My husband and I are expecting out first child (we dont know the sex). I am only 4 weeks away from my due date and we have some names picked out… but no one else seems to like them!
What do you think?
(ive been checking out the forums and it seems people here are a little more open minded about names!)
I personally think [name]Florentina[/name] (nn [name]Flora[/name] - love! - or [name]Tina[/name]) is the only useable one, and I like it rather well. The others sound like characters from the Iliad or Odyssey, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. [name]Just[/name] not my style. I too,appreciate nameberry forums’ openmindedness
Well, they look worse than they sound. [name]Roll[/name] call may be annoying every [name]September[/name]. I think I like Nemesia and [name]Florentina[/name] best. Other less-than-common saint names:
Girls:
[name]Therese[/name] (please pronounce TER-eyes, just to appease French people)
[name]Alda[/name]
[name]Gemma[/name]
[name]Ida[/name]
[name]Apollonia[/name]
[name]Bernadette[/name]
[name]Perpetua[/name]
[name]Mathilda[/name]
I agree they’re a little far out there. As a Catholic I would ask you do you feel compelled to use these names because of your faith or do you just want obscure names for the sake of having an obscure name? Personally I think I would be a little self conscious about my name if it was Nemesia.
I like the sentiment behind using saints’ names, but I agree that they’re all a bit too out-there for me. I’m not Catholic, but I would think some saints have more significance to some than others do. Still, I’ve seen a list of saints’ names, and it seems like there should be a more common ground between [name]John[/name]/[name]Mary[/name] and some of these. I wouldn’t have a problem with Dionysia, [name]Florentina[/name], and possibly Aleydis, but Nemesia and Osyth give me problems. Something like [name]Cecilia[/name], [name]Philomena[/name], [name]Lucia[/name], [name]Sebastian[/name], or [name]Isaac[/name] seems like a nice medium to me–beautiful names, but nowhere near as predictable as [name]John[/name] or [name]Mary[/name], and still more familiar than Dionysia. If you love them, I do think you could use them–they just wouldn’t be my cup of tea, sorry.
I agree that [name]Florentina[/name] (maybe nn [name]Flora[/name] or [name]Wren[/name]?) would be most usable.
I love [name]Florence[/name], so I think [name]Florentina[/name] is actually really nice. The rest are just not useable as everyday first names. Nemesia looks too much like Nemesis, and the rest are going to be a horror when it comes to paperwork, job interviews, school, etc. You need to think about your child’s future a bit here. You may know the religious significance behind these names, but that doesn’t mean a future employer is going to understand and not be put off by the name on the application in front of them, or that a university isn’t going to choose a more [name]John[/name]/[name]Mary[/name] over your uniquely named child because it reflects on the school better.
As PPs have said, there are much more world friendly saint’s names out there in the middle ground. Choose [name]Florentina[/name], or keep looking is my advice.
I am Catholic too and I love saints names. I think @ashthedreamer gave you some really good suggestions. Especially [name]Philomena[/name]. What about [name]Euphemia[/name], [name]Appolonia[/name], [name]Eulalia[/name], or [name]Honora[/name]? They are all rare but a little more familiar.
Aleydis - I actually like this one but you will correct people on pronunciation her whole life
Dionysia - I love the saint connection here but its just not really wearable
[name]Florentina[/name] - I actually like this one the least. It seems more like pasta florentine to me than anything else and I am very unfamiliar with this saint connection
Nemesia - This one has some good nn options, [name]Nessie[/name], [name]Mia[/name], [name]Nia[/name] that would make it more approachable
Osyth - I don’t even know where to begin with this one/
I like [name]Florentina[/name] best. I also like [name]Rita[/name], [name]Zita[/name], [name]Aida[/name], [name]Joan[/name], [name]Columba[/name], [name]Bernadette[/name] & [name]Veronika[/name] which are all more usable, but less unique. I used a variant of a male saint’s name so that opens up the possibilities.
I’m also Catholic, and I agree with pp that those names are more obscure than bad or crazy. I know what you mean about wanting the saint connection; however, I think that some saints have names that are just not usable in today’s world.
Aleydis - I like this one the most, it looks pretty and when pronounced correctly, sounds pretty; however, I agree with the pronunciation problems previously mentioned. St. Aleydis is also known as St. [name]Alice[/name], so maybe [name]Alice[/name] would be a good alternative?
Dionysia - I’m not sure how to pronounce it.
[name]Florentina[/name] - This is my next favorite, though I prefer [name]Flora[/name], who is another saint as well.
Nemesia - Too close to the word “nemesis”
Osyth - [name]Don[/name]'t look like a complete name to me.
Are you open to other saint names? I’ll list some (I’ll try not to repeat any)
[name]Anastasia[/name]
[name]Augustine[/name] (Also can be a boy’s name)
[name]Audrey[/name]
[name]Dorothy[/name]
[name]Felicity[/name]
[name]Georgia[/name]
[name]Justina[/name]
[name]Marina[/name]
[name]Martina[/name]
[name]Matilda[/name]
[name]Melania[/name]
[name]Natalia[/name]
[name]Olga[/name]
[name]Oliva[/name]
[name]Rosalia[/name]
[name]Serena[/name]
[name]Zoe[/name]
I agree that [name]Florentina[/name] is the only “normal” sounding name here. Everything else is going to raise eyebrows and may take several attempts to communicate how they are spelled and/or pronounced. It could get pretty frustrating for you and your daughter. [name]Florentina[/name] has that trendy Italian sound like [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Arabella[/name], et. al. It sounds more like you are naming her after a place than a saint though. After saying Aleydis and Dionysia a few times (the way I imagined the pronunciation) I think that they are better than the other two and have a nice feminine sound, but personally I still wouldn’t use them. I guess if you are naming her after a saint than you probably don’t want to change the spelling, so I wouldn’t use Aleydis for that reason. Dionysia reminds me of [name]Dionysus[/name], which gives me the opposite mental picture - not a saint but the god of wine and ecstasy. Not a big deal, but it may not have been what you were going for. I like unusual names but I think you could find something on a list of saints somewhere that would be uncommon, but more approachable than these choices.
Hmmmm…i think they are a little too out there for me to be honest. With the exception of [name]Florentina[/name] (nn [name]Flora[/name]). I think that’s actually really pretty but the others don’t do it for me. Sorry.
