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Baby names

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

Girls names associations

30 replies

Xenaaa · 05/03/2022 07:35

Hello,

I made a thread before and just wanted some opinions on my girls names to help me narrow down.

What’s your associations with:

Sienna
Aurelia
Amélie
Ottilie
Élodie
Cassia
Emmeline

Thanks

OP posts:
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Synchrony · 05/03/2022 07:42

Sienna - Miller, Princess Beatrice
Aurelia - the Portuguese woman in Love Actually
Amelie - a friend I know, the film
Ottilie - Butterly
Elodie - Melody missing a letter
Cassia - nice. Don't know anyone called it.
Emmeline - Pankhurst

Luredbyapomegranate · 05/03/2022 11:24

Cassia is lovely - go for that.

Sienna - OK, becoming a bit overused. Seems to be perceived as going slightly downmarket. Serena, Sabrina or Sanchia nicer

Aurelia - overused, Disney, sadly. Alexandra, Adela, Antonia would be alternatives.

Amélie - ok but overused/faddy. Verity, Cecily, Felicity, would be alternatives

Ottilie - really faddy. See above

Élodie - faddy - see above

Cassia - lovely - go for it

Emmeline - nice enough. Blurs a bit with all the Amelia, Amelie, Emily, Emilia, Emmas

Whycantibetangy · 05/03/2022 11:28

Sienna - Often shouted loudly in the aisles of Bnm
Aurelia - disney
Amélie - a few friends daughters have it, the é never gets used
Ottilie - utterly butterly
Élodie - melodie missing an M
Cassia - bon tempi
Emmeline - was that the cow in magic roundabout?

All seem a little too ‘try hard’ for my liking but if you love it then go for it

Marty13 · 05/03/2022 11:35

I like Sienna and Cassia out of your list. Bit unusual but not too out there. But really you should pick what you like best regardless of what people say on here (also what is said on here really isn't representative of the whole wide world)

WhoppingBigBackside · 05/03/2022 12:31

Sienna - Miller, unattractive colour
Aurelia - Oral
Amélie - film - dated
Ottilie - otter, utterly
Élodie - melody without the M
Cassia - bark
Emmeline - DM boots

I don't really like any of them. Most are too vowely

SnottyLottie · 05/03/2022 12:39

Sienna - Sienna Miller, Princess Beatrice’s daughter, Millie Macintosh’s daughter
Aurelia - Oral, Millie Macintosh’s other daughter
Amélie - the French film
Ottilie - Otter, utterly butterly
Élodie - Ella Dee from Hex, Melody
Cassia - Boris Johnson’s daughter
Emmeline - Emmeline Pankhurst

I really like Cassia from your list. Sienna is pretty but very over used where I live. Emmeline and Aurelia seem a bit old fashioned and clunky. The others are pretty, maybe a little hipsterish, but not my style 🙂

Lampyshady · 05/03/2022 12:56

Sienna-agree with the BnM reference above
Aurelia-a mouthful, hard to shorten, Disney princessy
Amélie-sounds odd if you’re not French
Ottilie-already sounds dated, and like you just picked it to find a unique, underused name but there are actually loads about (YouTuber recently called her baby this). Also sounds like otter and utterly
Elodie-again sounds odd if you’re not French
Cassia-nicest one but not sure if you pronounce Casha or Cass-ear. Prefer Cassandra/Cassie
Emmeline-Pankhurst but ok, would probably become one of many Em’s

Overall they all sound like very of the moment baby names that would date, but everyone has different tastes

Lampyshady · 05/03/2022 13:01

Sabina, Natasha, Sasha, Alexandra, Sylvie, Natalie, Cassandra, Camilla, Emily, Audrey, Ellen, Eleanor are similar sounding ones that I prefer

Kite22 · 05/03/2022 13:34

The only one I 'associate' with anything particularly, is I start singing the Hot Chocolate song when I hear 'Emmeline'.

I'm not particularly keen on any of your list, but that's fine - we just have different taste.
I do have a friend who has an accent on her name and she says, living in the UK, it is a right pain, as people don't ever know how to write it or type it on a keyboard on the odd occasions they remember it ought to be there. Obviously, if you are French and living there this may well be different.

LuckyWithMyLot · 05/03/2022 13:52

I love all of these names except Cassia which reminds me of cassava

estoybien · 05/03/2022 14:41

My favourite is Cassia

My main associations with the below names:
Sienna - colour
Aurelia - an aura
Amélie - it's ok but it puts me off that it sounds like "Am Ellie"
Ottilie - really dislike how this looks written down

Élodie - melody missing an M
Cassia - a genus of plants
Emmeline - maybelline, even though it probably doesn't rhyme with that. Plenty of nickname opportunities.

Xenaaa · 05/03/2022 15:27

Thank you!

I’m neither French or German as most of these names are, but I seem to be attracted to those names. Thank you for the associations, but still none the wiser as to which to choose!

Which do you prefer? I want a name that can grow up with my daughter. I want a name that’s elegant and graceful and conjures up visions of art and ballet and culture….sorry I know I’m being specific but that’s the type of name I’m looking for my daughter.

OP posts:
Crunched · 05/03/2022 15:41

How lovely that you can already see your baby is elegant and graceful.
I think Sienna is a bit try-hard.
I know a beautiful Amélie (French-Canadian) and she does indeed do ballet to a fairly high standard.
Ottilie and Elodie seem quite dated, I imagine them as characters in The Sound of Music.
I like Cassia and, as a previous poster says, Emmeline is a name flexible enough to have variations which will suit the woman your DD will become.

scottishnames · 05/03/2022 15:46

NOT criticisms, just observations. None of these may be important to you. Your baby, your choice of name!

Your list contains mostly foreign-language names that have (all except Cassia) shot up in popularity in England and Wales in approx the last 10 years. That makes them very much 'of the moment'. You can see the graphs on names.darkgreener.com/

Amelie and Emmeline are different versions of the same name.

There are pronounciation issues. Original languge or English language: Am-ay-lee or Am-elly? Ot-teel-yi-ah or Otterly? Ow-ray-li-ah or Ore-ree-lee-uh? Also between American and English: EmmeLINE or EmmeLEEN?

As others have said, accents on letters can be really difficult in many English-language websites and documents. Also, SFAIK, they can't be used on UK passports.

Xenaaa · 05/03/2022 16:24

Thank you.

Interesting to note about accents!
I guess I will leave out the accents. I would pronounce them: am-mel-lee and Ott-til-lee

I actually don’t know any children with these names, but I guess they are trending.

It’s a delicate balance between picking a truly dated name like for eg. Maureen and a very popular name like Amelia.

I do know my daughter may not end up a ballerina or into art, and she will have her own likes and interests. But those are the type of names are I am attracted too!

OP posts:
scottishnames · 05/03/2022 16:25

But really, I don't think names do have fixed associations. What seems pretty to one person might seem too frilly for another, for example. Or what's cute to you might seem twee to someone else. And what's retro to some might seem just old-fashioned to others....

The only thing that can reliably be counted is popularity; there are national statistics. From those, you can also - if you wish - look for trends or fashions: are plain names popular, for example, or names ending in 'a'? Are old names being revived? Do they all come from a particular time? Or do people copy names from social media, films etc? (Those names might have short-term assocations with particular characters, but celebrities come and go ....)

From the evidence on these pages, people tend to prefer conventional spellings, and that's reasonable enough, I think.

Here is a list of (so they say) the top 10 recent ballerinas:
Misty, Olga, Tamara, Alina, Polina, Julie, Diana, Marianela, Gillian, Ludmila www.dancesocksbcn.com/best-ballerinas-of-the-world/

The names don't really tell us anything except, perhaps, their parents' native language:

There will be similar lists of leading artists etc, if that helps.

scottishnames · 05/03/2022 16:34

Thanks for reply OP - I hope I'm not being harsh. All the names you suggest have been used in recent years because people like them - and that's the most important thing! They're all fine! If I had to choose, my favourite would be Cassia (Cass-ee-ah). (Though I like the similar 'Cassandra' even more.)

timoteigirl · 05/03/2022 16:36

Sienna - sunshine in Italy
Aurelia - Marcus Aurelius
Amélie - Audrey Tautou
Ottilie - ATM
Élodie - missing M, a spelling mistake?
Cassia - botanical
Emmeline - Pankhurst

In brief: happy with others but not with Amélie, Ottilie or Élodie

timoteigirl · 05/03/2022 16:43

Sorry just noticed that you said "I want a name that’s elegant and graceful and conjures up visions of art and ballet and culture"

Isadora
Eleanor
Annabeth
Veronica
Isolde
Minerva
Astrid
Annika
Ophelia
Eliana
Gabriela
Juliana / Julianna
Rosamund/ Rosalind
Andromeda
I recommend Seraphina - a common middle name in my family

Blubells · 05/03/2022 17:35

Sienna - colour
Aurelia - gold
Amélie - French
Ottilie - otters
Élodie - melody missing an M
Cassia - a genus of plants
Emmeline - Pankhurst

AWavyLine · 05/03/2022 23:20

Sienna-Miller, noughties boho etc
Aurelia - Ecce Romani
Amélie - that awful film
Ottilie - eccentric artists from the 1920s. Ottoline Morell.
Élodie-meh
Cassia - cassava root, or maybe an artificial sweetener or weight loss drug
Emmeline - Pankhurst although it also makes me think of ermintrude the cow.

Luredbyapomegranate · 06/03/2022 07:27

If that’s what you want I would forget all the Amelie, Aurelia type names - they are too popular to have any real association.

Cassia is still your best bet from your list
Allegra is very musical
Otherwise Serena, Sabrina, Fernanda, Adela, Belinda, Diana, Isadora, Ismene, Luella, Marina, Marianne, Odessa, Perdita, Philippa nn Pippa, Persephone, Marguerite, Tamara, Genevieve, Vivienne, Yolande, Annalisa, Alexandra nn Sacha

SnottyLottie · 06/03/2022 09:25

Suggestions based on your criteria:

Audrey
Giselle
Alessandra
Odette
Genevieve
Heloise/Eloise
Florence

TarcasticSwat · 06/03/2022 09:33

Sienna - the lazy "pretty" name everyone uses for a girl.

Aurelia - the horrible and twee name that MN is obsessed with and suggests on EVERY name post. Pretty sure there will be thousands of Aurelia's running around in a few years.Can't stand the sound of it personally.

Amélie - cute name to use if you're French.

Ottilie - again awfully twee and sounds quite pretentious, will no doubt grow in popularity due to YouTube Zoe Sugg using this name.

Élodie - pretty name, wouldn't use the accent above the e though unless you're French

Cassia - sounds like a made up name.

Emmeline - pretty name.

Lampyshady · 06/03/2022 13:23

Natalia, Klara?