Parents of an Amelie...

[Milasmummy]

My sister is pregnant and wants some opinions.
Since she was younger she has always always loved the name Emily. But a very close family member has recently named their daughter Emily and it’s out of the question.
Her next best option is Amelie. After scouring the internet it doesn’t seem to fall in favour of mumsnetters. Apparently it’s “downmarket” etc. Why is that?
Forgetting about popularity (as Emily is more popular!), she has no problem with the name being popular. But it’s been called a name fad etc...
However it’s been around for around 20 years now, so though it sprang up from “no where” has it not established itself into society now? Just like the name “Mia” or perhaps “Isla”. And additionally it has a long European history.
Or is Amelie the new “mckenzie” or “Jayden”, names that are fast risers but fall quickly.
Is Amelie chavvy??
Someone told us to check telegraph baby names, and there seems to be 1 or 2 born last year, and a couple of siblings called Amelie. Though the name appears to be quite popular with telegraphers 2 or 3 years ago.
So what are the issues with this name?

She understands that it might be mispronounced as Emily...but I think she secretly doesn’t mind at all-quite happy about it!)

Please no suggestions of Emilia/Amelia as she also can’t use these names.

Thanks

But it's not overused. Someone up the thread said it's number 74.

My 14 year old DS has a friend the same age called Amelie. She is ace and therefore I love the name.

I think its a lovely name.
That said, unless it was my sister or brother that had used the name Emily, then I would still go for that.

I adore the name.

It's pretty. If you like it, use it.

Oh, and FYI, I also know a Mackenzie and a Jayden who are both lovely lads, so maybe don't be so judgy yourself...

No 74 is still quite a lot, and it probably peaked about 10 years ago so it will date.
Bear in mind that parents who already have Emily, Amelia or Milly etc will have ruled it out.

Originally we loved the name and DH still does for our baby if it's a girl. However, I've gone off it a bit because of our surname. Together it sounds like it gets lost in the middle.
I think it's a nice name and is unlikely to be in a class of 3 of them at school, which is my base for our DC's name when we settled on it, but I've got a feeling we're having a boy instead.

‘Chavvy’ connotations are often the result of those who consider themselves to be rather ‘posh’ using a name and finding out that ‘normal’ people use the same name! The horror!! 😂

Amelie, along with Emily, Grace, Evie/Evelyn, Sophie, Isobel/Isabelle, etc etc (those popular names that seem to occur in clumps, but everyone knows them as being popular) are nice names, and cross the earnings-spectrum. So ‘chavvy’ to one is ‘posh’ or ‘normal’ to another.

Some want to give their children ‘safe’ names with good connotations so choose one regularly used in their baby group or whatever, but it’s virtually impossible. We’ll probably all know of someone with any given name at some point in our lives.

Others want to give their children ‘completely unique/‘different’ names’ -again, same as above.

Therefore, if a name is chosen, and there’s a passion for the name, with whatever justification, just use it. Don’t worry about what the neighbour, the in laws, the site on which you know not one single person’s identity thinks. Just choose your own child’s name and enjoy it.

I think Amelia and Emily are much nicer. If you're in England, they're more English classics. Amelie may be a classic in France, but it's not in the UK. It's arisen in the past 20 years because of the film - and people can get snooty about names that are derived from films (especially cutesy ones), and one that will date a child as well. A bit like the Khaleesi or Daenerys of its day.

I don't understand why people don't refer to the stats before commenting on popularity...

Amelia- 2
Emily- 5
Amelie- 72 (just behind Maria- would you consider that popular?!)

names.darkgreener.com/# go to this website if you want to check the popularity of a name!

To me it just sounds a bit odd if you have no connection to France, same as Elodie. Both if those names sound gorgeous when pronounced by French speakers. I have a colleague with no connection to France with a baby Xavier which is similar I guess.

Yes, but bear in mind that Amelie is so similar to Emily and Amelia.

Darcey is fairly low in the top 100, but add Darcie, higher in the chart, and there are a lot of them.

I remember a colleague and his French wife named their dd Amelie about 10 years ago and were baffled when there were suddenly lots of English ones

Surely Amelie is so similar in sound to Emily that using it to avoid Emily somewhat defeats the point ?
Either use Emily too, explaining that you have always intended to use it, or choose something else, using Emily as the middle name .
Also many people end up using their middle name as their day to day name, so if Emily is used as a middle name it could always be used as the main name later on, when it might be clearer whether or not it will be a problem.
Alos fairly common to have a name used for more than one family member. My cousin and her mother have the same name for instance.

@ladymonicabaddingham I meant that mckenzie and Jayden are fast risers but also fast fallers in terms of popularity!
My chavvy question was separate

@daisypond is it really on the same level as khaleesi?? I can imagine the name khaleesi dating, just like Elsa also...

@daisypond Unsure if Amelie is on par with khaleesi/Elsa... as the movie was 20 years ago, and I can imagine only a certain demographic would watch a French film... but possibly.
The popularity of Amelie is declining slightly, perhaps suggesting it is a “khaleesi” name?