Alternative Girls Name

Juliet Matilda is beautiful.

Juliet Matilda is gorgeous OP.

I would just use Matilda.

Juliet Matilda is great.

Aw!
I love Matilda nickname Tilly!
If the other Matilda is a close family member (they’ll be first cousins or share step siblings) then it would be a no, otherwise it’s fun to have a friend /relative with the same name.

I actually share my name with my grandma, a first cousin and a second cousin and I’ve always loved having a little name club but it’s common in my culture.

I also really like Sofia despite its popularity. So another option is Sofia Matilda.
Unless I just give up on trying to incorporate Matilda.....

Thank you everyone. Its the OP here. I had to make a new account, I somehow managed to delete my old account 🤦‍♀️
I'm currently really loving Juliet too. Not sure if Juliet Matilda is too many syllables though for a name?

I’d go with Matilda. I’d just let her know that it’s a name you’ve always loved, I wouldn’t be asking her permission rather just giving a heads up.

We had our first choice name taken too. It was a close friend, we live in same village, and children would be going to same school in the same school year.

We went back to the drawing board. Whilst I still love the name that was taken, the name we settled on is also very lovely and suits our daughter.

How about Florence (Flo), Connie, Iris, Cerys or Mabel?

I love Matilda but would call her Mattie. Is that an option? I also love Meredith/Merry.

Imelda
Clotilde
Michaela

I personally wouldn't use it.
I think you are within your rights to do so - of course - but I wouldn't.
I also think Elspeth and Serafina are much nicer than Matilda so that probably helps my decision. Elspeth Matilda is a gorgeous name.

Much prefer Seraphina and Elspeth to Matilda Tilly gives me bad vibes due to someone I used to know

Elspeth Matilda is absolutely gorgeous!!!!

I've got a Matilda and was set on it since a little girl so wouldn't have changed it for anything. Did she know that you were planning on using it? Everybody knew it was going to be my future child's name so luckily it wasn't an issue for me, but like others have said unless you see each other daily I'd go with it!

I like Elspeth a lot.
Seraphina is a bit 'frilly' imo.

How about:
Elsa
Ismay
Ailsa
Edith
Winifred
Willa
Estelle
Flora
Alice
Laurel
Juliet

Matilda is incredibly popular at the moment so it's not like you would be picking the same 'unusual' name as your friend- there's likely to be a few in every year group at school. As it's not your sister's DC I would honestly use it anyway- she's not much of a friend if she's annoyed by it! Just take her to one side maybe and explain it's the name you've always had picked out and that your DC are used to- any reasonable person would understand.

If you like the Tilly bit them chose a name that can be shortened like Chantilly

I do quite like Seraphina a d you could use Matilda as a middle name

Tabitha? Or Tilda.

I love Elspeth. It was on my shortlist for girls.

Instead of Matilda, how about Meredith - Merry for short? Or Tabitha - Tabby for short.

If your boys have been calling your bump Matilda and the friend is really close, presumably she will already know this. Give her the heads up that you're still planning to use Matilda for your DD when she's born and remind her that your boys have been calling her that for a while already.

That said, if you love the name Harriet, then I don't think it matters that you have a DS with Harry as his middle name. You'll probably find that if you have a Harriet, or even a Matilda, that when you are rounding up your children, you stick to their first names i.e. you won't call, "Henry, Samuel Harry, Harriet..."

how about Domitilla?

Seraphina is a bit too frilly sounding for me, but Elspeth is lovely.

However I would still use Matilda if you really love it - unless it was a very close family member or your absolute best friend (so you saw them on a daily/weekly basis), I don't think generally friends or family can be surprised when really popular names are used by others!

I wouldn't use just Tilly though - it's too nicknamey/insubstantial on it's own imo. But it could work as a nn for Talia/Thalia? Or if you like the sound of the similar Milly, there are a few longer versions for that - Emilia/Emily, Amelia/Amalia, Camilla/Camille, Milena, Camellia.

Other names that remind me of Matilda in feel - Freda/Frederica, Eleanor, Alice, Freya, Athena, Miranda, Georgina, Alexandra, Harriet/Henrietta, Marina, Petra, Sibyl/Sibylla, Margaret/Greta.

Love the name Matilda. If you're very close to this person surely she's aware that you really like this name. I would still use it and shorten to Tilly if that is your preference.