I was chatting with a friend the other day about baby names and it reminded me how it’s one of my favourite conversations to have, unusual baby names. Even though we are not planning any more children I do still have a few names that would be ‘on my list’. With both Wilf’s and Mabli’s names we were 100% sure of their names as soon as we knew if their gender (I found out in both pregnancies whether I was having a boy or a girl). And although I think they are fairly unique names I wouldn’t go so far as saying they were unusual. There was never really a ‘Tom likes this name but I like this name’ kind of debate we just had our boy and girls names first time round and were both really certain about them. The only thing we had trouble deciding on really were middle names.
Unique Names
Being called Fritha I’m no stranger to unusual female names (in fact I’ve only ever once met another Fritha!) which comes with its pros and cons. I would say I was bullied a fair bit for having an unusual name as a child, but then again I could have been bullied for a whole number of things and I don’t think its a reason to resent my name.
I’ve always wanted to be a mum from a very young age and funny enough I always imagined a boy then a girl, probably because I have a big brother and in my head it kind of goes that way. So when I was little my favourite names were Curdie (for a boy) and Irene, pronounced Irene -ie for a girl. This was basically because the film ‘The Princess and the Goblin’ had a massive impression on me! If you’ve not seen it I’m not sure where you’d be able to now but I’d give it a watch, Rik Mayall was the voice of the goblin prince and he was such a great character.
Unusual Baby Names
When I first got together with Tom and we found out I was pregnant I did run through unique names I liked, I’d moved on from my childhood favourite names (probably for the best in Wilf’s case ;)) and for some reason, I had a feeling the pregnancy was a girl. We tossed around a few names and I felt drawn to Gwendolyn because of another of my childhood favourites a book called ‘Charmed Life’ by Diana Wynn Jones (she also wrote the castle in the sky for for Studio Gibli fans out there). Unfortunately, that pregnancy wasn’t to be and the name never really felt right since.
A few months later I was pregnant with Wilf and in the first half of the pregnancy when we didn’t know the gender we decided Wilf for a boy and thought of the name Mabli for a girl. Once we knew he was a little boy it was important to me for him to have a Welsh middle name so we threw around Idris, Ianto (pronounced yan-toe) and also Cadno which we chose in the end as it means Fox which is one of my favourite animals and also the symbol of Tom’s football team ha! I don’t think the names we chose were really along the lines of unusual baby boy names but they maybe wouldn’t make the most common names either.
When I became pregnant with Mabli before finding out the gender we chatted about a boys name and I quite liked Hendrik, we were a bit worried that people would associate it with the drink or think Hendrix like the musician. The other boys names I liked were Atticus and Soren but I felt it was too similar to my sister’s name Serin. We decided to wait to find out the gender before discussing any more names though and as she was a girl we both still loved the name Mabli and stuck with that. It’s a Welsh name that means loveable and is the version of the English name Mabel. It’s not actually in the unusual girls name category for anyone in Wales. It suits her perfectly and I’m so happy we were able to use it.
When it came to middle names we had thought of the name Kittiwake again back when I was pregnant with Wilf. I loved the name Kitty too but liked the length of Kittiwake and that it was a bit different, also that it is the name of a bird and I like to think of Mabli as my little birdie. The other names I liked were Etta and also Hennie.
I know whenever I know someone who has a baby I’m always so fascinated about the unique names they’ve given them. It’s such a big responsibility I think but also so fun to choose. I do feel a bit sad I’ll never get to name another child but there are always more cats to get, ha! 😉
What are your favourite names? How did you decide upon your children’s names? I’d love to know if you go for unusual baby names too! My friend SJ actually runs a baby name service if you are stuck!
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The birth of Mabli Kittwake in water
The birth of Wilf at home
Why have a homebirth