Last minute doubt over spelling..help!!

[Tea1Sugar]

Dd2 is arriving by section in 10 days. We've chosen Emilia Ruby, which I adore by sound. But now a little bit worried that people will assume it's Amelia which I know is insanely similar. I don't care about popularity. I'm a primary school teacher and don't know any Amelias or Emilias but lots of Amelies.

So Emilia Ruby
Or Amelia Ruby

I prefer Emelia but it is more common to see Amelia I think.

They're both lovely names. If you prefer Emilia then go for it - you might have to correct people a few times but they only need to see it written down once to realise it's not Amelia.

I prefer Emilia, but there really isn't a way to differentiate between the two names unless she always emphasises the first part, like EM-ilia.

Depends on where you are, in the SE these are the two most popular names I know, we are already referring to a 3mo Emilia as Emilia S as there are 4 of them under 1yo at one play group..

Depends on where you are! Maybe ask any mums you know with under 3s about the popularity/ current trends?

I prefer Emilia

Just in case it helps:

Emilia origins = ancient Roman family name, used by Shakespeare; closely linked to Emil (boy) and Emily (girl) . Emily is the English version of Emilia.

Amelia is the English version of Amalia. The origins of Amalia = from the German word for work. Amalia/Amelia was popularised in UK by the Hanoverian kings of Britain. Amelie is the French version of Amelia.

The following may not matter to you in the slightest. It's not meant to be a criticism. If you like a name, then use it! However, as others have said, both Emilia and Amelia and variants of them are very popular at the moment, and the popularity of all these names has been rising (except Ameila, which is no 1 and can't rise any higher).

Amelia is the most popular, Emilia is the least popular.

Amelia = no 1 in England and Wales, with over 7000 babies named in 2012 (these are the latest figures)
Emily = no 4, with over 4000 babies named
Millie = no 26 almost 2000 babies
Amelie = no 51 over 1000 babies
Emilia = no 56 over 1000 babies

Altogether, that's over 15,000 babies named Amelia/Emily and variants in 2012.

Hi Travel

The stats are ultimately derived from the ONS but for speed I used this article which gives a very good summary:
www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/aug/12/top-100-baby-names-2012-girls-boys-list

The ONS website for England and Wales is here:[[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/baby-names--england-and-wales/2012/stb-baby-names-2012.html]]

For Scotland: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/births/popular-names/

For history of names, I find that www.behindthename.com/ often has lots of interesting information

sorry, here is proper clickable link for ONS England/Wales:

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/baby-names--england-and-wales/2012/stb-baby-names-2012.htm

The word Amelia also means the congenital absence of an arm or a leg.

If you don't mind that, then go with Amelia.

I think Emilia is lovely. It's much softer & prettier than Amelia.

I'm not keen on Emilia. It sounds like you can't decide between Emily and Amelia so you've combined them.

Amelia is lovely though. As is Emily.

Surely it's not just about spelling - isn't it about pronunciation too?

Eeeee-meee-leeee-a

Or

Em-eeee-leeee-a

Or

Am-eeee-leeee-a

I very much prefer Emilia

I do not intend to offend with my post - at one point I considered the name and I have great friends named Amelia and of course Earhart was fantastic -
but I prefer both the written appearance of Emilia (neater, prettier, to me) and the pronunciation. (and also amelia is a birth defect where baby is born missing limb/s)

Do not go with Amelia if your surname starts with an S.

Why not Pinkje?

I like Emilia better but also love Amara.

Either or really, they both will just blend in anyway!

Oh god I didn't know about the birth defect association!
I think we'll stick to our initial plan of Emilia. I prefer the look of it written down and the nickname Emmy. Also, the fact it's much less popular is a positive.

If your surname starts with S, her initials would be ARS. You might want to avoid that??

Emilia is lovely, and I'm surprised anyone would think it's a misspelling of Amelia - it is a very old and, to my mind, quite well-known name!

It doesn't! Her initials would be ERE

I like Emilia, looks nicer written and reminds me of Emilia Fox.

Definitely Emilia. They are 99% the same pronunciation wise except for the first syllable, which is slightly different. So to mind you have to decide which you prefer. It's not just a spelling issue.

Amelia, the Am is the same as in 'amaze'.

Or

Emilia, the Em is the same as in 'embarrass'