The name 'Amelie'… your thoughts please!

[Ihartbeep]

We called DD1 Madeleine, which we nearly always abbreviate to Maddie. Our second daughter is due soon and we love the name Amelie but not sure that Amelie and Maddie go together?! Is it a bit of a mouthful / are they too similar?

Would also love to get some ideas on what we could abbreviate Amelie to? Don't really want Maddie and Millie! I've seen somewhere that it can be abbreviated to Mia but not sure how this is an abbreviation of Amelie?! Thoughts / ideas please!

Thanks MNers! x x

The names go well together. I think Madeleine McCann's sister was Amelie, though (not that that should stop you using it or anything, just thought I'd mention it)

Nicknames could be...

Mimi
Mia
Lia
Lili
Meli
Ami

Amelie is lovely. Mimi for a nickname. Although nicknames I have found can't necessarily be planned ahead.

Do you say it like Emily, but with an 'Am' instead of 'Em' ?

Personally I'd prefer Emily, or Amelia - Amelie seems a bit neither one nor the other.

My experience with nicknames / shortenings is they tend to evolve around the person. None of my 3 are known by the shortenings we kind of assumed they naturally would be when we gave them their names.

Amelie is lovely and goes well with Maddie personally.

The Amelie I know has been nicknamed Am/Ams but only in an affectionate way or if you were to call her over.

I say it's a name that doesn't require a nickname though, its pretty itself.

Love it

Far too similar to Madeleine, imo. Similar Frenchness, similar emphasis, same syllable count and stresses.

Amelie is a very pretty name, but I'm going to be completely honest & say it's one of those names that's so much nicer pronounced the French way.

As a pp says, for an English speaker it sounds a lot like Emily starting with an A instead of an E, and it will get mistaken for Emily quite a lot which might be annoying.

Love Amelie and love the English pronounciation and not keen on the French pronounciation even though obviously I should rationally prefer that.

It was really popular when I was pg with dd1, so 16 years ago. I quite like it. But it does always remind me of that time period. Wasn't there a book or a film or something doing the rounds with it then?

Love Majestic's suggestion.

How do the French pronounce it? Surely it can only be like Emily, but with Am- at the start?

meowli As far as I'm aware, it's pronounced ah-meh-lee, not like Emily with an A. But native English speakers will pronounce it like Amily.

In French, it's more Am-ay-lee, and the stress on the three syllables is equal, rather than AM-I-lee in English.

Thanks, both. When I say it out loud with the differences you mentioned, it does sound more French!

Doesn't it have an accent on the first e..?

It's pretty, but in my mind it's the middle class name of choice from about 10 years ago.

Can't help but think of the McCann sisters.

Very similar to Madeleine and I also thought of the McCann sisters.

Also it's a bit dull these days with all the other Amelias, Emilys, and all the other E & A names that are around at the moment.

The amelie I know goes by lili.

Lovely name but I too thought of the McCanns.

I'm put off it because there are so many Amelies in our village and that twee film annoyed me, but the name itself is very pretty and goes well with Madeleine.

I love the name Amelie but it doesn't sound quite right for someone with no French connections. The Amelie I know of has a mum who lived in France & is now a French teacher.

Sounds lovely. I probably wouldn't shorten it but if it seemed necessary I'd go for Amy.

it sounds good with madeleine - but why shorten it to Mia? If you like the name Mia then use that?

the only Amelie we know doesn't shorten it at all - but does quite often get called 'Emily' which annoys her......

I like it and it goes with Madeleine pretty well in my opinion.

I personally wouldn't shorten it to anything. It's a nice name in itself and none of its shortened versions are as good.