My best friend is pregnant! She is expecting a little girl in February, and has just announced that I have to name her. She said she wanted to name her after me (!!!) but since my name is so popular at the moment, she’s letting me pick the name instead. She obviously has veto power, and a few rules for me to follow (very uncommon but not unrecognisable, no one syllable names, something from Ancient Greek/[name]Roman[/name]/English medieval literature, doesn’t end with ‘s’) but in the end it’s up to me. I’ve been driving my husband insane suggesting names, we had an adoption fall through a while ago and now he is uninterested in names, so I thought I’d come and bounce it around here. But I think [name]Amabel[/name]
might be perfect, or at least a contender. We did a paper at university about Arthurian legends and [name]Amabel[/name] was said to be the virgin love of [name]Lancelot[/name].
Anyway, how would you pronounce it?
[name]AH[/name]-ma-bel
AM-ah-bel
ah-[name]MAY[/name]-bel
something else?
The pronunciation [name]Emily[/name] and I use has been coloured by our English professor, who was quite eccentric and had his own way of pronouncing most names, [name]Athena[/name] became Athenee, he called me Saffy, etc.
[name]Do[/name] you like it? Would it suit a grown woman? Can it be taken seriously? I’m not terribly worried that it might be mistaken for [name]Annabel[/name]. I have to explain my name about twice a week and it’s one of the most popular names in the world! And [name]Emily[/name] wants a VERY uncommon name. She and her husband ([name]Mike[/name]) both grew up with super popular names and are careening wildly in the other direction. Middle names will be [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name] or [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name]. Those are non-negotiable.
If you don’t like [name]Amabel[/name], I would appreciate any suggestions!
I adore [name]Amabel[/name]! My main issue with it would be that it’d be mistaken for [name]Annabel[/name], but if that’s not an issue for you or your friend and her husband, I say go for it! It’s lovely.
I say AM-ah-bel, but something to bear in mind is I’m in [name]England[/name], so there might be some pronunciation differences there depending on where you’re from!
I think [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name] is lovely. I really like (and somewhat prefer) [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name], but I think AM-ah-bel [name]EM[/name]-ma might be a little similar sounding.
As an American, I say AM-ah-bel, too. I think it’s lovely; I much prefer it to [name]Annabel[/name], actually. I’d go with [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name] over [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name] because [name]Ama[/name]- and [name]Emma[/name] sound too repetitive to me AND [name]Emma[/name] just feels really common. [name]Lovely[/name] and gentle, but common.
I say AM-ah-bel. It’s very cute and one I considered for a future daughter.
The only issue I can see with this name is that it would probably get mistaken for [name]Annabel[/name].
I would definitely go with [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name] as opposed to [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name].
I’ve always loved [name]Amabel[/name], ever since it was the name of a character in a [name]Barbara[/name] Michaels book that I read when I was young. I too say am-ah-bel, although as a New Englander, I’m sure my short a is broader than other people’s. It’s a terrific name, under-used, and has great nns.
I like [name]Amabel[/name] a lot! I say AM (like the beginning of [name]Amber[/name]) ah belle. It’s very sweet. I really like both [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name] or [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name], but I prefer [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name], I think.
Thank you all for your replies. I’m glad [name]Amabel[/name] has been so well received, but I think pronunciation but me too much of a problem. [name]Emily[/name] is from New Zealand but lives in [name]Canada[/name], so she is always going to say her daughter’s name a little differently to most others around her, but I think we have been too unduly influenced by our old professor. We were trying to write our pronunciation phonetically last night on the phone, and the closest I can come to is AHM-ah-bel. So it’s out. I think I will start a new thread asking for any other suggestions. At the moment I have a list that is pages long and I’m just overwhelmed by the possibilities. Thankyou again, I may save [name]Amabel[/name] for my own list!
Good luck with your choice! I think [name]Amabel[/name] is sweet, even if she doesn’t go with it. My daughter is actually [name]Annabel[/name], but my son called her [name]Amabel[/name] for years before he could say it correctly. We miss it and call her [name]Amabel[/name] nearly as much as her own name still, it seems!
I think it’s lovely; I much prefer it to [name]Annabel[/name], actually. I’d go with [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Juno[/name] [name]Hope[/name] over [name]Amabel[/name] [name]Emma[/name] [name]June[/name] because [name]Ama[/name]- and [name]Emma[/name] sound too repetitive to me AND [name]Emma[/name] just feels really common. [name]Lovely[/name] and gentle, but common.