Ellen, Alice or other?

[Ohlalala]

Hi, My husband and I are still struggling to pick a name for our daughter (due mid March). The main criteria is that the name has to work in both English and French. So far we have narrowed it down to Ellen and Alice. Other names that we considered were Charlotte (but we thought it may be too popular what with Princess Charlotte), Clara and Claire. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[NotNob]

Ellen gorgeous, also like Claire but not the others.

[AppleSnapple]

Clara is my girls name if I were ever to have another (which I won't!) I love the name, it's classical and gorgeous!

Ellen also lovely.

[FennyBridges]

Sarah?

[DramaAlpaca]

I love Alice, but don't like Ellen.

Claire would be lovely, it must be due a revival.

[thebiscuitindustry]

Clara and Claire are both nice. Clara has become quite popular, and Claire is due a comeback I think.

[Quercus3]

Ellen and Alice are both really lovely - I'd go with Ellen as it seems to be a bit rarer :)

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

Love both. Classic and beautiful.
Other English French names may be
Emily / Emilie? Colette? Coleen ? Helen / Helene?

[Whocanthatbeatthishour]

Alice is beautiful and not overused.Would have been my number one for a girl.

[CoodleMoodle]

I like Alice and Ellen but Alice is my favourite. It's my DD's middle name, and I was going to save it for future DDs but was worried I wouldn't have another! It's beautiful.

All of your names are pretty, though. Ellen is lovely.

[susieb19]

How about Amelie (pronounced Amm-a-lee)?

[Sophronia]

Ellen is lovely and underused

[ABitAsleep]

Ellen is my middle name. I like it! It's not too popular, but not too 'out-there'.

I also like;
Clara
Emmeline
Helena
Adrianna
Violet
Beatrix
Carly
Marnie
Stephanie
Natalie
Marielle

[LeonoraFlorence]

I prefer Alice :)

[mrsschu]

I love Ellen. It's classic and classy. I'm not a huge fan of Ellie as a nn but gives your DD some options when she's older perhaps. Alice is nice too but nothing on Ellen IMO. Not too keen on Clara plus there are lots around at the mo if that bothers you. Ellen Claire is a good combo.

[Ohlalala]

Thank you everyone for your answers - these are really useful (and reassuring!). Thank you, also, for the other suggestions you made. Just for info, we are sometimes struggling with what the same name sounds like in English or French. For example, Amelie is a lovely name in English but in French, I'd associate it with a woman in her 30s. Keep the suggestions coming though. It's super useful!

[Gracey79]

Love Alice. Would worry Ellen would end up Elle/Ellie. Also like Clara haven't seen a little claire for years but a good classic name

[Gracey79]

Or esme?

[magpie17]

I love Alice and Ellen, think Alice is my favourite - both are classics but underused. Claire is really common for my age group (mid 30s) but would be very unusual for a baby and is a lovely name too.

[LaurieLemons]

Ellen and Clara are my favourites

[LookingForAdvice12345]

Ellen

[manicinsomniac]

I like Alice, Clara and Claire. Less keen on Ellen (though I really like Ella)

Arianne, Adele, Aimee, Celine, Eloise, Elodie, Elisabeth, Isabelle, Juliette, Louise, Madeleine, Marianne, Odette, Sophie.

We had a little girl at school for a while who was Belgian and her name was Sixtine which I thought was really cute. But the other children did find it quite amusing at first so maybe not such a good one for England.

[Oddoneout63]

I'm with mrsschuh- Ellen is very sweet for a baby; lovely for a school child; grown up for an adult! Iyswim!

Also agree she can use Ellie later if she wants & it sounds nice if you say it with a French accent. Alice doesn't sound quite right with French.

[BeautyIsTruth]

Ah I was going to suggest Sylvie but I know it's quite dated in France.

How about Laura? That's pronounced the same, although a bit dated here.

I like both Ellen and Alice for what it's worth.

[midsomermurderess]

Another vote for Alice here. I'm a bit surprised by how relatively underused it it.

[mrsmeerkat]

Ellen is one of my favourite names