Names starting to grow on you

General Name Discussion
1

You know the kind of names I’m talking about. The ones you never really liked or never understood the appeal for. Or maybe you just thought they were okay, but now you’re slowly starting to like it. Here are mine:

[name]Layla[/name] - at first, I thought it sounded too much like [name]Lilah[/name], but I went through a phase where I listened to the song [name]Layla[/name] quite a bit, that and I really like [name]Layla[/name] [name]El[/name]. For now, it’s not top contending material for a future daughter, but it’s creeping up to my “kind of like” list.
[name]Isla[/name] - Kind of the same thing with [name]Layla[/name], but I like the short sweet look of it now.
[name]Michaela[/name] (this spelling only!)
[name]Gloria[/name]
[name]Paloma[/name]
[name]Renata[/name] - after saying it aloud more, it almost sounds musical to me.
[name]Lucero[/name] - I first thought of it as a “handsome boy” name, but when I briefly worked with a girl named [name]Lucero[/name], it sort of turned things around for me.
[name]Colette[/name]
[name]Imogen[/name] - well, I like the way it looks. Not so sure about the pronunciation.

[name]Graham[/name] - I don’t usually go for the surnames-as-first-names thing, but it started growing on me after I played ‘Castlevania; [name]Aria[/name] of Sorrow’.
[name]Judah[/name] - so similar to [name]Jude[/name], but it looks nice and sensible.
[name]Rowan[/name] - the only thing stopping me from putting it on my solid “names I like” list is those who absolutely INSIST it’s a girl name… much to my frustration.
[name]Lucian[/name] - sounds similar and reminds me of pro wrestler Jushin Liger, so that won me over.

2

Some mostly-stale boys’ names, some of which I knew of but almost completely ignored:
[name]Cecil[/name]
[name]Wolfgang[/name]
[name]Armand[/name]
[name]Bing[/name]
[name]Erasmus[/name]

[name]Sonia[/name]
[name]Lavender[/name]
[name]Vita[/name]/[name]Vida[/name]
[name]Maple[/name] - My first reaction was “silly”. Now its clunky-cute.
[name]Paola[/name] - Now I like the strong simple sound of it, like [name]Sonia[/name].

3

Hm, I’m probably going to remember a bunch and come back to this topic because a lot of names have been “growing” on me, but one that has is [name]Cordelia[/name]. At first I HATED it, but now I think it’s actually kind of pretty.

4

[name]Dixie[/name] - I still don’t know that I’d use it for a baby, but it’s starting to seem plausible.
[name]Jethro[/name] - Really starting to grow on me. I think it’s quirky but cute.
[name]Mabel[/name] - I really didn’t want to like it, but it’s starting to sound spunky and cute.
[name]Wilder[/name] - I don’t usually like names like this, but I’m liking more and more.

5

[name]Ethel[/name] - Not sure if I could use this in a sibset with my daughter, but I am beginning to love this name.
Agalia
Arsinoe
[name]Calixta[/name]
Llewella
Gefion
Philantha - Already in my top 20
[name]Simeona[/name]

[name]Moss[/name]
[name]Leopold[/name]
[name]Gulliver[/name]
[name]Icarus[/name]
Anubis - This is gradually sneaking its way toward my top 10
[name]Horace[/name]

6

[name]Miriam[/name], [name]Ive[/name] always liked it and considered it but Im really starting to seriously love it lately

7

@thetxbelle I was just going to write [name]Miriam[/name]! Except that I actively disliked it until a few months ago, when it began to sound fresh and gorgeous.

Also-

[name]Judith[/name]
[name]Roberta[/name]
[name]Ruthie[/name]

[name]Junius[/name]

8

[name]Tessa[/name] - years ago I read somewhere that it means ‘to pee’ in Danish, but there’s recently been a young adult series that I adore which features a [name]Tessa[/name] as the heroine, and as a result the name has grown on me quite a bit! :3

9

I can’t say there are any particular names that have been growing on me, but lately I’ve really been diving into antiquated Biblical names for boys. It started with the discovery of a Manoah and a Hachaliah/Hachariah on my family tree. Then I found myself perusing census records from the late 1700s and early 1800s for inspiration. It’s kind of weird because I’m not religious, and actually using a name like [name]Lemuel[/name] or [name]Azariah[/name] might make me sound Amish…

10

[name]Mabel[/name]
[name]Ethel[/name]
[name]Willa[/name]

Three names I despised before they redeemed themselves, in my eyes!

11

[name]Mabel[/name] - used to really seriously hate this, but now I think I like it!
[name]Cecily[/name] - thought this was too much like [name]Cecil[/name], but now I think it’s quite pretty
[name]Josephine[/name] - never hated it, just didn’t understand what all the fuss was about but now I really like it
[name]Anne[/name] - used to think it was frumpy and boring, but I am currently reading [name]Anne[/name] of [name]Green[/name] Gables and I have changed my mind!

12

[name]Josephine[/name]- used to think it was ugly and old, now I think it’s elegant, even pretty, though I still hate the nn [name]Josie[/name]

[name]Margaret[/name]- used to hate it, read one book with a strong [name]Margaret[/name] character and now I can see the appeal

[name]Evangeline[/name]- used to think it was weird, read about an [name]Evangeline[/name] in a book and grew to love it (same book as [name]Margaret[/name] actually, they were sisters)

13

I used to think [name]Lucy[/name] was really boring and quite plain, but I’ve all of a sudden fallen in love with it and would use it in a second if I had a daughter right now.

14

[name]Seraphina[/name]! I was all icked out about it when I first heard it like a year or s ago but in the last few months I’ve seen it’s charm. Unfortunately it is not a name I would use because it’s to close to [name]Sara[/name], my step cousins name who I think of when I say it out loud and it’s a little too high on the cool list for me these days. I’m one of those people who just has to be different haha.

[name]Anouk[/name] I did not initially care for either but only because I never heard it before. When I said it out loud with our last name I loved it and now it’s on our list. I am French bilingual and our family name has some French history do it had a good flow. My only qualm is it sounds similar to [name]Annick[/name], which was my BFF when I was in my early teens. So [name]Anouk[/name] may lose for that reason.

15

[name]Eloise[/name]: I think it started with [name]Eloise[/name] Hawking in LOST, then grew after seeing the [name]Eloise[/name] at the Plaza movies because I think that little girl is adorable.

[name]Hermione[/name]: I grew up in an area where this name was pn “Her-Me-An” and the nn for it was “Hermy.” Once I heard how it was properly pn (in [name]Shakespeare[/name] class, pre-[i]HP[/]), I fell in love.

[name]Perdita[/name], [name]Portia[/name], [name]Beatrice[/name], and [name]Cordelia[/name] all began to appeal to me after that same [name]Shakespeare[/name] class.

[name]Dorothy[/name]…I’ve always loathed the name, but I’m on friendly terms with it now. Not my style, but I think seeing it on here and hearing so much praise for it got me to talking about it and thinking about it, and I definitely no longer loathe it, and can even see its appeal.

[name]Evangeline[/name]: In elementary school, I read a book about the Titanic, and the heroine’s mother was a social-climber named [name]Evangeline[/name] and wanted to be called “Vange,” which I detest. I started thinking about the name when I heard of [name]Evangeline[/name] [name]Lilly[/name], and then I heard the French pn. Seeing it again in The [name]Princess[/name] and the Frog just made it more endearing, and becuase I’m from [name]Louisiana[/name], the cultural significance of the name finally convinced me of its worth and beauty. (I prefer “Eh-vahn-zha-leen.”)

[name]Genevieve[/name]: Similar story; I really hated “[name]Jen[/name]-ah-veeve,” but then I learned of the French pn and fell in love with the name; “Zhan-vee-ehv” is so lovely! (And I first heard it in an audio version of The [name]Divine[/name] Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, one of my favorite books!)

I think this list could really go on a while…there are only a few names I probably couldn’t be convinced to love, no matter how much I loved someone bearing them.