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The "nip" / "nipper" (..."nipple") sound is more noticeable to me than any similarity to Jupiter. Juniper is in a league with Saffron and Paisley and London and Briar and Meadow and Aspen and Rain - concrete words that are fairly unfamiliar as names, and are only minimally evocative of anything abstract, if they are at all. It strikes me in a similar way to names like Dixie and Winter and Trinity and Shiloh that sound self-consciously unusual and spunky, like a name of a character in fiction. Names like that are trendy - a lot of people like them and I think they will continue to like them more and more, for a few years, and Juniper will get more popular for a while, along with the other names I mentioned. But I personally don't like it, I don't think it's namey, it's sort of ugly sounding. I think it'll date fast like Brittany & Chelsea, maybe because I think the kind of people who'd use it, would decide not to use it if they thought it was getting popular. I don't think it's a bad name, I just feel like it's trendy in a way that doesn't turn me on.

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I feel the same way about Juno itself. I like June, though. I don't know if Juno for Juniper would work in real life. I think if you never had any doubt that it would, and just used it, it'd seem to work. But on paper it does seem a little artificial, especially because of the unusualness of both names.

This message was edited 6/2/2013, 11:30 AM