Oliva or Olivella

[joieria]

Do you prefer Oliva or Olivella for a girl?

We've ruled out Olivia because it's too popular but Olive seems too plain for us. We have Spanish links and want to choose between these two names but can't decide!

Neither. Sorry but Olivella sounds like you're plugging a plant-based food product.
It's Olivia (which is much prettier sounding than Oliva) or another name entirely.

I think Oliva they would spend their life correcting as people would think it was Olivia. And tend to agree with the Olivella sounding spread-like, sorry.

If you live in England, people will assume Oliver rather than Oliva or that it's a typo for Olivia.

Frogmella?

Olivella sounds like olive oil. Or like a type of olive oil based margarine. Olivia on the other hand is beautiful.

Neither, for all the reasons PP gave.

Olivella sounds like you couldn’t decide between Olivia and Isabella so just mashed them together.

Sorry OP - I read the title and thought "spread".

Olivella sounds like a brand of olive oil (and, incidentally, auto corrected to Olivia when I typed it) and Oliva looks like a typo for Olivia, especially if she is going to be brought up in UK where Oliva is that well known.
Olivia is a beautiful name, popular for a good reason.

They both sound like margarine. Sorry. Athena, Helena, Arianna? Or Livia, Lydia?

Olivio spread.

Olivia x the other name looks made up or a name for butter/margarine! X

Sorry OP, I agree with PP. Olivia is beautiful, Oliva is ‘Oliver’ and Olivella sounds like margarine oil.

Olivella ? No No and thrice No

😐 Erm neither

How about Octavia, Odette, or Orla

Neither sorry (FWIW I don’t like Olive or Olivia either so may not be the best judge)

Oliva will be constantly assumed to be Olivia or Oliver either misread/misheard or people assume you wanted a “unique” spelling for the sake of it

As PP said Olivella sounds like some kind of olive oil product

They are both dreadful , maybe they work in Spain with the accent etc but over here they both sound fairly ugly and your child will spend her life correcting people .

No and no. Olivia or choose something else, otherwise people will misspell or mishear.

Are these even real names or did you make them up?

Livia is a better option

Neither. Don’t name your wain something that will cause any or even one of the following to happen…..

1. ‘how do you spell that?’
2. ‘Is that a forrin name?”
3. ‘Pardon, what’s your name?’
4. It being spelled incorrectly on every letter/card etc for years.
5. ‘Oh I thought you said Olivia’

Of those two, Olivella is okay, though not that keen on it.

Another alternative is Olivine (used in my Mestizo family, though I'm very aware some names work fine in Spanish in some areas better than others).

Sorry OP, neither. Poor lass will end up being called Olivia, and having her named misspelled and mispronounced for most of her life. Olivella sounds like something you used on toast.I agree with a PP, Livia is the better option, if you were looking for something with the same root?

TO my English ears, neither, for all the reasons given above.

If Oliva is spoken, everyone will ask her why she is called Oliver.
If Oliva is written down, everyone will think i is a typo and insert an extra 'i'.
I'm just not keen on Olivella but can't put my finger on why.

This is working on a child growing up in UK / English speaking country, which of course you might not be.

Obviously there are loads of names that sound 'foreign' to English ears, and we all soon get used to them, but the issue here is the similarity to what you have already acknowledged are common English names in Olivia and Oliver, so I think that is what people will 'hear'.

Livia, aviva? Similar ring?

Not olivella - which absolutely sounds like either an olive oil derivative or some sort of power tool. Correction, I’m thinking of Olivetti - the typewriter.