View Message

Girls:
-Jane - one of my all-time favourites
-Catherine - prefer Katharine
-Winona - delightful; not used where I live
-Clara - prefer Clare
-Genevieve - pronunciation issues, frilly, not my style
-Violet - synthetically sweet; dislike most flower names
-Rose - OK as a nn for Rosamond, Rosemary etc
-Diana - still unpleasantly princessy; much prefer Dinah
-Mary / Miriam / Molly - I've used Mary, family name, as a mn; quite like Miriam; despise Molly
-Lily / Lilja - prefer Lilian, but not enough to use
-Ingrid - bland and harmless; much prefer Sigrid
-Eliza - no, except as a nn for Elizabeth, which is too beautiful not to use
-Leah - prefer the sound of Leigh, but not enough to use
-Alexandra - nicer than Alexander (m); better as a mn
-Philippa - excellent!
-Frances - lovely, but nn Fran isn't; also better as a mn
-Rachel - prefer Rachael
-Daphne - undecided: don't like it much, but not sure why
-Eve / Eva / Eeva - I'd use Eva, family name, nn Eve: Eeva is awful!
-Rhiannon - trendy rather than traditional
-Dawn - awful in the extreme!
-Virginia - good as a mn; Ginny isn't a good nn
-Sedona - never seen this; don't like it
-Marie / Maria -Maria, yes; Marie, no
-Rosemary - very nice indeed; second-best to Rosamond
-Blair - sounds like a loud noise; awful
-Sabrina - a river-goddess! Lovely; perhaps too ornate
-Salome - prefer Sally
-Claudia - prefer Claudine
-Valerie - drab and dull
-Helena - much prefer Helen, or even Eleanor
-Saskia - doesn't happen where I live, which is odd: I don't find it interesting
-Florence - family name on both sides! Awful nns, so better as a mn
-Abigail - I like Gail, but not Abigail and especially not Abby

---

Boys
-James - overused, but still excellent
-Andrius / Andres [Lithuanian + Finnish/Estonian variants of Andrew. I like the variants but not the original name for some reason] - the local version is Andries, which I don't like any more than the others. Just can't see the point of Andrew names.
-Lauri - impractical; prefer Laurence
-Gabriel - could be inconvenient, with Gay as a likely short form! Safer as a mn; fine if you like angels.
-Elias - suitable for a 19th-century manual labourer
-Henry - dislike. Harry is better, but still not good.
-Ari - no.
-Alexander - cumbersome; greatly prefer Alastair
-Francis - love Francis, deplore Frank.
-Jonas - prone to whale jokes, probably; I prefer Joseph, but not enough to use it.