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Baby names

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

Original poster

Phoebe, Cordelia or Isolde?

39 replies

feb1982 · 06/03/2022 08:17

Current top 3 names for dd2 due in a few weeks (dh yet to be persuaded on any of them so need to decide which I like best first 😁)

  • Phoebe, love the history and meaning (similar to the meaning off dd1's name so a nice link) but not a fan of the nickname Pheebs. Also I have the same name as one of the characters in Friends so would we get lots of comments about that?
  • Cordelia, love the literary connection although dd says it just makes him think of Buffy 😆
  • Isolde, which I would pronounce Is-old-eh but I know there are various ways. Would dd always be correcting/spelling it out for people?

Let me know your favourite! And any comments/alternative suggestions would be great. Thank you!

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FayCarew · 10/03/2022 16:52

Isolde is my favourite but all three are nice

Lemonweightloss · 10/03/2022 11:47

I don't normally like alliterative names but Clara and Cordelia is lovely. I also thought of Celeste, Verity and Martha.
I do like Phoebe but don't love it.
Isolde I love. When I first saw it on here, my first thought was Tristan and Isolde. One of the few things I remember from school.
Nancy
Esther

Zillamop · 10/03/2022 11:40

I like them all. Isolde is great but yes there are lots of Izzys already. You could go for Zol as nickname instead.

Original poster
feb1982 · 10/03/2022 11:23

Such a great meaning @CherryRipe1 and good to hear about your experience with a little Phoebe @Toodleloodle I agree that Daphne & Imogen are also lovely but both have been used by good friends in the past year 😬

OP posts:
CherryRipe1 · 09/03/2022 18:21

Cordelia is my middle name so I'm biased! My Mum loved it and it was a bit of a tribute to an aunt named Cornelia. It's supposedly derived from Coeur de Lion (Lion heart) or Creidd y Ladd, Welsh for 'from the sea'. Cordelia is also the nearest moon to Uranus! I get some mispronunciations ie Cord ay Lia & a freind nicknamed me Cords.

Toodleloodle · 09/03/2022 18:05

I love Phoebe. I have one. It does get mispelt and nn options aren't great, though Bee is cute. But I don't think the name really needs a nn - no one shortens Lucy, Heidi, Chloe etc. It's reasonably popular if you look at the stats, around 24 I think, but nothing like all the Evies, Ivys, Adas, Amelias and Sophias. Never met one so far and she's 9 months and I also have a toddler.

Isolde is nice, but Isabelle etc. are very popular and I don't like Izzy.

Cordelia - quite like it. Cora as nn? Also like pp suggestion of Cassia. Daphne is beautiful and Imogen is another name I was keen on.

Original poster
feb1982 · 09/03/2022 09:11

Or Bee!

OP posts:
Original poster
feb1982 · 09/03/2022 09:10

@DogsAndGin Bea is a great option for a great nn

OP posts:
DogsAndGin · 07/03/2022 18:12

Phoebe NN Bee?

Mumofgirls2017 · 07/03/2022 18:11

Isolde you could nn Izzy to make pronounciation easier

cyclamenqueen · 06/03/2022 16:40

Hebe is lovely , I also like Hester but dh wasn’t keen

Original poster
feb1982 · 06/03/2022 13:32

@Fivebeanchilli thanks, Hebe is a great alternative. @BlueFlavour I particularly like both Iris & Eira from your list although unfortunately Eira has recently been used by a friend!

OP posts:
BlueFlavour · 06/03/2022 12:48

Clara Iona Evelyn is lovely.
More suggestions
Anneliese

Maeve

Iris

Odette

Eira

Solange

Fivebeanchilli · 06/03/2022 10:37

Cordelia is my favourite by far. I like Corrie or Lia as nicknames (where we are almost everyone just goes by their full names anyway) but I probably wouldn't use it with a Clara as a sister.
Isolde is gorgeous as well.
I'm not keen on Phoebe and honestly the misspellings would put me off even if I did like it. I prefer Hebe but other people dislike the heebie-jeebies connotation...

duvetdayforeveryone · 06/03/2022 10:31

Elodie

CaffiSaliMali · 06/03/2022 10:28

Isolde, Phoebe, Cordelia is my order of preference. I would have had Phoebe last if you didn't already have a Clara.

Clara and Phoebe go very nicely together but Phoebe is very popular.

Isolde is lovely but quite unusual compared to Clara. They do sound nice together. I prefer Iseult to Isolde but Isolde matches Clara more and is arguably easier to pronounce. Eseld is the Cornish version of Iseult/Isolde and is very nice too. I love the Welsh version, Esyllt, bit the Ll makes it tricky to pronounce if you don't speak Welsh.

Cordelia is lovely - one of my colleagues has a Cordelia of primary school age. I don't think it's pretentious but you'd have too Miss C Surname in the household.

BungleandGeorge · 06/03/2022 10:24

I wouldn’t pronounce Isolde like that in English. Perhaps that’s why people don’t recognise it? I think most people would either go for an eh on the end or a silent e. If it bothers you how about Iseult?

ShowOfHands · 06/03/2022 10:19

People can neither pronounce nor spell my name. Doesn't bother me at all. People who stay in my life know my name.

WeaverofWords · 06/03/2022 10:15

Just thinking of names that go with your first DD and yours! How about:

Greta
Lucy/Lucia
Susanna
Juliet

I quite like Penelope but it seems too long against the other names.

WeaverofWords · 06/03/2022 10:12

Phoebe is ok and sounds a bit more normal. Maybe a bit popular. The other two are OTT.

merryhouse · 06/03/2022 10:12

I imagine child's friends are probably more likely to be familiar with Anne than Buffy.

Iolanthe is nice (I'm a sad G&S fan). Or Yolanda.

I don't like the shape of Phoebe but that's a personal quirk.

Purplestars22 · 06/03/2022 10:08

I love Phoebe, beautiful name and also love it’s history and meaning
Isolde looks nice written down but I think she would have issues with people not knowing how to pronounce it
Cordelia much too frilly for me and your dd’s would have the same initial

intheblightgarden · 06/03/2022 10:05

Don't like any of them, and phoebe too popular. Penelope is nice.

Orphlids · 06/03/2022 10:05

I dislike Izzy too. Our DD doesn’t have a nickname at present, but I sometimes wonder if I could get away with Sunny (mostly as an attempt to steer clear of Izzy) due to the French “ensoleillée”, with the similar sol sound. A bit of a stretch perhaps.

Fernsinthegarden · 06/03/2022 10:02

It’s not the same name but my friends daughter has quite a long name that has a natural shortening but she is only ever known by her long name, her parents don’t shorten it and she hasn’t tried to. Saying that she isn’t in school yet so could all change.
I’m now feeling bad for any Izzy’s I may have inadvertently offended 😂 for clarity, I like the name but knew several Izzy’s growing up so it was never something I’d have considered for my own.

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