What are some names you have a love/hate relationship with?

I’ll start just to give some examples of what I mean by love/hate (anything goes really, as long as it leaves you feeling conflicted!)

  1. [name_f]Stella[/name_f]. I’ve gone through times where I’ve hated this name and couldn’t abide the sound of it. And then slowly I started coming around. But then one day I’ll look at it and go “ugh”. Another day I’ll look at it and think “Gorgeous!” but then I say it out loud and my excitement sort of fades. Other days, I’m practically obsessed with it! I can never get [name_f]Stella[/name_f] to have a firm foot in one camp.

  2. [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. I’ve always loved [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. No not “Ez-mee”, I mean Esmé. No, I don’t mean the male [name_m]French[/name_m] name, I mean Esmée. See where I’m going with this? It bothers me how there’s so much room for misinterpretation and error and potential confusion and on top of it all, I don’t even think that the Esmée spelling looks as lovely as [name_f]Esme[/name_f] so I’m just sort of doomed to forever admire the name through a shop window without feeling the courage to use it. (And I don’t like [name_f]Esmae[/name_f] either) Grr!

  3. [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]. There are a million ways to pronounce [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] and guess what- I alternate between almost all of them because nothing ever sticks! It bugs the heck out of me. I won’t be using it anytime soon although it looks gorgeous and has a great meaning.

  4. [name_f]Celeste[/name_f]. Well who am I kidding, I love [name_f]Celeste[/name_f]. She’s been with [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] since the dawn of time. But as a first name, [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] gives me a huge headache. To my ears, it sounds wrong with almost every name on the planet and it makes me want to ask parents who named their children [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] how on earth they picked the middle names to go with it??!

  5. [name_f]Cosima[/name_f]. I’m noticing a theme here. This is another name with a multiple-pronunciation issue. It bothers me that somewhere out there it’s pronounced like “Koh-see-ma” rather than the cosmic “Cah-zi-ma”.

  6. [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f]/[name_f]Talullah[/name_f]. This is another name I used to loathe, until it grew on me after watching the Netflix movie [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f]. Or is it [name_f]Talullah[/name_f]? I dislike how bouncy and flouncy it sounds and of course the plethora of spelling options. Also Taluladoesthehulafromhawaii is an… association that is hard to forget. But then… [name_f]Lu[/name_f], [name_f]Lulu[/name_f], [name_f]Lola[/name_f], [name_u]Tal[/name_u], [name_u]Tully[/name_u] - oh the never ending supply of adorably spunky nicknames! And the gorgeous meaning of the name! I don’t think I’ll ever come to a settlement with this one…

Giving this a bump!

[name_f]Blythe[/name_f]. So beautiful, yet I don’t like how I say it! Everyone else has such a beautiful way of saying it, but I just get stuck on then flow.

Also [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_f]Cassandra[/name_f], [name_f]Elouise[/name_f], and [name_f]Theodora[/name_f]. They’re all just so tough for different reasons!

[name_f]Stella[/name_f] for me too! I love everything about it except it’s popularity.

[name_f]Briony[/name_f], [name_f]Stella[/name_f], [name_f]Bianca[/name_f], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] and [name_f]Louise[/name_f] and [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f] for me.

[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] - I love the nickname [name_f]Lottie[/name_f] and the sweet soft feel of [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. Also, it rhymes with harlot, so…
[name_f]Emilia[/name_f] - Pretty, love the nickname [name_f]Emme[/name_f], but don’t like the name [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] very much at all and think there would be confusion there.
[name_f]Sapphire[/name_f] - I think it’s pretty, some people think it’s tacky.
[name_u]Arya[/name_u] - I can never decide if I like it. One minute I think it’s really cute, the next minute I think it sounds kind of like someone saying “are ya?” Also I sort of think [name_m]Aryan[/name_m]. I don’t like [name_f]Aria[/name_f] though.

[name_f]Claudia[/name_f], I love it to death but the fact that it means lame…not so much

[name_f]Daisy[/name_f]: I don’t know why. I love names like [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Margot[/name_f]… and I know [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] would fit in my list perfectly. I do love the meaning, and I love seeing [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] in other berries combos but there’s something about this name that bothers me. Maybe, it’s because when I was a child the only [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] I knew was [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] Duck?

[name_f]Emily[/name_f]. This is the first name my husband ever mentioned that he liked. I can see why. It’s beautiful! It’s feminine, fun, youthful, yet mature. Sometimes, I say it in my head with a bit of a Southern twang, which I also find beautiful. But the popularity…the fact that it was a name common when I grew up/where I grew up…the fact that practically every 4th girl in my grade was named [name_f]Emily[/name_f] lead to me having a few bullies by the name. Is this name tarnished to me? My feelings depend on the moment.

[name_f]Seraphina[/name_f]. I adore this name. My husband likes it, even though I suspect his feelings may have changed over time. I find it beautiful and out of this world. It has personal meaning to me, relating to my infertility and to my faith. But…it’s long and I worry that it can be taken as too over the top. And the thought that people would just call her [name_f]Sera[/name_f] ([name_f]Sarah[/name_f]), which is indeed beautiful but sort of plain, makes my liking for this fade.

[name_f]Lucy[/name_f], [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f], [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_f]Isla[/name_f], and [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] for me!

For the most part, it’s due to feel, and popularity in my area - they’re names I hear a lot so I’m kind of sick of them at this stage.

Except for [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] - that one is beautiful, but I can’t pronounce it correctly.

[name_f]Emilia[/name_f] ~ [name_f]Emily[/name_f] ? No, [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]. [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]? No, [name_f]Emilia[/name_f].
[name_f]Cassia[/name_f] ~ cash-uh, cass-see-uh? Plus it means “hollow/empty, vain” in latin.
[name_f]Eleanora[/name_f] ~ Meaning is unknown & I dislike [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f].
Esmée ~ Spelled with the masculine spelling [name_f]Esme[/name_f] in the US. Also hate the es-me pronunciation.
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f] ~ [name_f]Lovely[/name_f] but something is off with the sound for me.
[name_f]Arabella[/name_f] ~ Beautiful but would be lumped in with all the other “[name_f]Bella[/name_f]” names.
[name_f]Adele[/name_f] / [name_f]Adela[/name_f] / [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] / [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] / [name_f]Adelia[/name_f] ~ Would be lumped with [name_u]Addison[/name_u] & [name_f]Adalyn[/name_f] with the nickname “[name_f]Addie[/name_f]” which I dislike.

[name_f]Esther[/name_f] - I like [name_f]Esther[/name_f] in theory… It has a great meaning (“star”), a wonderful biblical namesake, and whenever I come across a young character named [name_f]Esther[/name_f], it comes off as youthful and even kind of pretty, but then when I say it aloud, it somehow becomes a fusty old lady name again.