Too popular or classic and pretty?

I love Eleanor - but as a pp said I would abbreviate it to Nell or Nora. Ellies and Ellas are 10-a-penny round here!

I think it's OK - but it's very popular at the moment and I think you might well end up with the Rachel/Emma situation you are wanting to avoid

Another vote for Eleanor.
I personally wouldn't shorten it as Ellie/Ella is now a name in itself.

Very nice imo.

Eleanor is lovely, it doesn't need a nn

Will definitely become the modern equivalent of Emma or Rachel, so I would avoid it if that bothers you.

I like Eleanor and Elinor - both lovely. And I know some with nn Ella. You could always use Lennie..?

Eleanor is a lovely name, very classic and can't go wrong with it. It is quite popular but has been solidly used for years so doesn't seem "faddy" like some of the names which are popular for a couple of years and disappear again. The number of Ellas/Ellies might concern me a bit, but as some others said there are lots of great nicknames for Eleanor. My favourite would be Elsa (I really love this - sounds so much sweeter than Ella imo) or Nora.

Also like the spelling Elinor and wanted to stick up for the poster who said it was a legitimate version and certainly not a chavvy misspelling!

It's my sister's name - she is most definitely over 30!
She hated it when young (mainly for the Nelly the elephant connotations) and can't get over how popular it has become now. I think it's pretty and classic though.

Ella is not a nickname for Eleanor, IMO - Ellie is the usual nickname for Eleanor.

Ella is boring and overused, Eleanor is lovely.

My sister is Eleanor, nn Ellie

She thinks it's an old lady name

I disagree, I think it's beautiful and would have used it myself had it not been my sister's name

nn Nell is lovely imo

I used to know an Eleanor, nn Nora which I also love

Bir Biased as I have a lovely Eleanor myself . When we named her 11 yrs ago I didn't know anyone called Eleanor. Get to school and there are 4 in her year group all spelt the same way ! So she has spent the last 7 yrs known as Eleanor F.
We have never shortened her name but her little sister for a while called her Ellner cos she couldn't prounouce Eleanor.

Eleanor and Elinor are both beautiful!
It is a v popular name at present but most of them seem to be shortened to Ellie, which I really dislike or Ella which I am not keen on either.
The full name is so much prettier. Perhaps you could consider Nell or Nora as a nn or even Eleanora as the full name.

spelt

okay, frakkin i forgive you because it's your name.
i didn't know Elinor was the proper English spelling, though. Very interesting.

I'm still going to use the Eleanor version myself, though, as the girl I'm naming after is spekt that way

Ellie, Ella, Eleanor all very popular here too.

To me it's a middle-aged name. But I seem to be in the minority!

My DD is Eleanor. It's a family name and I love it but it has been described as 'boring' on here. It was my great-grandmother and grandmother's name and would have been mine except that in Yorkshire the nn is Nelly and she was fed up with that. (I sort of understand on the Nelly bit, but love Nell and Ellie and any of the common nns for it). Mine is an Ellie.

On spelling, when we lived on the continent they always wanted to add an accent on the second 'e' and a third e on the end. But I think the 'original' Eleanor d'Aquitaine was Eleanor meme en francais - though spellings were of course fairly fluid then.

I have two Eleanor/Elena's in my guide unit and both are shortened to Ellie

Elinor is pretty traditional anyway - that's the heroine of Sense and Sensibility, so emore than 200 yrs ago!

I don;t know any Eleanoers under 30 yrs old. Lots and lots of little Ellas about, though.

There's also Alienor which is the old French spelling but you would forever have to spell that.

Elanor I think is a Tolkeinism.

I've always like 'my' spelling because it just looks cleaner somehow. Very neat. Unlike me!

Eleanor's nice. I always thought the nickname was 'Nell' which I think is lovely too.

Elinor's ok, not as nice as Eleanor IMO, but Elanor just looks wrong to me

Nah, Elinor's okay. I never have to spell it, just say "Elinor - the English spelling with an i" and my coursemate at university was "eleanore-with-an-e-on-the
-end" (she was French though).

There's more than one 'accepted' spelling so Eleanor - just like Elizabeth/Elisabeth or Rachel/Rachael. I agree when you start messing with names which didn't have an alternative spelling to start but multiple Elea/i/nor/e spellings have been around forever.

I agree nickelbabe- the moment people start messing with spellings is the moment that names go from being nice to being ridiculous and chavvy