Too Weird to Use?

A few of the names on my long list might be too weird for actual use, so I’m looking to see how weird you all think the FN’s are. If the origin is meaningful to me - I added it in brackets.

[name_u]Winter[/name_u]
[name_f]Anwen[/name_f] (Welsh)
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f] (Welsh)
[name_f]Araminta[/name_f]
[name_f]Bronte[/name_f] ([name_m]Bron[/name_m]-tee)
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f]
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] (ay-ra, Welsh)
[name_f]Dulcie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f]
[name_f]Fiorella[/name_f]
[name_f]Honora[/name_f]
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u]
[name_f]Leilani[/name_f]
[name_f]Lena[/name_f] (lee-na)
[name_f]Maelys[/name_f]
[name_f]Mireille[/name_f]
[name_f]Posy[/name_f]
[name_f]Soraya[/name_f]

sore? Soya?

[name_u]Winter[/name_u] - It’s alright. Definitely not too weird. If you like season names it’s a unique choice as opposed to [name_f]Summer[/name_f] or [name_f]Autumn[/name_f].
[name_f]Anwen[/name_f] - I like it. I love the meaning. A unique, feminine yet strong choice.
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f] - Too weird! The double consonant would mean frequent mispronunciation!
[name_f]Araminta[/name_f] - Dislike. Sounds like a type of tea to me.
[name_f]Bronte[/name_f] - Sounds too masculine.
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f] - Alright. [name_m]Just[/name_m] another simple variation of [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f].
[name_f]Eira[/name_f]- I like it… if others pronounce it correctly.
[name_f]Dulcie[/name_f] - Too unusual.
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f] - Too old sounding.
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f] - Too weird.
[name_f]Fiorella[/name_f] - WIERD.
[name_f]Honora[/name_f] - Another weird word name.
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u] - [name_f]Love[/name_f] it! It’s unusual, but modern-feeling.
[name_f]Leilani[/name_f] - [name_f]Love[/name_f] it! Beautiful meaning. A little strange if your not native Hawaiian…but I still really like it!
[name_f]Lena[/name_f] - I also [name_f]LOVE[/name_f] this name. It’s short and sweet.
[name_f]Maelys[/name_f] - Too weird.
[name_f]Mireille[/name_f] -Too weird, many will mispronounce.
[name_f]Posy[/name_f] - Dislike. I don’t really enjoy flower names. However, it isn’t weird.
[name_f]Soraya[/name_f] - Not too weird, unique. It feels exotic!

I’m not Hawaiian, but, [name_f]Alannah[/name_f] is my middle name, but a few friends call me [name_f]Lani[/name_f] because of it - I saw it as a nice way to sort of use my middle name (which is actually a favourite of mine) without actually using it.

I think these can all be used as first names -

[name_u]Winter[/name_u]
[name_f]Anwen[/name_f]
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f]
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f]
[name_f]Eira[/name_f]
[name_f]Dulcie[/name_f] (On the fence with this one, maybe as a middle name.)
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u]
[name_f]Leilani[/name_f]
[name_f]Lena[/name_f]
[name_f]Posy[/name_f]

I like: [name_f]Araminta[/name_f], [name_f]Dorothea[/name_f], [name_f]Lena[/name_f], and [name_f]Posy[/name_f].

I think [name_u]Winter[/name_u], [name_f]Eulalie[/name_f], [name_f]Dulcie[/name_f], Leilanie, [name_f]Lena[/name_f], [name_f]Merielle[/name_f], [name_f]Dorthea[/name_f], and [name_f]Posy[/name_f] are usable for a fn. And [name_u]Juniper[/name_u]! That’s one at the top of my list if we have another girl :slight_smile:

[name_u]Winter[/name_u] - not weird
[name_f]Anwen[/name_f] (Welsh) - not weird
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f] (Welsh) - a little weird, due to the spelling
[name_f]Araminta[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Bronte[/name_f] ([name_m]Bron[/name_m]-tee) - a little weird, tho I think everyone will know how to pronounce it
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] (ay-ra, Welsh) - not weird
[name_f]Dulcie[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f] - a little weird mostly b/c a lot of ppl will see [name_m]Eugene[/name_m]
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Fiorella[/name_f] - a little weird, but the ella makes it familiar
[name_f]Honora[/name_f] - not weird
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u] - not weird
[name_f]Leilani[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Lena[/name_f] (lee-na) - not weird
[name_f]Maelys[/name_f] - a little weird
[name_f]Mireille[/name_f] - not weird
[name_f]Posy[/name_f] - a little weird
[name_f]Soraya[/name_f] - not weird

In summary, I think the ones that might get a bit of a strange response in the US are:
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f], [name_f]Bronte[/name_f], [name_f]Eugenie[/name_f], [name_f]Posy[/name_f], and maybe [name_f]Fiorella[/name_f] and [name_f]Maelys[/name_f]… but none are unusable.

Thank you, haha. I just noticed I forgot to put in the pronunciation of [name_f]Maelys[/name_f], but it’s [name_f]May[/name_f]-leeese. Although, if everyone’s guessed [name_f]May[/name_f]-lissss, then that speaks for itself haha.

I think they’re all totally usable, but some have difficult spellings or pns. [name_f]Mireille[/name_f] is the only one with obvious pn difficulties, but a few with more subtle issues…

[name_f]Eira[/name_f], maybe could have an issue or two; I know it’s not the correct Welsh pn but both the girls called [name_f]Eira[/name_f] I know say EYE-rah (I sort of invented the spelling [name_f]Aira[/name_f] a few years ago when I first got into names and [name_f]Eira[/name_f] looked weird to me, but I’ve actually seen it on Nameberry quite a bit so I’d imagine it’s got other legitimate roots).

In the UK [name_f]Lena[/name_f] would be [name_m]LAY[/name_m]-nah or LEH-nah (or in a [name_m]French[/name_m] accent it would sound like a mix of both) since it’s that’s the standard pn around Europe and I think most of the Lenas here are Scandinavian/[name_m]French[/name_m]/[name_m]German[/name_m]. Although in my head, [name_f]Lena[/name_f] is lee-nah thanks to [name_f]Lena[/name_f] [name_m]Dunham[/name_m].

[name_f]Ffion[/name_f] is a bit tricky, I’ve heard it on here pronounced as [name_u]Finn[/name_u]? Most people would say [name_u]Fee[/name_u]-ON I guess, although the only one I know is Welsh as says it more like fee-YAWN/fee-ORN, but in an American accent that would be the same anyway.

Oh and [name_f]Bronte[/name_f] - you might have a hard time getting people to stop saying brohnt-ay. But I don’t see why it would be bront-ee anyway, so that one doesn’t make sense to me.

The rest would be fine, even a bit popular, I think. Although I personally wouldn’t use [name_f]Maelys[/name_f]/[name_f]Leilani[/name_f]/[name_f]Anwen[/name_f] etc. unless I had direct ties to their origin language/country.

I have a lot of Welsh and [name_m]French[/name_m] heritage, so that’s why a few of these are here. I say [name_f]Ffion[/name_f] as [name_u]Fee[/name_u]-ON and [name_f]Bronte[/name_f] as bron-tee because that’s how the [name_f]Bronte[/name_f] I know says her name.

I want to start by saying that almost all names would be considered weird by some people. For example we have a little [name_u]Paisley[/name_u] at church. Some people really thought it was weird, but it was also one of the top 5 fastest rising names that year. It just wasn’t common where we live. My own [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] got a few weird comments when I chose her name, as did my friends with [name_m]Gideon[/name_m], [name_f]Ziva[/name_f], [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], [name_u]Saylor[/name_u], and [name_f]Lyla[/name_f]. Some of those names are less common, but some of them are also “new” so people that don’t follow trends think they are just weird. I remember a few years ago when we had an [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] born at church and I commented on how it was the number one name in [name_u]America[/name_u] the year before, and several ladies in their 50s and 60s were shocked at the weird name! [name_m]Even[/name_m] my friend’s daughter [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] got several weird comments!

[name_u]Winter[/name_u] – Not weird at all, but definitely something some people won’t like.
[name_f]Anwen[/name_f] (Welsh) – Different and unusual, but not weird. I’d worry more about people thinking you were messing up [name_f]Arwen[/name_f] because they don’t know it’s a real name.
[name_f]Ffion[/name_f] (Welsh) – I think it would be thought weird because people know the name [name_f]Fiona[/name_f].
[name_f]Araminta[/name_f] – [name_m]General[/name_m] public might find it weird and “fancy”. I always think it’s weird that people say my [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] has such a long name, but they wouldn’t blink at an [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_m]Christopher[/name_m].
[name_f]Bronte[/name_f] ([name_m]Bron[/name_m]-tee) – Some people might think it’s weird. Some would find the literary connection cool.
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f] – Not weird, but some would think too old-fashioned.
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] (ay-ra, Welsh) – Americans would have trouble with it, yes.
[name_f]Dulcie[/name_f] – Another one I think a lot of modern Americans would wonder about.
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f] – Some people would find this weird and old fashioned and have major trouble pronouncing it.
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f] – Ditto to [name_f]Eugenie[/name_f].
[name_f]Fiorella[/name_f] – Gerenal public would find this weird.
[name_f]Honora[/name_f] – This name is so gorgeous! It’s different enough that some people would find it weird, but I think a lot of people would like it.
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u] – [name_m]General[/name_m] public says it’s weird, namey people say it’s cool. :wink:
[name_f]Leilani[/name_f] – Not weird at all.
[name_f]Lena[/name_f] (lee-na) – Not weird at all.
[name_f]Maelys[/name_f] – [name_m]General[/name_m] public questions this.
[name_f]Mireille[/name_f] – [name_m]General[/name_m] public won’t know how to pronounce it but will love it after its explained.
[name_f]Posy[/name_f] – I would say Americans would think it was weird and never believe it’s used in [name_f]England[/name_f].
[name_f]Soraya[/name_f] – Not weird at all.