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Hyphenate it (& be a bit Mumzilla about empahsising the hyphen).

Dora-May no longer rhymes with 'explorer' or hums along to Wizadora and just becomes a pretty name in the Granny-chic mould.

Dora the Explorer is preschool isn't it? My 20mo is a huge fan. She goes do do and points at the TV!

Thanks for your replies everybody, and sorry for my brief disappearing act!

I do love Isadora, but it feels more like a character in a story that my daughter, if that makes sense (and I also think of Wizadora!) I'm not sure it really suits us, and the more I think about it, if I am going to name my daughter after my Gran then I should just call her Dora May ;)

Until now the frontrunners have been Iris, which has always been my favourite girl's name, and Aoife, as DH is Irish and we have a lot of Eva's in our family, which I believe it is the equivalent of.

Not convinced Dora the Explorer will still be around by the time she’s old enough to feel embarrassed by it (which I’m guessing will be preteens) – there’s twelve years difference between me and my youngest sister and she's never heard of the things I used to watch - she doesn't even remember the CBBC broom cupboard! No ... wait ... she did used to watch my old Dogtanian VHS, which my Dad has lovingly preserved, for some ungodly reason....

Of course, it will probably be a boy, and all this worrying will have been for nothing! Then I will be faced with the thorny issue of DH’s obsession with the name Jeremiah (who in my book was a bullfrog, not a baby)

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Love adorable, despite The Explorer being on loop in our house.

I like Isadora too, although it's a very different sort of name, Dora to me is cute and homely, Isadora is pretty and posh. Although if you go with Isadora nn Dora she gets both depending on the occasion.

Sorry for the loss of your Grandma. I think it's lovely to name your little girl after her.

Isadora is lovely My DH's grandmother is also called Dora, and names related to it are very big on that side of his family (they also keep a long family tree with fascinating names):

Dorathea, Dorothy, Theodora, Theadora, Adora (which we were thinking of using if DS2 had been a girl), Dorianne, Eudora, Leadora. Dory/Dorie shows up quite a bit though likely a nickname for one of the other names.

There are also lots of similar masculine names like Theodor, Doran, Dorian, Amidor.

Isadora is gorgeous!!
Don't worry about the connection lots of names have them and tbh if poople/children are going to make fun of someone they will do it regardless of there being a pop culture etc reference so best thing is to be brave, use the beautiful name and make sure your daughter knows how wonderful it is and who shes named after.

Theodora is lovely too.
Pandora - Goddess name meaning beautiful, I think its lovely!

Oh, I like Isodora, it's quite pretty, but I wouldn't use it because the 'joke' would also follow in my head (Isodora - no it's a wall)

I think it would be a lovely thing to do, but I'd also expect a fair bit of teasing re 'Dora the Explorer' - but to a certain extent, if it's not that it'll be something else wont it

I had an Aunty Dora - she was a great aunt, she was in her 80's when I was a teenager, she was lovely

I know a baby Dora of Greek parentage - lovely name!

But as an Australian growing up in the 70s I still think of the learn-to-read books Dick and Dora. "Look at Dora run. Run, Dora, run!"

My Grandma was called Dora too
It's a lovely name and I hope to use it if I ever have another girl.

I used to know someone called 'Doria', which I think is a nice variant.

Also, 'Dorian' is unisex, so you could consider that for a boy too...

Dora makes me think of Follyfoot.

<shows age>

I think it's beautiful, and Dorothea was on my short list for DC2. Sadly vetoed by DH.

How funny lynzie, youve reminded me of a girl I used to know called Laura whose Dad NNed her 'Laura-Dora'.

Laura is a lovely name, well overdue a revival; I think we've established it has the same sound-quality to Dora.

Laura could be another option?

My best friend is laura, my little girl calls her aunty dora,
It grew on me and her and Laura is now dora officially to pretty much everyone.
My child's logic was Laura and Dora rhyme lol so in a longway I guess I'm saying Laura could be a possibility for you?

Or Doris/Doreen

I like Dora on it's own, too.

Could also be short for
Pandora
Dorothea, Dorothy
Deborah

Dora was my Grandma's name so I do like it. I prefer Isadora as a more modern version though

I think its a great plan, too. There's a Harry Potter Dora, short for Nymphadora(!) but she's a hero.

Nice classic name with a meaningful reason. Go for it.

I love Dora. I really, really wanted to call dd1 Dora, but my dp vetoed it. I regret not using it - it would have really suited her.

Isadora May is gorgeous.

Molotov oh yes!

<May try and catch an episode on YouTube>

Love Dora

I love the name Dora....

MmeLindor, my eldest DD is almost 4yo and she's a huge Dora fan: it's regularly on Nickelodeon. I don't see it's popularity waning, either.