India or Isabella?

[Wizziebuff]

Hi there,

Please could you let me know which you prefer? I have the name Isabella going back a long way on my mother's side of the family and think it is a beautiful, classic name, but have been told it is incredibly popular at the moment, so she won't be the only one in class. On the otherhand, my dh has Indian heritage and we were thinking that India would be both a nod to this, an old-fashioned name with a modern feel to it, whilst still reflecting our family ties. I love the name India, however yesterday someone told me that there is a page 3 girl called India! I was horrified!! I think of it as a classic, English girl's name with quite grand associations and not chavvy ones. What do people honestly think? All suggestions/alternatives welcome, many thanks.

We have every possible variation Isabella..to...Isobel round here, but they use every possible nn too and seem totally un bothered about it being popular.

In fact I get the feeling they rather like it because in affect they get to choose their own name and are very firm with adults about exactly which spelling of Iss/Izz/y/ie Bell/Bella they answer too. Heaven help you if put the wrong one on something.

I love both names. I am biased as India is DD1's name and Isabella is the name of her best friend!

I hadn't heard of the Page 3 model and now that I have heard, it doesn't really matter. India is a beautiful name - I think of India Hicks, India Knight and India Whatshername who narrates Master Chef. Balance is important with names imo - we have a very dull surname so wanted something slightly different when naming our children. I guess if we had a more exotic surname, then we may have chosen more traditional first names.

The vast majority of people who hear DD1's name think it's beautiful. It does really suit her and she wears it well

I also think Indira is a lovely alternative.

I love Isabella. It's a beautiful name and it's one we've seriously considered for DC2. We ruled it out because it is so popular but TBH I don't know anyone called Isabella. I think Isobel is far more popular.

Hiya I absolutely love the name India its one of my favourites. There's is a page 3 girl called India - I used to work with her (not on page 3 lol) if it helps she's a really lovely girl not chavy at all - kind, intelligent & really stunning, she started page 3 to pay her way through uni.
Don't worry about the page 3 connection she's known in the glamour world but it's not like the general public will think of her straight away when you say your babies name - think it would be different if you were calling your little girl Jordan!

I like the name India

Isabella is fine but I don't like the nn Izzy and not keen on Bella either.

Isabella is lovely. Everyone says how popular it is but I've never actually met anyone with the name.

If you added together all the Isabel variants, it was the top name from about 2006 to 2010 (now overtaken by Sophie and Evie variants). It is quite a brief blip - when you compare it to the enduring Ellie variants and Olivia.

So I don't think it will date; and it is a classic, traditional, Royal name which works all across Europe.

I like India too, but think of it as being a bit 80s (as it was barely heard of before India Hicks was a bridesmaid).

I really like India and your daughter will always have her heritage as part of her name, which i think is so special.

If you want to include Isabella could you not have and India Isabella - which i think sounds really lovely.

Isabella is a beautiful name but is overused, India is pretty but I wouldn't name a child after a country.

Disagree with me all you like but I grew up with the name when none of my peers had it, and I know exactly how it was perceived, especially amongst my parents' generation who viewed it as positively fuddy-duddy. A girl I was at school with aged 11 (1985) had it as a middle name, and was embarrassed by it...!

I would go for India - lovely name.

I love India. It's a lovely name. I tried to persuade DH but he wouldn't budge.

I also love Isabella. I don't know any Isabellas just 1 Isabel.

I love the name India but suspect it is a bit pretentious really. If you have qualifying Indian heritage to justify using the name, what about Indira?

Both are overused IMO. Where I live (NW London) every week I bump into a little blonde, middle class India. Although it's a nice name it gets boring after a while.