I hear you! I think it’s that “th” that’s through your teeth only (“thick”) as opposed to the “th” that you can feel in your throat as well as the word leads into a throat sound (“this”). I’m also not opposed to Athena or Theodore but not so much Thaddeus or Othello (though fine in theory, but probably not on my own kid). Its that “th” with tongue only. If you put your fingers on your throat while saying “thick” vs “this” you’ll see the first is that tongue only sound. Won’t make your throat vibrate at all. I think Tabitha is like “thick” and Athena like “this.”
So glad it’s not just me! It seems so many love [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] on NB, and I’ve never been able to understand it.
Also, I am definitely feeling the ‘th’ issue as others have been saying! I really love [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f], but otherwise…eh. I like [name_f]Edith[/name_f]. But [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], [name_f]Faith[/name_f], [name_f]Athena[/name_f], [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f], [name_f]Martha[/name_f]…no. I have tried to like [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], but it just does not sound appealing, made even worse by the fact that it rhymes with ‘tooth’.
Aurora - I know several use it in real life and know people online like it but it just sounds like mush to me.
Other than that: [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f], [name_u]Romilly[/name_u], [name_f]Elodie[/name_f] (ee ending maybe?), [name_f]Eloise[/name_f], [name_f]Eliza[/name_f], [name_f]Imogen[/name_f]
For boys: [name_u]August[/name_u] - just don’t get it even though I like [name_m]Augustus[/name_m].
Otherwise: [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Charles[/name_m], [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_u]Jasper[/name_u], [name_m]Elijah[/name_m] (ending issue again?), [name_m]Jack[/name_m]
Anais is the first one I thought of. I LOVE the way it looks but not the pronunciation. ann-I-Ess. I wish I could use it pronounced [name_f]Anise[/name_f].
I wish so much that I loved [name_f]Esther[/name_f]. I love a good offbeat vintage name. The story of [name_f]Esther[/name_f] in the Bible is a great one. AND it would sound fantastic with my sibset. AND I love that it means star I just really can’t get past the sound. I guess it just sounds clunky to me
To me it looks beautiful, sounds beautiful (doll-ya / dah-lee-uh), but for some weird reason I can’t imagine ever using it even though it fills in all my boxes. So strange!
Maybe I’m afraid it’ll seem to ‘frilly’ to some people? Maybe it’s just not ready for a comeback? Maybe I just can’t think of any good nicknames? I have no clue
I have tried to love [name_f]Marigold[/name_f] but there’s something a little bit unwieldy about it.
Ottilie should be my style but all I can think about is otters. [name_u]Blake[/name_u] on a girl should be right up my alley but I can’t really make it fit in my combos.
I adore the nn [name_f]Trixie[/name_f] but I don’t love [name_f]Beatrix[/name_f].
I also really want to love animal names - and I do when other people are putting together combos, but I really struggle with them myself.
I love the -ander part of it, but with either a hard or soft E at the beginning, I just can’t get on board! I also dislike [name_m]Leander[/name_m] because of the [name_u]Lee[/name_u]! And [name_m]Xander[/name_m] is off the table for me because I dislike the [name_f]Buffy[/name_f] character. I do like [name_f]Lavender[/name_f] for a girl though!
Also, it’s so funny that some of you have mentioned not liking [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f] because I love this name and so far SO is on board! And fewer people loving it just boosts my confidence that it will remain a fairly uncommon choice, so thank you for that
Margot, [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] spring to mind - they should be my style but somehow I just cant get enthusiastic about them
Bertha & [name_f]Thelma[/name_f] for girls, I usually tolerate ([name_f]Gertrude[/name_f]) or even like ([name_f]Velma[/name_f]) the so called ugly names, but I just can’t get behind these two. I think it’s because of the th sound, which is amongst my least favourite in [name_f]English[/name_f].
Oliver, [name_m]Harold[/name_m] & [name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m] for boys, [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] is well liked on NB and pretty popular IRL, but I can’t get behind it. It reminds me of a wannabe nerdy Greek. [name_m]Harold[/name_m] is stylistically similar to [name_u]Howard[/name_u] and [name_m]Gerald[/name_m], which I both like, but it comes off rather strong. [name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m] is like some of the underused historic names that I like such as [name_m]Claudius[/name_m] and [name_m]Ulysses[/name_m], but that th sound annoys me, the mew reminds me of a Pokemon, not even [name_m]Bart[/name_m] [name_m]Simpson[/name_m] can save the name for me.
Hermione! I’m a '97 baby so I’ve grown up surrounded by it as a name but, no matter the great associations (HP, [name_u]Winter[/name_u]’s Tale) and sweet nickname potential ([name_f]Mia[/name_f], [name_f]Mimi[/name_f], etc), I just can’t seem to love it.
I just really can’t get past the sound. I guess it just sounds clunky to me 
