Tabitha or Tess?

[betsybo]

Hello lovely people,

So our beautiful little girl arrived yesterday and she's looking like a little T but we can't decide between Tabitha or Tess, what do you prefer?

Thanks for your help!

Tabitha. Congrats on your little girl!

I quite like Tabitha.....but I REALLY like Tess!

What's your surname like; is it more than one syllable?

Congratulations.

ooo Tess I love it...

Tess is lovely, I do like a one-syllable name

Really like both but think Tabitha is best. Congratulations

Prefer Tess myself, less of the moment IMO. Or Tessa is lovely too....

Congrats!

Lovely news

I love both names I guess it would probably come down to whether one rolls better with your surname than the other. A consideration might be are you happier with Tabby or Tessie?

both are lovely, congratulations!

My daughter is a Tabitha so I love it - we shorten it to Tabby and Tabbycat at times and weirdly even Bunny (as sort of rhymes with Tabby). Is tess short for Beatrice and Teresa? Not sure. But Tess also lovely. Xxx

I'm of the age where Tabitha just brings to mind a witch that wrinkled her nose "Bewitched"????I think....

Depends on surname. If you have a short surname then Tabitha, long surname Tess

I'm a Tess (just Tess, not short for anything) and I've spent 33 happy years with the name. It has served me well.

Sure I went through a phase of wishing I had a longer name, one that could be shortened, but I soon learnt it's possible to lengthen shorter names. I get called Tessa and Tessie as well.

Tabitha is lovely, but I have to champion my own name, because it would be wrong of me not to.

Melissakitkat - Tess' origins are usually said to be from Teresa, but I've also seen it suggested it originates from Esther, for which it can also be a short form. It can also serve as a short form for Thessaly and Elizabeth/Elisabeth. Indeed I believe it's from Elizabeth that Tess Daly got her 'Tess'. She was born Helen Elizabeth, Tess is her nickname. She's not a real Tess like me!!

Ohhhh new baby...how lovely.

I like Tess. Not quite to keen on Tabitha i'm sure it the fact was DH ex girlfriends name

Both absolutely lovely names. Congratulations on your little girl. You could, at a push, have Tabitha as a full name and shorten it to Tess. But if it has to be one or the other I would go with what goes best with your last name. Let us know what you decide!

OP - not sure how much you want to factor in popularity, but Tabitha was ranked #177 in 2011 and has been climbing steadily for several years.

Tess seems to float about in the late 400s or early-mid 500s, never really seeming going anywhere else.

Sounds a bit like me actually, floating around, not really heading anywhere!

Congratulations on the birth of your lovely daughter. Best wishes to you both! I am a Tabitha. Have loved my name all my life. My mam did name me after her favourite tv witch :)

Thanks for your replies, we've been busy napping. We are Thompson for surname....not sure if short or long works best with that x

Will you be giving your daughter a middle name?

Love Tess, and it goes great with your Surname.
Congrats

I like Tess!

Love the Thessaly suggestion...

Tess

Dd1 is a Tess, so I'm a bit biased! I still love it and it doesn't seem to be too common from my experience!

Congratulations!

I think both names are lovely.

Test both out on her for a few days and see which feels 'right' to you.

Both names are lovely, I think tabitha has the edge for me but both good choices

Congrats on the birth of baby t!

Congratulations!

I agree you should try them both out for a few days but my vote is for Tess.