my top names for a girl- poll- help :)

eightynine

Just wondering what you think about these. I'd like to narrow it down to 2-3 before baby is born (I think it's weird to pick out a name before meeting your baby).  Rae is the middle name for my dad, who is named Raymond. Nola is my favorite, just by a little bit. I'm Irish and love Saoirse, but am concerned about everyone mispronouncing her name forever.

ecwk

Saoirse because it's one of my top girls' names, I love it! 

holli0801

Hazel is a favorite of mine. Like Saroise as well. 

llbne

I like Saoirse and Hazel. 

WildWhat

Are you from New Orleans or is it a favorite city of yours? 

bbiutmcph

Nola = New Orleans NAF at all

i like Saoirse

SmrBrd2012

I chose Hazel. As much as I love the idea of most Irish names and the way they actually sound, the spelling/pronunciation gap is just too much for me. Until frequenting this naming board, I had no idea how to pronounce Saoirse and I still have trouble spelling it. Nola is okay. Don't like Laina but do like Lana.

Dilynne

I voted for Hazel, but in all honesty I don't think Saoirse is a good idea. I'd never seen it before and would pronounce it "say-orsie" like say horsie without the H. I would have never guessed it to be pronounced Sear-sha. 

MandyMost

I love Nola, and it's actually my great grandmother's name, but it has 2 major strikes against it for me. First, it has the word "No" in it. And I'm sure we'll all be saying "No" to our toddlers quite a bit, never mind our future teenagers, so I don't like it being part of the name! And second, it's the abbreviation for New Orleans, Louisiana, which is pretty well known. You often see the city referred to as "NOLA". 

Saoirse you are going to be spelling AND explaining constantly. And so will your future child. Every single time she has to tell someone her name, for the rest of her life, she will have to spell it for them. 
Q: Name?
A: Saorise S-A-O-I-R-S-E. No, that's how it's pronounces. It's Irish. 
Seriously, her name won't be "Saorise", it'll be "Saorise S-A-O-I-R-S-E. No, that's how it's pronounces. It's Irish."

Laina also will have to be spelled constantly.
Q: Name?
A: Laina, with an I. L-A-I-N-A.
It's up to you if you want your child to be spelling her name constantly for the rest of her life. Especially if your last name needs to be spelled, too!

For those reasons, I think I like Hazel the most.  

eightynine

bbiutmcph said:

Nola = New Orleans NAF at all

i like Saoirse

I'm not sure what NAF means but I assume it isn't good  I love Nola- heard the name in a movie, and when I realized it was an abbreviation for New Orleans it made me like it even more. I've traveled all around the world and that's a big part of me; so I like the idea of my kid having a name that represents a city. There's no other "place" names I like at all. I also do love New Orleans, although she wouldn't be named "after" the city. 

I don't really agree in terms of Laina being hard to spell/pronounce. But I do agree on Saoirse and that's probably why we won't go with that. It's too bad because I love, love, love it. And because she'll have her fathers last name I like the idea of an Irish first name to represent my side. But I don't want to be explaining it her whole life. 

Luckily, she'll have an easy last name  thank you all for your opinions!

flowerintherain

I love the name Hazel! 

MaryBB77

I'm Irish too & I love,love,love Saoirse but DH vetoed it. I say use it. I too, wanted our kids to have an Irish first name to represent me & DH's Slovakian last name to represent him. 

SisterMaryNapalm

MandyMost said:

I love Nola, and it's actually my great grandmother's name, but it has 2 major strikes against it for me. First, it has the word "No" in it. And I'm sure we'll all be saying "No" to our toddlers quite a bit, never mind our future teenagers, so I don't like it being part of the name! And second, it's the abbreviation for New Orleans, Louisiana, which is pretty well known. You often see the city referred to as "NOLA". 

Saoirse you are going to be spelling AND explaining constantly. And so will your future child. Every single time she has to tell someone her name, for the rest of her life, she will have to spell it for them. 
Q: Name?
A: Saorise S-A-O-I-R-S-E. No, that's how it's pronounces. It's Irish. 
Seriously, her name won't be "Saorise", it'll be "Saorise S-A-O-I-R-S-E. No, that's how it's pronounces. It's Irish."

Laina also will have to be spelled constantly.
Q: Name?
A: Laina, with an I. L-A-I-N-A.
It's up to you if you want your child to be spelling her name constantly for the rest of her life. Especially if your last name needs to be spelled, too!

For those reasons, I think I like Hazel the most.  

I have an Irish name and this happens but not as often as you might think. It's a great conversation starter most of the time.

missemmawoodhouse

NAF = Not A Fan

AndiPandi127

I like Nola - it reminds me of the musical Showboat, in which it is short for Magnolia. 

JadaBlue

My daughter is American and named Saoirse--she might hate us later, but as parents we haven't found it irritating. You might consider your area/social circle. Ours is very diverse so lots of the kids have names you've never heard of. Otherwise I think Hazel is darling. Good luck!

KaLikeAWind

I guess I'm going with Hazel. Saoirse as my second choice.

As someone who has lived in New Orleans, I just (personally) feel that unless you live there, you shouldn't use the name. Since OP didn't even know until after the fact that it represents NoLa, just (to me) means you shouldn't use it. There is a very fierce pride among New Orleanians in their city, and I just feel its disrespectful to them to use it when you're not from there.

I agree I am not sure how to pronounce Saoirse (like Cercei, the queen from GoT?), but it looks lovely, and it looks like it sounds lovely. So, while I might ask you twice how to pronounce it upon introduction, I wouldn't side-eye it. I would however, side-eye someone named Nola who is NOT from New Orleans

eightynine

I love New Orleans, I've spent a good bit of time there and it's my favorite American city. I just heard Nola first in a movie many many years ago. I see what you're saying, but I guess I don't agree that it's disrespectful to the people of New Orleans. Thanks for your opinion though! 

If if anyone has other "place" name suggestions, feel free to mention them. Since travel is a huge part of my life I really like the idea but there are very few of them I like. 

GoldenTMama

@lissvarna I love New Orleans too and I think Nola is a beautiful name and would be a tribute to the city. It got my vote. As for other "place" names, i heard of a town in France called "Annecy" (I believe it is pronounced kind of like Anna-Cee) and i thought that would be a pretty name too. I think Annecy Rae sounds really pretty together. 

It's supposed to be beautiful a beautiful town and similar to Venice in Italy.

Good luck! 

edit to add middle name

vampirina

I have mixed feelings on Saoirse. It's very pretty, but she will be spending the rest of her life telling people how to spell it/pronounce it and I imagine that's not fun.

On the other hand, I had no idea how to say Hermione until like the 4th Harry Potter book and always said Herm-oin (like oink without the K). And she was pretty badass so...

ETA: Hazel is my top pic either way! I think it's super cute!

lm45678

SmrBrd2012 said:

I chose Hazel. As much as I love the idea of most Irish names and the way they actually sound, the spelling/pronunciation gap is just too much for me. Until frequenting this naming board, I had no idea how to pronounce Saoirse and I still have trouble spelling it. Nola is okay. Don't like Laina but do like Lana.

Totally agree... I always think cer-see like the queen in GOT, even though I know it's wrong.

I voted Hazel as well.

MixedBerries88

I love Saoirse, but we already have a problem here. I thought it was pronounced "Sur- sha". This is the problem that'll rear its ugly head every day. It's cool if you don't mind spelling/pronouncing it often, just be aware.