Susanna - What **Siam Sam ** said
Cassandra - ‘And her name was…Cassandra’ - Wayne’s World
Actually, that was just about exactly what was running through my mind as well.
I happen to love the name Cassandra, FWIW. THen you could call her Cassie, Sandy, Andy, or even Buffy [hey, some of us have nicknames not based on our actual name, I got called SuziQ by a number of people and there is nothing in Marilyn or Isabell that bears any resemblance to SuziQ!]
My daughter is named Claire ( 5’10" blond star volleyball player with a sharp wit) so I’m naturally biased.
“Clare is a fat girl’s name.”
I can’t be the only one thinking that.
I have an extrememly strong negative reaction to Cassandra because of the Greek myth–to the point where every time I hear of someone with that name, I say to myself “I can’t believe her parents named her that!” But I appear to be in the minority on that point. 
As for the rest of them:
Anna–very nice
Claire–my favorite of these. Spelled with the i.
Erika–I like this a lot. Prefer the “c” spelling.
Susanna–I like this one a lot too. Fond memories of a friend named Susannah, perhaps. But yeah, it does make me think of gingham.
(hijack) Oh, HELL yes!
Seriously. Please don’t get creative with the spelling.
Signed by "Say it Donna, not Dawn, not Danae, not Dawan – Donna. I go by Dee. No, spell it just like Dawn with an A at the end. Yes, I’m sure. And do not stammer about EOE when you realize I’m white. Just fucking don’t. "
(/hijack)
I like them all. Susannah does conjure up images of calico and bonnets, but it also seems to be a classic name that will work for anything she wants to do.
My favorite of the five is Clare (or Claire). I actually like it either way. Again, classic, and classy. This is a girl/woman who moves through life doing what she chooses, doing it well, and caring for and about other people along the way. Strong, smart, and sweet.
I don’t care that much for Erika with the ‘k’. It’s not a bad name, it just isn’t my preference.
Cassandra would come fourth on the list, but I do like Cassie. Cassandra just strikes me as cumbersome for some reason. I like the fact that it has choices, she can use it more than one way.
Anna? Again, classic. Pearls, good posture, graceful and gracious. About the same as Cla(i)re.
Before reading the rest of the thred responses:
My first thought was “1970’s Soap Opera characters”.
Actually I like most of them, particularly Clare, which is both feminine and serious - she could be an actress, waitress, senator, or doctor with a name like that. Not much anyone can do to make an teasing or too-cutesy nickname out of it.
you have 2 from the “plain” list: anna and clare. they are no nonsense names. annie could happen. a little tidbit, st. clare was proclaimed the patron saint of television by pope pius in 1958. as mentioned above more popular in uk than us. before meeting an anna or clare you would get a mental picture of a no nonsense, follows the rules, able, sensible dressing woman.
you have 2 from the ultra feminine list: susanna and cassandra. it is all in the s and a. susiq could happen, as could sukie. you mentioned above susanna is a family name… may i suggest shoshana? susanna is of shoshana like mary is of mariam. the upside to cassandra is the multiple nicks. before meeting a susanna or cassandra you get a mental picture of a very feminine, foo-foo, just so, floaty pastel wearing woman.
you have 1 name that is a feminized boys name. erika (i am more partial to the k) is a very strong name. riki could happen. before meeting an erika one gets the impression of a tom-boy, free thinking, one of the boys, dresses mostly in slacks or jeans, woman.
you mentioned that the newby has an older sibling. go with the name that matches well with the kidlet you have now. match plain with plain, fancy with fancy. if you have a daughter named mary or a son named john or michael… anna and clare would work better than susanna or cassandra. erika would work best with a gender neutral named sister or a brother with a manly man name.
i know people who felt they got the short end of the name stick. having a sibling with a name they think is better or more original makes it a bit worse.
Nah, I was thinking that every Cassandra I’ve ever met has been heavy and of no more than moderate intelligence.
They’re all fine names. I am not overly fond of Susanna, but it’s not a bad name. Please spell Claire with an “i” as the Lord intended, and get that 'k" out of Erika, unless you’re posting from Scandinavia/Germany.
I almost fell over when I opened this thread–none of these names are trendy, ridiculous or destined-to-be-stripper/hooker names. Well done! You have my permission to have more children. 
You must be thinking of “eclair.” 
Anna is the patron saint of my hometown, very popular in general in Spain but even more so around that town. Can be combined well with other names, producing Anabel (Ana Isabel), Anamari (Ana María) and other variants.
Cassandra is my favorite character from the Troy stories, perhaps because I tend to suffer from a bit of Cassandra syndrome when I’m with people who still don’t know my dire predictions have a way of coming true if they don’t listen.
Clare is one of my favorite saints and a name that’s beautiful in itself. The word clara means “transparent,” “clear,” “understandable.”
Erika is “one of those imported names,” it’s ok (and of course depending on where the Erika is from, it’s not imported at all).
Susanna the one at the pond. “Beautiful.”
I like the first three better, but what can I say, I like all of them.
Seconding what Mrs. Cake said — they all sound like names of soap opera characters.
We have no desire to come up with oddly spelled names or anything like that. As for the spellings, my wife likes Erika with the K as she says that’s the way it sounds. Clare is Irish, which my wife has on her side. We still haven’t come close to anything I think, we’ll have to wait until the little one comes out.
The Thai wife of an American of my acquaintance just had a baby girl. They named her Viktoria. He says that’s the Swedish spelling. He’s American by virtue of his father, but his mother was Swedish, and he grew up in Stockholm until age 16, when he moved to California to be with his father. Pushing 40 now, he has no accent whatsoever when he speaks English and is an American through and through, with very few ties left to Sweden, even though he still speaks it fluently. (He was of immense help to the Swedish Embassy after the tsunami; a LOT of vacationing Swedes died.) So the girl will be closely tiesd to the US rather than to Sweden and will forever be explaining how her name is spelled. :rolleyes:
Anna – beautiful name, I like it
Cassandra – beautiful name, I like it
Clare – last I checked, it was spelled “Claire” :D. I don’t like this spelling.
Erika – I was born in 1981, I know about 15,000 ericas. “Erika” looks to me like a cheap knockoff of Erica, which is already plain-vanilla common.
Susanna – Oh Sue-san-na, I don’t really like this name.
When I read “Clare” I started humming this in my head:
*…
My baby’s love is called Clare
Serpentine seductress, I can’t compare
My baby’s love is merciless to me
Wailing like a hussy and laughing drunkenly
Clare was born in New Orleans
She grew up in the bars of Bourbon Street
Back in the days of Marie Laveau
She learnt the ways of that old voodoo
…*
“Clare” by Fairground Attraction (aka Ms. Eddi Reader)
I like Cassandra Anna or Anna Cassandra myself. Or Susanna Clare (nobody will care about the spelling if it’s a middle name). As a first name, I vote for for the spelling Claire too. It reminds me of the adorable Claire Grogan, actress (Comfort and Joy) and lead singer of the 80’s pop band Altered Images (“Happy Birthday”).
The first thing I think when I see “Erika” is “That’s spelt wrong!”
Which I know is silly, because in a lot of languages it is spelt with a K, but in English I think it looks affected.
Erica, on the other hand, I like, and it has the bonus of also being the Latin name of heather. (Which is another name I like.)
As for Clare/Claire, my fianceé’s middle name is Clare, and for ages I could never remember whether it had an “i” or not. That was annoying, as her e-mail address includes her middle name! For a long time I had to open Gmail and check the address book if I needed to write it down. :smack:
My sister’s middle name is (I think) Claire, but I am not totally sure on the spelling there either…
Seems you’re not clear on Claire…