Is this a nice name? Doubts!

I'm not fond of it - very dull, plus ella means 'come here' in Greek and we have lots of Greek people living in my community. They're always calling out to their grandkids "Ella ella".

That said it's certainly not an offensive name.

I once heard two older ladies discussing a new baby and one was telling the other that the baby didn't have a name, just letters "L" "a"

They were having a good old chat about the youth of today.

Here its Eve/Evie/Eva. One third of the girls in DDs class are named a variant of Eve rather confusing. Lots of Ella/Ellies too. These names are this generations Sarah and Jo equivalents i.e. perfectly decent names but now so common they are rendered deeply dull. There are so many great names out there why follow the herd?!

And every second child here is Eilidh, Isla or Caitlyn (in various spellings)

Okay. Millie and Mollie are also v popular. Holly too. Megan is quite well used. Bear in mind, these are 11 yrs and up, not babies. We are in the North.

Oh and I have a university education and live in Scotland - not sure why either of these make a difference though

We have 3 daughters. According to MN baby naming wisdom DD1 has an overused/dull name. DD2 has a chavvy name and DD3 has a name that should only be used for boys.

I love them all

I love it. We have one and no, we don't know any others. It depends on where you live.

The only advice I can give you is DO NOT DISCUSS BABY NAMES WITH ANYONE prior to baby's arrival.

Everyone will have a sodding opinion and if you love it use it

Born, would you mind please also saying what region you're in? We're W.Mids with a daughter at Pre-school age. We know only one Ella, but know of a few, and hear of many more, Ellie's. Thanks - just interested :)

It's a nice name, I only know one Ella, but there are lots of variations, such as Ellie, so it's not going to be a terribly unique name. But if you love it, then use it.
Saying that, I thought my DD's name was not common and yet there are 2 others at her tiny school and I know 2 babies with the same name!

It is beyond popular. I teach secondary and can't move for Elle's, Ella's and Ellie's. If you still like it, it's not awful, but not fabulous either.

I wouldn't use it in Scotland. Otherwise, it's lovely.

It's lovely, but I'd steer clear as it is so popular now. Several in DS1s school year (all born to uni educated parents, FWIW!) Wonder if it's regional. In London every single girl we met born the same year as DS1 seemed to be called some version of Mathilda: Milly, Tillie, Tilda, Mattie and all the boys were Ben - five in our street alone. Now in home counties all the girls are Ella and all the boys are Sam.

Not sure what being University educated has to do with it...... but I have a BA degree in Economics and I find Ella, whilst a nice name, a little overused these days. To me the point of naming someone is to identify him or her and giving your daughter a name that is already used by thousands of other little girls won't achieve this (on its own), so she will probably have to add an initial or other modifier to her name.

So, whether a name is 'nice' is very subjective and depends on a lot of factors including (imo) how widely it is already used.

I'm another university graduate (and post-grad with an Masters degree) who really likes the name Ella.

It was on our list for DD1. And, contrary to what has been posted by some, it is a name in it's own right and has rather lovely meanings, depending on where is cited as the country of origin. I know in German it comes from a word which means 'all, everything, complete' (can't think of the German word off the top of my head) and in Old English (I think) it means 'beautiful fairy maiden; beauty bestowed by fairies as a birth gift.' I know that the name has been around in England since the 11th Cetury, so ... Yes, it's popular but it has a long history: as names that are generally considerd to be nice tend to do!

I have a friend with an Ella and she is NNed 'Elle' and 'Elles'. Other friends of ours comment to her about how cool 'Elle' will sound when she's in her teens. I'm inclined to agree!

So, yes it is popular, but if you like it, to heck with people's very rude responses. It's not like you're wanting to call her Princess Tiamii, is it?

Which brings me to another point: just what do people want, anyway? A nice name that the baby can grow happily into a woman from (such as Jessica, Mia, Libby, etc) or some desperately trying-too-hard-to-be-different name?

Ah, and on the cool stakes - Ella Fitzgerald, anyone?

Yes totally devalued sorry. Now so common it has lost what little appeal it once had. Am sure you can come up with a much better name for your baby.

The only Ella I know is in her 50's.

I like it (but then I don't have a university education).

I know one in her 80s too!

The only little ones I know have it as a nn for a longer form. There are a lots of "Ellie" names around (and have been for many years), but does that actually matter?

Of course it's a real name

I only know one Ella amongst the children I know plus one I went to school with may many years ago. I always thought she had a cool name.

My Dd1 is Ella (and both dh and I are university educated CaringMum28 ).

There is only one other Ella in her school and apparently when role playing all her friends want the name Ella.

Having said that I do think it's becoming quite common now and I'd have thought twice about choosing it if I'd known at the time.

I have a very common name for my age group, 6 in my year at school and it was a bit of a pita being known by my name and surname initial. It's still the same when I do the school pick up, the number of mums with the same name as me is ridiculous.

I like Ella but here in the east it is very very popular I know 4! And ds is not at school. Nothing wrong though

DW had loved Ella as a name for years but by the time she was pregnant with our DD it was already very popular so decided against it....It's a bit like Mia in terms of demographic.....

I think it's lovely. Probably as a shortened version of Eleanor. It's on my short list but unfortunately DH prefers Eva which I'm not so keen on.

He's a dentist and apparently every name that I like and he doesn't is the name if a very annoying or difficult patient and just can't be used. So that only seems to leave us with names on his list

I like it! It is popular, there are two in DD1's class at school. DD1 wishes she was called Ella (Ella is her very best friend) and moans to me constantly and strangely it was on our list!

I don't know why people say it's not a proper name . It was my Grandma's name and she would be 88 if she was still alive.