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Baby names

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

Original poster

Elise or Alice?

66 replies

tedladybird · 02/09/2019 20:36

We are leaning towards Elise which we both love but I wonder if it's too unusual and we would be better off going for a more classic name like Alice, which we also like very much.

We have one DD already who is Clara Louise.

Which would you go for, Alice or Elise?

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Cotswoldmama · 03/09/2019 19:07

Love Elise! Love Alice too but I know a lot of Alices! 3 young Alice's and 4 older alices!!!

Original poster
tedladybird · 03/09/2019 18:40

@pullingmysocksup yes Alice is #24 and Elise way down the list, not in the top 100.

@newelthammum eldest is just Clara, middle name gets used only very rarely!

@kanga83 ditto and Luisa was on our list too!

OP posts:
helpmum2003 · 03/09/2019 18:18

Both lovely names. If you like them the same I would go for Alice as less spelling/pronunciation issues.

Bananaboy9 · 03/09/2019 18:16

Alice 10000%

PullingMySocksUp · 03/09/2019 18:15

I know a lot of
Elise
Isla
Aisla type names.

Only one Alice though. So I think Alice is the unusual one atm. Have you looked at the ONS baby names to see?

Goose4 · 03/09/2019 18:11

As long as you don't do what my friend did and call her 'Elise Alice Surname', either one is lovely!

SemperIdem · 03/09/2019 15:22

@tedladybird I was exactly the same when I was pregnant, surprised I didn’t crash the ONS website Grin

user1493494961 · 03/09/2019 10:38

I don't think Elise is as 'classy' as Alice.

alwaysonadiet1 · 03/09/2019 08:58

Elise

AverageMummy · 03/09/2019 08:17

@tedladybird I have a Clara who’s 5 & we’ve never met another - not at school, swimming, ballet etc

NoSauce · 03/09/2019 08:15

Alice 100% Elise seems dated to me. Alice is a classic and perfect with Clara.

Kanga83 · 03/09/2019 08:06

Good name choice! I have a Luisa Clara (Spanish spelling for Louisa), and if I had another girl she would be Alice. I think it works beautifully with Clara.

NewElthamMum13 · 03/09/2019 07:51

Do you call your oldest "Clara" or "Clara Louise"? If the latter, Elise and Clara Louise sounds confusing and rhymes too closely and it would be hard for people to differentiate the names when spoken together in a sentence. If she's just Clara then this is not an issue of course.

I'd go for Alice personally - they are both classic names and both beautiful, but many people won't know how to pronounce Elise so you get that slight pause and beat of uncertainty while people think it through. I know an Elise and there's always that confusion over whether it's Elise or Elisa for instance.

Chitarra · 03/09/2019 07:31

I know one of each!

WellVersedInEtiquette · 03/09/2019 07:21

I know several Elise's. Not that uncommon round here!

Astronica · 03/09/2019 07:20

I prefer Alice, but both are fine and both work perfectly well next to Clara. Elise is more an 80s name to me but has the advantage of being less popular right now for little ones.

TillyTheTiger · 03/09/2019 07:04

Elise. It's prettier, and less common.

Original poster
tedladybird · 03/09/2019 07:00

@semperldem not out there I agree, but Clara was only 89 on the list last year...although possibly I am overthinking now and need to step away from the ONS website!!

I'm someone with a very typical 80s name so spent my school years as Ted M in a class with Ted R and Ted P (for example) which always bothered me!

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SemperIdem · 03/09/2019 06:44

Elise. It’s a much nicer name than Alice and has the added bonus of not having a dodgy song from the 90’s haunting it (yes people absolutely do remember it).

Clara is itself very popular though so I wouldn’t let the popularity of either Elise or Alice put you off, it’s not as though you named your first child something truly out there like Zenobia.

pumpkinpie01 · 02/09/2019 23:37

For context our Elise very rarely gets called Elsie by mistake , think it's happened 2-3 times in her whole life .

Tolleshunt · 02/09/2019 23:17

I like them both but prefer Alice.

Someone upthread suggested Elise might be a new name. It isn’t. My great-great grandmother, born in the 1860s was called Elise.

AverageMummy · 02/09/2019 23:10

OP the current fashion is to be as unique as possible with girls names so even the top ones are nowhere near the top names of our generation. Alice is only at 0.28% of babies!

AlmondVanHolden · 02/09/2019 22:44

Elise

Oh Elise it doesn't matter what you say.......

Love "Letter to Elise" and The Cure in general. Great song.

I think it WILL get mistaken for Elsie and even Eloise. But I still love it.

Original poster
tedladybird · 02/09/2019 22:40

@matleavemadam that's amazing, I guess it must depend on area. According to the ONS stats just released there were 1827 babies called Alice last year and only 235 called Elise!

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LadyGAgain · 02/09/2019 22:38

Alice