Leo or Theo??

[JosephineClaire]

I'm due to have my baby in 8 weeks - VERY excited!

DH and I have decided on Emmeline Claire for a girl (nn Millie), but are dithering between Leo or Theo for a boy.

Leo would just be Leo on birth cert (we don't like the longer versions and Leo is a name in its own right)..

..and Theo would be Theodore on birth cert.

Middle name would be Michael.

Which would you choose & why?

What did you decide, OP?

Oh blimey - didn't see the date on that.

Theo is a NN for Theodore or Theophilis. If you are Greek, then why not. However, this would look quite bizarre with an Anglo-Saxon surname imho...

Is Leo short for Leopold? Not a fan.

I love all of your names. Emmeline is divine.
I prefer Theo to Leo but love both

Leo is my favourite, to avoid the Feo by people not pronouncing their THs.

Theo

(Leo far too "New Labour")

It's funny how 'Leo' will forever be linked to the Blairs, when there are in fact loads of other Leos around (not to mention the fact there have been 13 Popes with this name) - but no - always New Labour.

Leo

Theo is really really popular here at the mo (Bucks)...

I think of DiCaprio, not Blair, and he's hot so Leo :)

I have a Leo and I have only ever had the Blairs comment once. I am not a fan of Tony but to be honest it really doesn't bother me.

I like Theo too - both are fairly popular, but Leo's been popular for longer I think (since the Blairs, ha!) so Theo seems more trendy, FWIW. There are other names like Leo about though, and I have had 'Leon?' a few times.

Theodore is lovely too and gives you other options for nicknames. You (if you haven't had the baby already!) might find one suits him much more than the other. Our Leo just was a Leo from the moment he appeared.

BTW Leo is not (necessarily) short for Leopold - it has been a name in its own right since medieval times!

Theo! Also because our 4 year old is called Teo (I am Italian, hence we decided not to have the h ) The only problem we had with the name that everyone seems to love is that people asks what is short for, so even if we do not particularly like Theodore or Teodoro ( in Italian ) we may be changing it on his passport. If you want to a longer version we could call him Mathew ( Matteo ) in Italian. We love the name but in Italy is super popular so we decided not to go for it.
Hope it helps !

Wow, I didn't realise this thread was still going as recently as last month...

Leo Michael was born on 8 Nov and is very lovely :)

Ah, congratulations! You picked a beautiful name. Good luck with the baby

Leo much nicer! Theo a bit chavvy now. Well at least round here it is.

I much prefer Theo.
Leo also reminds me of Leo Sayer.

None of his peers will link Leo with the Blairs, and no adult will ever mention it surely!

I like both, but would go for Leo.

Both good. I think they should have a longer version too really though somehow.

Love Theo.

Dislike Leo.

Theo would be the name for my imaginary ds3.
Eliza would be the name for my imaginary dd.