Which name do you like more?

SunnySurprise · January 2016

Out of our top three girl names, which one do you like best? Please also feel free to leave a comment which one you like least and why you chose that way!

bbiutmcph · January 2016

Esmeralda! Seriously love this name.

penelope4612 · January 2016

Lorenza is my favorite first name but I don't like Justice as a MN. I don't know if you like Lorenza Gioia or not. It's a little rhymy but no more so than Esmeralda Gioia.

I would have no idea how to pronounce Adilet.

Knottie1442268460 · January 2016

Lorenza sounds too much like make Lorenzo to me.

Adilet doesn't sound real. I know it is but to me it doesn't sound that way.

jenna8984 · January 2016

none of the above. Sorry.

SmrBrd2012 · January 2016

I guess Lorenza but it screams Italian to me so I think it might be a little odd to use if your family has no Italian background.

klirwin82 · January 2016

Thought when I hear Adilet:

Latina211508 · January 2016

I personally don't like Adilet. But the other two are very pretty. I chose Esmeralda as the best choice. I like Lorenza but I don't like the name justice. I don't think it flows good as well. But Gioia is very pretty.

SkiChic626 · January 2016

Adilet doesn't sound like a name to me. And Lorenza sounds like you wanted a boy to name Lorenzo, and this was your compromise. Esmeralda is NMS, but it's by far the best and most feminine of all your names.

KaLikeAWind · January 2016

Voted Esmeralda because I don't like the Justice as the mn for Lorenza. I have no problems with Lorenza, tho. I don't think it sounds like a man's name or masculine, but maybe that's because I've known 2 Lorenza's as an adult, and I've liked both of them.
Adilet, the way I'm pronouncing it in my mind sounds like / rhymes with - Horale / Orale, which is not a name but slang in Spanish (loosely, 'what's up'). I don't know if that's how it is pronounced, just letting you know how my mind interpreted it. Otherwise I'm not sure how to say it aloud

susykat77 · January 2016

They all seem like a mouthful to me.

ksteeb611 · January 2016

They're all a bit much. I guess esmeralda is ok, but it still sounds very foreign.

KMorley3 · January 2016

None of them

bbiutmcph · January 2016

ksteeb611 said:

They're all a bit much. I guess esmeralda is ok, but it still sounds very foreign.

@ksteeb611
I find this offensive. So no one should use names that are tied to their heritage?

Knottie1442268460 · January 2016

It sounds more Disney to me.

FiancB · January 2016

ksteeb611 said:

They're all a bit much. I guess esmeralda is ok, but it still sounds very foreign.

Why are you assuming that OP herself is not "foreign"? Not everyone here is 'Murican.

_darth · January 2016

ksteeb611 said:
They're all a bit much. I guess esmeralda is ok, but it still sounds very foreign.

Wow. You... Realise this is an international community, right? Don't use foreign as a negative qualifier. It's gross.

SunnySurprise · January 2016

Thanks everybody!!!

@bbiutmcph@FiancB @DarthFuriosa thanks for those comments, ladies! 100% agree

And just to clarify: both my husband and I have Italian heritage. I was born there. We still have a lot of family there. Names that Italians (and Americans both) can pronounce are kind of a criteria for us.

Just wanted to pop in with a little update that we have officially crossed Adilet off our list. It does seem to be a difficult name that causes a lot of controversy and could cause spelling issues for her later in life, so we've decided to stick with the "safer" choices of Esmeralda and Lorenza. (That is unless we get an epiphany of another name we also like before she arrives. For now those two are our options though.)

bbiutmcph · January 2016

Good luck @SunnySurprise
Can't wait to hear what you decide both are excellent choices!

fwtx5815 · January 2016

I love love love Gioia. I voted for Esmeralda but Lorenza is nice too (not a fan of Justice though..)

_darth · January 2016

FWIW Adilet is not at all rare where I come from. While I agree with OP about playing it safe if you don't live in a particularly multicultural area, for the sake of the child, I need to clarify something for previous posters: a name not being of Western European origin doesn't make it "not a name".

OP, I don't think you should abandon it if you like it enough that giving it up makes you sad. Maybe use it as a middle name for one of the other options, since it means Justice in Kyrgyz. I will be the first to tell someone to ditch a name that is made up or stupid, but that's not the case here. You don't have to cater to other people's weird racist crap when naming your child.

SunnySurprise · January 2016

DarthFuriosa said:

FWIW Adilet is not at all rare where I come from. While I agree with OP about playing it safe if you don't live in a particularly multicultural area, for the sake of the child, I need to clarify something for previous posters: a name not being of Western European origin doesn't make it "not a name". OP, I don't think you should abandon it if you like it enough that giving it up makes you sad. Maybe use it as a middle name for one of the other options, since it means Justice in Kyrgyz. I will be the first to tell someone to ditch a name that is made up or stupid, but that's not the case here. You don't have to cater to other people's weird racist crap when naming your child.

I really appreciate this clarification! Drives me nuts when people accuse a legit name of being made up, but what can you do...

We are actually abandoning the name mostly because we don't have cultural ties to it. It initially made our list because of its meaning and the fact that we liked how it sounded. (Can you believe how few names mean Justice? Another option would've been Astraea but that's even harder to spell and I'm not a fan of the As- sound in the beginning there.) However, we do have very strong Italian ties and the name needs to be easy in that language as well, which it isn't exactly. I was willing to keep it if English speakers had reacted very positively to it, but seeing how much discussion the name sparked and how unclear its pronounciation seems to be, I simply don't want my daughter to have a hard time with it in both languages.

Of course we're not going to pick a name solely based on stranger's opinons on the internet (no offense to all you lovely helpful strangers

) But seeing a neutral outsider's perspective on an unusual name helps a lot to gauge how the general public will be able to handle the name. And seeing that it caused so much confusion just confirmed the doubts I had about it from the start. Again, trying to make the best decision for my daughter. We really like the name, but we also have (in our eyes) beautiful alternatives, so we're not too broken-hearted about letting it go.

Thanks for the suggestion about using it as a middle name. DH brought this up (Lorenza Adilet instead of Lorenza Justice) but we've decided that we like the flow of Lorenza Justice better.

mylilwildflower · January 2016

Esmeralda! I like Esme as a nickname.

maebydaisy · January 2016

I don't like any of them really. I don't know how to pronounce Adilet without googling it, Esmeralda is okay but too "Disney princess" for my taste, and I really dislike Lorenza. Not a fan of the middle names either.

BlueJuice · January 2016

I voted for Esmeralda because I really love the potential nickname Esme, but I want it noted for the record that I ADORE Lorenza also. And I really really like Gioia. Lorenza Gioia would probably win me over completely. I like the meaning of Justice, but I have trouble liking it as well as a name.