Elizabeth or Isabelle?

[Ellen35]

Which do you prefer?

Thank you in advance!

[TrySarahTops]

Elizabeth by a country mile.

There are so many Isabels / Isabellas etc, I regularly have 3 in every class I teach.

And I agree Elizabeth is beautiful, the ultimate classic name. I considered it for my youngest, but knew too many who had similar names. I love the shortenings Libby and Eliza.

[pinkpinecone]

Isabelle is so much nicer, Elizabeth just makes me think of the queen

[MercyBodle]

Elizabeth.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

@Zolaanna

Isabelle but a million miles. Elizabeth is a god awful ugly name.

How odd. I think it's a beautiful name. I have always also liked Isobel and all its variant spellings.

[Twizbe]

Elizabeth all the way, I'm majorly biased though as I'm one.

I've yet to meet another Elizabeth who uses the same shorted form. We've all had our own variations from this list;

Liz
Lizz
Lizzie
Beth
Libby
Ellie

[Brighterthansunflowers]

Elizabeth is my all time favourite name

I like Isabel/Isobel but not at all keen on the spelling Isabelle, it seems pointlessly frilly

[Beamur]

Elizabeth. Perpetual classic.
Isabelle and it's very very many variables is a really lovely name but completely overused at the moment. I know literally dozens. Including family members!

[Lampzade]

Elizabeth

[violetsilvergold]

Isabelle, Elizabeth just sounds a bit ‘heavy’ to me.

[Apricotta]

Definitely not Elizabeth for me... far too old fashioned and harsh...too many shortened to Liz later in life which is even more old fashioned and harsh. But it's your choice!

[MrPanks]

I have an Elizabeth, so declaring my bias up front. Either name is very pretty though. My Lizzie is named after my GM, but I think I like it so much I'd have chosen if even if it wasn't. Very strong and dignified name -
Elizabeth Bennett
Elizabeth I and II
Elizabeth Taylor

And lots of lovely ways to shorten it: Lizzie, Libby, Lilabet, Beth, Eliza, Ellie, Betty, Betsy.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

You see old-fashioned, I see classic. Isabelle is a variant of Elizabeth, as others have already pointed out, and it goes back hundreds and hundreds of years, just as Elizabeth does. Elizabeth in fact goes all the way back to the Bible. It's never been out of the top 100 names for girls as far back as records have been kept, I believe. Everybody knows how to spell it, everybody knows how to pronounce it, it's classless. It's a fantastic name.

Also, Elizabeth is just as likely to be shortened to Beth, Betty, Bette, Lizzie, Eliza. My impression is that Liz is far less commonly used these days.

[Marrilou]

Both are nice, but I'd favour Elizabeth as I like the shortenings Beth and Betsy.

[LadySlipper]

Elizabeth (Libby)