Edit down my long shortlist

[SherbertLemons]

DP and I are expecting our first child in the spring. We are not going to find out the sex and have a boys name picked out (miraculously as we don't agree on many names).

However, our naming styles are very different and, so far, there are no girls names we both love. We have, therefore, both spent some time each making a long "short" list of names we like and have said we will edit it down to our favourite 5. Then come together and try and pic something we both like from the list of 10. It's a bit long winded but honestly we couldn't agree on anything so we have to start somewhere lol.

Baby's surname will be three syllable starting ring with an 'H' ending in 'son'.

So here is MY long ish list. Which 5 would you take forward and which ones would you get rid of.

ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a)
ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena)
ELODIE
ELOISE
EMMA
EMMELINE (pronounced - 'leen)
IMOGEN
ISLA
JULIETTA
LEILA
LILY
MAEVA
SOPHIA

Thanks everyone!

I would lose

ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a) - Eleanor is nicer
ELODIE - some of the El, Ellie names blend into one a bit
ELOISE - ditto. Louise is nice though
EMMELINE - I like this
IMOGEN - OK
ISLA - flimsy
LEILA - OK
MAEVA - prefer Maeve

I would keep

ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena)
SOPHIA - beautiful, classic, lovely meaning
LILY - simple and un-fussy
JULIETTA - elegant and pretty, Juliet and Juliette are also lovely
EMMA - underused classic

Imogen, Elodie.

Sophia and Lily are nice but massively overused.

ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a) - fine but various pronunciations might be a pain
ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena) - fine
ELODIE - meh
ELOISE - bit of a mouthful
EMMA - lovely
EMMELINE (pronounced - 'leen) - not keen
IMOGEN - fine, not keen on Immy
ISLA - overused
JULIETTA - too long
LEILA - ok
LILY - safe
MAEVA - dislike, looks made up
SOPHIA - overused

Surely Eleanor is not usually pronounced Ellena? For me that's a totally separate name.
I like Eleanor but all the ones I've met have had the "nor" sound at the end?

I like maeve and Juliette in their original form.

Have you thought about Helena? If that's the sound you like. I like Emma of your list

ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a) - this will get pronounced differently
ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena) - boring and overused
ELODIE - beautiful
ELOISE - nice
EMMA - classic
EMMELINE (pronounced - 'leen) - don't like this pronunciation
IMOGEN - boring
ISLA - common
JULIETTA - not keen
LEILA - nice
LILY - classic
MAEVA - nice
SOPHIA - don't like

Personally I discounted any name in the top 50 on the ONS list. That might have been a little extreme, but I have the number 1 baby name for the year I was born and the same name as my cousin (not a family name in anyway), so I think I'm mentally scarred by it

I would certainly remove anything top 20 from your list straight away.

My personal favourite on your short list is Emmeline.

@Gottahavehighhopes

Surely Eleanor is not usually pronounced Ellena? For me that's a totally separate name. I like Eleanor but all the ones I've met have had the "nor" sound at the end?

I like maeve and Juliette in their original form.

Have you thought about Helena? If that's the sound you like. I like Emma of your list

I think that's accent dependent. In London Eleanor is Ellena. But I know when we meet Irish or some American people they say 'Ellen-norrr' (and I'm sure other places too). It is one of those names where you have to be happy for people to pronounce it differently.

@Gottahavehighhopes

Surely Eleanor is not usually pronounced Ellena? For me that's a totally separate name. I like Eleanor but all the ones I've met have had the "nor" sound at the end?

I like maeve and Juliette in their original form.

Have you thought about Helena? If that's the sound you like. I like Emma of your list

I'd say it Ellenur, Some will say Ellen-ORE, some Ellinuh

My top 5:

ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena)
EMMA
EMMELINE (pronounced - 'leen)
IMOGEN
JULIETTA - only I’d change this to Juliet instead

Eloise is lovely.
I like Isla but it's very popular.

I like Emma and Lily.

Adore these:
Eloise
Imogen
Emma

Also very much like, but not quite as much as the above names:
Emmeline
Elodie

I adore Juliet, but find Julietta a bit frilly. If Juliet is an option, that would go in my top 5.

Isla and Lily - I've just heard these too many times at school/clubs/playground and can't get excited about them.

Maeva - blends into the Mays, Maes, Maeves and Avas too much for me

Eleanor - I pronounce differently to your choice of pronunciation. I also prefer Elinor.

Sophia I ok, but I much prefer Sophie.

Leila I find too frilly for my taste. I really like Leah though, if that's an option.

I think it would be good for you to keep an Em and an El name for the final 5, as both feature in your current shortlist multiple times (Eleanor/Elodie etc).

Clicked on "post" too soon! Other suggestions:

Isadora
Adelaide
Eliza
Amy
Esmé
Amelia
Emilia
Amabel
Violet
Harriet
Jessamine
Annaliese
Lucy
Lara or Larissa

The five I would choose to keep:
Elodie
Emmeline
Leilia
Maeva
Sophia

*Leila not Leilia sorry

Eleanor, Eloise, Imogen, Isla and Maeva

ELOISE
EMMA
IMOGEN
ISLA
LILY

You have a lot of similar sounding names, how do you feel about Ellie? Several of them have that inevitable shortening. I'd keep
Elena (I'd say E-lay-na though so be prepared to correct)
Eloise
Emma
Leila
Juliet /Juliette (the A is too fussy for my taste)
Sophia

Isla, Lily are perfectly nice but we meet lots

Hopefully it will click when she arrives, DD was born on bastille day so we gave her the French name from our shortlist

The only one I like is Eloise.

I'd keep
Imogen
Emma
Eleanor (from my part of the country everyone says Ellena)

I don't like
Maeva
Elodie
Elena because I pronounce it Elaine-a.

Leila (I pronounce this Lay-la)
Julietta (I LOVE LOVE LOVE Julietta).

@Synchrony

I'd keep Imogen Emma Eleanor (from my part of the country everyone says Ellena)

I don't like
Maeva
Elodie
Elena because I pronounce it Elaine-a.

Leila (I pronounce this Lay-la)
Julietta (I LOVE LOVE LOVE Julietta).

This formatted weirdly. Leila and Julietta should be on my Keep list.

Loose anything that’s not pronounced the way it’s spelt, if you want a name to be pronounced a certain way, spell it that way.

I like
Eleanor- pronounced Elen-nor
Emmeline - I understand it’s becoming quite popular though
Imogen

One of my favourites that my DH vetoed was Imelda I also like Lenore, only problem is in the uk it’s associated with the fabric softener.

ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a)
ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena)
ELODIE
ELOISE
EMMA
EMMELINE (pronounced - 'leen)
IMOGEN
ISLA
JULIETTA
LEILA
LILY
MAEVA
SOPHIA

I'd get rid of Elena and Eleanor because I dislike your pronunciations. I'd get rid of Maeva and Julietta because the -a endings are too much. I'd get rid of Leila because I don't like it.

I'd take forward Imogen, Emmeline, Emma, Elodie and Isla.

Keep:
Eloise
Emma
Eleanor
Emmeline
Imogen

Get rid of
ELENA (pronounced e-LEN-a)
ELEANOR (pronounced Ellena)

Because no one I know would ever pronounce either the way you expect them to be pronounced.