Dorothea

[Jessi88]

I’d appreciate some honest feedback on the name please. We have Theodora on our list and Dorothea was suggested to us.

Our eldest daughter’s name is Violet.

We have a Thea in our family, born a few weeks ago. I like its simplicity, but love Dorothea too.

I like both but prefer Dorothea. Isn't Robbie Williams's daughter Theodora?

I was honestly expecting negative feedback but it’s been predominantly positive. I didn’t know if it was clunky or even a little try hard, especially alongside Violet.

I like Dorothy but my first thought is Wizard of Oz lol. I prefer the Thea sound too which, I agree, is beautiful on it’s own but we want a name that can be shortened ideally. I like the many nickname options with Dorothea too. Theodore is a name that came up when discussing boy names for both pregnancies so I have a soft spot for Theodora too. If we can’t choose between them then maybe we should scrap both and keep Theodore in the running for a possible DS.

Not sure I’d use them but they’re all lovely names

I know a Dorothea, but its said Dorothy which has always just confused me. Which way would you pronounce it? x

With the Thea ending, @DarlingLittleBabyName. I didn’t know it was also pronounced as Dorothy, if I’m honest.

Dorothea! 😍

Oh yes, Dorothea is lovely!

I think Dorothea is lovely and really works for Violet's sister. I pronounce the end as thee-ah and have never heard it said any other way. In Australia there was a well-known poet Dorothea McKellar and it's said this way. I prefer it over Theodora though both are nice.

Isadora or Thea. Dorothea is too fussy.

I would go with just Thea. I know a couple of Dorothys (one 60s and one 30s) and they have always been Dots.

Theodora is gorgeous. I'm afraid I think of urethra for Dorothea. Don't know why, it's probably just me.

Dorothea makes me think diarrhoea. I prefer Dorothy.

The Dorothea I know pronounces it Doro-thee-a. Her name is actually Dorothee but pronounced with a German accent so when she moved to the UK she anglicised it that way so she didn't get the Dorothy pronunciation.

I can’t not hear diarrhoea now I think we’re going to stick with Theodora, out of the two. I’ve grown quite a soft spot for Dorothy now too. Our list keeps getting bigger although the aim is to narrow it down I’m a nightmare lol.

Dorothea! It's on my top three list. I really love it.

Our daughter has 2 middle names, as do all my side of the family. I personally find my 2 a bit clunky so my rules for following the family tradition was that our children’s flow, are meaningful and as short as possible.

These are the only 2 names, on our list, that work with Dorothea and Theodora. WDYT of Mabel Cait as middles to them?

We do also have Beatrice, Beatrix, Florence, Mabel, Josephine and possibly Dorothy on our first name list. We also have more names on our middle names list.

Love love love Josephine and really like Dorothy and Theodora

I love both Theodora and Dorothea. I know one Dorothea who is 4 and goes by Dot, and she is a delight. Thea is also beautiful by itself!

I knew a Dorothea in school - she was slightly eccentric, very clever and a lot of fun. She changed her name when she left school though, as she preferred to be called something different. I sometimes wonder what happened to her.

Dorothea has always been my all time favourite girls name (Middlemarch of course) but we chickened out when we realised how popular Thea is. I don’t like Dora (the explorer) or Dot and I can’t imagine always saying the full name. We have a Josephine- also a fab name imo.
I think I would still be tempted back to Dorothea now, hoping the Thea craze might’ve calmed down a bit.

I’ve not come across any girls named Thea so I’ve been oblivious to it’s popularity. The same happened with Violet. I only know one other, born only two weeks before ours but I see it a lot of it online. We wouldn’t use just Thea on it’s own though, as we want names that are easily shortened. MIL doesn’t like Violet’s name and only calls her Letty I’d like to be armed with “there are lots of nicknames you can choose from” this time around as it wasn’t something we thought about with Violet.

I love Dot, Dotty and Thea. Teddy (on a girl) and Dora aren’t my favourites but I don’t hate them plus it’s not my nickname to choose. She will go by whatever she wants to when old enough to decide as will Violet.