Which girl's name? Ramona, Jemima or Greta?

Hmm... trying to nut out a girl's name for our little baby.

It's looking like this is the short list now, though always open to suggestions too ;)

Middle name would most likely be Rose, or maybe Renee.

I had Ramona on the list for our previous two sons but perhaps I've been sitting on it for too many years as I'm not as sure anymore.

Love Jemima but I don't really like Jem/Jemma and I feel like that would be her nickname? Which isn't really an issue in her teens I guess as it's a more popular name and she may like that.

Love Greta too but not as sure... I keep thinking of grater!

I love greta, its actually on my short list too

I think Greta!

I think Ramona doesn't really work with the middle names... Too matchy matchy!

I had a lot of trouble with liking a name but hating the shortened version of it! E.g jemima / jem! Very frustrating!

I love Ramona Rose. Says hardcore rock chick to me :) and can be shortened to Monnie. Also gorgeous.

I love Ramona Rose too! We could always choose another middle name but I think the alliteration really works well.

Another vote for Ramona Rose! I think it's lovely, soft and feminine but with a hard edge ITMS

And I know it sounds crazy but I always imagine what it looks like as a signature. :) so pretty.

I Love Greta. I do like Ramona Rose, but I would want to always say that and not just Ramona.

My friend's daughter is called Ramona and she's an amazing kid so I love it.

All three names have such distinct personalities, I love them all.

We picked our name based on nicknames. The names we chose can't possibly be shortened any more, so people insist on butchering them by adding Y on the end of them :wall: drive me mad. So I think you can have nickname battles with all names really.

Of yours I like Greta most.

In order of preference: Greta then Ramona. Although Ramona is totally awesome, i had to go with Greta first as that was on our shortlist :D

Jemima, greta then remona!

Greta, Jemima then Remona.

I voted Ramona, have always loved that name!

Jamima!
But my first thought was Playschool lol

I'm not a fan of Greta. Love Ramona though.

I like Ramona Rose :) strong and feminine rolled into one!

Well, I didn't expect as much love for Ramona to be honest. That's great! I think Ramona makes a tonne of cool nicknames, I think I'd call her Romy most of the time. But the other names don't really lend themselves to as many nicknames which I like. Which isn't a big issue- my boys don't have names that really spin off to obvious nicknames and they're fine.

I also like to look at name meanings. They're not deal breakers for me but Ramona wins that, meaning "wise protector". Jemima means "dove" and Greta means "pearl".

They're are all great names though, I think I could be happy with any of them :)

See Romy is lovely!!!!!

I love all 3!! Jemima and Greta are both on our short list, but Ramona Rose sounds lovely and I really like the nickname you have picked for that one. So not much help from me ;)

Love the nickname romy

That's a tough one. I like them all. I chose Greta though based on your middle name choices.

Jemima!!! :loveshower: Can be shortened to Mima or Mimey. Heard a older lady named Jemima the other day and her nickname was Jimmy.

Jimmy is a game changer... I've mostly been flip-flopping with Ramona and Jemima and now that brings Jemima right in the game!

I think Greta is out. I'm really drawn to the other two. Hmmm...

Erk. So Jemima isn't a popular name in the states because Aunt Jemima is a very famous brand of pancake mixes. Not a big deal right? Problem is Aunt Jemima is an older african-american woman and the term 'aunt jemima' is used derogatively to imply someone is acting as an african-american in servitude.

We're not planning on staying in the states for more than a couple more years but this child will have dual-citizenship so their name may be important to them here. Argh. What to do? I'm really loving the name at the moment. I keep thinking of Jemima Puddle Duck :heartbeat:

Help me out peeps!!! Do you use a name that people think is racist??

I'm on a Jemima obsession right now.

If you are planning to leave the US, then I would ignore their issue with the name and choose the name I liked best. However if you think there is a possibility you will be there long term even though it's not planned now, maybe reconsider. A name isn't racist. People are. I personally would avoid a name that might cause my child angst in the future. That would count Jemima out for me if I thought my child might end up going to school in the US. How bad is this problem? I've never heard of it before but I must admit, I've never been to the US and don't really keep up with the news either. Maybe ask some people that live there what they think of the name?

I saw mention of it not being popular because of the pancake brand on a name website and I asked my close friend who lives here. She told me about the racist connections and she remembers it being as a racial slur quite a bit in the 80s. Checked on US name forum and wikipedia and yes, there is quite a strong link to it being used to describe someone as a slave who panders to white people and it being used as a racist slur. *sigh*

I can't stop thinking of cute Jemima Puddle Duck! And the lovely little Jemima on Playschool.

How well known is the aunty jemima thing? Have you got more than one person's perspective on it in America? Or it could be just their opinion iykwim?

One of my closest friends growing up was jemima, don't let it worry you that we called her jemima vagina often, it was said with love :)

I think of Jemima Puddleduck too :heartbeat: I'm not in the US but hadn't heard of the Aunt Jemima thing until I started looking on EBay for 'Jemima' things. Honestly, every name comes with something that someone will find! I remember someone saying oh Jemima sounds like Jermaine and I'd name a boy that :wall:

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How well known is the aunty jemima thing? Have you got more than one person's perspective on it in America? Or it could be just their opinion iykwim?

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No it's a big deal. the Aunt Jemima brand is massive and everyone knows it and everyone has a very negative response to it as an offensive name. I asked my friend to give an actual example of how it is used and she remembers it more as a school yard slur used against larger girls with dark skin. So there was a racist connection there in that white girls were never called Aunt Jemima but it also seems a bit school yard petty to me. I need to question the forums more I think for a very broad overview that I can't get from asking just people around me.

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One of my closest friends growing up was jemima, don't let it worry you that we called her jemima vagina often, it was said with love :)

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Well that doesn't really help the case for Jemima :lol:

Throwing Henrietta into the mix now...

I like Ramona more than Henrietta.

Okay... I think Greta and Jemima are off the list. Which leaves Ramona and I'm still very drawn to it.

But how about Maisy? I'm not sure how it didn't make the top three before as it's been a favourite for years and years too.

ETA: *sigh* Just remembered that Maisy rhymes with our surname so it doesn't really work.

Honestly how many times do you say your first name with your last. My mum didnt call me Hannah as it didnt sound nice with our last name. I actually like it and changed my surname to married name by the time I was 25... I LOVE MAISY AND DAISY

I love Maisy and Daisy too! Daisy is the name of my grandfather's twin sister so it has a nice family connection but also a little *too* much of a connection for me to want to use it. But Daisy factors in (along with other family connections) to my desire to use a flower middle name :)

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Honestly how many times do you say your first name with your last?

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Quite a lot. Liebling Butter is Liebling's "naughty name". (Liebling Precious Swoozle, his full given name, is his "happy name".) Although DH ruled out girl's names that ended with the "buh" sound, or sounded like Butter, because it didn't flow too well. Confused me as girls get the opportunity to change their name fairly early on in life if they choose (to change their name or to marry).

I worked with a lady named Gale and when she married her husbands last name was Daley :)

So naturally we all called her Galey Daley! :)

My mum wanted to call me just Emma, but someone said to her "what if she gets married to a man with the last name like Roy or Royd, then her name will be Emma Royd which sounds like hemorrhoids" so she got scared and named me Emmalee!

So I wouldn't worry about girls given names matching their last names because they will have their married name for far longer than there maiden name! :)

Stick with your first instinct-Ramona.