Othilia – could it work in UK?

[cs111]

Hi.
I read about the name Ottilie, and learned that in Scandinavia and possibly France, Ottilia (variation of Ottilie) is in use spelled as Otilia or Othilia. Does anyone know if these spellings have been in use in the UK? Some pages said the similar Othelia has been in use.

How would you pronounce Othilia/what do you think would be most correct? Like Ophelia and Odelia, but with a t or a th-sound? Could it be usable as a name in the UK today? (Not going to use the name, just curious. It looked like a bit of Ottilie with sounds like Emilia/Amelia, I liked it in theory.)

• Too difficult for others to guess pronunciation/spelling? Hard to have as name because this has to be explained?

• Depending of how it is pronounced it could be confused with Ophelia, maybe hard to hear a difference at all. I guess Amelia/Emelia/Emilia are like that, but is that a problem? Ophelia has strong associations to the character, is that a problem? (I know Ophelia is indeed in use and chosen by many parents.)

• There are some words (not nice to be associated with) that ends in –ophilia. Is Othilia too close?

• Would it seem like creative spelling of Ottilie, or is it a problem that the spelling isn't British?

• Anything else, words/products/rhymes/known people etc. it is too close to? We are maybe more away from otter and Attila (sometimes mentioned for Ottilia) with this spelling?

I'm not in London, but I have heard that Ottilie is somewhat popular there. Not sure how much difference it would be in pronunciation between Ottilie and the variants with a-ending? Have never heard of Otelia (in any spelling). Heard of Othilia once, she was a French model. But interesting if the names actually are in some use, and that you know people with the similar names (Otelia, Ottilia). Charis: Do you have a title for the book/books where the name is used?

I tend to think less otter with the Othilia spelling. That's not meant negatively, I think the names are interesting. Its more a case of when you're not familiar with a name and don't have many associations to it. I like the sound and look of Ophelia, and Othilia seemed similar to that, without having the Shakespeare associations. It looked a bit like Emilia etc. too. (Repeated to clarify: Not going to use the name, only curious about it.)

Thanks for writing your responses, cool that anyone replied at all!

Just one point about the ONS name statistics - they don't list names given to only 1 or 2 children in a year to protect their confidentiality. So the name Othilia could have been given to 2 girls a year for the last however many years and not appear in the ONS stats.

Having said that, I don't believe it's quite common in the UK, even considering foreign born Othilia's. I'd never even heard of this name before this thread. Although admittedly I don't live in London, so for all I know, ever other girl there could be called Othilia.

I like it a lot but would spell it Ottilia!

I think it looks a little like a disease or condition with the -ia ending. Like haemophilia I suppose.