Let’s start this out by saying I’m almost 33 weeks preggers and pretty dadgum hormonal. lol DH and I have had the name [name]Arwen[/name] [name]Louisa[/name] picked out for our little girl since about 18 weeks. I love the name. I really do. I love the meaning, the connection to [name]Lord[/name] of the Rings and [name]Louisa[/name] [name]May[/name] [name]Alcott[/name], and I love her NN [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name].
I’m starting to get sad at the thought of never having a little [name]Imogen[/name] though. This will most likely be our last baby. We’ve discussed it and we agree that we would both like to have more kids, but they’re just too expensive! Makes me wish we had had twin girls so I could have used both names. I think I love them equally.
I’m not really sure what I’m asking here. I know we’re not going to change the name now. She’s definitely our little [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name]. I guess it would be nice to hear if anyone else has experienced this kind of name remorse. I feel like I’m mourning the little [name]Imogen[/name] I’ll never have. 
I must say I prefer [name]Imogen[/name] to [name]Arwen[/name], but [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name] is about the cutest thing, and has lots of spunk and charm. [name]Imogen[/name] feels more timeless, whereas [name]Arwen[/name] is very in-trend because of our obsession with Celtic names.
But if [name]Arwen[/name] is the name you love, and it sounds like you do, keep it! Who knows where life may take you? In my family, we name everything, not just the pets! Our instruments have names…[name]Even[/name] the dishwasher is called [name]Ol[/name] [name]Aggie[/name]. SO, there are ways to keep lovely names in your life even if not for your children. But [name]Imogen[/name] is a great one to see go, believe me. My boys list is aboud 70 or 80 names long, and I love ALL of them. The thought that I won’t use even 5% of them makes me weepy.
RE: Name remorse. I had it with my second son, [name]Bishop[/name] [name]James[/name]. He was almost, almost, almost Siger [name]Andreas[/name], which is a name I truly love. But ultimately, everyone felt Siger was too obscure. In my head, I thought of him as Siger for the longest. But [name]Bishop[/name] really grew on me, and S.O. loved it, and it fit in a weird way with the other. To be truthful, there were a lot of “almost names” with both of my sons, because there are so many boy names I adore.
I love both. [name]Arwen[/name] is a gorgeous name, although less Ringy for me b/c I’ve read the books so many times… [name]Imogen[/name] is [name]Shakespeare[/name]. I prefer Tolkien to [name]Shakespeare[/name] (and the queen will have my head!), and honestly I like [name]Arwen[/name] a little bit more than [name]Imogen[/name]. But [name]Imogen[/name] in [name]Cymbeline[/name] is cooler than [name]Arwen[/name] (in the lost tales that is). [name]Imogen[/name] [name]Arwen[/name], [name]Arwen[/name] [name]Imogen[/name], [name]Imogen[/name] [name]Arwen[/name] [name]Louise[/name], [name]Imogen[/name] [name]Louisa[/name] [name]Arwen[/name], [name]Arwen[/name] [name]Louisa[/name] [name]Imogen[/name]…?
cosmonaut, this baby’s name was originally [name]Imogen[/name]. We changed it because my dad said he was going to call her “[name]Emma[/name]” and that really got on my nerves. I kind of wish I hadn’t let it get to me now. DH is so in love with [name]Arwen[/name], so there’s no going back. And even if we did go back, I’d probably be mourning [name]Arwen[/name] then. lol
ottilie, oh if only I liked the two names together! I would definitely put them in the same combo, but they sound too much like sister names to me at this point. Thank you for the suggestion though. 
I am done having children and am definitely mourning the loss of names “that might have been”…I think that is normal but it fades as your baby becomes her name. I smiled when reading your post, because we have a little Mari Lou (the “Mar” is like the sound in Margaret, not like Mary). Her full name is Maren Louisa, but we call her Mari Lou a lot (among all her other nicknames, lol). So anyway, I naturally like Ari Lou!
I won’t tell you which name I prefer, because I don’t think it should matter. Mama knows best! And you should do whatever it takes to ensure your daughter has the name that your heart is leading you to. You will always miss certain names that were almost “the one”, you just want to pick the one that us the strongest draw for you.
I wanted to add that if it is truly eating at you and you think you would regret not using Imogen more than you would regret not using arwen, it is not too late to change it! Listen to your gut…if you ignore it, those feelings of possible name regret only grow stronger in time.
Thanks so much for your reply, norskelove. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that’s experienced this. I’ve been feeling kind of silly. Maybe I should just quit thinking about it and let her tell me her name when she arrives.
[name]Arwen[/name] [name]Imogen[/name] has a nice flow to me, but [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name] is adorable. I know when I’m older, I’m going to be mourning names I never was able to use, either because DH wouldn’t let me or I didn’t have enough kids (enough would be, like twenty, and I don’t want to become the next Duggars). There is always the ability to get a dog or cat and name it [name]Imogen[/name], but that’s not the same.
The Duggars, ugh, if only I could’ve named those kids. [name]Will[/name] never not get a bit riled about “[name]Jinger[/name]”. I call her JEEN-ger, not [name]JIN[/name]-jer, because I’m a meanie.
I’m really not qualified to comment because I’m brokedown smitten with [name]Imogen[/name]. “[name]Emma[/name]” would really be doing her a disservice. [name]How[/name] often will your father be around calling her [name]Emma[/name]? I mean, I like being an [name]Emma[/name], but it’s a total yawn for a person born in 2013 and seems so far from [name]Imogen[/name]. I’m hoping to have a daughter named [name]Imogen[/name] and nickname her [name]Ginger[/name], from the last syllable. Not “Jeenger” (wicked [name]Cosmo[/name]) but yes it’s an acquired taste this taste for [name]Ginger[/name]. [name]Feel[/name] free to name-nap if you like this weird concept. Otherwise, I do think [name]Imogen[/name] is pretty tough to nickname. [name]Immy[/name] isn’t great.
[name]Arwen[/name] [name]Louisa[/name] and [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name] are silky, organic, and very wearable. Why not wait until the baby’s born to see which name suits her?
I prefer [name]Arwen[/name]. [name]Imogen[/name] is okay, but [name]Arwen[/name] is gorgeous.
Unfortunately, emmabobemma, we live very close to my dad and see him on a weekly basis. He didn’t mean to hurt my feelings about [name]Imogen[/name]. It’s just that he had never heard the name before. Apparently, my mom has a cousin named [name]Emil[/name] [name]Jean[/name] and that brought about bad connotations for both mom and dad. They thought [name]Imogen[/name] sounded too close, so he said he would call her [name]Emma[/name] for short. I actually like [name]Immy[/name] OK and would have been fine with him having that NN for her. But no, he was set on [name]Emma[/name]. As you say, there’s nothing wrong with [name]Emma[/name]. It’s just SO overdone. It would have irked me every time I heard him say it.
I don’t know that I would have liked to name the Duggars, but 5 or 6 would have been nice. 2 seems like such an insubstantial number. Maybe we’ll win the lottery. lol
You could name her [name]Imogen[/name] and give her the nn of [name]Ari[/name] [name]Lou[/name] anything goes when it comes to nicknames
I adore [name]Imogen[/name]. If not [name]Immy[/name], [name]Gen[/name]/[name]Gennie[/name]?
I know [name]Jenny[/name] is done to death in MY generation (Hello 1984!) but I don’t know any baby [name]Gen[/name]/Jennys as even the li’l Genevieves are going by [name]Vivi[/name] and [name]Evie[/name] and those sorts of things.
My parents hadn’t heard of [name]Imogen[/name] either - my mom actually insists I made it up!
In Australia there is a generation of little girls named [name]Imogen[/name]. We love the name and I love the cute nn of [name]Mimi[/name] too.