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I like Dymphna because of the medieval Irish princess saint. She's the patron saint of the mental ill, runaways, and victims of incest. When her mother died, her much-aggrieved father started to look for a new wife who looked like her. When none could be found, he fell in love with his daughter. She fled but was caught and martyred by her father. All-in-all an interesting story, and though it doesn't seem like she does very much, for a girl in the Middle Ages to stand up to her father took a lot of courage, especially in a sexually-charged situation. I'd pick Dymphna as a confirmation name or use it as a middle name, but probably not a first name.

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Dimity is trying to be a nice name, like Dmitri or Verity, but it just isn't working out for her.

Sorry, but I really dislike both.

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Dimity sounds unintelligent and meek--I'm sure it's the "dim" that does it--and Dymphna just sounds like a dim nymph.

Old-fashioned fabric is a nice image, but the Dim part is just unignorable. Dimwitty!
And Dymphna does sound a bit glandular. Damhnait is kind of nice though.

I don't know how to pronounce Dymphna. If I say it the way it looks it sounds like a mumps-type condition that makes your neck glands swell up. I know it's an Irish name and those are pronounced very differently than they look, but if it's pronounced Deena or Dinah, I say just use those names and not try to impress people with the authentic Irishness .

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Dimity is icky. It makes me think of a simpering, scatterbrained little girl in a pinafore dress and fat pigtails and buck teeth. Also it sounds very similar to dimwitted.

My first thought is that Dimity looks pretty, and it has a kind of 19th century vibe to it. But I'm not keen on it having the word "dim" in it. "Nice but dim" is an expression used here occasonally (after a Harry Enfield character Tim Nice But Dim) and it makes me think of that.

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Dymphna looks rather awkward. Both could work in a story though, but not sure about real life.

Dimity is not terrible. But I wonder if people would associate it with the word "dim". I don't know. It's odd, but I maintain that it's not awful.

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Dymphna, on the other hand, is awful! It has me oscillating between "harumph" and "lymphoma" and sounds really frumpy. It looks ridiculous to me!

This message was edited 4/16/2012, 12:09 PM

Dimity was used as a character in some of the "Miss Read" books;she (Dimity) was a small, meek-ish person, the name sort of implies it.I really wouldn't call a child that.Though one could have twins, Dimity and Lace, or Lacey.

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Dymphna, no.Agree with Billina, it's a lumpish,awkward name.

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I don't like them at all. Dimity has "dim" in it, and Dymphna sounds like a dumpy, slow-witted girl everyone makes fun of. I think they both sound silly.