See the results of this poll: Which MN for Hero?
Respondents: 65 (This poll is closed)
- Hero Phoenix : 8 (12%)
- Hero Athena : 8 (12%)
- Hero Isobel : 21 (32%)
- Hero Isabella (instead of Isobel) : 25 (38%)
- Other suggestion (please comment): 3 (5%)
To be perfectly honest, [name_u]Hero[/name_u] doesn’t seem like much of a name to me. It seems to me like a name that would haunt a hold once they get older, and start feeling a bit more insecure. I did a more elaborate piece of writing on the name [name_u]Hero[/name_u] on a different post as well. However if I have to pick one, I’d go with [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f].
I’ve loved the name [name_u]Hero[/name_u] ever since I read Much [name_f]Ado[/name_f] About Nothing. A wonderful choice! Honestly I think [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is my favorite (though some might say it’s too quirky and not ‘feminine’ enough) but if you want to be more practical then I’d recommend [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]/[name_f]Isabella[/name_f] (personally I prefer [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] with this combo) so that she’d have a more common middle name to use if she wants.
I don’t like Hero as a name at all. I can’t imagine a 35 year old woman shaking my hand and saying “Hi, I’m Hero.” I agree with PP that as she gets older, she’ll get teased and receive uncomfortable looks and comments and probably feel insecure. And if my boss got a resume with the name Hero on it, I don’t think he would even look at it. But, if you’re really set on that, I think it would be a good idea to give her the option to have a more normal name to maybe use later in life and go with Hero Isabella. Isobel is nice, if you’re Hispanic. I hope this doesn’t offend you. Just my personal opinions. In the end, to each his own.
As for Phoenix, my hubby is a teacher and has met probably 5 or 6 kids with that name in the last few years. Every single one came from a lower income household and had young and uneducated parents. I don’t know what the correlation is there, but there it is.
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] is very, very pretty.
Having [name_f]Athena[/name_f] … [name_u]Hero[/name_u] on my list, I have to say [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f].
I’ve been really liking [name_u]Hero[/name_u] lately—kudos to you for being bold enough to add it to your list. O-ending girls’ names are so pretty.
Of your options, I think [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is very unisex. I personally don’t like the 2-2 syllable pattern, so I’d cross that one off the list. [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f] is pretty, but sort of aggressively Greek? If you don’t mind that, then it’s fine.
I vote [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]/[name_f]Isobel[/name_f]. Either makes a very nice contrast with [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]/[name_f]Isobel[/name_f] being more distinctly feminine and classic to balance the unusual boldness of [name_u]Hero[/name_u]. Plus, they both sound gorgeous.
I love [name_u]Hero[/name_u] too!!! Always have, always will. I’ll probably name my daughter that someday. My favorite is [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u]. Its a seriously awesome name. [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]/[name_f]Isabella[/name_f] is lovely too, but [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is just beautiful. For what its worth, I totally see this name working on an adult. This generation of children have much more diverse names. By the time they are middle aged, it will be common for adults to have uncommon names. In fact, if you chose a “common” name from a previous generation, it would probably sound old fashioned or strange. All the young children/babies that I know or have seen birth announcements of on social media have “strange” names. That’s the new normal and they are beautiful! I think people who dislike [name_u]Hero[/name_u] see it as a word, rather than as a name. But anyone who has read [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m] or mythology knows that it has been a name for a long time. Congrats on loving a truly awesome name!!!
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is a little too masculine for me however I do think [name_u]Hero[/name_u] and [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] would be a great sibset so maybe save [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] for a future child?
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f] is a little too superhero/ Greek goddess for me and would be a lot for a little girl to live up to.
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] - I like it, it has the right balance of spunk and femininity however …
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] I love! It has the perfect balance of individuality and gorgeousness!
Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with either [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]/ [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]
I love [name_u]Hero[/name_u]! I wish I was gutsy enough to use it. 
I’ve considered it as a middle (and may yet use it!), but I’m not brave enough to use it up front. Of your options, I like [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] the best. I just like the feel of a softer, romantic name as opposed to a spunky mythological one. (My favorite [name_u]Hero[/name_u] combo I’ve seen to date is [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]–I love her!) There was also a [name_u]Berry[/name_u] a while back who had [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Susanna/name_f on her list, and I also loved that. I think [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] fits in with that same style, which is where [name_u]Hero[/name_u] shines for me, so that’s why she got my vote. Plus, [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f]‘s my favorite girls’ name, and [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] feels more similar to [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f] than [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] does for me.
Good luck!
I like the repeated o’s in [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f], too But if you like [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] better, go for that!
I think life would be easiest being named [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] as they can fall back on a normal choice with many nicknames should they feel not as heroic one day.
Please, look at my signature… I think you know my favorite combo.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] a reminder: “Ps. I am not interested in any nay-saying against [name_u]Hero[/name_u]. I am aware of the pros and cons. We all love different names and styles, so I have no interest in being lectured about why it is awful or whatever because I disagree. If you have nothing actually helpful to say, please don’t. ”
When I was looking for a middle for [name_u]Hero[/name_u], I wanted (still want) an easy to spell, recognizable and clearly feminine name. I searched for names ending in –ana, -ina and –bella/ -ella, even discarded some –bel names because they weren’t "feminine enough” (didn’t have an A ending). My top names fitting these criteria are [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_f]Stella[/name_f] and [name_f]Susanna[/name_f]. I did not want to spell [name_f]Susanna[/name_f] with double N and [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Stella[/name_f] does not have a great flow, so I kept [name_f]Isabella[/name_f].
Some ideas:
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Bella[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Gabriella[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Daniella[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Angelina[/name_f] (heroes and angels?)
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Liliana[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Juliana[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Tatiana[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Savanna[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Natalia[/name_f] (maybe [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Natasha[/name_f]?)
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Annabella[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Maria[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Marina[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] ([name_m]Christian[/name_m] and Greek mythologies?)
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Julia[/name_f] ([name_u]Hero[/name_u] and [name_f]Juliet[/name_f]?)
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Sofia[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Samantha[/name_f]
I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] mythological names, but I do avoid mythology overload. [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] and [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f] unhappily fall in this category. Indeed [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] has a wonderful sound and [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is quite feminine in my opinion, but [name_u]Hero[/name_u] will likely be perceived as a male name and [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u], which is unisex (#401 for boys and #708 for girls in the US), certainly does not help to clarify any gender or to give this future girl any options.
About what your daughter is going to think about her name in the future: there is no way you can know this beforehand. She may love her name, because is unique and full of history; she may hate, because people may assume she’s a guy; or she may be like me and will think her name is ok. As an example, there was a woman I knew and her name was weird: a long and elaborated version of a city name with traits characteristically from the countryside (she lived in a big city, so there was some prejudice about it). Once my grandma asked how her name was written, she spelled it, then “whispered” that the name she used daily was not her FIRST given name, but her SECOND one. She didn’t use her first name, because it was “too ugly”. Her name was the Portuguese equivalent of [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_f]Joana[/name_f] (quite traditional and very common at her time).
PS: If you want something edgy, but not too weird as a middle name, I suggest one of my newest favorites - [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f].
Of all those combinations, [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] is by far my favourite. I think that if you’re going to go all out with a first name and pick something that’s slightly more unusual such as [name_u]Hero[/name_u], it helps to have a more ‘normal’ or common middle name to balance the whole thing out. Of the names you’ve suggested, both [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] and [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] fit this brief, but I definitely prefer [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] for a middle name. [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] is very popular at the moment, and combined with [name_u]Hero[/name_u], to me it makes the whole name seem too trendy-I’m not sure if I can explain myself fully, but by trendy I mean perfect in 2016, not so good for the future. [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] is a classic, beautiful and in my opinion, vastly underused spelling of the name. The repeated ‘o’ sound you mentioned in the original post also does a lot to bring the names together.
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] just doesn’t work for me-I feel like it’s a lot for a child to live up to, and it just sounds a bit too teen fiction for me to stomach. [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f] is lovely, and this would be my second choice after [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f], but as I said earlier, I would place [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] higher because of my personal inclination to pair unusual names with more normal middle names.
So, my personal ranking from best to worst would be:
- [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]
- [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f]
- [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]
- [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u]
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] that helps
[name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Athena[/name_f] sounds the best to my ears. A lot of name to carry I suppose, so I def get the appeal of a more traditional middle to contrast. But I love the sound of this one best by far.
For me, I prefer a more feminine name paired with a name like [name_u]Hero[/name_u]. I voted for [name_f]Isobel[/name_f].
Wow! So many ideas and helpful opinions! Thank you, everyone! 
I am kind of amused that [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] had come out on top for the most part, despite that fact that I just added it as a “maybe” for me to mull over.
I think for me, it is a tie at the moment between [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] and [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]… but more thinking to be done.
I like [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] as a middle to add to femininity to the name. The other middles would be fine with a distinctly feminine FN, but I like to even it out… And on the off chance your daughter isn’t 100% in love with her name, it gives her a more traditional middle to go by (just playing devil’s advocate).
‘I am not interested in any nay-saying against [name_u]Hero[/name_u].’ quote -unquote.
- I hope my eyes do not deceive me-.
Well to take your comment very literaly - and in light of other replies -I don’t have any ‘nay’ comments - I think the name is refreshing, potential for such ‘stateliness’ and generally lovely,
especially when teamed with [name_f]Athena[/name_f] which I have very similar feelings and thoughts about as you do.
I love [name_u]Hero[/name_u], and my immediate first thought when I hear it is [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m], so I hope you don’t put too much (read: any) store in the naysayers. I like [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] a ton I think it’s feminine and unique without being hard to pronounce. I also like [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_m]Pheonix[/name_m] and if you and your husband like it best than go for it! [name_m]Just[/name_m] an aside, I also loved loved loved one of the previous posters suggestions of [name_u]Hero[/name_u] [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f].