Name to honour Robyn

Hi there,

I don't want to waste anyone's time, I'm not pregnant yet, but I've always wanted to name a daughter after my mother - her name was Robyn. I loved her, I really don't like her name! So I've been trying to find a name with a similar feel/meaning, but it's quite difficult! I've thought of bird names - Lark, Wren, Dove etc, but am yet to click with one. Robyn means "bright fame" so I thought I'd search for names with a similar meaning, I even tried synonyms to "bright"! The name doesn't need to be overtly Robyn-ish, it's really a personal thing, as long as I know and my immediate family knows (ie. I would tell them!) that's all that's important to me. DH really is darling, he knows how important this is to me and will be happy with whatever I'm happy with!

If you have time and anything springs to mind, I would really appreciate your suggestions! I don't know why but this has been weighing on my mind lately

What about another R name? Some ideas (although I don't know your naming style, so there's a mix here):

Ruby (I like how similar this is to Robyn, but so fresh)
Rose
Romilly
Rachel
Rowan
Reese
Ruth

I like your idea of using a bird name. Here are some more:
Alouette (French for lark)
Raven
Oriole
Teal

Robyn comes from Robert, so you could use these feminisations (although I have to admit I am not crazy about them):
Roberta
Bobbi
Robelle
Berta
Robine
Robia

Not sure if any of that appeals?

My first thought was Alouette, as Lamps mentioned above, which I adore.

Names meaning 'bright' :
Akiko
Clara
Alcyone (al-SEE-a-nee) - the brightest star in the Pleiades
Niamh/Neve
Phaedra
Phoebe
Roxanna
Zahra.

Names with cosmological connotations (as in, a bright star) :
Aludra
Andromeda
Ara
Arista
Astraea
Bellatrix
Callisto
Carina
Cassiopeia
Cynthia
Diana
Lyra
Maia
Marama
Pyxis.

And moon names :
Luna
Phoebe
Portia
Selene (sel-EE-nee).

Alternatively, you could always use Robyn as a mn, or let your mother choose the mn - I think that would give her a special connection to her granddaughter, and I imagine she would feel flattered.

Are you interested in boys' names, too?

Aderyn (ah-DEH-rin) is a Welsh girls name that means "little bird" -- just like a robin.

The Hebrew name Zipporah, borne by the wife of Moses in the Bible, means "bird". You might, of course, consider it too outlandish to use.
I think your best option is the R name one, such as Rebecca or Rowena, unless you use Robyn as a mn. Roberta would work nicely in that spot too, unless you don't mind it as a first name. I know two Robertas - one nn Bobbi and the other uses the first two letters of her first name and the first two letters of her second name to make a hybrid name that works!
One possibility might be to choose three first names, starting respectively with R, B, and N. Then you have the taste of Robyn in the initials. For example, Rosalind Beatrix Naomi or Roxana Bethan Nora
If three names are too many, then how about the initials R and N, so you have the first and last letters of Robyn.
Good luck in your quest!

I did some searching on your behalf:
Rowena - Starts with Ro and means 'fame, joy'
Roza - Old Germanic short form of names with the 'hrod' element (found in Rowena for example) which means fame
Roswitha - One of the names Roza would be short for
Romilda - the fame part again
And actually, all Rose- names can be considered meaning 'fame' due to the 'hrod' part, so that's an easy way out...
Clara - means 'clear', 'bright' AND 'famous', so that really would be something!
Niamh - means 'bright', pronounced NEEV
Phaedra - means 'bright', a favourite of mine!
Phoebe - mean 'bright' as well
Roxana - and variants possibly mean 'bright' or 'dawn'
Sparrow - should perhaps not be used, but I think it would make a cute girl's name
Starling - also cute on a little girl
Merle - would also make a sweet name for a girl
Brenna - means 'raven'
Jemima - Dove
Paloma - Dove
Jay - is a bird, isn't it? You could call her Jane and nn her Jay if that's better...
Avis - means bird
Phoenix - is a bird XD
Heron - might work
Birdie, Bird, Byrd - would be okay as well
Jarita means 'legendary bird' which would be a nod to the 'fame' part of Robyn

Also, another thought is using a unisex name since that's what Robyn is... Avery is the first to come to mind because it always reminds me of birds for obvious reasons ^^
I also thought of Blythe, for being similar to 'bright' and having an overall positive meaning... It feels like a very light name to me which I think would be fitting!

I ended up with a longer list than I expected, so maybe there's something here to surprise and hopefully delight you as well ^^
Best of luck!

The name Bryony contains the letters r-o-b-y-n and an extra y. Maybe that would be something to consider.

karen wrote:The name Bryony contains the letters r-o-b-y-n and an extra y. Maybe that would be something to consider.

I was actually thinking of adding Bryony to my post, but didn't catch this fun little thing so I left it out...
Bryony would be fantastic!

I also thought of Romola, seeing someone mentioned Romilly... I prefer Romola myself, it's less cute and would perhaps age better? There's also Romina which I think is lovely!

twinkle wrote:
Alternatively, you could always use Robyn as a mn, or let your mother choose the mn - I think that would give her a special connection to her granddaughter, and I imagine she would feel flattered.

This would be the ultimate compliment to help name your granddaughter. Wow, that really rings a bell with me.

Wow, thankyou all for the lovely suggestions. I haven't had time to go through them properly, but I wanted to thank you very much. I should have mention my mother passed away when I was a little girl, so while getting her to name a grandchild would have been perfect, it's not going to happen. That is however the road we're going to go down if we have a son - let our fathers pick the name (within reason!)

The reason I don't like Robyn is that it seems a very dated name, and not in a good way. It doesn't look nice, and it seems firmly attached to 50 year old women (in my experience.) Rowan is one name I have considered, and Bryony is a great idea, except we went to school with a Bryony and she was just horrible! It's annoying how people taint perfectly good names, but there you go!

My naming style is names that are tried and true, but not toooo common! I love girly, pretty names (although not literally "Girlie" or "Pretty"!) Thankyou so much. I will go over all your suggestions when I get home from work.