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Frances
WDYT of Frances? It is starting to grow on me, but I'm not entirely sure yet. Perhaps it needs a combo to win me over. I am leaning more towards it as a MN, but anyway, what are your thoughts?+ WDYT of Viola (VIE-oh-la) Frances? I suggested it below, but I'm kind of smitten. I'd still like other suggestions, though, if you have them.

This message was edited 5/6/2007, 9:22 AM

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I adore Frances and think Viola Frances is quite lovely (although I prefer Violet over Viola). I used to love Grace Frances, but lately I've been liking Frances Blythe.
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Frances is an awkward first name, but it's a nice enough middle name and a fairly common one here in the South. I like Francis as a boy a lot, I don't really know why. I like Viola and Violet, but I play the veeOHla, and while veeOHla and VIEola are completely different concepts and roots, I wouldn't use it on my own child. But it's great on someone else's. Viola Frances is very nice.Edit: My sister Anna Frances gives her opinion on her middle name: "I hate it. It reminds me of a pig." Oh well.

This message was edited 5/6/2007, 4:56 PM

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I'm liking Frances a lot too lately, but haven't found my perfect combo yet. I prefer it for the mn spot. It's old in a good way: heirloom lace rather than nursing home. I don't care for masc. Francis at all. Viola Frances is charming, though I normally pronounce it vie-OH-la. Viola is a family name for me, and I am thus much more likely to use it than Violet.
Combos I like are:
Anna Frances
Katherine Frances
Eleanor Frances (Frances Eleanor sounds lovely as well)
Maria Frances
Abigail Frances (I really like this. Frances seems to help Abigail past any trendiness problems, if that makes sense.)
Frances Elizabeth or Elizabeth Frances
Rachel Frances
Catrin Frances or Catrina Frances
Charity Frances
Caroline Frances
Charlotte Frances
Clara Frances
Frances Elaine
Frances Evangeline
Helen Frances

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nt.
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Frances is my middle name and I have always loved it. I also like Francine and Francesca. I'm so thrilled that such a beautiful name is decreasing in popularity. Viola Frances is a nice combo. Another combo could be Katherine Frances.
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Viola Frances is prettyIt's not for me, it's very demure and Victorian.I really don't care for Frances, though. It's just...I don't know. It's not a name I care for, and I do find it a bit prissy.
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I do like Frances but only as a middle name. I think Viola Frances has a wonderful sound and flow. I like this combo very much.
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I like Frances a lot. I plan on using it for my dog though. I know a little girl named Anne Frances.I dislike Viola sorry.
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*Love* it.It came apon me recently when I was on a Francesca craze. It is very classic and pretty, and very uncommon. I like it for both a FN and a MN, but I generally place it in the MN slot when pairing it in combos. Overall, I think it's great, and would like to see more of it in place of Ann/Annes, Maries, and Lynnes (and Jessicas, Katies, Beckys, and Emilys). Viola Frances is gorgeous! I'm getting a bit tired of Violet, and I began to like Viola after reading Twelfth Night. Great names and combo. :)
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I can't stand Frances, and I'd go with Violet over Viola. Sorry, but I think Frances is too prissy and I've never liked it.
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Viola Frances is really lovely. The youngest person I know with the name is 14 and she goes by Fran. I'd love to see a baby Viola (Violet is sadly overused) or Frances! I think your Celia, Henry and Viola would make a beautiful sib set
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Thanks. I want to avoid the nn Fran, though, which is probably why I like it in the middle.
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The Frances I know is just "Frances," and I don't think anyone ever calls her Fran (which, I agree, is much worse than Frances). There are other people like that at my school, who go by their full names when nicknames would be much easier. I know a Robinson, an Alexandra, a Thomas, a Daniel, a Cristina, a Samantha, and a Joanna who all go by their full first names. So I think Fran is avoidable if you don't want her to be called that. Of course, it may just be my school.
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Yeah, it's been slowly growing on me for a while too. I have an Aunt Fran, whose incredibly sweet, and I just finished reading "Franny and Zooey" and a biography of Frances Folsom Cleveland.
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I just had lunch with my grandmother and her sister Frances :-) I do think it's an older woman's name, but it's a family name for us. This great-aunt Frances has a daughter by the same name, and a granddaughter, who must be about two now. (Baby Frances' siblings are Lucy, Anthony and Martha, which go quite well I think, though I'm sick to the back teeth of Lucy.) I do think it sounds better as a middle name. Viola Frances is lovely - esp. since you pronounce Viola as I do! Lol.
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That is a great sibset! :)
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Frances is cute. It's never really done anything significant for me, although I did have a great aunt with the name. I would love to meet a little Frances someday. :DViola Frances is gorgeous. Very classic sounding, but not too old-fashioned. Perfect. But if you're still not sold on it...
Frances Julia
Frances Eleanor
Frances Evadne
Frances Isla
Frances Camille
Frances Cora
Frances Ophelia
Frances Lavinia
Frances Lenore
Frances Octavia
Frances Delphina
Frances Evelyn
Frances Mathilde / Matilda
Frances Eugenia
Frances Annabel
Frances Aloisia
Frances Josephine
Frances PenelopeCora Frances
Delphina Frances
Clarissa Frances
Cynthia Frances

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Eugenia Frances is lovely! I also like Matilda Frances, but I think my Matilda combo is already set.I also like
Junia Frances
Isla Frances
Frances Josephine
Frances LenoreThanks!
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I like Frances okay. It still seems "old" to me, though. I'm more partial to Francine, and Francis for a male. I can't quite shake the "nursing-home dweller" expectation I have when I see Viola Frances... but I realize it's also a hip baby-name today. It's a nice combination.I guess I just don't care for Viola. It's a musical instrument, which is an extremely passive concept - much too passive for a person's name, in my view. The sound of the word is nice, though.Adelle Frances sounds nice...
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I didn't realize that it's "hip" -- I saw it in the Books thread in the Lounge, and it seems to be dropping steadily in popularity. Hm, that's unfortunate.My sister played the viola, so in a way I think that's kind of neat.Adelle Frances does sound nice, actually, but I don't know if I could use Adelle for a future child since I'm so attached to it personally. Thanks, though.
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Well, hip isn't necessarily equal to popular. I think that a lot of the names that were specifically popular around the turn of the 20th c. - 1920s have a particular image that is fashionable right now. Viola and Frances included... they give me the same impression as a lot of the not-so-common but still very fashionable sounding names I see on babies lately. Such as ...
Popular - Ella, Stella, Bella, Grace, Madeline
Uncommon but still fashionable in the same way, to my mind at least - Eleanor, Lillian, Hazel, Violet, Evelyn, LucyOlive is another one that I've seen on a child recently that I'd put in this category .. of "hip antique" name fashion. If I met a baby Viola I'd also put it in the "hip antique" box. I don't mean I think it'd be bad in some way to use these names, though. There's something to recommend having a name with the "right" fashion date on it, and it's hard to avoid the idea of fashion altogether (although it's hip to try).
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Oh, I see what you mean now. I normally equate the two notions, but in your definition, a lot of my favorites fall into the "hip" but not necessarily "popular" category.
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