[name_f]Audrey[/name_f] - Not nice at all. It’s saving association is that a lot of people think of [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] Hepburn, but if you take that image away, it quickly loses its glamour. I think it sounds ugly.
[name_f]Clara[/name_f] - Nice, but unsophisticated. It’s a bit bumpkin-ish, in a way. I like it though.
[name_f]Cora[/name_f] - Eh. Like [name_f]Clara[/name_f], but even more farmgirl-ish. Or elderly. Not sold on it. What about [name_f]Coralie[/name_f]?
[name_f]Corinne[/name_f] - Nope. This makes me think of freckles, gap teeth, frizzy red hair and dungarees, but also bad skin and no education… it tries to be cute but it’s somehow not charming at all.
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] - Pretty.
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] - It’s dull as dishwater in many non-Anglophone countries. A bit like [name_f]Irina[/name_f]. Sounds exotic outside of, for eg, Eastern Europe, but otherwise…
[name_f]Eva[/name_f] - I criticise [name_f]Elena[/name_f] for being boring and common, but for some reason I looooove [name_f]Eva[/name_f]! I think it’s a great name for a strong, intelligent, fiery girl.
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] - Very pretty.
[name_f]Hannah[/name_f] - Genial-sounding and I know so many lovely Hannahs that I have a good association for it… but it’s just a bit dull.
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f] - Pretty.
[name_f]Julia[/name_f]/[name_f]Juliet[/name_f]/[name_f]Juliette[/name_f] - I want to like these, I really do, but I just… no. I have a block on them.
[name_f]Katherine[/name_f] - Nope. That’s all I can say. Nope, nope, nope. Plus, I think the [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] spelling is more polished looking. [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] looks almost plain-pretty under all the flabby beige boringness when it’s written down, [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] lacks that charm.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f]/[name_f]Lillian[/name_f] - I love [name_f]Lila[/name_f] pron. [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-la. [name_f]Lillian[/name_f] is nice, but that’s about it. I like it quite a bit as a mn, as it’s filler-ish but not tired, but in reality I don’t know if I’d be charmed by it.
[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] - I want to find this pretty. It’s pretty written down. But when I hear it out loud, I just don’t like it.
[name_f]Natalie[/name_f] - Eh. Nope. Sorry. I don’t want to be rude, so I’ll leave it as this - it’s so very, very dated.
[name_f]Nora[/name_f] - No. A lot of people think this is charming and cute, I think it’s saggy and twee. I also knew a horrid and irritating [name_f]Norah[/name_f], so I might be biased.
[name_f]Penelope[/name_f] - Pretty. [name_u]Love[/name_u].
[name_f]Rosalie[/name_f]/[name_f]Rose[/name_f] - Pretty but dull. [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f] is very namenerdish, a name people gush over but never really use because it doesn’t work as well in real life. [name_f]Rose[/name_f] is tired and only interesting as a first name with a very interesting middle name. But they’re not ugly by any means.
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f]/[name_f]Sophie[/name_f] - Tired. It has a great meaning, but it’s tired. [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] is fantastically boring in anyone under 40, as both a first name and middle name, and [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] isn’t elderly enough to be cool.
[name_f]Stella[/name_f] - Horrid. Sorry. I hate it.
[name_f]Sylvia[/name_f] - Pretty in a way, but slimey (or silky?) sounding. It creeps me out a little bit.
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f] - Ruined for me by association. Also, it’s a name people want to shorten but has absolutely no good nicknames.
[name_u]Vivian[/name_u] - Nice.
Sorry for being brutal! If I had to pick 10, I’d pick:
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Eva[/name_f]
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f]
[name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
[name_u]Vivian[/name_u]
and then, to make up the numbers, my second faves:
[name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_f]Hannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] / [name_f]Lillian[/name_f]
[name_f]Rosalie[/name_f]/[name_f]Rose[/name_f]