeyah?)

But that's probably just me...

CB,

I think most of the the "5% other" is Momslast-Dadslast and Dadslast-Momslast, the difference being the hyphen, and other combinations with parents's MNs (lastname-like MNs). Few people use the option of matronymic/patronymic last names.

I chose to do that too, even though I loved my maiden name. My last name was less common, easier to choose names with, and, weirdly enough, easier for people to say and spell right. Who would have thought that Calder would be simpler than Huff, but I've had more people misspell Huff in the couple years I've been one than the decades I was a Calder!

I chose to take my husband's name precisely to avoid the baby name problem. He was OK with me keeping my name or hyphenating, but was strongly against giving a child a hyphenated last name.

At the end, I had to decide whether I actually felt as strongly about keeping my name as he did about the baby's lastname, and it turns out I really didn't. But I fully understand and support why some women and their babies do, and I totally think single moms should get to bestow their lastnames on their babes.

I think I love Linnea either way, actually, but my natural first-glance pronunciation would be li-NAY-uh.

C. Mom did the initial lists. Dad participated once the lists were made.

My dh is very enthusiastic about naming which I find wonderful. We just play with the names, try them on for a while and then we mutually agree. Naming is one of the easier parts of pregnancy for us. The physical aspects of it are more challenging! (-:

BTW, I've given up on the Magdalena/Lena name option. Right now I'm trying on Cordelia Fae LN. (sister to Eloise Marie) So far it's sticking. Is there anything negative about it that jumps out to you?

I agree with Anna (#54) about taking the father's surname as a matter of course. If it's a conscious choice, fine, but it doesn't make sense in this day and age to assume it as a given.

Now, I myself changed my name when I got married... that was my conscious choice. (Actually I'd been dying to for years - my maiden name is both hard to spell and an easy target for teasing - DH's name has just one conceivable spelling and no awkward associations. I remember my Dad joking, "Lucky you... can I change it, too?") I had friends at the time who told me I should be more of a feminist and keep my own name... but isn't feminism all about having choices? DH was, I think, pleasantly surprised that I readily offered to change my name... he certainly didn't *expect* it.

Of course, our daughter has the same last name as we do. My nephews and niece are all Firstname Momsname-Dadsname, and it works just fine for them (both parents keep their own names). Among my friends/acquaintances with young kids, maybe a third or more have hyphenated names... so it's becoming more of the norm in Canada as well.

Hello! I'm a man, and I like names. My response to the quiz is that we don't make lists, we discuss together what we're looking for and make suggestions back and forth until we settle on something we like.

Much of the time, that is. We don't have children yet, but we have names picked.

In any case, I might be able to shed some light on the "man who vetoes everything and has no suggestions."

We all want our children to be successful. The name is no different--it's a powerful branding tool, so we have to use it carefully. However, there aren't really any "good" names, only "bad" names. There are plenty of names that say, "Ew, I don't want to do business with/marry/trust someone named Farquhar." However, there aren't any names that say, "You know, I wouldn't have thought of trusting you, but you're named Thomas, so I guess I will."

In other words, there's no way to win the Name Game, but plenty of ways to lose.

As a result, anything "interesting" is suspect. No response gets you a win, so there's no response to give. There's no reason to give it a lot of thought beyond "I dunno, Emily or Sophie, I guess."

So, how do you get around this? Don't talk about names. We all want our children to be successful. But what success looks like might be different between the parents. Talk with him about all the wonderful things your child will be doing. Get that picture of who that child will be--strong and dependable? A take-no-prisoners attitude? Clever and beautiful?

Then, charge back into your lists and find the names you like that fit those characteristics. Present that list. He might be more interested.

Now, I'll admit, I'm not that guy. But I do go about finding good names in a guy way--I don't have a list, never have, but I've got a whole lot of name knowledge at my fingertips, I can take apart and put together a name into a supercharged moniker just fine. Just tell me what you want it to do.

Good comments to read.
Tirzah-I am somewhere in between B, C and D. Dh and I had talked about names while dating and had 2 beautiful names (1 boy-1 girl). We still enjoyed talking about names though. But 2 wks before ds was born it just didn't work. So together we decided we would go with "the last name we had discussed that we both agreed on". It worked perfectly.

With dd, somehow we knew the name we had previously picked out was not going to work. (maybe because it had not with ds) We each made lists. I preferred more frilly though not uncommon names. Dh liked simple classic names. He liked Elizabeth though I did not care for the nn's of Beth or Liz. We did not consider Eliza or any others. We went to the hospital with a list of 6 names. After delivery, i cried and fretted over my list during the week. Finally dh said (as did gma)"just pick one they are all fine". I did and it is.

Guest-funny book story!
jenmn-I will post separately with a list for you.
L3af-I would not do Violet L3af if that is your actual LN. It sounds kind of hokey to me. Juliette sounds pretty as do some of the others you've mentioned though. However, I might stay away from ANY name that has an L sound in it as difficult as that may be. In my mind it just seems that the alliteration may be too much. what about Miranda (one of my current favs)?

Btw, Linnea=Lin-AY-uh for me very pretty but Lydia is also nice as well.

Janenm, what about Adah? Linnea is very Swedish to me so I personally wouldn't pick it to go with Elise.

Coolteamblt, I think James will grow on you. Your other choice are pretty trendy among nameniks and could date poorly, but James is a true classic that ages well :)

FWIW, I am much more interested in names but we chose all the names together. I can't imagine it any other way!

Linnaeus-Great input! I agree that every name is a good name until it's a bad one. Thanks for putting it into words from a guys POV.

I'd have to say that in with this pregnancy, we are falling into the "b" category. For our first, we didn't know what we were having and when it was girl - we didn't decide right away, but eventually settled on a name we both loved. For our second, again we didn't know, and the name we chose is actually my dh's name, so he DID kind of get the say there, although I do love the name as well. When I think back to the very beginning of our marriage, the names we call our two children, are the names HE would speculate about. I am just realizing now that he BRAINWASHED me!!!

For this pregnancy, I insisted on knowing what we're having, and he does not like the idea of naming a child before it's born, so I guess he's being a little stubborn about it. He has a LOT of opinions without a lot of suggestions, and really just doesn't want to talk about it. I'm realizing through this site that there ARE a lot of boy's names I like, it's just that there aren't a lot that HE likes. And, if I suggest Timothy - he'll say, "I like Tim, but not Timothy." It's frustrating to me right now because I have all of this time to think about it, but I have to remember that with our other two, we made the final decision while I was in labor (after the epidural!), so that's become our style, at this point.

Funny thing is, I had fully intended TO steamroll him this time. He was initially much more into having a third than I was, so right after our second was born, I said if we had another, I got to name him/her - knowing that I love Nathan and he does not. But when it comes down to it, I can't do it. I just can't imagine him having to say a name every day that he feels so strongly against.

Jenmn-I love the suggestions of Willa and Lydia.

Leafy- I knew a wonderful Cordelia once - she's just graduated high school, but she was the sweetest little thing.

Amy3-I enjoyed reading the bus list. Thanks for posting it. I don't think a list like that from my area would be nearly so interesting!

jenmn-To go with Elise, Nymbler and I suggest the following:
Celeste
Aurora
Audrey/Aubrey
Celine
Daphne
Nicole
Vivienne
Colette
Valerie
Beatrice
Bridget
Chloe
Maile (pron like Miley)
Sonya

Linnaeus - great point about there being only losers in the name game. I'm sure I can't be the only one who has witnessed (or, ahem, participated in) waaay more conversations about how bad someone's choice was.
I think, in the scheme of things, men see passive boredom towards a name almost as a positive, whereas women are far more inclined to see it as a negative.
(I make this generalization, but my husband's list of ten girl's names included Coraline, Wilhelmina, and Astra while mine had Alice, Jane, and Susan.)

A different story about name conflict:
Some good friends of ours had not agreed on the name for their son right up to the birth, with each of them advocating for their choice. While the mother was still in hospital recovering afterwards, the father sent out birth announcements under his name choice and she felt she could not then go back. She has never forgiven him for this - it's still a point of rancour. He has promised that she has exclusive naming rights if there is a second child though.

With our sons the naming process has been D. With the eldest we were painting the outside of our house. I said if it's a boy I want the middle name to be Ryman. That's my brother's, dad's, and grandfather's middle name and my great grandmother's maiden name (like the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville). My husband said, if you get a family name, I want a family name too. So I asked what we had to choose from on his side and Henry stuck out to both of us as a great name. In his family all the Henrys are Hanks, so to actually call a boy Henry would be out of the norm. Within 15 minutes we had the name Henry Ryman chosen and we've been absolutely pleased with it ever since.

With son #2 (due date in August) the process took a little longer. We didn't feel hemmed in by family names, so we both passed the baby name wizard book back and forth trying out names for a good 3-4 months. We again went with family names, Quinino James, nn Quinn. So each child has an ethnic (Dutch, Italian) name and a king's name and they both have 4 syllables between the first and middle names.

We didn't even know my husband's grandfather's name was Quinino. When he came immigrated he picked an English name to use. WHen someone in the family mentioned that his real name started with a Q I tracked him down (and the rest of the family) on the Ellis Island online records (a treasure trove of names!). When I saw the name Quinino I had an inkling that I wanted to use it.

My maiden name was so simple and easy- I miss it so much. (It was Noble). I am now a very difficult to spell and pronounce German/Ukranian name. I respect my own reasons for changing it, but I do wish I were brave enough to have not changed it. I am seriously considering using it as a MN if we have a boy for #2.

Along the Violet Leaf name idea, I'm a teacher and once had an Autumn Winter. I felt so bad for her. She was such a wonderful little girl and was saddled with such a horrible name. Violet Leaf is not as bad as that, but I agree with your husband that it is too theme-y.

Elaine - see my above comments about Cordelia. Love it with Fae - esp. spelled that way!

Leafy - gotta say I really like Aven. It's unusual, but familiar sounding.

Leafy:

I know you said that you don't necessarily need/want a Shakespearean name, but what about Miranda? Beatrice? Emilia?

I also have a secret place in my heart for Hero, but I know that won't fly in this day and age.

Ahhhhhhh! Zoerhenne, you beat me to the suggestion of Miranda...great minds must think alike! :)

My husband is not a NE but he has a lot of thoughts about what "works" and what doesn't work, especially sound-wise. Neither one of us makes lists but I was the one dragging out baby name books and reading names aloud, and going through the family genealogy to identify family names we might want to use, and talking about them with him. But he was the one who came up with little "rules" about how the names we were coming up with would work.

For example, I've mentioned this on here before, but when we were talking about girl middle names for our new baby (due in Oct, gender is still a surprise), the first name-- Amelia (a name I found VERY hard to come up with a middle name for, btw)-- he said he wanted a middle name that had the emphasis on the 2nd syllable and that was 2 syllables long. He chose Adele (even though my choice was Josephine) since I had gotten my way with our first daughter's name. He is also the one who came up with the middle name for our boy name as well and it was really fun to hear his ideas because he was throwing out what I thought were some fun/interesting combos.

He and I have also had a lot of fun coming up with totally goofy names based on family combos. My favorite is the idea of combining my father's name (Richard) with his father's name (Whitney) and naming our son D*ckwhit.

More on other topics in another post...

AK-- Oh, I love love love the name Hero. But I agree-- it just doesn't have the same magic when put in a contemporary context vs. a Shakespearean one. I like Beatrice a lot.

Leafy--would Dorothea appeal to you? I don't know about the "ee"-"ee" in the first-last name but I like it with Elise.

Oh, and one other husband-wife name story. I probably would have hyphenated (or used my last name as a middle name for our daughter) my daughter's last name to give her both my name and my husband's, but both of our last names are really long (more than 10 letters each) so that seemed ridiculous so we just gave her his name. It wasn't something I felt super-strongly about at the time, but as she's gotten older I feel weirder about being the only one in our family "unit" with a different last name. I'm just not inclined to change my name though. I've thought about it but I just don't want to.

And, on another hyphenating note, in my husband's college alumni magazine there was a couple, where the husband's last name was Jones-Smith and the wife's last name was Brown, (those names are made up, but I do remember that each one was a relatively common 1-syllable name) and their child was named Gi@como Spr!ngst33n Jones-Smith-Brown. I can't say I would have done that but I don't know what I would have done differently, either.

I still can't get over the Boomer women in the article who liked "Karen" or "Diane" for a child!

Few Boomers of my acquaintance would be all starry-eyed over the names that were given to so many of their friends and classmates starting in the late Forties and roaring right thru the Fifties...

Of course the Boomer generation is so huge and amorphous (it's been identified as the group born between 1945 and 1964!) that it's hard to generalize. But when I think of Boomers who are my relatives, friends and acquaintances, (and who were born in the late 1940's, 1950's and early 1960's, here are the names they gave their children:

Sarah
Gregory
Jonathan
Scott-- retro surfer?
Cassandra
James
Sophie
Thomas
Robert-- this one IS a throwback to Boomerism!
Ian
Emily
Caleb
Caleigh (sp?)
Allyson
Seth
Alice
Joseph
Rebecca
Regan
Abigail
Maria
Andrew
Jason
Joel

Hmm, sort of eclectic. That's just a few. Not a "Debbie" or "Susan" among them. The Boomers wanted to catch the "next wave", I guess...

I hate to drag the Clintons in, but they are so often discussed as the quintessential Boomers-- and they named their daughter "Chelsea", which I'm sure they thought of as bohemian and "cool" for the time.

Oh, and another famous Boomer, (I think!) Cher-- her children were Chastity and Elijah Blue!

So, my simple contention, I suppose, is that Boomers were indeed named Karen, Linda, Diane, Cheryl, etc., by THEIR parents, but they mostly went in quite a different direction for their own offspring. Jennifer and Jason, anyone?!

My husband didn't really go through the name books, but he has definitely had his share of the discussion. Our main problem has been that he fixates on a name pretty early and is hard to shake from it. I'm more likely to second guess a name and want to have the fun of looking at different names. In the end, both our sons are mostly his picks, but I could have pushed him on the second son and I think he would have given in. I've known a couple of people that have had huge power struggles over names: both times it was the dad wanting a family name the mom didn't want and then refusing to consider any of the other options. The problem with that was that the name is still a reminder of the fact that one person won over someone else. I think that constant resentment is a bigger issue than whether you got to use your very top pick.

Guest #73 - that makes me think of my parents. Whilst my Mum was unconscious after having my brother via C-section, my Dad went ahead and named the baby without consulting my Mum! :P (Not that he went as far as to mail out announcements, but they did stick with the name. I get the impression that it was one that they hadn't discussed earlier.)

Leafy, as an English literature student, I couldn't help but smile knowingly at your dilemma. Un/Fortunately, my husband is a historian. As you can only imagine, any name that pops into my head is immediately met with a dozen historical objections (usually involving figures in history that would "ruin" the name for him).

Not every Shakesperian name can be associated with a positive character (i.e., Regan), but here are a few that might prove less startling to your husband:

Silvia (Two Gentlemen)
Phebe (As You Like It)
Olivia (Twelfth Night)
Imogen (Cymbeline)
Isabella (Measure for Measure)
Helena (Midsummer's)
Jessica (Merchant of Venice)
Constance (King John)
Audrey (As You Like It)
Portia (Julius Ceasar)

There are other literary inspirations out there too, of course! Best wishes.

Along the lines of Miranda, one I've started warming on is Matilda. I'm not sure I'd ever use it myself, but I like the flow of it, and Tilly could be used as a nn to offset the flood of Maddies out there (if that's a concern).

Is the Mathilde spelling pronounced the same way, does anyone know?

Matilda and Mathilde are homophones in American Neutral English, yes.

slk34:

Definitely right on about the "rules" method of naming for men. I think in terms of rules, too. The question I ask is, "What do I want the name to do?" and figure it out from there. I might note a good cadence before which sounds to make, for example.

jenmn:

Going from your original list of Linnea, Malia, Arwen, Julia, Violet, Adele/Adelaide/Adeline, Leila: there's a lot of L in this list. Do you want to keep the L? I ask because you want to stay away from stepping on Elise/Lisy too much, and if so, you'll have to step around the L. The name has to work with last name P (two syllables)--I'm assuming the accent is on the first syllable. It needs to work with "Elise and X". A three-syllable name might work.

Avoiding the L, I think of something like Cynthia. If you want to keep the L, have a good flow, not suggest anything from flowers, I'm thinking something like Laverna. The "ver" might drag down the name, though.

Elaine:

The only reason I don't like Cordelia Fae is because I want it for my daughter. Yeah, I want an elegant, otherworldly being for a daughter, too. :)

@ Leafy:

Just so you know, the name your referring to in Irish is pronounced "Even", not "Aven". In Irish the original "AOI" sound is always pronounced as a long "E". The accepted anglicized version is "Eavan". Aven, while very pretty, is more likely to be read as an off-shoot of Ava, rather than connected to this etymology.

FWIW, we've decided to use the traditional Irish spelling for our daughter (confirmed in the ultrasound this afternoon!).

jenmn:

Before looking at your choices, I immediately thought of Juliet to accompany Elise. I also immediately thought of Lavender (and I have no idea why).

What about Camille or Charlotte? And I enthusiastically second Aybee's suggestion of Cora!

slk34 - My dh and I have played the what if family name game too. Nothing as delightful as D!ckwhit, but we've joked about hypothetical twins named Rhodes and Bridges.

Leafy - just my personal reaction to Aven (before reading PPP's post) was it made me instantly think of Aiden. Not fair, but I have a sort of pet peeve against Aiden, so I'm a little sensitive.

Oh, and PPP - I remember actually liking the name Eaven, (with the Irish spelling, which I can't remember!), when you discussed it previously.

Rhanda-No offense but that is one of the reasons I would never name a child Matilda. I could not even fathom using the nn Tilly.

Re naming decisions: My mom's story has always been that she was named after a magazine advertisment (another word we can talk about pronunciation-wise to go back to last thread ad-VER-tiss-ment> OR AD-ver-TIES-ment>) because her mom didnt have a name picked out. Also, my mom wanted my bro to have a unique name and folded on naming him after my dad.

Local announcements:
Lennon-g
Avyn-b
Aidyn-g
jethro
Bettina
Elijah/Mckenna twins
Jaylin
Jaelyn
Coral
Kellen-g
Shaeleigh
Fletcher
Gretta
Molly
Paytyn-? (dressed in white)
MacArthur
Koen
Laela

Leafy, you said you like Ophelia, Cordelia, and (almost) Amelia.

What about Cecilia? It's a classic, classic (but romantic) name, there's the Simon and Garfunkel song, St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and it's well-known but not trendy.

RobynT, that was me! It actually worked, too. First I showed him how to read the Name Voyager charts with names like John and Mary. Then I pulled up the popularity charts for Jennifer, Jessica, and Ashley (his suggestions) and how they had popped up out of nowhere and quickly fell back down again. He was really surprised. Then I picked names from the top 20 (Emma. Isabella. Sophia. Olivia.) that he said sounded "weird and old-fashioned" and demonstrated their current popularity. After that, he agreed that a name like 'Clara' would not stand out as much as he'd thought.

Elaine: Are you planning to use a NN for Cordelia? My friend was thinking of using the name but struggled with the NN. (I think there are a lot of good options but she's not an NE!)

I know two Linneas and both pronounce their name li-NAY-uh.

I know a Lieneke (pronounced LIN-nuh-kuh) from the Netherlands. She is sweet and beautiful and has really endeared me to her name. Perhaps it would be a good option with a more accessible spelling? Linneka?

zoerhenne: None taken. Different strokes and all. I think I've mentioned it before, but I always think of potential names in terms of nns because neither my name nor my husband's has "easy" nns, and I always wanted one -- so I tend to cast the nickname net wide. :]

Seconding Cecilia. It does have a similar feel. Nymbler just tossed up Iona with the entry of Ophelia, Cordelia and Amelia. That's an interesting option, which has a very feminine and fresh sound to my ears. Also Leonora.

Rhanda-that's funny. I guess I'm the opposite. My ds's "original" name had a nn that just didn't work for us and his actual name has NO nn. Too short. With my dd, we wanted a nn but one never stuck. So she too has NO nn. Interesting. Plus the names I like mostly do NOT have nn's where I think my dh's name list was full of those kind of names. Hmmm.

Linneaus - thanks for your input! I found your comments very helpful.
By the way, I didn't have a list either, until I got pregnant! Oh how things change, LOL!

Zoerhenne - yes Leaf really is my surname (well actually, it's not, but it will be the child's surname!). I'm glad I put Violet Leaf out there as it seems no one thinks it works! Better to know now than after the name is on the birth certificate, right?!
I like Miranda but one of my close friends adores it and has it at the top of her list, so unfortunately I can't use it.

AK - I love Emilia but my sister-in-law has already used it, sadly. Beatrice I'm not sure about. I have been put off Beatrice and Eugenie by their royal namesakes!

Andrea R - glad someone else likes Aven! I agree that it is unusual but familiar sounding. I am just wondering if it is too short with Leaf. Hmmmmmm.

Slk34 - interesting that you should suggest Dorothea, as my husband has suggested Thea. (1 of only 2 suggestions that he has come up with, actually!) I love it, but wonder if it works with Leaf - too much of a similar sound perhaps? Thea Leaf. No. BUT if I could find a long version to have as the official first name, that might work! Dorothea has that "granny chic" thing going on, which I love. And what about Theodora? I just thought of it today. Also one that is a genuine antique. Something quite strong about Theodora, in my opinion. (And I just realised, Dorothea and Theodora are actually the same name, but with the first and second syllables swapped!)

Guest #84, thanks so much for your suggestions!! I love several of them - Olivia, Helena, Imogen and Silvia - but unfortunately they (or a close version of them) have already been used by friends/family (I am the last one of them all to have children!). I am surrounded by great names! It is inspiring, but hard work finding my own when so many are already taken!

Rhanda - Matilda and Mathilde are pronounced the same way - the latter being the French spelling. I love both! It would be so hard to choose which one to go for. If I didn't live in New Zealand, where Matilda has strong Australian folksong associations, it would be at the top of my list! In England I adored meeting little Matildas. Just such a sweet, old-fashioned name.

PunkPrincessPhd, I am so thrilled to find someone using the original spelling of Aven! Living in New Zealand, I wouldn't be brave enough to attempt that myself, LOL! Personally I don't mind if people think of Aven as an off-shoot of Ava, as I love Ava. The only reason I'm not considering Ava itself is because it is very common where I live, and I don't think it works well with the surname Leaf. Thanks for the heads-up on the correct pronunciation. I think if I choose to pronounce it as Ay-ven (which I prefer), no one is going to correct me here, as it is such a rare name in this corner of the world! Ee-ven is also really lovely though. Personally I wouldn't spell it Eaven as it looks to me like the name Heaven if a Cockney was to write it down, LOL! Is the spelling you are going for, Aoibheann?

MelissaM - sorry but I am not a fan of Cecilia. Just doesn't appeal to me, I'm not sure why! (Sheesh, I'm being as vague as my hubby now!) Thanks for the suggestion though!!

Rhanda - same goes for Iona and Leonora, I'm afraid! I really dislike both of them! But what do you think of Theodora? nn Thea

RobynT & Elaine - re nicknames for Cordelia, my favourite one is Lia. I am not a fan of Cora or Delia, but that's just me. Elaine, your choice of Cordelia Fae is lovely. Just divine. Great, great choice.

CB - I am also not a fan of Aiden, but for some reason I feel quite differently about Aven. I love the soft sound of a "v" in names!

I think I've mentioned it before but I know a Swedish Linnea who pronounces it more like linear or linnia, not accent on any syllable. I think any of the pronunciations are fine though.

Elaine - I love Cordelia. It is probably my favourite name and I keep going back to it (although I have a few on my 'favourite' list it is probably consistently top). So many nickname options too - Cordy, Cora, Delia, Del, Lia.

Leafy - I first thought of Cordelia or Juliet for you but I see they have both been vetoed for various reasons. I like some of the other suggestions given since your first post. I also wouldn't do a flower name with your surname, unless it's a less obvious nature name like Linnea (or though probably not that due to the repeated 'L'). Flower names sound too much like a description - Rose Leaf i.e. the leaf of a rose. Mind you I love flower/nature names so I would be very sad if I had your surname :)

PPP - glad you decided to go with the original Irish spelling of the name, I really liked it! And congrats on the girl.....

Chimu - yes, it is very hard having to say goodbye to nature names! Rose, Violet and Lily are long-time favourites of mine. So, so sad. I might be able to sneak one in as a middle name though. Today I have been mulling over:
Theodora Violet Edith (nn Thea)
or
Aven Violet Edith
What do you think? I'm quite taken by them both!