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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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EllenParsons · 05/03/2012 19:18

Toad, Elinor is a traditional spelling, just not as popular!

Toadinthehole · 05/03/2012 19:02

IMO, traditional spellings are best, therefore Eleanor.

Original poster
CheerfulYank · 05/03/2012 17:19

We have always had Eleanora picked out as our hypothetical girl's name (was DH's grandmother) and I do like Elle or Ellie or even Nell as nn...however if we were going to shorten it to Eleanor, I prefer the Elinor spelling. Very Dashwood-esque. :o

OP posts:
EllenParsons · 05/03/2012 13:24

I love both pretty much equally but I would probably go for Eleanor for simplicity's sake... though Elinor seems a bit more interesting.

squoosh · 05/03/2012 12:52

Eleanor - reminds me of horrible girl in my class at school. And always reminds me of Lenor fabric softener.

Elinor - so much prettier. Reminds me of Elinor M Brent Dyer. Jolly hockeysticks!

KatAndKit · 05/03/2012 11:30

Eleanor. This is my favourite girls name. However I can't use it as I am having a little boy!

FilterCoffee · 05/03/2012 11:03

Eleanor (otherwise you'll always be correcting people)

Merran · 05/03/2012 10:30

Eleanor

kilmuir · 05/03/2012 10:28

ELEANOR

PercyFilth · 05/03/2012 10:26

It was years before I heard anyone say the name Elinor (as opposed to just seeing it on paper) and I hadn't realised that Elinor was prn the same as Eleanor. I used to think it was E-liner like bin liner or cruise liner. Blush

Psammead · 05/03/2012 10:00

I think Eleanor looks nicer Smile

TheCrunchUnderfoot · 05/03/2012 09:56

Elinor, because of Jane Austen and to me it seems the cleaner, clearer phonetic spelling as opposed to 'Ell-ee-an-or' - that spelling jars somewhat.

Fraktal · 05/03/2012 09:29

Elinor (biased). It's an accepted alternative spelling and people either ask or I say ElinorwithanI

Bonsoir · 05/03/2012 09:29

And don't worry about spelling confusion. All the Eleanors I know have problems with people spelling their name Elena.

Bonsoir · 05/03/2012 09:28

Elinor

Puremince · 05/03/2012 09:13

Eleanor. If you use the Elinor spelling, people will constantly get it wrong, and she'll have a lifetime of spelling it out.

DoItRight · 05/03/2012 08:53

Elinor

HettyKett · 05/03/2012 08:50

Eleanor

javotte · 05/03/2012 08:47

Eleanor. It's my daughter's middle name, I love it!

SlinkingOutsideInFrocks · 05/03/2012 08:46

I like both, actually. Jane Austen uses Elinor in Sense and Sensibility.

Elena is lovely too.

Shinyshoes1 · 05/03/2012 01:05

eleanor...............don't shorten it to Ellie, I don't like that Wink

MarjorieAntrobus · 05/03/2012 00:55

Eleanor

CointreauVersial · 05/03/2012 00:42

Eleanor.

Or have you thought about.....Elena?

alessthandomesticgoddess · 05/03/2012 00:39

Eleanor.

It was on my shortlist for DD1 too. Lovely name.

ZacharyQuack · 05/03/2012 00:34

Eleanor

Lovely name

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