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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Adelaide or Isobel

43 replies

BabyKiwi1 · 16/04/2015 05:58

DH and I have managed to get down to two names that we both like, but are not sure whether to go for Adelaide since it is a bit unusual. Grateful for any thoughts!

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Salene · 16/04/2015 06:10

Isobel. Adelaide is a place not a child's name.

Justyouwaitandsee · 16/04/2015 06:19

Adelaide is a name and a lovely one at that! I think for me it would depend on what goes best with your surname. Makes me think of the guys and dolls character.

HolgerDanske · 16/04/2015 06:21

Isobel.

KoalaDownUnder · 16/04/2015 06:23

Adelaide is a variant of the German name Adelheid, and was a name before it was a city.

I love it, and am deathly bored of Isobel, Isabel, Isabelle, Isabella, et al!

johendy · 16/04/2015 06:43

Go for Adelaide - its pretty as it is and Addy is a cute and familiar nickname if that helps to bridge the ' unusual' concern.
Issobel and similar are all over the place around here, it's crazy popular.

NadiaWadia · 16/04/2015 06:59

The city of Adelaide in Australia was named after Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV. The name is quite nice, but what would put me off a bit is that 'laide' means 'ugly' in French. I don't know how much this matters, though. Adela?

Isobel is beautiful, but there are so many of them.

Guin1 · 16/04/2015 07:25

Adelaide or Adele. Because it doesn't have the huge popularity of the Isobel 'family' of names, which will date them.

BreeVDKamp · 16/04/2015 07:37

Isobel, because Adelaide is our future DD's name (4 weeks to go! Think it's a boy though).

But no, Isobel etc is deathly boring, there were about 5 in the park yesterday and I was only there 3 hours. There were 66 Adelaides born in the UK in 2013 apparently, so it's not THAT unusual........... I'd deffo go for Adelaide (obviously). It is perfect!

BreeVDKamp · 16/04/2015 07:38

Also 'Adelaide is a place not a person'...... You mean just like Florence, Victoria and Charlotte???

sooperdooper · 16/04/2015 07:39

Adelaide or Adele - lovely names and Isobel is really over used at the minute

BreeVDKamp · 16/04/2015 07:40

Also so much nickname potential - Heidi, Ada (Ada Lovelace was Adeline I think, nice alternative?), Addy etc

J0an0fArk · 16/04/2015 07:40

I like Adel (just Adel) not crazy about Adelaide
Isobel is nice but I wouljdn't use it now as there have already been so many.

Sophronia · 16/04/2015 10:12

Adelaide, it's much less popular.

charlyn · 16/04/2015 10:23

Love Adelaide, I find Isobel boring

DramaAlpaca · 16/04/2015 10:30

I like Adelaide a lot, and the nickname potential is interesting too.

I like Isobel very much, but there are so many of them around these days.

swancourt · 16/04/2015 10:43

My DDs name is Isobel. We've actually not met a single other Isobel at playgroups, preschool, nursery or anything. We live in a pretty much middle-class bit of the South East, where the name must be at its most popular. I hear the odd Isobel in the park or out and about, and my Isobel has a friend called Bella (short for Isabella). Obviously you're going to meet others with that name, but if that doesn't bother you, I think it is just stunningly beautiful and classic and doesn't date or age. I still love it four years on. It's my favourite all-time name, and I like unusual names too.

So my advice is, go with your heart. Who cares about popularity? In the past a quarter of all girls were called Mary and nobody cared! And now there is such a great diversity of names that even popular names are not that popular.

Adelaide is pretty too. There's a film about to be out called The Age of Adaline (and there are other spellings - Adeline, Adelaide, and variants on Adele like Adelia, Adelina - all pretty).

squoosh · 16/04/2015 10:46

Adelaide.

There are just too many Isobels around at the moment. I do think Isobel will date, it was considered a pretty dated name until it whooshed back into popularity recently.

I don't think 'dated' is necessarily a bad thing though. It seems as though every name except James dates.

BoatsAgainstTheCurrent · 16/04/2015 10:47

Both of those names are lovely. I think I prefer Adelaide slightly more though.

TempsPerdu · 16/04/2015 13:57

Both are very pretty, but I'd go with Adelaide just because Isobel and all its variants are so incredibly popular at the moment. Isobel/Isabel/Isabelle added together would easily make the current top 5 according to the 2013 ONS stats (only know this because a close friend was thinking of naming her DD Isobel recently and did the research!). I'm a primary teacher, and while Isobel is lovely it's one of those names you become 'immune to' after a while because you hear it so often.

Adelaide sounds strong and has plenty of gravitas, while Addie makes a cute, less formal nickname - great combination in my opinion!

swancourt · 16/04/2015 14:02

I said it before and I'll say it again, go with the name you absolutely love. Personally I love the name Isobel and I don't care if I meet a million of them, it will still be special to me. If I had gone for a name outside the top 100 just to tick that box, but I didn't like it so much, I'd always have regretted it. Similarly, don't worry that Adelaide is unusual. It's a well-known name (my own name is close to it - I get 'Addie' as an abbreviation a lot, though I don't like it - and people often mishear my name and think I said 'Adelaide'). If you love it, it won't matter a bit that it's unusual. Just pick the one you personally like the best. You can't go wrong with either.

Variousrandomthings · 16/04/2015 14:06

I like both. Isobel is very popular though

sweetpeame · 16/04/2015 14:29

I prefer Isobel to Adelaide. Do you prefer one over the other? I wouldn't pick Adeladie because it's less popular if you like Isobel more. I was one of three girls out of one hundred at school with my name and it never bothered me in the slightest. Still doesn't. One of the other girls with the same name became (and still is) my closest friend and again it has never bothered either of us or caused too much confusion. Likewise my daughter has a top 10 name, it's a beautiful, classic name and although it's "popular", we have only come across one other child in her nursery/Saturday play group/friends children etc with the same name and we're in London. On the other hand if you prefer Adelaide then go with that

nothinglikeit · 16/04/2015 16:17

I'd go with Adelaide personally, there's a lot of Isobels around at the moment, and she'd probably end up being one of 3 or 4 in her class at nursery/school. But, you know, pick the one you love most!

KittyMcVitie · 16/04/2015 16:55

Isobel. Despite it's popularity I haven't heard it very often here in the South East. Isabella is more popular around her, but even so there is only one Isobel and two Izzys out of 100 or so girls at my local primary school. Loads of Lilys, Poppys and Sophies though!

IHateHelloKitty · 16/04/2015 20:37

Adelaide too - lovely name

Nadia I would not worry about the "laide" bit in French, as in France, it is written Adélaïde and pronounced Ah-deh-leye-eed, not Ah-deh-laid.
About that, can I ask if the "laid" or "delayed" part is ever an issue in English or am I entirely mispronouncing Adelaide ?

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