Alice or Theodora?

[Eliza17]

Hello! We have a baby girl due in a matter of weeks and I have two names I love.

Which do you prefer? She would be Alice Theodora Pearl or Theodora Olivia Pearl. Thoughts?

I'd go for Theodora Alice Pearl :)

I prefer Alice, though I do like both. Theodora is a name which has been talked about a lot on baby name forums for a while and has started to climb in popularity in the charts. I can see it becoming very trendy, then falling quickly. I prefer the more classic Alice. That might not bother you though. I also think the middle names for Alice flow better - I stumbled a bit over Theodora Olivia

Alice Theodora is lovely and flows beautifully

Agree with Theodora Alice Pearl!

Alice.I don't like Theodora at all, not keen on Pearl, and know too many Olivias.

I like Alice best. Simple and classic!

Alice Theodora is beautiful x

I love the name Theodora! And its got loads of great shortened versions she can pick from when she's older..(theo, Dora, thea, dotty, Teddie etc..) I think those are the best names because they can kind of be customised to suit whoever she grows into...

Alice Theodora Pearl

Alice Olivia Pearl is my favourite.

Alice Theodora Pearl is the nicer of the two imo. You have the best of both worlds - a classic first name that shouldn't date, combined with more unusual, old-fashioned middle names to add interest.

I adore the name Theodora and think Theodora Alice Pearl sounds gorgeous! Let us know what you choose xx

@CeibaTree

I'd go for Theodora Alice Pearl :)

Me too, but both nice

Thank you everyone for your input so far! We are taking all the comments on board :)

I think Theodora will date badly, I'd go for Alice which is a lovely classic name.

Theodora. How can it date? It's way older than Alice as a name!
I'd go for Theodora Olivia Pearl. It's a top name .

@Chilldonaldchill

Theodora. How can it date? It's way older than Alice as a name! I'd go for Theodora Olivia Pearl. It's a top name .

Theodora can date, despite being an old name, as it is going from being an underused name, to a name which is rapidly rising in popularity. This is usually followed by an eventual decline in popularity, meaning a boom of Theodoras born between 2020-2030. When this happens it becomes easy to estimate how old a person is based on their name, and the name returns to being underused until the next popularity spike. If you heard of a Barbara, Jason or Claire you would probably have some kind of mental image of an age bracket they would fall into, despite them all being classic names. Dating relates more to current name trends than a name’s history. Alice has been popular fairly consistently, meaning it is far less likely to date.

Obviously I don’t have a crystal ball and the Theodora trend could well go nowhere. Baby name trends are much more short lived these days and more names are used now than were historically, so it’s hard to say what will sound dated in 30 years. However with Thea being in the top 50 for girls and name Theodore being so popular for boys, it’s not unlikely to pick up more steam, as the name sounds familiar. This might not be important at all to the OP, and I like both Alice and Theodora and think either would be a good choice. Just might be something to think about.

Alice for me.

Theodora is too fussy and I dislike all the diminutives. It'd be a good middle name though.

Oh, really interesting thoughts! My Mum is called Barbara and she loathes it! Ha ha.

@toastofthetown

Oh, really interesting thoughts! My Mum is called Barbara and she loathes it! Ha ha.

Alice

Alice Theodora Pearl is gorgeous, and my choice. Even though Alice is more popular than Theodora, I think it's an easier name to take you through life. I do like Theodora though - it makes a big statement.

Theodora Alice Pearl so stunning.

Alice

Theodora Alice Pearl