Recently my cousin gave birth to a little girl named [name]Norah[/name]. I love this name and think it is especially adorable. I think it suits both a little girl and an adult woman and I have to say I was quite relieved to hear little [name]Norah[/name]'s name since I wasn’t the biggest fan of my cousin’s eldest child’s name, [name]Rylan[/name].
The thing that I found extremely odd was the rest of my family’s views on the name. My parents and grandparents were shocked at my cousin’s use of this ‘old and strange name’ and I was surprised to see that a lot of people held this view. [name]Norah[/name] isn’t a name that I would consider out there or adventurous. These opinions also got me worried seeing as I am almost positive now that my family won’t like my name choices.
I’d really like to know what your thoughts on [name]Norah[/name] are and also if you have experienced a similar thing. Has anybody in your family shocked you with their opinion of a name that you thought was ‘normal’ (whatever that really means…) ? Does family opinion really matter in the end?
Would really appreciate any replies as I am totally baffled!
It’s just part of the circular nature of naming. Women who are currently naming babies tend to like names used by 2 to 3 generations back because they feel fresh again. But, just like for us names like [name]Brenda[/name] and [name]Sandra[/name] feel old-fashioned and dated, names like [name]Norah[/name] feel old-fashioned and dated for our mothers and grandmothers because those names are only 1 to 2 generations back for them. So for everyone, names used by our mothers and grandmothers feel dated.
It’s similar with fashion–my mother has always loved gold and disliked silver, because her mother and grandmother wore silver so it looked old to her. I’ve never liked gold because it’s what my mother wore and it felt old fashioned. But I see gold coming back and girls in their teens loving it. It all comes around again.
[name]Norah[/name] is a lovely name. It’s definitely part of that 2-3 generations back group, so it will get some strange looks from the older generations, but they’ll come around. It’s a solid good name and perfectly wonderful [name]IMO[/name].
I really like [name]Eleanora[/name]/[name]Honora[/name] with nickname [name]Nora[/name], I don’t really care for it as a full name. It’s not that bad but I know too many little Noras to consider it vintage.
And about names: I’ve just had a daughter and her name is [name]Cornelia[/name]. My boyfriend’s sister asked about her name and after he answered she said: “Oh, [name]Cornelia[/name]. I thought you were going with [name]Catherine[/name], it was normal.” She didn’t say she doesn’t like her name but…Fortunately, she doesn’t suggest other names/nicknames and calls her [name]Nelly[/name] like everyone else does.
Actually, I don’t really care what they think about my child’s name. I like it and, moreover, it fits her well. In my opinion, you should pick the name that suits your child and makes you happy. You can’t please everyone with your baby’s name.
I love it! [name]Nora[/name] was the top name on my girl’s list for a long time, but I’m not sure if it’ll fit with our surname - too bad! But I love both [name]Nora[/name] and [name]Norah[/name]. It’s a lovely, classy choice!
Kala_way hit the nail on the head. I especially like the bit about gold/silver fashion trends. It is soooo true.
I was telling my dad some of the names we had in mind for our next, and I don’t think he liked any of them. He didn’t like [name]Luther[/name] at first either. He changed his mind though. Personally, family opinion has very little importance to me. As long as most people don’t have really really strong negative reactions to the names we love, they remain usable for us.