Ava, Eloise, Leila or Freya

[LaurieBlueBell]

Opinions please on Ava, Eloise, Leila and Freya.

There are a lot of Freyas.
I think Eloise or Leila.

My DD is Freya, my niece is Ava (so is my friend's DD and the childminder's DD), I really like Eloise and don't know any.

Leila is pretty too, but my least favourite of your list.

Freya

Lots of all of them about. Very early 21st century. Which doesn't make them wrong, but none of them are an original choice fwiw.

I like Eloise, my best friend's DD is a Layla and I love the spelling

Ava is the nicest, although Eve/Eva/Evie/Ava are all very popular.

Eloise quite nice, or how about Elodie or Louisa?

Leila and Freya too trendy and faddy IMHO.

I love them all which is not a usual on these threads :). If it was me ava is my fave but all good names.

Ava

I like all of them! Probably Freya best, then Ava.

I like Ava best

I am so over Ava, it's untrue. The name will date badly.

To be honest (and only since you're asking for opinions) I'm not inspired by any of them as they're all so ubiquitous, but Leila (spelt this way) is the nicest.

Eloise, because it is more of a classic European name, IMO a good thing and better from the POV of dating well. However I really loved Ava when it wasn't being used currently and the only association was with Ava Gardner and Hollywood glamour.

I wouldn't personally use Freya because it is the name of a Norse goddess (unless I was into that sort of thing) but I accept that might not bother other people. Leila is Arabic isn't it? (looks it up) Means dark haired beauty or "night" apparently. I guess I wouldn't use it for a blonde British child then. It is apparently also another form of "lilith" which for some would have a negative association.

HTH

Leila is also the name of an Irish saint, so I don't think you can completely rule it out for fair-haired children.

Assuming you put such a huge amount of stock in the meaning of names in the first place (e.g. my name means 'devoted to God' but that doesn't mean I was destined to become a Nun!).

All lovely. I'd definitely go with Leila (not sure why being Arabic should put you off tbh?) it's BEAUTIFUL & used by many cultures, yet not overused. (Also love Ava but I suppose there are quite a few around, if that bothers you)

I have an Eloise so I am biased and still love her name :)

Ava / Eve / Evie / Eva - all similar and very popular where I am atm, so would put me off.

Leila and Freya are both pretty names, I like these equally.

That was no help at all...

Freya or Eloise would be my pick!

I love the name freja, but i am really put of with how popular it has been in the uk recently :(

ava is very nice, maybe alva could be an alternative to ava?

I love Eloise,Freya would be my second choice from your list and Leila third.There are a lot of Ava's around atm and I think it may date.

I have a friend named Elva which combines two of your choices :)

Nice enough but boring and there are loads of all of them around

The following advice is from Swistle: Baby Names (swistlebabynames.blogspot.co.uk) and is American in context but just replace the names with Ava, Ella, Ellie, Eva, Evie, Eloise, Layla, Leela, Leila and Freya and you'll get the idea:

'The thing to avoid now may be names that sound similar to a bunch of other names: Kylie, for example, in a classroom with a Kyle, a Kaylie, a Kyla, a Kayla, a Mikayla. Hadley may only be moderately popular (though rising fast: from #921 in 2000 to #178 in 2011), but in a classroom with a Madison, an Addison, a Madelyn, an Adelyn, and a Hailey, she may feel more like a member of a Jennifer pack even if she doesn't have to use her surname initial---and a Haddie may feel like she belongs to a group of a million girls going by Maddy and Addy. '

I'd re-think your choices if you want something that sounds fresh and stands out a little. If you're not bothered about the names being very 2012 and blending in with tonnes of others that are very commonplace, that's fine - they are all very pretty choices, after all! Just name your daughter with your eyes open to the popularity of your picks and their sound-a-likes.

I thought Freya was an unusual name when we chose it but there are 2 others in our local toddler group alone! Still lovely though.

My vote is for Ava

There were 3 Freyas in my baby massage class, which wouldn't have been so bad but there were only 6 of us!

Like Eloise, though, don't know any.

They are all very common names now, all lovely though.

My favourite is Ava, more classic than the rest.

My order of preference is:

Eloise
Freya
Leila
Ava

Eloise is my preferred name by a long way. I also like Luisa. There is currently an oversaturation of Freyas which is not a reason in itself not to choose a name, but I would find it off-putting. Someone said upthread that Leila is not suited to fair children, which is true: the name means 'of the night; dark-haired beauty'. I've never been too keen on Ava. I think it sounds a bit wishy-washy.

HTH!

MammaT