[Opinions] Re: Faith or Fay
in reply to a message by Lily
Some of my bias comes from having been acquainted with an adult Fay who annoyed the heck out of me, and an adult Faith who was warm and kind and funny. But even without that, I'd prefer Faith.
Faith
+ I think it has a better meaning and I like how you're reminded of the meaning each time you say it. I think it's really strong, probably also because it is a word and you can hear what the meaning is when you say it. - agree
+ it's not that popular - not sure I agree about that, I guess it depends where you live. But yeah, not so popular that it would be forgettable.
+ I like the way the th sounds - me too
+ you could still kind of have Fay as a nickname even though I'd probably not do that because Faith is short already. - I think Fay might be okay as a childhood nick at least, because kids don't make a TH sound very well
+ nn Faithie is kind of cute - I think it's childish and sounds like a hedge on the meaning: "Might at least have a little bit of faith"
- many people might assume I was very religious which is not the case. This isn't really a big minus because I don't think there's anything wrong with being religious, but could cause confusion - true, unless your social group / hers is mostly self-righteous atheists, I guess. But maybe you are thinking, as I am, that the association is also sort of rural-conservative. Not that rural-conservative is negative, but that you might not want to be named something that seemed to project anything specific about demographic, especially if it were not true. This is the reason I would not use Faith even if it were my absolute favorite name.
- it's more common than Fay - it's more common than Gertrude, too. ?
- extremely common middle name - you're really reaching now. So what?
Fay
+ very unusual - for a reason? It's dated, has the same "age" as Gay IMO.
+ reminds me of fairies - This bins it, IMO. I'd put this in the minus column. Would you want your name to remind people of fairies? I wouldn't. How twee. Besides there is "fey" which suggests to me "affected"
+ very soft - IMO Faith is softer. Fay is more, uh, glib? IMO
+ might be easier to pronounce for some people
- most people would probably spell it Faye which I don't like - meh. Same name, whatevs. I think Faye looks namier.
- not as strong - true, but it's not completely weak either.
- could also be spelled Fae which I like, but people might spell it wrong a lot - you're kidding me. This is for a real person, you would name her Fae? To me that is like naming a girl Elfin or Tinkerbell. Flakey. I guess it's not that bad because Fae isn't a new usage, but it kind of induces a groan in me.
- doesn't have any nickname - is there some reason you would need one? Lack of nicknames makes a name seem "stronger" IMO. Familiar nicknames can still arise naturally for people with short names.
Faith
+ I think it has a better meaning and I like how you're reminded of the meaning each time you say it. I think it's really strong, probably also because it is a word and you can hear what the meaning is when you say it. - agree
+ it's not that popular - not sure I agree about that, I guess it depends where you live. But yeah, not so popular that it would be forgettable.
+ I like the way the th sounds - me too
+ you could still kind of have Fay as a nickname even though I'd probably not do that because Faith is short already. - I think Fay might be okay as a childhood nick at least, because kids don't make a TH sound very well
+ nn Faithie is kind of cute - I think it's childish and sounds like a hedge on the meaning: "Might at least have a little bit of faith"
- many people might assume I was very religious which is not the case. This isn't really a big minus because I don't think there's anything wrong with being religious, but could cause confusion - true, unless your social group / hers is mostly self-righteous atheists, I guess. But maybe you are thinking, as I am, that the association is also sort of rural-conservative. Not that rural-conservative is negative, but that you might not want to be named something that seemed to project anything specific about demographic, especially if it were not true. This is the reason I would not use Faith even if it were my absolute favorite name.
- it's more common than Fay - it's more common than Gertrude, too. ?
- extremely common middle name - you're really reaching now. So what?
Fay
+ very unusual - for a reason? It's dated, has the same "age" as Gay IMO.
+ reminds me of fairies - This bins it, IMO. I'd put this in the minus column. Would you want your name to remind people of fairies? I wouldn't. How twee. Besides there is "fey" which suggests to me "affected"
+ very soft - IMO Faith is softer. Fay is more, uh, glib? IMO
+ might be easier to pronounce for some people
- most people would probably spell it Faye which I don't like - meh. Same name, whatevs. I think Faye looks namier.
- not as strong - true, but it's not completely weak either.
- could also be spelled Fae which I like, but people might spell it wrong a lot - you're kidding me. This is for a real person, you would name her Fae? To me that is like naming a girl Elfin or Tinkerbell. Flakey. I guess it's not that bad because Fae isn't a new usage, but it kind of induces a groan in me.
- doesn't have any nickname - is there some reason you would need one? Lack of nicknames makes a name seem "stronger" IMO. Familiar nicknames can still arise naturally for people with short names.