Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Amabel?

77 replies

212VIP · 14/08/2013 22:23

Thoughts please!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
ZolaBuddleia · 20/08/2013 08:38

It looks to me like it should rhyme with Mabel, not Annabel.

minipie · 20/08/2013 14:39

I know it's a real name OP (thanks to Georgette Heyer) but most will think it's Annabel spelled wrong.

Yonionekanobe · 20/08/2013 18:26

My toddler calls my friend Annabelle, Amabelle so to my ear it sounds like a mispronunciation - sorry.

YoniSingWhenYoureWinning · 20/08/2013 19:13

No. It will drive her mad correcting from Annabel ALL THE TIME.

squoosh · 20/08/2013 19:48

She will never be able to have a full time job because correcting people who get her name wrong will occupy all her waking hours.

'No not Annabelle, it's Amabel. No, AMABELL, with an M, it sounds like Annabelle, but it's Amabel. Yes it is a silly name but my Mum thought it was pretty.

EnjoyEverySandwich · 20/08/2013 22:29

It's a lovely name with a medieval feel to it. Nice to see someone bringing out an old and beautiful name.

There are plenty of other names that are close in sound or spelling, and it would be a dull old world if they were all avoided. I have a surname which is frequently misspelled or mispronounced (along the lines of Saunders/Sanders), but it's not a big deal.

Frikadellen · 21/08/2013 00:43

I ADORE it and dh does too and we discussed it with all 4 of our pregnancies and it made the short list twice..

however with Annabel/etc being as popular as it is we didnt want to give her the hazzle of years of

yes aMabel with an "M" no not an n Mmm Muh

So never used it but oh i love it.

ovenbun · 22/08/2013 14:49

It would be pretty if your dd wouldn't have to explain the spelling everytime..just not practical....how about Amira?

ludog · 22/08/2013 22:48

Amabeliever

Minty82 · 23/08/2013 12:18

I know an Amabel, and think it's very pretty, but it would be irritating to always have to correct people who think it's Annabel.

NoComet · 23/08/2013 12:28

I have an unusual maiden name that is one letter different from something very common. I spent my life spelling it and people still sent my post addressed to the common one.

Just don't do it!

EnjoyEverySandwich · 23/08/2013 13:32

Me too, StarBall, but it really doesn't bother me.

NoComet · 23/08/2013 14:03

Unfortunately mine can have either the second or first letter changed

Think Janes to Jones or Banes.

Jones is OK, but in an alphabetical world Banes causes people to say you don't exist. It gets a bit tedious.

Chl0e · 23/08/2013 16:09

No idea what the consensus is but I would pick Annabel or Mabel. I know Amabel is a proper name, but oh look, my spell check has underlined it, but it hasn't underlined Mabel or Annabel.

Laquila · 23/08/2013 16:35

I think it's a very pretty name but as evidenced by this thread, people seem slightly offended by its very existence. Other variants/ similar name pairs don't seem to provoke such a response, so I assume it's because Amabel just isn't that well known.

LeoandBoosmum · 23/08/2013 16:38

I'm sorry but, for the love of God, no! As one poster said, it sounds like I'm a bell. You say when you say it quickly it sounds nice...I'm sorry but I have to disagree.

NadiaWadia · 23/08/2013 16:59

But you can't go by spell check, what do they know?

NadiaWadia · 23/08/2013 17:01

All this 'I'm a bell' stuff is nonsense. After all 'Isabel' sounds like 'is a bell' and no one mentions anything about that, just because it is a more well known name. Similarly 'Nicholas' sounds like 'knickerless' etc, etc.

SirChenjin · 23/08/2013 17:05

I have a surname that is constantly misspelled and mispronounced - it is a PITA. Unless you absolutely have to, please don't saddle your child with a name she will have to spell out or correct its pronunciation forever

Chl0e · 23/08/2013 19:54

but that's the problem really, not that it's an unusual name, but that it's one letter away from being a much more well known name.

If you changed Isobel to Isodel people would just assume they'd misheard, if they noticed.

EnjoyEverySandwich · 23/08/2013 21:06

I would have LOVED to have been named Amabel, rather than the crap name my parents chose.

delilah89 · 24/08/2013 21:43

annabel yes, amabel no

cheekbyjowl · 24/08/2013 22:53

wonderful name. sounds softer than annabel. it was on our list but we had a boy. only conSideration is how it might be shortened..if annabel you can be an anna or bella...mabel is cute in a vintage way too

GibberTheMonkey · 24/08/2013 23:09

Pretty sure there's a poem about Amabel by Hardy.
I like it but worry there would be too much confusion

MichaelBubleBath · 24/08/2013 23:36

Not keen sorry but only cos I dislike Ama as a nn.
Mabel feels old to me but Isabelle is lovely and contrarily Isa is a nice nn.
Also like Aimee
Belle is sweet but temptation to say babybel too great Grin