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Baby names

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

Original poster

Too popular or classic and pretty?

35 replies

legallyblond · 24/02/2010 12:40

What are your verdicts on Eleanor (with nn "Ella")?

I love it, but I don't want her to be the "Emma" or "Rachel" of her class (3 or each in my class at primary school!).

Equally, I want a proper, classic, timeless English name that is also pretty...

Arrgh!

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MarthaFarquhar · 24/02/2010 12:41

I think Eleanor is a lovely name
it is very, very popular here though.
also, all the Eleanors I know get called Ellie, which I'm not too keen on (but agree Ella is nice).

FiveGoMadInDorset · 24/02/2010 12:44

It is my mothers name and DD's middle name, I love it.

princessmel · 24/02/2010 12:44

Eleanor not popular here but lovely.
Ella very popular.

nickelbabe · 24/02/2010 12:45

Eleanor's my favouritist girl's name.

it's beautiful.

bluebump · 24/02/2010 12:47

My sister is an Eleanor (pronounced Ella nor, rather than Ellen a)and I like it. She has always been known as Ella as she hates Ellie.

AllieW · 24/02/2010 12:48

It's lovely! The only reason it's not on our list is because it's the name of one of my friends.

displayuntilbestbefore · 24/02/2010 12:52

Eleanor is lovely. Not too popular and a timeless name IMO.

Clary · 24/02/2010 12:59

Eleanor is classic and pretty but also pretty popular I'm afraid (I say I'm afriad because you don't want her to be one of many!).

Usual nn is Ellie not Ella, but there are lot of Ellas too (I mean girls called Ella).

If I do a hasty count up, I know about 10 aged between 10 and 5. It's deffo one of the more popular girls' names at our school (along with Emily, Amelia, Mia - all very pretty)

frakkinaround · 24/02/2010 13:08

Very popular but you could consider an alternative spelling - Elinor, Eleanore, Elanor etc

nickelbabe · 24/02/2010 13:35

nooo! frakkin!!

it has to be spelt Eleanor or she'll spend her whole life explaining how it's spelt!

displayuntilbestbefore · 24/02/2010 14:14

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

frakkinaround · 24/02/2010 14:19

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.

displayuntilbestbefore · 24/02/2010 14:23

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

plantsitter · 24/02/2010 14:27

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

frakkinaround · 24/02/2010 14:33

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!

TweedyneeCole · 24/02/2010 14:39

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

Clary · 24/02/2010 14:59

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

TawnyHoowwwlllll · 24/02/2010 16:19

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

bellissima · 24/02/2010 16:27

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.

AllRoadsLeadBackHome · 24/02/2010 16:32

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

doubleexpresso · 24/02/2010 16:36

Ellie, Ella, Eleanor all very popular here too.

nickelbabe · 25/02/2010 11:38

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

nickelbabe · 25/02/2010 11:38

spelt

loobylu3 · 25/02/2010 13:33

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.

wed99 · 26/02/2010 12:37

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.