My Top Three

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I've narrowed down the name list to three boy names and three girl names.  As we are only planning to have two children, this should suffice.[Poll #1226426][Poll #1226426]

Comments

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I put indifferent for all your boys' and love it for all your girls! Interesting. Anyway, I only put indifferent because I don't personally like those names, but I think they're decent and good names when it comes to the things I think make a good name. I can't get over the old men I know called Henry even though I have since met little boys called that. Not sure if I'll ever like it. But it's a good solid classic name anyway that doesn't bother me on other people's kids. I love James, don't like Walter (but it's a family name for me too) and I find Michael, Ciaran and Julian ok - again decent but not names I personally like especially much. Definitely not bad names though by any means. I suppose I'd pick Ciaran Michael as my preference of them all, but I wonder if people would know how to pronounce it, and whether the sounds in Ciaran are a little too similar to Quinn.

I really like Anthea Rose, I've always liked both those names and they sound really sweet together. Freya Violet is awesome in a different way from Anthea Rose, it sounds a bit more artsy or creative in the good sense, or at least, I like the mental picture I get from it. And Eloise Margaret is very classic and dignified. The three of those girls names are all really good but quite different in the reactions they give me. But I like them all.

[inmeggsyoutrust.livejournal.com]

is Quinn your last name? I only ask since it appears on every entry. If it's just a second middle name, i'm not fond of it. I like Quinn as a surname, not a first/middle name.

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is true for me, as well. I assumed it was your last name, but if it is a second middle name my opinion would be different.

[lovelylittle.livejournal.com]

Same, I just assumed it was the last name!

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

You assumed correctly!

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

It is the last name. I'm going from one surname that can be a first name to another surname that can be a first name when I get married in January... it's kind of cool.

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

It is our last name.

[emtotherescuee.livejournal.com]

The only name I really don't like is Julian. I'm not sure why, it's just gross to me.

All your other names are wonderful, though:]

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I love Julian and Henry, and I said indifferent to Ciaran. It's an okay name, but it doesn't seem to go with the other names that you've chosen.

I like Anthea and Freya (although they're also not really names that go with Julian and Henry). I dislike Eloise, it's a very old ladyish name to me. Also, just as a personal preference, I tend not to like names where the O sound is prominent.

I really love all of the middle names you've chosen.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I love the first two boy names -- they're GREAT picks. There's absolutely nothing I dislike about them. The only thing I'd mention on that is that Henry James is an author, but it's definitely not a bad association, just something you should be aware of, since some people will probably ask if that's who he's named after. Julian and Henry are such great picks, though. Really.

I'm not a huge fan of Ciaran. I think it's going to be hard to spell and pronounce and it seems SO different from the other two names you have picked. It just seems very out of place with the other two boy names. I do like Michael, but not the first name at all.

As for the girl names, I'm kind of indifferent toward Eloise -- I've never been a huge fan, but there's nothing wrong with it. I like Louise/Louisa so much more, but Eloise is very cute, and I love the sound of Eloise Margaret. I also like Freya, but I don't love it. It's nice, but it doesn't make me want to scream "Yay!" like Julian and Henry do.

I don't like Anthea at all. I like the nickname Thea for a girl, but I don't know if that's what you're going for, but anyway, Anthea just seems very . . . I don't know how to put this. It just seems a bit out too out there for me. Not in a made-up, hippie name kind of way like River or Phoenix or something, but in an old fashioned, very unique kind of name. It's not BAD, I just really don't like it.

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

As I said to another poster (below), Ciaran is the third-boy-in-case-of-multiples name, and most likely won't get a look-in. My fiance is into Celtic names, and he chose it.

Anthea is Greek, and is actually as old as the hills. The reason I chose it is because (obviously, looking at the list) I'm into old-fashioned names as a general rule, and Anthea fits that description while still being unusual enough that she won't go through school being 'Anthea Q'. I'm really, anally aware of name popularity, and while it's get-away-with-able with middle names (because let's face it, who really uses their middle name on a daily basis?), I don't want my kids in the same class as three other kids with the same name. Anyway, long-winded as that explanation was, it's not your cup of tea and I respect that. Thankyou for sharing your thoughts.

I really have to look up this Henry James fellow. That James may have to change to Joseph (my grandfather's name).

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

Aha!

Having looked him up, I realise that I'm familiar with his work, but didn't make the connection with the name. Under those circumstances, I don't see an issue with having the combo Henry James (who knows, maybe if I have a Henry James, he'll grow up to be an author as well...!)

[seksimaggie.livejournal.com]

Julian I've never liked. I think it's because my mom's name is Julie, so Julian seems really feminine to me since it's so close to Julie. Walter is a great middle name.

Henry James I love, two of my favorite names.

Ciaran I also just don't care for. I love Michael, though.


Anthea is nms. Rose is nice, but it's generally considered a filler middle name. But I think it would be a cute trend to do in your daughters' middle names, all flower names, so I wouldn't necessarily write Rose off.

Freya I can't stand for some reason, I really dislike it. Violet is getting rather trendy, but it's pretty and ditto last comment with the flower theme.

Eloise is okay, but not my favorite. Margaret I love, but it would leave her out of the trend.

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

I'm not trying to theme the names, it just worked out that way - my great aunt is Rose, and my great great grandmother was Violet. That's why I'm using them.

I hate that Rose is becoming a filler name, like Anne or Jane, because for people like me who have a legitimate, personal reason for using them, it just looks like we're following a trend or couldn't think of anything else. It annoys me, because for me, Rose won't be a filler name - it will be a nod to my great aunt who, with no children or grandchildren of her own, has always been a fixture in my life and I do love the old duck.

As for Ciaran, that's the third boy name... my 'in case of accidental twins/triplets' name. It probably won't get used anyway. Ideally I'd like one boy and one girl, so Julian Walter and Anthea Rose, but you have to plan for any two-child combo (with spares!). It's exhausting. Imagine in the old days, when people had six, seven, eight kids!

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

ditto, like both the names, just not together.

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with the writer, I'll go look him up. We can rearrange middle names - instead of James, which would be Hypothetical Henry's father's middle name, we could use Joseph, after my grandfather (who is actually Giuseppe, but I was about fourteen before I could spell that so we'd Anglicise it).

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

Right, I've looked him up and realise that while I know some of his work, I didn't make the name-work connection. Somehow I don't think that having the same name as a famous author is a big deal, especially as he'd be know as Henry until he was naughty... then you pull out the middle-name big guns!

[http://users.livejournal.com/-----citylight/]

Oh, I am glad to hear that Quinn is your last name.

Julian is really cute, but I don't like the middle name Walter - but I think that might only be because of lost.
Henry James is my favorite for the boys. I really like both names, they flow well together, are cute, but classy as well.
I don't like the name Ciaran Michael. It's just not really to my tast.

For girls, I love Freya Violet and Eloise Margaret (although Eloise Rose or Eloise Violet would be much nicer I think) They are both really georgeous names, but I don't like Anthea.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, Henry James was a pretty famous novelist and Harry James a famous trumpet player. These aren't niche celebrities, but pretty much near-household names with most people.