So many great responses and the vote is so much closer than I anticipated! Excuse me while I vent some thoughts that have been brought to my mind while reading!
As some of you have noted, it seems like I’m personally more attached to Olena/Olenna (I prefer the double n because I like a double letter, he also has indicated he prefers the look of the double, but I’m open to both. The double N does make it feel less like his Uncles name to me), and I definitely am more attached to [name_f]Olenna[/name_f] over [name_f]Astraea[/name_f], but I’m not sure of the exact reason, it might just be that it feels like the safe choice, feels more namey, more familiar. I’m pretty certain no one will call her [name_f]Ollie[/name_f] as it does tend to be a masculine nickname here, aside from someone in his extended (way extended) family that was a female [name_f]Ollie[/name_f], I’d definitely met her before she passed, but I’m unsure what [name_f]Ollie[/name_f] was short for, possibly even [name_f]Olena[/name_f] with how Ukrainian the family is. I’m not feeling the need to have or choose a nickname, as [name_f]Olenna[/name_f] feels like it doesn’t really need one for me, and odds are if she develops one it’ll just come naturally or be something absolutely silly. (Ask our dogs, Snoot and Snarf, who are actually Emmy/Moxxi) Thinking on it a bit further, Oh-leh-na, and Aw-Lee (Ollie) have two very different O sounds at the beginning so maybe it’s a non issue??
Luckily, the last name isn’t one of your typical complicated Ukrainian last names, but it does need to be spelled out so no extra c’s/k’s get added haha. (My last name is a typical [name_m]Irish[/name_m] McLastname that sounds straightforward but I always need to spell it, especially if they need to look it up at a doctors office etc.)
As someone pointed out, there’s a certain way the [name_m]North[/name_m] American accent can say names that start with As- sounds, and it’s a bit…. A-s-s-y lol, that has crossed my mind for sure, as much as I say it with an Ah-stray-ah sound, it’s just as likely to be said Ass-tray-ah. I try to remember that despite being a berry for 15 years, not everyone has the same love and familiarity of names as we do. I also can see where is sounds like an Aussie accented version of Australia, I can very very clearly hear it in my mind!
BUT I think the namenerdiness is where my indecisiveness is being driven. Having loved names for so long, collected for years, struggled with infertility, and now it’s time to actually choose a name, it’s become increasingly difficult. For years I thought the obvious choice was [name_f]Linnea[/name_f], which is always a crowd favourite, on Nameberry and among the few friends I’ve run names past. I always pictured [name_f]Linnea[/name_f] on my daughter, at least for the last few years, until the last 5/6 months or so, where it just isn’t feeling like this babies name, and maybe that’s throwing me. We don’t intend to decide until we meet her, and [name_f]Linnea[/name_f] still feels top 3 to me, honestly I think I prefer it before [name_f]Astraea[/name_f], but I also don’t want to discount his favourite on the list.
I’ve definitely revisited both my long and short lists a few times, trying to see if I’ve been overlooking an old favourite or something I’d previously discounted for any reason, maybe I’ll post my long list for some fresh eyes, but I’m also not wanting to further confuse my thoughts.
I honestly didn’t expect to struggle this hard, especially as boys names came incredibly easy to us! We’ve honestly barely been discussing names which is a shock to me because I’m feeling so lost, I’m dreading name regret or settling on something at this point. She may be coming home with us for a few days before we decide, turns out my mom did that with one of my older brothers!
