Eliza or Elizabeth

[dayonara]

What do you think of this name and is it popular where you are? I love it but don't want to choose a name where there are loads in the class.

If planning to call baby Eliza most of the time would you just use Eliza or use Elizabeth with Eliza as a nickname? I like the idea of her having options later, my name has no nicknames really and I always wished I had a long name I could shorten in different ways when I was a child but know people have differing views on this.

Elizabeth pet name Eliza.

I have an Elspeth who I call by a shortening.

Elizabeth with Eliza as a nn. Elizabeth is softer and more “class” and also has lots of diminutives if your DD wanted a change — Beth, Betsy,
Betty, Liz, Lizzie etc or even Elle.

I love Elizabeth and wish my daughter was called it but my husband didn’t like it! I’m not keen on Eliza myself, prefer Lizzie or even Ella/Elsa on a little girl and Liz/Beth on an adult.

Eliza is really lovely and a name in its own right.

Whereas I just can't bear Elizabeth. Such a fuddy-duddy name.

We were so close to choosing Eliza for dd2 but it sounds so harsh in certain accents unfortunately

I think they're now different names so I'd go with what you prefer.

I've got an Elizabeth. Bit more flexible.

Oh and we've not met any other little Elizabeth's yet.

Both nice but Eliza has the edge.

And I think Eliza is fine as a given name.

Eliza is lovely, Elizabeth is not and Eliza isn't really a NN for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth

How is Eliza not a nn for Elizabeth!? Of course it is!!

I much prefer Eliza in its own right. For other short forms of Elizabeth such as Beth, Bess or Betsy I'd prefer Elizabeth as the full name. But Eliza doesn't need it and it would actually seem odd to me these days.

Also, isn't Elizabeth just about as popular as Eliza? So what would you gain if popularity is your concern? And if you want other nn options for Eliza, you already have them without having to use Elizabeth - Elly, Elle, Lizzie, Liza.

TBH, if you are only ever going to call her Eliza, you might as well put Eliza on the bc. If you think that when she is older, she might want to call herself Elizabeth or a different diminutive of it, use the full version.

love Eliza

I think unlike many diminutive forms of names Eliza has been given as a full name for hundreds of years and stands alone as an adult name, not just a cute name for a child or close family members/ friends.

Elizabeth will be shortened in other ways by friends once your DD is at secondary school and you have no say, if not before. If she wants Eliza she'll need to constantly introduce herself only as Eliza and not use Elizabeth.

Flexibility is nice, she might want to be Beth or one of the other multiple well known, widely used nicknames... People might automatically call her Liz and she might, or might not, hate it...

I sometimes wish I'd given my kids flexible names that they could experiment and change with. However if you want her to be called Eliza it does stand alone IMO unlike most diminutive forms and nicknames.