Think I have overthought this naming thing, help!

[Elodie123]

We are having a girl in the summer and love thinking about what name we will give her but I think I have gone over the top and done so much research that it puts me off every name I think I like. Here are the names I like and the reasons I am no longer sure:

Sophia - too popular and know two baby Sophies

Isabella - too popular

Claudia - not sure about the meaning

Arabella - still like this but a bit worried it's perceived as too poncey/frilly and will give people preconceptions about her. Still personally like it though.

Eliza - love this but am normally not in favour of shortenings on birth certificate but I don't like Elizabeth. Also, a couple in our wider friendship circle although not really friends of ours have named their baby this. Not sure whether this should put us off though - what do you reckon...?

I also quite like:

Alice, Celia, Rosa and Alexa although not blown away by them.

Any thoughts - any other suggestions? I think names ending in 'a' work best with our surname or 'ie' work best with our surname.

I love the 'a' ending too :)
Joanna
Helena
Anna
Emma
Serena/Selina
Mariah
Annabella
Arabella[lovely]
Susannah
Freya
fwiw I think Eliza is a beautiful 'stand alone' name

My DD has one of the "too popular" names. DH insisted and I finally decided it's silly to reject a name for that reason -- just as it's silly to select a name just because it's popular. Also, if you pick a true classic you're never the only one.

Arabella makes me think of Cinderella's stepsisters.

I LOVE Alice. Also like Celia. I think of Alexa as a shortening of Alexandra - what about that?

I generally agree about short forms but Eliza stands on its own better than most - it can still sound quite formal. What about Elise?

What about Beatrix/Beatrice or Josephine? I second the Helena suggestion.

Alicia, Freya, Maia, Isla, Hannah, Amelia

Of your choices I like Eliza and Isabella best.

Your best bet is Eliza. I feel the same about shortenings and nicknames, but agree with Teapot that Eliza seems more of an individual name than a nn, more so than something like Kate or Alfie.

The other people who have an Eliza are irrelevant. You may not know them in a couple of years time, or you may find yourselves living next door to another Eliza. Who cares knows? :)

I totally love Eliza (dp didnt) and Isabella was our 1st choice name for my Dd. I was aware it was popular, but it's popular as it a lovely name so I didn't see it at a problem?!

Some others I mulled over for a while were:
Betsy - I imagined dark hair but my Dd was very fair
Esmee - really didn't go with surname
Elsie - still love this and if I were to have Dd2 I think this would be used
Hattie - can't remember why his was dismissed but still like it.

We eventually chose Lottie, not Charlotte as I know it could have been, just Lottie

Elisa less formal then Eliza and you still get the a ending. I love it.

I know a six month old arabella, she is beautiful.

I think that's my favourite from your list.

I envy people choosing names, good luck!

We have similar-ish tastes. If our baby is a girl we're 99% certain she will be Claudia. I think the name is so beautiful that I couldn't care less about the meaning. When do name meaning ever really come up in discussion - even less than people finding out your middle name I should imagine. Others on the short list are:Abigail, Camille, Astrid, Cassandra, Charlotte, Cristina,Elise, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, grace, Georgia, Lucy, Lydia, Olivia, Scarlett, Sophia, Violet, Violetta. I also liked (but DH vetoed) Alexandra, Allegra, Saskia and Valentina.
Out of the names you listed Claudia is my absolute favourite obviously and is not that popular, but they are all nice. Arabella is lovely too. Not that popular I don't think and very pretty.

Wow, thank you so much for your input and suggestions. It's really helpful to hear other people's thoughts. Glad you all like Eliza and think it can stand alone - I agree that it doesn't really sound like a diminutive. I do really like it and so does DH whereas he was a bit unsure about Arabella. From all of your suggestions, I particularly like Alicia, Beatrice (but can't use this because Bea sounds really silly with my son's name), Amelia (but can't use because it's too similar to a v close relative's name), Astrid (but doesn't work with our surname), Georgia (but name of close relative) Gabriella (but don't like Gaby).

I do wonder if we'll regret not going for the v popular names and then feel jealous when people we know use them - those on the thread that have Isabellas and Sophias - they are really such lovely names!

Hmmm, food for thought, thanks again. Think Eliza is in pole position at the moment... Maybe I should stop thinking about it for a bit before I put myself off it again. Easier said than done though, think I'm becoming a bit of a baby name obsessive .

Natalie
Alicia
Erica
Louisa
Agatha
Esther

.....or Georgina?

Julia ?
Hannah?
I love Eliza though

Love your names, really love Eliza! so many of these names I love for simplicity and elegance and timeless. Ooh, I really do love Eliza.

I love Eliza off ur list,it's a stand alone name in its own right so don't worry about people thinking its short for Elizabeth (which is also a beautiful name so who cares if they do?).

If ur not sure about Arabella then how about perhaps considering Annabella which is similar? Or does that more "frilly" than Arabella to u?xx

Lydia?

I love Eliza too!

How about Annabel as a less frilly alternative to Arabella?

Clara
Melissa
Carina
Iona
Talia
Felicity
Paloma
Natasha
Juliet
Laura
Cecilia
Diana
Marianne
Rebecca
Belinda
Victoria
Sarah
Adela
Larissa
Miranda
Zara
Cora
Jessica
Rowena
Eloise

Love Eliza best.

Love love love Arabella

i really like Eliza.

here are a few more names ending in a

Miranda

Elsa

Natalia

India

Tatiana

Aurora

Iona

Monica

Lena

Eliza is nice, and classic as others have said
Larissa is a favourite of mine
Richaela
Clea
Lara
Ezra (I know a female Ezra)
Henrietta
Hera
Isla
Zita

I love helena too