What is Nell a nickname for?

[AhsokaTano]

We are having a boy I think but DH mentioned the other day that if it was a girl he'd like to put Helen on the list. It was the name of his dad's mother who died when FIL was a few months old.

I'm not a tremendous fan of the name, but could live with it if I could use a nickname like Nell. This whole discussion made me wonder what else Nell might be a nn for? So far I've got

Helen
Helena
Eleanor

Any other ideas?

Nell Gwyn (mistress of Charles the second) was Eleanor. I think she is the most famous Nell that I can think of.

Nell Gwyn

I've only ever known it to be short for Ellen. My nanna was a Nell (Ellen) or Nellie and dd is Ellen and she likes Nellie as a nickname. I've never known any Helen's be called Nell.

Fenella

I don't think Nell is a nn for Elizabeth - certainly it's not a traditional one.

My mum's Nelia (an unusual name even in Brazil where she's from); nickname Nell.

My niece is called Nell, not short for anything. Her middle name is ELizabeth so hope it's not really a nickname for Elizabeth otherwise that would be weird!

I love the name Helena, particularly pronounced the way you describe (Hel-ai-na) - one of my oldest friends has that name pronounced that way and I think it's beautiful. I wouldn't be worried about the fact there are differing pronunciations - it's something that gets cleared up very quickly if there's ever any confusion.

My aunt was Nell and it was short for Ellen - mind you she was born circa 1918!
Her sister was Betty and that was one of the nicknames for Elizabeth.

Have been following this thread with interest.

At the risk of outing myself, my DD is Helena. Pronounced Hel-ai-na. She is named after my Mum who died 7 years before she was born. Her name was Helen. :) Lots of similarities. Likewise, I wanted to honour my lovely Mum, but somehow also found Helen a tiny bit dated or something, so we went with Helena.

And no, it's not pronounced Hel-len-a which would really make more sense since she's named after a Helen, but Hel-ai-na because a). that is the pronounciation we preferred and b). our surname is the same as a certain wild-haired Scottish comedian. When you run Hel-len-a with that surname it sounds weirdly repetitive (the sounds and the syllables) - the Hel-ai-na pronounciation makes it run together much more nicely.

I will say - there is only a 1-in-3 chance of people landing on the correct pronunciation (Hel-ai-na, Hel-len-a, Hel-lee-na), but most people mostly remember after the third first time.

Oh, and I love Nell - I think it is really classy, elegant, understated, chic, etc, etc, but DH hates it; thinks it is way too old-lady. DD's nn is Lena (pn Lai-na).

Right, time for a name-change!

My Grandma was an Ellen, nn Nell.

The only Nell near me is a Helen, although she is always always called Nell!

I think it is Ellen. My sister has this as middle name and was given it in memory of my mum's Great Auntie, Nellie

Helen is a beautiful, classic and timeless name! All the Helen's I know are strong clever people who are also very popular. I loved the name but it is my SIL name and DH vetoed it!!

One of my best friend's is Helen nn Nel, she loves her name!

Name Nell
Has anyone named their baby Nell?

It's traditionally short for either Eleanor/Elinor or Helen/a. Or Ellen I suppose - all related names. Never was short for Elizabeth as far as I know - that has plenty of it's own nicknames!

Then there's Penelope, which seems to make sense as the emphasis is on the NEL part.

Nella too - think it is a Dutch name.

Or you could have just Nell or Nellie - but I can't help mentally adding 'the elephant' to Nellie!

I used to know a Fenella who used Nell. I love the name

I'm an Elizabeth. I don't think Nell is a shortening for Elizabeth... it's too contrived.

Nell is traditionally short for Helen.

Anneliese/Annelise
Penelope

Penelope
Prunella

Nele

SERIOUSLY! This thread is 6 years old!!

I've always loved Penelope and planned to shorten it to Nell because I'm not that keen on Penny. Unfortunately our surname begins with P so it might end up being too much of a mouthful...

Ellen. Although I have a friend whose name is Nellie but goes by Nell