I have been thinking a lot about our list of first names for our [name_f]April[/name_f] [name_u]Baby[/name_u], and these are the names I keep finding problems with:
[name_f]Adele[/name_f] - Is it too associated with the singer? Because I liked it well before the singer.
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] - Is it too difficult to pronounce for the average person?
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] - Does it run together too much with [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] (middle name)?
[name_f]Leonie[/name_f] - Is it too difficult to pronounce for the average person?
[name_f]Adele[/name_f]- I don’t think it’s too associated with the singer! A sweet name.
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]- there are a couple of different ways to pronounce [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], so while I don’t think the average person would find pronunciation difficult, you probably won’t get the same pronunciation from everyone without indicating how you would like it to be pronounced (which is nbd, imo). Beautiful name!
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]- I love [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] is cute, but I do think [name_f]Esme[/name_f] kind of runs into [name_f]Matilda[/name_f].
[name_f]Leonie[/name_f]- I can only think of one way this could be pronounced, so I would say no, not too difficult/confusing for the average joe. Such an artsy, lively name!
I don’t think you’re over analyzing. I think it’s great to think things over and make sure you would be comfortable with your choice! My favorite with [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m] is [name_f]Leonie[/name_f]. From your signature, I also think [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m] and [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] would be nice together.
[name_f]Adele[/name_f] - it might be a pretty strong association for many people right now, but over the course of a baby girl’s lifetime there are going to be other artists who’ll rise to prominence and [name_f]Adele[/name_f] will not be as obvious a connection for the next generation with which she’d grow up, it’s not exactly like Beyoncé or [name_f]Rihanna[/name_f] where the name is pretty much ‘one of a kind’. I also think it’s a wonderful name!
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] - I can imagine that, for instance, [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] would be a lot, but I reckon for most people [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] is quite doable. Very charming name, once again.
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] - I think [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] is absolutely fine, while the flow is not 100% there, it’s a combo with a lot of character. Simultaneously sweet and strong.
[name_f]Leonie[/name_f] - I’ll be honest and say that I have no clue how English speakers pronounce this, this is one of my best friends’ name and I have always really liked her name, but that might be an indication that it’s perhaps not obvious to everyone who is not a name nerd? Then again, I am not a native English speaker so I could be imagining problems where there are none or hardly any.
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t worry about overanalysing, it makes sense to think about the details and implications of a certain name since you’re considering these names for an actual human!
I think that you should practice saying each name with the middle name that you want a few times to see how it flows. I also think that you should write the names down and ask your friends and family to pronounce them and that way you’ll see if there are any pronunciation issues.
I’m very biased but my favourite is [name_f]Adele[/name_f]. My 8 year old is [name_m]Ad[/name_m]èle, pronounced the same. I’m sure people do think of the singer when they first hear her name but people rarely make a comment on that fact.
I am a huge fan of [name_f]Leonie[/name_f], too. [name_f]Esme[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] are also very beautiful. Honestly I don’t think you could go wrong with any of these names.
I love [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Esme[/name_f]! I must admit I have no idea how to pronounce [name_f]Leonie[/name_f] (native English speaker here). Is it [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-on-nee, [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-oh-nee, [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-OH-ne? I’m completely unfamiliar with this name.
I don’t think that [name_f]Esme[/name_f] runs into [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] strangely at all - it’s a lovely combo!
I also don’t think [name_f]Adele[/name_f] is unusable because of the singer. Firstly she’s not the worst person for people to associate a name with, but more importantly it’s a beautiful, classic name that stands alone.
In terms of [name_f]Leonie[/name_f], I’ve only ever known one and she pronounced it [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-on-ee but I’ve got absolutely no clue if that’s the most commonly used pronunciation.
Yeah, that’s my worry. I love the name, and I pronounce it something like [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-oh-nee, but I worry that most people will have no idea how to pronounce it. [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-oh-nee is obviously not that big of an issue. It’s kind of like how some people pronounce my name similar to racial. But I don’t want to set up my little girl for a lifetime of: “[name_m]How[/name_m] do you say your name?”
We have a three year old [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]. We pronounce it with the ‘ray’ sound in the middle…it took some friends and family a little bit to become comfortable with saying the sounds, and not everyone has heard of it though quite a few had from [name_u]Love[/name_u] Actually. But, we are genuinely complimented on it’s beauty all the time, and everyone in our life says it well now. Best of all, we love it to bits.
[name_f]Adele[/name_f] - I did associate it with the singer, though I’ve known someone with that name since before the singer was famous. I still think it’s a classic name.
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] - Might be hard for the average person to pronounce. Plus it’s long sounding while being short visually which can confuse people.
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] - I like the flow of [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Matilda[/name_f]. It doesn’t bother me!
[name_f]Leonie[/name_f] - I don’t think this would be difficult for people to pronounce. At least it wasn’t for me.
I think all of them are easy or fairly easy to pronounce. To me, [name_f]Esme[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] go the least with [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m]. [name_f]Adele[/name_f] or [name_f]Leonie[/name_f] - great!