Theodora or Dorothea

[TrainedGiant]

I love them both. And I love the nicknames Thea and Dora and Dot.

Which full name is better?

Dorothea, with Thea as the short name.

I just prefer Dorothea. You could use all three nicknames.

Dorothea with Dot, Dottie or Thea. It's a beautiful name

I also like Theodora nn Teddy but not as much

Dorothea

I prefer Dorothea

I'm a bit Theo'd out so Dorothea. Prefer Dorothy with nn Dot.
I like Teddy for a girl and Dora, but Dot is super.

Theodora.

The "Dorra" sound in Dorothea (and Dorothy) is unattractive. Don't like it.

I prefer Dorothy, Dorothea sounds a bit of a mouthful, it is also going to be much harder for her to learn to spell/write at school.

I love Theodora. Beautiful meaning too

Dorothea

Neither both sound very pretentious

Sorry

Theodora is lovely. I wouldn't want people to shorten it to Theo though, that's the trouble.
I like the Dora shortening a lot, and I also love the name Isadora

I really like Dorothy. I am surprised it isn't used a lot more. Not really a fan of Dorothea.

Dorothea (Thea is lovely).

I know name preferences a very subjective thing but I love the name Nicoletta. I just thought I would mention it as it seems to have a similar sort of vibe to me.

I have an Isadora nn Dora. Out of your two I prefer Theadora, as a PP stated I prefer the softer "dor" sound in Theadora that you don't get with Dorothea. Best of luck OP :)

Theodora is much nicer imo

love them both (but irrationally hate Dorothy).

I would use Dorothea just because of Middlemarch's closing lines.

Dorothea - this was our 'reserve' name for 3-week old DD, who ended up Elisabeth (Elsie), but should we ever have another girl, I think we'd use Dorothea (Dotty).

Beautiful name.

Dorothea

I love Dorothea. Trying to persuade DH to consider it for DC2 in December!

Partly for Dorothea of Middlemarch as mentioned above but for me also Dorothea Callum from Swallows and Amazons

I don't agree with PP who said that Dorothea will be harder for your child to learn to spell than Dorothy. There's only one extra letter! Clearly not a reason to not choose it. FWIW I prefer Dorothea because it's more unusual and less faddy, and also a stronger and more grown up name IMO. Classy x

Theodora

Yes I love the Middlemarch connection to Dorothea. That's how I came up with the name. But when I suggested it DH counter offered Theodora and now we are in stalemate.

I'm not much help as I quite like Theodora & Dorothea, but don't like any of the shortenings. If you forced me to choose I'd go for Dorothea.