Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Down to 2 names need help to pick!!

59 replies

PW1992 · 06/04/2021 18:54

So managed to get my list down to 2 baby girl names and need help to pick the best one! I'm Scottish so I know my names wont be everyone's cup of tea but I love them just need help choosing one!

So my first one is Eilidh, pronounced as Ailie, not sure which spelling I would use?

Second one is similar as its Aila, pronounced Ay-luh. It's different from Isla as I'm not keen on that name.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Spied · 06/04/2021 18:56

Eilidh

MysteriousMonkey · 06/04/2021 18:58

Eilidh and I'd spell it that way. Those that matter will learn to spell it if they don't know already!

ChocFondant · 06/04/2021 18:58

Eilidh

Wednesdayalltheway · 06/04/2021 18:59

Aila

Laquila · 06/04/2021 19:00

Both lovely. FWIW I think the pronunciation of Eilidh is reasonably well known - I've known two, both mid-30s (London).

bumpdownthestairs · 06/04/2021 19:01

I prefer Aila, I also know an Ailsa and have never heard of another one!

HHSchultz · 06/04/2021 19:03

Eilidh

florascotia2 · 06/04/2021 19:51

Eilidh or Ailsa, as another poster has suggested. The spelling Eilidh is well-enough known.

Aila is not Scottish or Gaelic - you really can't believe what some baby name websites say.

Isla is modern Scottish and also a much older place name (Glen Isla).

DramaAlpaca · 06/04/2021 19:54

Of the two, Eilidh.

I agree with florascotia2, I don't think Aila is authentic Scottish. I prefer Ailsa to Aila.

IamnotwhouthinkIam · 06/04/2021 21:40

For me it would depend on how likely you think your family are to stay living in Scotland. Because Eilidh is lovely but I'm not sure most people outside Scotland will get the correct pronunciation at first (or indeed spell it correctly once they had heard the name - it's top 25 in Scotland, but rarely used elsewhere in the world according to the statistics). I don't know if she'd find having to explain the name annoying?

Whereas I like personally like the sound of Aila less, but the pronunciation seems more straightforward and the name is more widely used around the world (although it might still get misspelt as the much more popular Ayla).

TheMotherlode · 06/04/2021 21:55

Both very nice, I slightly prefer Eilidh (although I did have to check back a couple of times to get the right spelling Blush)

daisypond · 06/04/2021 22:02

Eilidh

Anystarinthesky · 06/04/2021 22:03

Eilidh

princesspeppax · 06/04/2021 22:04

Eilidh

KirstenBlest · 07/04/2021 08:39

Eilidh, that spelling. It is pretty.

Aila is awful

emmathedilemma · 07/04/2021 10:29

Eilidh with the traditional spelling

Original poster
PW1992 · 07/04/2021 10:58

@florascotia2 thanks for the reply! Although, Aila is a Scottish name, I didnt find it from a website it's very popular in my area 😁

OP posts:
Laquila · 07/04/2021 11:32

I think Aila is pretty but suspect people will be forever asking whether it's pronounced the same as Isla. Or wondering whether they've missed out an s and it should be Ailsa. Actually if it's popular in your area perhaps that wouldn't be such as issue?

florascotia2 · 07/04/2021 20:26

OP That's very interesting - but there were only 44 babies in the whole of Scotland named Aila in 2020.
It might be popular in your area, but in origin it really is not a Scottish-origin name - no more than names such as Olivia, Emily, Freya etc which are also very popular in Scotland.

As a previous poster has suggested, it might be a sounds-like spelling of Isla. That is a river name that possibly/probably means 'fast moving'.

Ikeameatballs · 07/04/2021 20:29

Eilidh. It’s lovely.

zigaziga · 07/04/2021 21:16

Eilidh

I’m English and knew an Eilidh growing up, no one ever seemed to have difficulty with the name. Besides, once you explain how to pronounce it’s pretty easy to remember and is not a hard name to say.

PumpingPamela · 07/04/2021 21:34

Aila is lovely (does it matter if it's not a "proper" Scottish name?). Ailsa is also very nice - it was on my list but DP couldn't get past the Home and Away association 😂. Less keen on Eilidh personally.

florascotia2 · 07/04/2021 22:03

No of course it doesn't 'matter'. But Wikipedia and other sites say that Aila is a Gaelic names and it really isn't. That's all.

PumpingPamela · 07/04/2021 22:54

@florascotia2 - that wasn't aimed at you, was just musing.

KirstenBlest · 07/04/2021 22:56

Baby name sites are not reliable. The welsh baby name ones are particularly bad - I've seen Irish names on them, boys names listed as girls' names, misspellings, and random words that are not suitable for using as names.

Wikipedia isn't reliable - I can think of a well-known quiz show host reading out an answer that was actually wrong, but hey it's on wiki so it must be true.