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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Elinor or Eleanor?

81 replies

CheerfulYank · 04/03/2012 23:43

Which spelling do you prefer? :)

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Beans1977 · 16/03/2012 10:53

Hi - I'm a 34-year-old Eleanor and can count the number of times I've had to spell my name out on one hand. Everyone gets it right. I love my name and am glad it's having a bit of a renaissance.

(However my nn is Elly and that's a whole other issue - people insist on writing Ellie even when they've known me for years!)

Clawdy · 15/03/2012 19:02

My Elinor is pronounced exactly like Eleanor...it is the same name after all. Beautiful however you spell it.

MoonHare · 15/03/2012 18:04

Eleanor.

We have an Eleanor, it's a lovely name and is pronounced by everyone - El a nuh.

I think Elinor is a different pronuciation, as someone else has said - El i naw.

So depending on which you choose I think you will find your daughter's name is pronounced differently. So pick the one with the pronunciation you prefer.

Great choice either way :)

justwantcheese · 10/03/2012 15:46

eleanor

madaboutmadmen · 09/03/2012 18:30

As a fluent Welsh speaker and someone who has lived in Wales all life and knows plenty of Elinors, I can assure you it is Welsh. it may be one of the accepted English spellings too, but it is a Welsh name also. I can refer you to a book called Welsh names for Children which includes it if you like!

CaptainHetty · 09/03/2012 11:58

Eleanor. My sister's name, actually. It does get shortened to Ellie and Els, but neither she nor my parents have ever minded that.

MrsArchieTheInventor · 09/03/2012 11:48

Eleanor - DD likes her name and it's shortenable to Ellie, Elle, Belle, Elliebean etc etc. When we gave Elle her name we didn't really know of any other spelling, though I doubt it would have changed if we had.

PercyFilth · 09/03/2012 11:44

They are both long-established English spellings.

Clawdy · 08/03/2012 23:01

Elinor is NOT Welsh. Elin is Welsh.

madaboutmadmen · 08/03/2012 21:56

one's Welsh (Elinor) one's English(?) Eleanor.

morethemerrier · 08/03/2012 21:53

I have an Eleanor, never occurred to spell it any other way! Grin

Sittinginthesun · 08/03/2012 17:32

Morpeth - when I was 17, my lovely boyfriend told me that he would love to have four children, starting when I was 24, and wanted the first girl to be Elanor.

(no happy ending - we split up a year later, and I have no idea whether he had children, bit still Smile when I remember).

Original poster
CheerfulYank · 08/03/2012 17:28

Thanks Penelope, it is pretty isn't it? :)

That's funny Clawdy! It's such a lovely name. My mom's name is Jody, so I thought I'd go with Josephine as a sort-of-after-her middle name. :)

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Clawdy · 08/03/2012 17:15

DD is Elinor,the old english spelling,and she has always loved it. We also know an Eleanor,and I would say they both have to spell it out to people occasionally. My Elinor is Elinor Josephine,and she has been called Ellie Jo, by her brothers mainly,as a fun nickname, but now she is a little older,they call her Els! Grin

PenelopeCruisewear · 08/03/2012 16:53

Wow, Susannah Rosamund is my new favourite name combo - gorgeous!

morpethnel · 08/03/2012 13:27

Just to add some more confusion, I am Elanor - I LOVE my name despite the daft spelling (the fault of my dad,who was a big Tolkien fan at the time, the little flowers where the elves live are called elanor and so Sam the hobbit names his daughter Elanor when he returns home at the very end of the third Lord of the rings book)

So, if you want a name no one ever spells right, but with a nice story behind it...

I will have just outed myself with that, but not a regular so don't really care!

Pernickety · 08/03/2012 13:21

I like the name spelt both ways but I prefer Elinor. I wouldn't worry about spelling. My daughter has a straightforward top 10 name, with only one way of spelling it, and still people spell it incorrectly.

Ixia · 08/03/2012 01:33

I have an Eleanor, but for a long time I dithered about having the spelling changed to Elinor. We're happy with Eleanor now, but I do still like the other spelling, it has a more medieval, Lord of the Rings feel to it. My French friend pronounces it Ellie-an-ore, sounds much more exotic!

Mysecretumbrella · 05/03/2012 22:12

L00pylulu, us too! Although DD is now 3 and corrects people who call her El-en-er! TBH I think I now find the el-in-or pronunciation a little clunky but it's a bit late now... I have been toying with Nora and/or Nell myself.

l00pylulu · 05/03/2012 22:04

We went for Eleanor spelling and for some unknown reason decided to pronounce it Ele-an-nor, but everyone else pronounces as Ele-a-nuh. Getting rather fed up of correcting people and might just call her Nora instead. :-p

DD would have Been William Robert if she was a boy, (DH father name and DH's name) was slightly concerned about Billy Bob, but thought no one would think of it!

Original poster
CheerfulYank · 05/03/2012 20:49

Sigh. I know. I am known to be difficult when it comes to names. Which may be why I have to have them hammered out well in advance. :)

I like double names (like Annie Rose, obviously) but they have to be the right names. Ellie Jo is too...too Lily-Mai to me, or something? I don't know why they're different, but to my ear they are. :)

We were set on naming DS William Robert, but one night I went into a cold dread over the thought that someone, somewhere, might call him Billy Bob.

He is Samuel Robert instead. :o

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PercyFilth · 05/03/2012 20:37

Sorry, then I just don't get it. Confused

DustyDen · 05/03/2012 20:36

It's my favourite name, but I cannot decide how to spell it. I'm quite a Tolkien fan, so Elanor would be lovely; I have a close friend called Elinor (Elly); but I think Eleanor is somehow the most elegant.

Original poster
CheerfulYank · 05/03/2012 20:33

No! No Ellie Jo! Absolutely not. :)

I don't want the names to be "matchy-matchy", but the length should be about the same in my opinion.

I have Very Serious Opinions when it comes to names.

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PercyFilth · 05/03/2012 20:29

Cheerful Yank I can't really see your twins nn problem - if you want them to match, you could have Annie Rose and Ellie Jo.

Quite funny to have Eleanor and Rosamund though ..... :o