Isla? Urgent please!

[TaytoCrisp]

Our beautiful little girl was born this morn. We are delighted!

Had aoife, Juliet and cara on the short list for girls, but now we both like Isla. However it's very very popular (no. 4 in scotland). Should we just go with it, or consider alternatives? Advice and /or suggestions appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

I've got a Catriona. Pronounced with the "o". She's the only one I know, but may be more popular elsewhere. Goes well with your other name ideas.

Yay! New baby! Huzzah!

Stick to your guns if you love Isla. The next round of baby girls are all going to be Romillys and Serens anyway if you believe this board

If you're feeling wobbly though (some of these have been suggested up thread):

Ailsa
Iona
Flora
Clara
Rosalie/Rosa/Rosamund
Effie
Bonnie
Cora/Coira
Orla
Anya
Romola

Ooooo I love Mirren! Also like Iona which was suggested earlier. Massive congratulations on your baby girl

Apatosaurus: I absolutely understand what you're saying: we named our now 8 year old DS Noah when there were none around (in our area at least). Now there are 100s and I feel cheated as though I have a copywrite on it or something DH is very about it all and thinks I'm properly odd for getting irritated everytime I hear someone use my name

I have never met an Isla who wasn't obese

Mirren is beautiful.

Having a very popular name means it gets abbreviated for distinction, usually.

Not sure how Isla gets abbreviated.

I wanted nice, normal names for mine, but that weren't too common (mine is very common). We obviously messed up because all three DC have top 5 or top 10 names!!! I thought of plenty of nice names, but DH and I could not agree so we fell back on the safer traditional names. It is especially hard for boys. Being in England, we also made the most of the 6 weeks you are entitled to.

Popular names are so because they are nice. Isla feels like more of a trend right now (rather than a "solid" name), but it you both like it, go for it, it is still a nice name.

In honour of your daughter's birth I shall gift you with my choices for a girl:
Eloise, Elsa, Anabelle, Alice. I also quite like Chloe, Ella, Emma and Anna.

Congratulations!!!!

Alina- pronounced ah-leena

Both my DS's have names in the top 10 yet we've only met 1 other DS1 and no DS2's. We've heard the names when out and about occasionally but in their school they are the only ones.

So even if Isla is really popular it doesn't mean you'll actually meet a lot of them. If you love it then go for it.

How about Elspeth?

Iona is lovely. Cara and Juliet are lovely too. Juliet can be abbreviated to Etta which is very pretty, I think.

I adore aoife

Violet
Charlotte
Scarlett

Josephine
Neve

We considers Juliet with Etta or Ettie as nn. Really pretty IMO. I like Aoife too.

Isla is so popular here, it would put me off. At an activity group yesterday the leaders went round the group and there were 2 Isl's next to each other! Such a shame for such a previously rare name - I think it will date because of this.

Congratulations OP. I think we have similar taste

I have a Juliet - we've never net another one (or a young Julie or Julia). In fact I also think Julia is really, really lovely, and great for a little one as well as a grown up. We get compliments from everyone and she has a variety of nicknames which I'd never dreamed up - so I wouldn't worry too much about how it may be shortened. I particularly liked Juliet because it's rarely used but well recognised.

I like Cara but love Cora.

Mirren is gorgeous. I also like Merryn (which is Cornish) and I love the idea of shortening to 'Merry'.

Less keen on Aoife though I do know a few lovely teen Aoifes.

I also loved the series with Ayla though I think in the book it's pronounced aay-la not eye-la. And I think you'd get a lot of 'Isla' spellings down the line.

My list also had Hester and Clio and Annabel on it if that helps

BellMcEnd - yes, my dh is exactly the same and thinks I am mad to be bothered about the plethora of other Islas (particularly as ours has a different spelling and derivation so he views it as a different name). Can sympathise - I know Noah is popular, although I don't hear it that often around us. Think you are primed to hear your own baby name. I worrry about the dating issue too, I did not want to give my child a name equivalent to 1970s Claire or Sarah!

Good luck choosing op - if it helps the names I sometimes wish I had chosen instead are Esther, Iris, Eliza, Ilana.

Thanks so much for the great ideas ladies! We decided last night and only saw some more recent posts this morn. Really nice suggestions.

After digging a bit of a hole and going round in circles we decided on Eliza May - a sister for Molly Rose. She is now growing into her name and I think it will suit her. She is a night owl so is just sleeping like an angel after a night of squawking! Tired but delighted with her.

Thanks again for all the lovely ideas. And very best wishes to everyone welcoming beautifully named babes in the coming mths!

Congratulations!

It's an absolutely beautiful name, if you love it, go for it :)

well done on having your beautiful girl. Eliza May is a sound name, fantastic.

two good names on mn today, Eliza May and, on another thread, Laurel.

Love Eliza! Congratulations!

Congratulations, lovely name!

We have an Ayla and it's pronounced like 'Layla' as that's how it is pronounced in the Earth Children books, and how the author says it. People do think it's supposed to be Eye-la though...

The name Eliza is adorable!