comments and suggestions?

[girlsteve.livejournal.com]

I'm just looking for some general suggestions for my list of names. I have a list of names I really like, but it occurs to me that I wouldn't actually use a lot of them. Some I don't like the connotactions, some of them are foriegn names that might just be too difficult for a kid who is probably going to be brought up in the UK, and some of them just lend themselves too well to teasing.

So, a little bit of information:

I tend to like more unusual names, but not necessarily because they're unusual - I'd ideally like my kid not to be one of 8 in thier class, but I'll consider nice names even if they're a bit more common.

Other than having a McKenzie as a guilty pleasure [I'd never use it, but my little cousin is called that and is the most adorable child in the history of the universe] I never like 'trendy' names.

I have a bit of Spanish heritage and my fathers family was Irish, so I tend to like names from those back grounds.

I don't mind unisex names, but having grown up as a girl named Steve I'm not going to use an obviously male name on a girl or vice versa.

Also, not a big fan of word names and virtue names.

Some names I like [I can only really see myself using the bolded names]:

Raphael
Evangeline
Evelyn
Sophia
Frasier
Christian
Rosalie
Aoefie [prn E-pha with a soft F sound]
Fiona
Blake [only as a middle]
William
Vivienne


Clearly I find girls names easier!

Oh, and I'm almost settled on using Shay/Shae as a middle name for my first child, boy or gir. Reason being, my little brother, who is also my best friend and the biggest influence in my life is called Che [pronounced the same way] and I'd really like to name a child after him in some way. I'd choose an alternative spelling because a) I'm not a fan of the politics involved in my brothers name and b) Che isn't actually a legitimate name - he's named after Che Guavara, but that was a nickname. Shay or Shae are both legitimate Irish names meaning Fortress [very my brother!] and c) I'm not going to lumber my kid with a name with that's needlessly pronounced so differently to how it's spelled.