Elsa Marianné

My childhood best friend was called Marianne, but pronounced Mah-ree-ahnn. Which is also how the name would be pronounced in French.

My partner having an 'umlaut' (ä) in his name, I'd strongly advise against the é - I stopped counting how many times he had to send back forms and re-apply for stuff (like bank accounts, land registry documents, driving licenses, utility bills...) and some offices point-blank refuse to write it correctly - meaning his name is spelled differently on various documents.

Also: In Marianné the é is French, but the French would not write it like this, nor would your intended pronounciation be a French name. The Germans would pronounce Marianne (without the é) the way you want it to be pronounced but would never use the é. It seems a bit strange to use a French letter to signify that a name should be pronounced in a German way... it feels a bit pretentious even, I'd say.

I like Elsa

I love Emma Marianne as well it has a lovely ring to it.

I think it is beautiful

Elsa is perfectly lovely. Dignified yet somehow playful too. Wish I'd thought of it for DD!

Your DH is mad to want Emma - I can think of 6 Emmas just in our small village alone, ranging in age from 6 to 36. Far, far too popular in my opinion.

Elsa is my favourite name of all time, absolutely yes!

Gosh what a coincidence - I have an aunt who is Elsa Marion (prefer your French version though).

I think it's lovely. My aunt however is another story so using the name for my dc in our family would have raised eyebrows.. that's just our mad setup though . I did seriously consider Elsa though because I like it very much.

Go for it - it's elegant and unusual but not in a gimmicky way.

Ooh!

Love Elsa!

I would go for Marianne without the accent,or spell Marianna if you want the pronunciation the same as your Grans.

What have ILs got to do with it?

Husband & I are obviously strange as we never told anyone what names we were considering, and everyone was told after the birth.

Lovely lovely lovely.

I'd worry about the pronouciation thing on the middle name but how often do you need to worry about that?

Elsa is a beautiful name.
I'd seriously think to use it if I had another child. We are Italian and Elsa was the name of a great 20th century Italian writer.

I don't think having an accent on a name is much fun in the era of computerisation. As Marianne (without) is a recognisable name she'll simply get called that.
Lovely name choices though.

I have an Elsa ! and although I don't want it to do a hike up the ratings charts, I do absolutely love it. Go for it !

I would go without the accent for Marianne. It looks a bit like you have taken a nice name and then 'tried too hard' by putting an accent on. Also, you can bet your bottom dollar that on any official paperwork the accent will be missing and it will just a source of frustration.
And personally, I love Marianne and even Marianna but don't like Marianne[accent] It does not look right nor does it sound right. (but then I am Dutch and grew up with quite a few Mariannes)

As for Elsa - I love it. It is nice

Does the accented version actually exist? If it does, then I don't like it still, but understand that some might.

I don't really understand why you don't want Marianne or Marianna if that is what the grandmother was called? Both are lovely.

Prefer Emma to Elsa myself. I find Elsa sounds a bit harsh and although there are a gazillion Emmas aged 25-35, it is due a classy comeback.

Marianna McGregor sounds lovely. I know a classical musician called something v similar (Marianna and then another Mc surname)

I love Marianne, it's on my will-never-need-can't forget list.

Elsa Marianne without the accent though.

Elsa is very fashionable. It could do a ruby style march up the charts.

Hi both nice names. I'd go without the accent too. My niece is called Ines with an accent on the e and it never gets written down with the accent at nursery/in cards wherever really.

My friend has an Elsa. Its lovely and not old fashioned like Elsie I think. I agree go with Marianne or Marianna and drop the accent.

Very nice (I'd drop the accent too, but I really like Marianne more than Marianna, and think it sounds better too, although that obviously depends on your surname as well).

Emma is a nice name, but Elsa is slightly more distinctive. Old fashioned is good at the moment in any case.

The accented version is silly; go for Marianne or Marianna without the accent Elsa is beautiful, imo. It's not old fashioned. Elsie is old fashioned, but Elsa is timeless.

Elsa is ok. Then either Marianne or Marianna, lose the accent.

I prefer Marianne to Elsa. Both are lovely - and nicer than Emma IMHO - but I would rearrange it to Marianne Elsa.

If you go with Marianne as either a first or second name then you need to decide whether to have an accent or not. Having one but not being bothered about pronunciation will just be confusing.

Beautiful names tho.

They are beautiful names.

Marianne can be pronounced the way you like without the accent on (with a French slightly over-pronounced accent anyway), but if you add the acute accent on it just looks a bit contrived, as it's inauthentic, and should give an "ay" sound rather than "a" anyway. So stick to the original or add the a at the end if you want to help Brits pronounce it the way you want, I reckon.