Angéline; Eloïse; Claudia; Elodie; Evangéline; Sasha...

[sedgiebaby]

DH and my Shortlist.

French Canadian DH, I'm English, we're living in the UK permenantly.

Had a terrible time trying to find a name which is not too frilly with our last name (very like 'La Rouge'), please feed back but go easy because I'm struggling with this soooooooo very much and I'm 35 wks now

Middle name Grace (family name)

Angéline Grace (would use Angélie as a family nn or GiGi - would want to avoid Angie tho :/ )
Eloïse Grace
Claudia Grace (the meaning does put me off a bit)
Elodie Grace
Sasha Grace
Evangeline Grace (I like all the nn's that could come from this both sweet and 'grown up' ones)

Pretty much in order of preference although, I love Evangeline, but a (not that close) friends baby has this and she would like it to stay 'unique' but 'its up to me' :S. Would still use Angelie or GiGi as nn's

Sorry Sedgie, I meant that this is our girls name if the baby is a girl, we won't find out for a couple of weeks - sorry for confusing you. I understand where you're coming from though, I am in the UK but OH's family are Italian so they should have no problem with pronunciation, however I am not a massive fan of the nickname Angie so I am hoping this doesn't come up at school, but what will be will be.

Bet it's a boy now

I love Elodie and Evangeline but I'm not too keen on the others, sorry. I'm pretty sure Angeline (sorry, can't do accents!) would be called Angie or Ange by others even if you didn't do it yourself, too.

It's the Ange/Angie bit that is putting me off too :S

I think of Sasha as a boys' name too.

I like all the others, though I think Elodie is becoming a bit overdone in some places. Claudia is probably my favourite, especially if you want a not-too-frilly one (Evangeline in particular seems a leeeetle bit frillsome).

Thank you midnightexpress for your comments, Claudia is nice sounding i'm not sure I can get past the meaning though, I think of the moment when DD asks me what her name means (there is no way to put a spin on this that I can think of)

DH and MIL say also it is a little used for boys than girls(in Quebec) although I think they said it is spelt Sacha.

Have you considered Clara? I think that's a lovely name. And a bit like Claudia, but with a nicer meaning (clear, bright).

I have an Eloise, although if I could have got away with it I would have gone for Elodie. DH wouldn't let me have Elodie as we have no official family connections to France so he thought it would sound pretentious!

All the cards that we received from friends in France have written Heloise rather than Eloise though, that is definitely the common spelling over there, don't know if that will affect your decision at all?

The poster above suggested Clara, which is lovely too.

Clara is nice, I prefer Cléa, as last name is starts 'La r'a nd a bit similar sounding, but DH isn't keen on either anyway (?!)

Héloïse is a nice spelling could throw people in the UK though?

Angeline and Evangeline are lovely.

Elodie and Evangeline are beautiful names

I think Angeline and Evangeline are my fave's but I keep coming back to Claudia, does the meaning put anyone else off (lame, disabled!!!)

Have you thought of Amelie?

Amelie Grace is nice

Eloise and Elodie are both beautiful. And not too common either.

Sasha is a boys name imo (short for Alexander).

Claudia has such a sad meaning...

Claudia.

The meaning totally put me off, but it is a lovely name.

Thanks for the comments, Claudia works so well in French and English, spelling and pronounciation is straightforward. I like Claudie (Clo-dee) for a little girl's nn. To me Claudia also sounds classy and elegant until I tihnk about the latin meaning and I can't get that out of my head.

Sasha is a least favorite but we both 'kind of' like it and again spelling/pronounciation is not a problem for either language and they are fairly contemporary in both cultures. tammytoby I think you are right (in my English books I've seen this) but its also standalone and unisex in both cultures, and I believe Sacha is the boys spelling. Somehow and I have no idea why Sasha/cha sounds like a pet dogs name so that is what bothers me about that one!

I came up with 3 more from my new french book that came on Friday:

Natalia Grace
Thalia Grace
Séren Grace

I think the frenglish 'cross-over' works for these and they are not too 'frilly' and fairly easily said/spelt (Thalia more tricky maybe)

DH isn't keen on any of them though dagnammit :S he says Natalia is Russian but I got it from a French 2010 baby name book.

I find this is becoming quite a conundrum (sp?) and I'm nearly 37 wks now

No, I think Sacha is the French version.

I know a German boy called Sascha, so that must be the German version.

Sorry Sedgie but my dog is called Sasha!
I love Evangaline, Claudie, Thalia. Not long to go so good luck!

lol DessieLou, I'm right then! Seeing as we're debating - Is it a boy or girl dog?

I dunno tammytoby just going by French speaking DH he says 'sh' for girls 'ch' boys but he might be mistaken, or perhaps in English it's unisex, I'm not sure now...I dont think it is for us anyway, maybe if we get a labrador, the spelling wont matter then lol

I just remebered, there was a girl in my school named Evangeline, but she called herself Vangi. (Pronounced Van-gee). It was certainly different for a nickname.

I still like Amelie Grace!

i like all your suggestions, except Sasha which is indeed a boys Russian name.

Natalia also a Russian girls name

Thea is lovely too, why have you ruled it out? Just because the French pronounce it with a T not Th?

Our Sasha is a girl...a gorgeous white boxer!

KristinaM, DH says struggles with 'th' and doesn't want people to think he's saying it wrong, but yes I still like it.

A1980 - oh dear, that sounds a worse nn than Angie (this puts me off Angeline)
Amelie is nice I don't dislike it, but its a little twee sounding to me (IDKW)

oh but that's part of the whole sexy French accent thing, saying t rather than th

I would go for Eloise. Why? Because I'm an Eloise of course!

I hated it growing up, But that's because it was the weirdest name amongst my sister and cousins (who all had solid, normal names). I had this bizarre French name and felt really out of place!!!

But then I discovered the book Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson and the name started to grow on me. I was very similar to the heroine of the story growing up and I started to identify with her and my name.

To top it all off, in the new year, my DP whisked me off to New York to propose. Knowing all about the book, he booked us into the Plaza and as a congratulations, the hotel gave me a free book and a $100 gift voucher to spend in the 'Eloise store', down in the basement. I am now completely in love with my name after all these years and love that I have such a wonderful story (and a handy transatlantic connection) with my beautiful name. Why not give your little girl what I've got?!

xxx