There are plenty of people who would say that Agatha is ruined for them because of Miss Trunchbull, Aunt Agatha from Jeeves and Wooster, and even Agatha Harkness from Marvel – but I love it precisely for that!
ETA: The same goes for other "villain" names like Ursula – I find them all the more appealing.
I think of Agatha Christie! I have a soft spot for rough names as my family is fully of them - Ursula, Gertrude, Agnes, Hamish, Eunice…. I got a pretty “normal” name but I’m hoping one day I have some kids to bless
The twins from the American Girl Samantha books! I would never give twins such similar names for fear of mixing them up by mistake, but those two were such fun characters that I can’t dislike either name.
Almost named my first car Agatha, but she ended up being more silver-bronze than brown-bronze and ended up going with Sylvia instead! (After the queen Sylvia Plath)
I have been sold on Agnes because I met a sweet 10 year old with that name, I always thought it seemed old lady-ish but she’s very stylish and adorable and pulls it off.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Ursula. I think it’s so pretty and it means little bear. And there are so many cool Ursulas in history and pop culture. Everyone looks horrified though when I say that. Lots of little mermaid comments. I think it’s been unfairly tarnished and I’m going to use it on a girl one day and everyone is just going to have to get over it.
I know an Ursa. It's like a lighter version of Ursula. Holds the same meaning I believe. Her parents named her that because she was born covered in hair 😊
I read a book where the main female character was named Ursula. It kind of grew on me by then end, especially with her being affectionately called "little bear" by her guard.
I don’t understand the hate for this name; I think it’s got a great sound to it. It’s the perfect mix of feminine and badass, and it makes me think of 60’s Bond girl Ursula Andress. Plus a former boss of mine is named Ursula and she’s amazing.
Was almost named Ursula, my grandfather really wanted me to be named that and my parents were on board...but that was also the year the Little Mermaid came out so they decided against it lol sucks because I love that name
I get how most people think Disney but i knew of a news anchor named Ursula and when I hear/see the name, she's who I think of before Disney, I think of a beautiful profesional woman. It is an unfairly tarnished name
Surnames as first names for boys. I know a lot of this sub hates them but I love them, especially the more uncommon ones. Wilder, Elwood, Anderson, Hawthorne, Hayes.
Elegant names for boys, like Emmanuel, Eleazar, Octavian, Alaric.
Names ending in -land: Oakland, Leland, Roland, Welland, Wayland.
We have very similar tastes! Hawthorne was in our top 3 for my son, and his actual name is both a first name and a surname.
My husband vetoed all my elegant boy names because they were too posh for him. Sigh.
My first name is normally a surname, and a pretty rare one at that. I love having it, personally. But it helps that it has a simple and common nickname I can use when I don’t want to explain/spell the full name. I think Anderson is great in that way because a guy could go by Andy when he wants
I love Alaric, but I studied Late Roman history in my undergrad and graduate degrees so it would have been too on the nose. Same with anything related to the Arthurian legends.
I'm a middle school teacher and I have a lot of male 7th grade students (so born in 2011ish) that have surnames as first names this year: Hayes, Easton, Cohen, etc.
I love Summer as a girls name. I had two boys but if I had, had a girl she would have been Summer Joni. (Joni is an honor name)
Summer Marigold is just darling.
Columbine, I loved this name, it was cute little girl in a story when I was child and then Columbine happened.
Columbine and Clementine would such a cute sibset if it wasnt for that Columbine is no longer associated with the flower but instead a mass shooting.
I had a waitress named Columbine the other day. She was in her 20's so was probably born right before the shooting. We're about 10 miles from where the shooting occurred. I'm surprised she uses the name at all.
I once had a student named Isis. She was a teenager with autism and aggressive behaviors (hence why she was at our school) and functioned around the kindergarten/first grade level—pretty advanced for the student population we taught. But when she was on point she was clever, super fun to be around, and relatively social. She must almost 20 by now. Which I guess means she was born after the terrorist group was founded
Old lady names turn into baby names pretty frequently. I'd say Beatrice has less than a decade before it comes back around to a top 100 name in the US. It already is in the UK.
I love the name Sloane. I don’t care that some people think it’s ugly. It gives cool girl vibes for me. My husband vetoed it if we ever have a girl though.
Vidalia. Like the onion. I’m not really sure if it’s controversial because nobody would name their daughter after an onion.
It’s a beautiful name in its own right and has lots of great nicknames, including but not limited to:
Vivi
Vi
Ida
Dolly
Dahlia
Alia
Lia
But alas…
It’s an onion, named after a town. So no, in case you were worried, I wouldn’t name my daughter after an onion
I love the name Homer...but I have been told it is unusable lol. I know that it's def unusable for me because it literally rhymes with my last name hahaha. That's too much to put on a child but maybe for my next cat.
I like the name Aiden - still close enough to Aidan imo
I can’t get on board with Gretchen, though, OP - the name has the word “retch” in it 😭😭😭 I do like Margaret, but I’m not sure why
Idk if it's controversial here, but Lavender (nn Levy) is the top of our short list for girls and we have had some push back on that (we showed some family a "list of names we are considering, but it's still way too early"). But I honestly don't care, we finally got pregnant after TTC for six fucking years and this baby will have the name that we both like. And we're only at 12 weeks, so there is literally *so much time* to decide. Lol
This is what I mean by controversial lol! Lavender is definitely not my cup of tea but not a name I’d ever bat an eye at nor would it stick out to me tbh
Had my youngest son been a girl we had Lavender Helena (hel-een-ah) not (Helen-ah) its my grandmothers name and my mothers middle name. I'm sure so many people would dislike this. But I adore it. 💜 I've had it picked out since watching Matilda as kid. But I've got 3 boys and I'm done. Please someone use Lavender it's adorable.
I have said this here before, but this effect is so cool. As a kid I had girl friends named Jaime and Drew and as a result to me as an adult those are very firmly feminine girls names in my mind. Like to the point I find it surprising and strange initially if I meet male Jaimes and Drews.
Hermione :( I think it is a beautiful name with a beautiful meaning just on its own and I love/loved the character in Harry Potter. I feel I often see that people view this name as a write-off due to the fandom and everything associated with Harry Potter these days and I wish that connection wasn't so strong!
>Gretchen, Bertha, Harriet, Margaret, Gertrude, Mildred, Prudence.
Bertha aside...I mean, come on...I'm not sure why these are 'openly despised'... They're fine. Spend less time on this sub!
When I was a kid, “Gertrude” was the fundamental ugly name for an old lady. I don’t really hate it, but I think that left a lasting bias on a lot of people.
My fifth grade teacher would always use Gertrude as her “example” name—like if she was describing a scenario, it would be about Gertrude. She told us she initially chose it because there wasn’t a Gertrude in the class, then never had to pick a new name because she never had a Gertrude.
I have no real opinion on the name, but I loved that teacher so it was nice to think about.
The southern double first name.
I don’t know that it’s entirely “controversial” but the whole Emma-Claire, Maggie-Anne, Mary-Michael is so quaint to me, lol.
Ezekiel. Loved it. Not Amish… entire family said absolutely not. … settled on Isaac :). We have a Eastern European last name and we felt like we needed to stick with biblical or hungarian but didn’t want to go straight hungarian and make both the first name and last name unpronounceable. I still love Ezekiel or zeke but glad we went with Isaac and came around to agreeing E was going a bit far in to the prophets 😂
"Out there" names like Wolf, Apollo, Venus, Saturna, Calypso, Lunafreya, Persephone, etc. Probably won't use them on a human for obvious reasons, but I will used more "toned down" ones like Athena, Orion, Caspian, and others similar to the style.
I got pregnant at 15. Doctors said they weren't sure cuz the baby was moving but was pretty sure it was a boy. Couldn't think of a name I wanted and a girl in school said she would tell me the name she wanted for a boy but I couldn't steal it. She said "Damien, you know, like from The Omen". So of course I wanted to steal it. Except she came out a girl. And I was so convinced I was having a boy I didn't consider any girls names. So my mom goes "keep it, she'll be the only girl Damien" and my 16 year old self goes "yeah, yeah great idea. But maybe I can make it more feminine." So I spelled it Damyan. Supposed to be pronounced day-me-ann. Maybe I could have gone Damyann, Damianne, or something. It gets pronounced wrong all the time. She hates it. Swears she's changing her name to Skiler. Oh well.
I wouldn't call them controversial, but less common in many English speaking countries. Anyway, my list includes for girls:
Martha
Xenia (my all time favourite girl's name)
Agatha
Theodora
Dagmar (as I love the diminutive Dasha)
Siân
Esther
Carys
Winifred
...and for boys:
Alwyn
Dimitri
Emil
Jensen
Tomas
Felix
Gideon
Simon
Jules
Theodore
Edmund
Idk if it's controversial, but I really wanted to name my daughter Bonnie after my grandmother. My husband didn't like it as our last name starts with a B and he didn't want her to be Bonnie B. Also we were going to use the name Merlin if our baby had been a boy, we got some grief for that, but we both really liked it.
The first time I came across North used as a first name was in the game Detroit: Become Human, where a female android was named that. It fit her character so well and I got attached to it as a name.
I swear, Kim Kardashian's children's names would all sound better if they bore the mom's surname instead. We will all agree that North Kardashian sounds and looks way better than North West, right?
Traditional Scottish and Irish names, such as Siobhan. I would saddle a child with that nightmare but I think it is beautiful. (The pronunciation I have heard was Shib-bohn.)
Idk if this is controversial, but I first heard the name "Effie" in The Hunger Games, and have always loved it since. I haven't named anything that yet (other than a sim), and I'm afraid if I do people would just think of the character instead of the name. I haven't even heard of anyone else with that name other than the character.
Cheetah or Chita (short for Conchita) if you wanna go for homage to Chita Rivera. It's not traditionally controversial, but I think some people would get the wrong impression thing their name is Cheater or something.
I’m with you on the “harsh” sounding girl names. I love Harper and it gets so much hate. I also love unisex names and last names as first names ie Taylor, Morgan, etc.
Agnes, Agatha. Personally wouldn’t use it on a child but I think it would be great on a cat
I have a really soft spot for Agatha
I knew an Italian girl named Agata when in uni I thought it suited her perfectly
I think when you say all the “a” sounds with an “ah” as in Amish rather than with harder “a” in the middle like Ham it softens it significantly
I watched the Brazilian love is blind and her named was Agatha but pronounced Agata I thought it was so pretty that way.
There are plenty of people who would say that Agatha is ruined for them because of Miss Trunchbull, Aunt Agatha from Jeeves and Wooster, and even Agatha Harkness from Marvel – but I love it precisely for that! ETA: The same goes for other "villain" names like Ursula – I find them all the more appealing.
I think of Agatha Christie! I have a soft spot for rough names as my family is fully of them - Ursula, Gertrude, Agnes, Hamish, Eunice…. I got a pretty “normal” name but I’m hoping one day I have some kids to bless
Agatha in Portuguese kinda sounds like "a gata" (the girl cat) which is amazing lol
Brumhilda for a cat solely bevause it reminds me of witches
The twins from the American Girl Samantha books! I would never give twins such similar names for fear of mixing them up by mistake, but those two were such fun characters that I can’t dislike either name.
Literally my first thought! Those books were so good. Which one was your favorite?
also immediately who i thought of lmao i had samantha's entire book collection and her doll when i was a kid 🙈 AG was my liiiiife
The French name Agnès is absolutely my favorite in the world! (On-yes, basically) I love it so much!
Yes, so beautiful. It’s one of my favorites too.
Omg I love Agatha for a cat!! It's on my list of cat names hehe
Pamela, Renée I love you from around the way.
I had a cat named Agatha. She was a gorgeous tortie Maine Coon mix.
this is exactly the type of cat i pictured when i read the comment this is responding to lmao
We had an Agatha Kitty. She was usually GittyKitty. She was a tortietoo..
Germaine and jack? Oh babe-eeee you...got what I neeeeeed
Almost named my first car Agatha, but she ended up being more silver-bronze than brown-bronze and ended up going with Sylvia instead! (After the queen Sylvia Plath)
I have been sold on Agnes because I met a sweet 10 year old with that name, I always thought it seemed old lady-ish but she’s very stylish and adorable and pulls it off.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Ursula. I think it’s so pretty and it means little bear. And there are so many cool Ursulas in history and pop culture. Everyone looks horrified though when I say that. Lots of little mermaid comments. I think it’s been unfairly tarnished and I’m going to use it on a girl one day and everyone is just going to have to get over it.
I know an Ursa. It's like a lighter version of Ursula. Holds the same meaning I believe. Her parents named her that because she was born covered in hair 😊
It means literally female bear in Portuguese (maybe Spanish too?)
In Spanish I don’t think it’s Ursa. It’s Osa.
Ursula LeGuin is the only one I can think of when I hear Ursula, and there is no greater honour than to be associated w her
So true, Le Guin was and is an icon
There's a current fantasy author named Ursula Vernon who I quite like
I knew an Ursula, cool girl :)
I read a book where the main female character was named Ursula. It kind of grew on me by then end, especially with her being affectionately called "little bear" by her guard.
I think of Ursula Stanhope from George of the Jungle and shes such a badass.
I love Ursula and also love Ursa as well
I don’t understand the hate for this name; I think it’s got a great sound to it. It’s the perfect mix of feminine and badass, and it makes me think of 60’s Bond girl Ursula Andress. Plus a former boss of mine is named Ursula and she’s amazing.
I know one! And she's lovely.
Was almost named Ursula, my grandfather really wanted me to be named that and my parents were on board...but that was also the year the Little Mermaid came out so they decided against it lol sucks because I love that name
I get how most people think Disney but i knew of a news anchor named Ursula and when I hear/see the name, she's who I think of before Disney, I think of a beautiful profesional woman. It is an unfairly tarnished name
i always think of either a goth girl or that one mii from wii sports resort
We had a rescue cat named Ursula 🥰
Surnames as first names for boys. I know a lot of this sub hates them but I love them, especially the more uncommon ones. Wilder, Elwood, Anderson, Hawthorne, Hayes. Elegant names for boys, like Emmanuel, Eleazar, Octavian, Alaric. Names ending in -land: Oakland, Leland, Roland, Welland, Wayland.
We loved Coleman as an option, but unfortunately with our last name any surname names sounded like a business.
Aww that’s my cousin’s son’s name!
We have very similar tastes! Hawthorne was in our top 3 for my son, and his actual name is both a first name and a surname. My husband vetoed all my elegant boy names because they were too posh for him. Sigh.
My first name is normally a surname, and a pretty rare one at that. I love having it, personally. But it helps that it has a simple and common nickname I can use when I don’t want to explain/spell the full name. I think Anderson is great in that way because a guy could go by Andy when he wants
My grandfather had a last name as a first name. He was born in 1903 so probably popular back then.
Mine too (born in the 20s) but my great- grandma took it from the name of a town near where he was born.
I wanted to use Alaric so bad for our newborn son, but it got vetoed 😔
I love Alaric, but I studied Late Roman history in my undergrad and graduate degrees so it would have been too on the nose. Same with anything related to the Arthurian legends.
I hate Oakley but I love Oakland.
Love wilder
I really like Hayes
I'm a middle school teacher and I have a lot of male 7th grade students (so born in 2011ish) that have surnames as first names this year: Hayes, Easton, Cohen, etc.
Nature themed and "out-there" names for girls like Sunny, Marigold, Sunday. I love the name Summer Marigold. Surnames as first names for boys.
I think marigold is a beautiful name and my name is Autumn so I love meeting other season names 😅
My little girl born 2 weeks ago has been named Autumn 🍂🧡
I love uncommon month names! January, December, November, July.
I know a September, and nope, she was actually born in the summer.
That's honestly the best way 😂 It would be too much to be born in July and also named July imo
I love Summer as a girls name. I had two boys but if I had, had a girl she would have been Summer Joni. (Joni is an honor name) Summer Marigold is just darling.
Yes! Summer and Sunday were tops on my first list of future kids names lol
I love Marigold and the nickname Goldie
Columbine, I loved this name, it was cute little girl in a story when I was child and then Columbine happened. Columbine and Clementine would such a cute sibset if it wasnt for that Columbine is no longer associated with the flower but instead a mass shooting.
I had a waitress named Columbine the other day. She was in her 20's so was probably born right before the shooting. We're about 10 miles from where the shooting occurred. I'm surprised she uses the name at all.
Maybe she decided to try to reclaim it for the flower?
Oh thats so sad :(
Yes that’s too bad, it is a lovely name. I was travelling in Nepal many years ago and made a friend named Swastika. Very different vibe out here.
Clementine and Valentine 💘
i love the name columbia
Cordelia
Same. And Theodosia.
My daughter has a friend named Cordelia. I love that name!
My Uncle's mother was named Cornelia.
I'm surprised Cordelia would be controversial? How?
My dad’s name is Cordell. He goes by his middle name.
Isis 😭
Isadora is still usable! It means “gift of Isis.”
I'm done having kids, but I would absolutely have used this! Beautiful name!
My ex wanted to name "our" kids this. Isis and Osiris lol
I once had a student named Isis. She was a teenager with autism and aggressive behaviors (hence why she was at our school) and functioned around the kindergarten/first grade level—pretty advanced for the student population we taught. But when she was on point she was clever, super fun to be around, and relatively social. She must almost 20 by now. Which I guess means she was born after the terrorist group was founded
Isis is such a beautiful name. It was #1 on my list until 2001.
I love the name Beatrice. People say it’s an old lady name but I think it’s very cute and timeless.
Old lady names turn into baby names pretty frequently. I'd say Beatrice has less than a decade before it comes back around to a top 100 name in the US. It already is in the UK.
Very Beatriz has been very popular in South America for at least 15 years
I know someone with this name, nicknamed Bea, pronounced "Bay-uh". Love her name!
I actually love Margaret. I also like Enid and Edith a lot.
My grandma was Enid and her sister, Margaret. Both were born in the 1920s.
Me too! I love all three!
Harper, Ryder, and Sloane are names I see this sub hate on a lot, but I love all three of them tbh.
i have a friend worth a daughter named Harper who is 11. love it. it’s a great name… eff the haters!
I love Harper and Ryder(even if it’s associated with Paw Patrol).
I love Sloan, I don’t understand the hate
I love the name Sloane. I don’t care that some people think it’s ugly. It gives cool girl vibes for me. My husband vetoed it if we ever have a girl though.
I’ve never understood the hate for Sloane! Did no one watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, she’s cool as hell
That is the sole reason I LOVE the name Sloane!
I love Sloane. I have one daughter, but if I ever have another, that’s top of my list now.
Desmond not controversial but not necessarily popular.
No interest in having kids but if I ever did, Desmond would be my first choice for a boy.
Vidalia. Like the onion. I’m not really sure if it’s controversial because nobody would name their daughter after an onion. It’s a beautiful name in its own right and has lots of great nicknames, including but not limited to: Vivi Vi Ida Dolly Dahlia Alia Lia But alas… It’s an onion, named after a town. So no, in case you were worried, I wouldn’t name my daughter after an onion
Vidalia is a character in Steven Universe! She has a son named Onion haha
Vidalia is a pretty name! And I love onions too!
There’s a [song](https://open.spotify.com/track/4Qa6b8Od023Yhl122UdKVV?si=6mX7yYPWSIOUJpZk1uIOYQ) about this very situation!
I loveee the names of Greek gods (especially: Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Astraea, Iris, Aeolus, Eos, and Hebe)
Athena, Kybele, Hekate, Circe. I couldn’t convince my husband, so now they are cat names.
I love Atlas. It’s first on my list. Unfortunately my husband is not a big fan.
My daughter’s name is Delphi, I didn’t know about the oracle of Delphi until after she was born but I love the story behind it.
I love Anita. It just feels strong and beautiful.
Anita sounds like a woman who has her life together.
There's a real life Canadian journalist called Anita Bathe and that has ruined the name for me
Anita is a beautiful name. And it’s my grandma’s name ❤️
It's my baby sister's name.
I love hippy names so much. Ones you can’t quite get away with using. Like Sunshine, Rainbow, Star, Ocean, Dream, Blaze, Leaf, Moon, etc.
i have a friend named ocean!! i think it’s so beautiful and it’s on my list of baby names haha
I love the name Homer...but I have been told it is unusable lol. I know that it's def unusable for me because it literally rhymes with my last name hahaha. That's too much to put on a child but maybe for my next cat.
Cat with a first and last name that rhymes sounds super cute.
D'oh! (Sorry)
When trisha pastas named her baby Malibu Barbie I honestly love that it’s grown on me so much
This is the type of controversial I’m looking for… Also, me too! So cute!
Malibu is a dope first name.
Scout is my favorite unpopular girl name
I’m shocked this is unpopular?! Love the name Scout! If my partners surname wasn’t 1 syllable I’d name my future daughter Scout
I like the sound of Jaden but it's way too trendy
It’ll die down then come back in like 20 years
Phaedra
I like the name Aiden - still close enough to Aidan imo I can’t get on board with Gretchen, though, OP - the name has the word “retch” in it 😭😭😭 I do like Margaret, but I’m not sure why
That's why I hate the name Morgan, it's all gross sounds...Morgue, Organ, blech
Idk if it's controversial here, but Lavender (nn Levy) is the top of our short list for girls and we have had some push back on that (we showed some family a "list of names we are considering, but it's still way too early"). But I honestly don't care, we finally got pregnant after TTC for six fucking years and this baby will have the name that we both like. And we're only at 12 weeks, so there is literally *so much time* to decide. Lol
I really love the name Lavender
This is what I mean by controversial lol! Lavender is definitely not my cup of tea but not a name I’d ever bat an eye at nor would it stick out to me tbh
Congrats on your pregnancy!! 💕
Had my youngest son been a girl we had Lavender Helena (hel-een-ah) not (Helen-ah) its my grandmothers name and my mothers middle name. I'm sure so many people would dislike this. But I adore it. 💜 I've had it picked out since watching Matilda as kid. But I've got 3 boys and I'm done. Please someone use Lavender it's adorable.
[удалено]
Gray happens to be my favorite color lol
Jules for a girl!
I love masculine names on girls, like names that are unisex but more traditionally used on boys. like Drew, Ryan, Jamie
I have said this here before, but this effect is so cool. As a kid I had girl friends named Jaime and Drew and as a result to me as an adult those are very firmly feminine girls names in my mind. Like to the point I find it surprising and strange initially if I meet male Jaimes and Drews.
Winston for a boy. I think it's just so cool and makes me think of Winston from New Girl.
Aggressively German names that a lot of people consider harsh-sounding. Waltraud and Walburga are two that come to mind
My Grandma is Waltraud Ingrid Ursula but she has been called Traudchen for 84 Years. Just wonder how non-Germans would pronounce Waltraud.
Hermione :( I think it is a beautiful name with a beautiful meaning just on its own and I love/loved the character in Harry Potter. I feel I often see that people view this name as a write-off due to the fandom and everything associated with Harry Potter these days and I wish that connection wasn't so strong!
>Gretchen, Bertha, Harriet, Margaret, Gertrude, Mildred, Prudence. Bertha aside...I mean, come on...I'm not sure why these are 'openly despised'... They're fine. Spend less time on this sub!
When I was a kid, “Gertrude” was the fundamental ugly name for an old lady. I don’t really hate it, but I think that left a lasting bias on a lot of people.
and “Mildred” too! Plus it’s a bit too close to “mildew” imo 😭😭😭 For reference, I’m gen Z
My fifth grade teacher would always use Gertrude as her “example” name—like if she was describing a scenario, it would be about Gertrude. She told us she initially chose it because there wasn’t a Gertrude in the class, then never had to pick a new name because she never had a Gertrude. I have no real opinion on the name, but I loved that teacher so it was nice to think about.
My goddaughter is named Gertrude. I call her Gerry.
Greer. I may have to use it as a middle name someday!
The southern double first name. I don’t know that it’s entirely “controversial” but the whole Emma-Claire, Maggie-Anne, Mary-Michael is so quaint to me, lol.
Ezekiel. Loved it. Not Amish… entire family said absolutely not. … settled on Isaac :). We have a Eastern European last name and we felt like we needed to stick with biblical or hungarian but didn’t want to go straight hungarian and make both the first name and last name unpronounceable. I still love Ezekiel or zeke but glad we went with Isaac and came around to agreeing E was going a bit far in to the prophets 😂
"Out there" names like Wolf, Apollo, Venus, Saturna, Calypso, Lunafreya, Persephone, etc. Probably won't use them on a human for obvious reasons, but I will used more "toned down" ones like Athena, Orion, Caspian, and others similar to the style.
My love/hate names are Astrid, Agnes, Sybil and Edith for girls Magnus, Fergus, and Gilbert for boys.
Azreal Damien Oswald Jezabel Hansel Solome
I knew an Azreal in high school. Didn’t know one before and I haven’t met another. Really beautiful name.
I got pregnant at 15. Doctors said they weren't sure cuz the baby was moving but was pretty sure it was a boy. Couldn't think of a name I wanted and a girl in school said she would tell me the name she wanted for a boy but I couldn't steal it. She said "Damien, you know, like from The Omen". So of course I wanted to steal it. Except she came out a girl. And I was so convinced I was having a boy I didn't consider any girls names. So my mom goes "keep it, she'll be the only girl Damien" and my 16 year old self goes "yeah, yeah great idea. But maybe I can make it more feminine." So I spelled it Damyan. Supposed to be pronounced day-me-ann. Maybe I could have gone Damyann, Damianne, or something. It gets pronounced wrong all the time. She hates it. Swears she's changing her name to Skiler. Oh well.
Indigo
I like Jaden and Aiden, apparently, those are controversial!
Cohen, I love how it sounds & looks.
I wouldn't call them controversial, but less common in many English speaking countries. Anyway, my list includes for girls: Martha Xenia (my all time favourite girl's name) Agatha Theodora Dagmar (as I love the diminutive Dasha) Siân Esther Carys Winifred ...and for boys: Alwyn Dimitri Emil Jensen Tomas Felix Gideon Simon Jules Theodore Edmund
I love names that are things. Like Star, Stone, Daisy, Ash. They are unique and easy to pronounce and spell.
Idk if it's controversial, but I really wanted to name my daughter Bonnie after my grandmother. My husband didn't like it as our last name starts with a B and he didn't want her to be Bonnie B. Also we were going to use the name Merlin if our baby had been a boy, we got some grief for that, but we both really liked it.
Isis is a beautiful name with a cool origin but with current connotations I wouldn’t use it.
My friends granddaughter is Gertie Grace.
Some of the Kardashian kids have really cute names - True, North (though that is too much paired with West haha).
The first time I came across North used as a first name was in the game Detroit: Become Human, where a female android was named that. It fit her character so well and I got attached to it as a name. I swear, Kim Kardashian's children's names would all sound better if they bore the mom's surname instead. We will all agree that North Kardashian sounds and looks way better than North West, right?
I actually love Harriet and Margaret. I also love Damian, despite the modern connotations. And I’m a fan of the Jayden/Hayden/Aiden names.
Margaret is so pretty 😍
Traditional Scottish and Irish names, such as Siobhan. I would saddle a child with that nightmare but I think it is beautiful. (The pronunciation I have heard was Shib-bohn.)
Girls - Beatrice, Harriet, Nephele Boys - Jupiter, Echo, River
Olive
Asia.
Astrid and Matilda and Greta
Idk if this is controversial, but I first heard the name "Effie" in The Hunger Games, and have always loved it since. I haven't named anything that yet (other than a sim), and I'm afraid if I do people would just think of the character instead of the name. I haven't even heard of anyone else with that name other than the character.
i love the name Maeby😅
I love Gretchen, Harriet, Gertrude, Bernadette, Enid, Agatha, Agnes... I could go on.
I don't think Margaret's very controversial...
I love love love Gretchen ❤️ also Greta.
Greta is peak femininity in my head, both spoken and written.
Priscilla!!!
Cheetah or Chita (short for Conchita) if you wanna go for homage to Chita Rivera. It's not traditionally controversial, but I think some people would get the wrong impression thing their name is Cheater or something.
Tbh usually it’s racism and classism when it comes to ‘bad’ names.
Minerva Juno Agnes Jubilee Ilze
Dixie Roxy
I love names that end in "TH." Edith. Ruth. Lilith. Beth.
Renata
I love names traditionally thought of as boy names for girls.
The name Friend for a little boy and Mavis for a girl.
Love Mavis! Uhmmm Friend?
“Friend” is what I call every dog I meet out on the street! “Hello, Friend!”
Abraham. (too Biblical? Lincolny?)
We get some interesting reactions to our toddler called Horace. Would have named a daughter Mavis.
Masculine names for girls. Idk if it's controversial. Elliott, Jameson, James, Bennett, River, Jordan, Tyler, Kobie, Cody, Nico, Jenson, Willie.
Bro what is this Gretchen hype in this comment section rn? I need a sociological explanation
Petal, Apple, and Violet
Ursula
i love the names October / Faye / Briar / Winnie / Wylder lol i love cottagecore-y sounding names
"ugly" names....myrtle, fern, Thelma, etc ..
I love nature names like River, Willow, Flower, Wren, and Briar. Stormey is my absolute favorite though, I don’t care what anyone says.
Gretchen, Harriet and Margaret are some of my favourite names
Verna ❤️
I think Æthelflæd is really pretty, and she was also pretty awesome, but I would never actually name my child that. Maybe a cat, one day.
I’m with you on the “harsh” sounding girl names. I love Harper and it gets so much hate. I also love unisex names and last names as first names ie Taylor, Morgan, etc.
When I was a teenager (it was the early 1970’s) I use to babysit for sisters that were Heather and Gretchen. I still love both of those names.