Diana? Too old fashioned?

I really like Diana as a whole name, but Di (Die) as a nickname gives me pause. Diana makes me think of Anne of Green Gables first, then the princess. I also like Dinah (think I prefer Dinah, slightly).

@shellistar I love it. Kind of makes me want another child.

Love it. But then I love the princess. DH has two older family members called Dianne so I guess I could angle for it.
Could you spell it Dianna? Lessens the princess connection.

@IrishMamaMia our Diana's nickname is Deedee. Totally outing of course

@pondskimmer yes that annoys me so much, its such a beautiful name with the correct Irish pronunciation.

So beautiful, so classic and underused. Wonderful link to mythology too. I wouldn't worry about the Princess Di link at all.
I like Dee as a nickname too but it's a relatively short name so you/she might not even bother with one.

Definitely very dated

I dont like it but theres nothing wrong with it. I would also suggest not sharing your names with your family until after the baby is born!

Diana is a lovely name. The Princess has been dead for almost 23 years. I don't think the comparison is automatic.

I wanted to called DS2 Deidre after my Irish cousin - pronounced Dare-dr-eh but DH thought it was old fashioned and DS2 turned out to be a boy not a girl! Not pronounced like Deer-dree Barlow from Coronation St but DH said that was how people would pronounce it.

Deirdre Barlow's mispronunciation has been driving Irish people mad for decades. It's 'DEER-druh' -- the second syllable is a schwah.

I feel strangely invested in this now, OP. Please tell us what you decide!

(Go Diana!!)

Oh actually I surprise myself by actually loving this!

I think it's really dated but I think I am the minority on here!!

The post I was commenting on said "the word Die" not the sound "di".
There is a difference, and that was rather my point. All sorts of words and names share sounds. Surely, we interpret those sounds in context of the rest of the word or name, not independently? For instance, the word catapult begins with the sound "cat", but it does not begin with the word "cat". That word (obviously) has a very different meaning.

Look, I've said I'm sorry if I was impolite. I'm out of this now.

The name Diana does start with the sound “die” @florascotia2 I don’t think it matters what level of education you have to hear that “Diana” begins with a Die sound

I like Dinah and Diana
I wanted to called DS2 Deidre after my Irish cousin - pronounced Dare-dr-eh but DH thought it was old fashioned and DS2 turned out to be a boy not a girl! Not pronounced like Deer-dree Barlow from Coronation St but DH said that was how people would pronounce it.

Not sure on Diana but I really love Dinah.

Sorry; didn't mean to be impolite. But one can take almost any syllable out of context and find an alternative meaning, for Diana or for any other name.
And someone who posted shortly before me did actually say "it will begin with the word Die" and that was what prompted my comment.

@florascotia2, I really don’t think people are labouring under the delusion that the ‘Di’ in Diana suggests an etymology derived from anything to do with death, they are simply saying that the first syllable suggests death to them because of the sound. This has nothing to do with the education system or your somewhat overperformed sorrow about its failings as regards teaching Mumsnetters classical myths.

Also forgot to mention - we loved it not only because it was a family name but because it's a beautiful classic name that really isn't currently popular so DD won't be in a school year with 25 other Diana's.

Diana has been around for over 2000 years. Lovely name.
Do please ignore people who try to mix modern spelling/meaning with the original. The 'di' sound in 'diana' has nothing to do with the modern English word die, and it just (I am honestly very very sorry to say this) seems rather uneducated to suggest that it does. That's a fault of the education system, not of individual posters, of course.

I'm also a bit askance as to posers who want to control nicknames. For thousands of years also, these have just happened, according to the appearance/characteristcs/associations of the person conerned. For example, my late mother had a name that began with the letter M but was universally known since childhood by a nickname beginning with 'P'. I'm sure there are many, many parallels. Nicknames are organic - they just evolve.

I like Dinah too. It makes me think of Dinah Sheridan.

Love it. I like Dinah even more.

I love it as just watched Anne of Green Gables. Beautiful name and meaning. I would definitely use it.

OP first rule - never discuss names with anyone other than your husband/partner!