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Baby names

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

Phoebe, Cordelia or Isolde?

39 replies

feb1982 · 06/03/2022 08:17

Current top 3 names for dd2 due in a few weeks (dh yet to be persuaded on any of them so need to decide which I like best first 😁)

  • Phoebe, love the history and meaning (similar to the meaning off dd1's name so a nice link) but not a fan of the nickname Pheebs. Also I have the same name as one of the characters in Friends so would we get lots of comments about that?
  • Cordelia, love the literary connection although dd says it just makes him think of Buffy 😆
  • Isolde, which I would pronounce Is-old-eh but I know there are various ways. Would dd always be correcting/spelling it out for people?

Let me know your favourite! And any comments/alternative suggestions would be great. Thank you!

OP posts:
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BlueFlavour · 06/03/2022 08:21

I love Isolde. Really love it Smile
Phoebe I’m not so keen on, I agree with you about Feebs. I really like Cordelia.
Could I ask what your eldest daughter’s name is?
Few suggestions

Marina

Ione

Ines

Ophelia

Miranda

Honor

Valentina

Charis

Tatiana

Luredbyapomegranate · 06/03/2022 08:36

Not Phoebe - it’s a bit twee and more popular

Isolde is lovely but will through up pronunciation confusion, and she will likely end up one of a billion izzies. Can’t think of any disadvantage to Cordelia, which is equally lovely, so I’d go with that.

Luredbyapomegranate · 06/03/2022 08:40

I mean throw up!

Other thoughts

Nice ideas from PP above - also Cassia, Diana, Seraphina, Serena, Adela, Sanchia, Fernanda, Estella, Ismene, Circe, Persephone, Verity, Stella, Aphra, Oona, Hera

Orphlids · 06/03/2022 09:12

OP, I have a little Isolde. If you choose it, be prepared for almost no-one to have ever heard of it! In nearly one and a half years, I have met less than ten people who are familiar with the name. Even when I resort to saying, “You know, as in Tristan and Isolde,” I’m still met with blank looks. And I have yet to experience one single person who pronounces it correctly when reading it. It causes utter confusion everywhere we go. I must admit I enjoy hearing all the different pronunciations - some of them are very pretty - and I have to hope that it’s not something that will annoy my daughter as she goes through life. But I know mispronunciation is something that drives some parents crackers, so don’t choose Isolde if you think it might bother you. For me, the only negative is discovering the shocking state of education in this country. 😂 Even our librarian hadn’t heard of Isolde! But her name has brought us real joy. I love it more every day.

BasicBiscuit · 06/03/2022 09:16

Personally, I like all of those names. I'd say that they all have a 'girls grammar school comfortable middle class' vibe. No issue with that, obviously, but (as with all names) people will draw conclusions - that you may nor may not be comfortable with - from this.

Phoebe - Straightforward name that nearly everyone will be familiar with. It will be misspelled surprisingly often ("Pheobe"). You will not be able to avoid Phoebs as a shortening. The Friends connection is, I think, actually not a huge issue as the show over its lifespan has raised the visibility of the name to such an extent it has neutralised the name. When the show first aired, Phoebe was a definitely a slightly quirky, arty, unusual name, which befitted the character. These days, thanks to the enduring success of the show, the name has lost much of those connotations.You don't get expectant parents handwringing over the name Rachel, because it belongs to a character in Friends - the name is everywhere - and increasingly I'd say that's true of Phoebe, too.

Isolde - as the owner of a name with three mainstream pronunciations, I can attest to the fact that this will be a lifelong absolute pain in the arse for her. Spelling is a living nightmare. This one I think has more connotations of pretentiousness than the other two (I don't think it's pretentious, but I can definitely imagine some circumstances where some people might eye roll if you called her name across the playpark - especially if you are well-spoken).

Cordelia - Straightforward, easy to say and spell. Nicknames are not very nice (Cord, Cordy). Interestingly, I'd have said the literary connections aren't great (wet blanket in Shakespeare's King Lear; sadistic bully in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye; damaged and unfulfilled cipher in Brideshead Revised).

cyclamenqueen · 06/03/2022 09:17

Love Cordelia and Isolde ( but she will spend a lot of time explaining that she’s not Isobel)
Other suggestions I would make are Ianthe ( know one of these and she doesn’t seem to have any problems with people pronouncing it ) and Penelope

SnottyLottie · 06/03/2022 09:31

I love the name Cordelia. It’s so elegant and sophisticated. I always wanted to use it for a daughter and use the nickname Cora but other useable nicknames are Cody, Delia and Lia/Leah.

I like Phoebe too but it has become very popular recently. I automatically think of Friends and Pheebs but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, I love Phoebe Buffay 😆

Isolde is pretty and very literary but I feel there will be lots of pronunciation/spelling issues, one being “Is-old?”. So if you’re not a very patient person I would avoid using this name.

ShowOfHands · 06/03/2022 09:37

I love Cordelia and v much disagree that Shakespeare's was a wet blanket. Isolde is beautiful too but am surprised that a pp says almost nobody has heard of it. Phoebe is a bit popular/unremarkable in comparison.

Can I suggest Josephine?

CuteOrangeElephant · 06/03/2022 09:40

Isolde.

It was on our list and I really regret not using it. Hopefully for a future DD!

NuffSaidSam · 06/03/2022 09:40

I like Phoebe best. Agree that Pheebs is not the best NN. I think you will be able to avoid this when she's little, but by teens it will be up to her/her friends what she's called.

Then Cordelia. It's nice but I think 'Cordy' or 'Cord' are much, much worse as NNs than Pheebs tbh.

I'm not keen on Isolde. I think it's a horrible sound. But it does have the best NN potential with Izzy, although then why not just call her Isobel and save the spelling/pronunciation nightmare.

Other suggestions:

Xanthe
Octavia
Penelope
Hermione
Nancy
Cassia

Fernsinthegarden · 06/03/2022 09:49

I had a cat called Phoebe so I’d never have been able to have it on my list when I was pregnant.
Cordelia is really lovely and classic.
Isolde was on my list (as was Tristan for a boy!) pronunciation will possibly be an issue but if people can get their heads around longer name pronunciations they’ll manage here! The only thing is potentially find off putting would be the Izzy shortening.

feb1982 · 06/03/2022 09:53

Thanks so much for the comments so far, looks like a Phoebe is running behind at the moment t! @BlueFlavour our current daughter is Clara Iona Evelyn. So also wondering if there would be any issue with having two girls with their first name beginning with a C. Ianthe and Penelope have also been in the running (dh can't quite get over the scope for 'Ian - the' jokes as our surname is a noun, so I do see where he's coming from). Some other lovely suggestions here too. Interesting to hear the experiences of other Isoldes or those with unusual names re pronunciation issues!

OP posts:
feb1982 · 06/03/2022 09:55

@Fernsinthegarden yes I'm not a fan of Izzy either but wonder if it would be inevitable?

OP posts:
wingscrow · 06/03/2022 10:02

Done to death I would say.

Nothing worse than the endless 'Cordelia, Jemima, Sienna' and so on. It just scream middle-class snob wannabe.

Fernsinthegarden · 06/03/2022 10:02

It’s not the same name but my friends daughter has quite a long name that has a natural shortening but she is only ever known by her long name, her parents don’t shorten it and she hasn’t tried to. Saying that she isn’t in school yet so could all change.
I’m now feeling bad for any Izzy’s I may have inadvertently offended 😂 for clarity, I like the name but knew several Izzy’s growing up so it was never something I’d have considered for my own.

Orphlids · 06/03/2022 10:05

I dislike Izzy too. Our DD doesn’t have a nickname at present, but I sometimes wonder if I could get away with Sunny (mostly as an attempt to steer clear of Izzy) due to the French “ensoleillée”, with the similar sol sound. A bit of a stretch perhaps.

intheblightgarden · 06/03/2022 10:05

Don't like any of them, and phoebe too popular. Penelope is nice.

Purplestars22 · 06/03/2022 10:08

I love Phoebe, beautiful name and also love it’s history and meaning
Isolde looks nice written down but I think she would have issues with people not knowing how to pronounce it
Cordelia much too frilly for me and your dd’s would have the same initial

merryhouse · 06/03/2022 10:12

I imagine child's friends are probably more likely to be familiar with Anne than Buffy.

Iolanthe is nice (I'm a sad G&S fan). Or Yolanda.

I don't like the shape of Phoebe but that's a personal quirk.

WeaverofWords · 06/03/2022 10:12

Phoebe is ok and sounds a bit more normal. Maybe a bit popular. The other two are OTT.

WeaverofWords · 06/03/2022 10:15

Just thinking of names that go with your first DD and yours! How about:

Greta
Lucy/Lucia
Susanna
Juliet

I quite like Penelope but it seems too long against the other names.

ShowOfHands · 06/03/2022 10:19

People can neither pronounce nor spell my name. Doesn't bother me at all. People who stay in my life know my name.

BungleandGeorge · 06/03/2022 10:24

I wouldn’t pronounce Isolde like that in English. Perhaps that’s why people don’t recognise it? I think most people would either go for an eh on the end or a silent e. If it bothers you how about Iseult?

CaffiSaliMali · 06/03/2022 10:28

Isolde, Phoebe, Cordelia is my order of preference. I would have had Phoebe last if you didn't already have a Clara.

Clara and Phoebe go very nicely together but Phoebe is very popular.

Isolde is lovely but quite unusual compared to Clara. They do sound nice together. I prefer Iseult to Isolde but Isolde matches Clara more and is arguably easier to pronounce. Eseld is the Cornish version of Iseult/Isolde and is very nice too. I love the Welsh version, Esyllt, bit the Ll makes it tricky to pronounce if you don't speak Welsh.

Cordelia is lovely - one of my colleagues has a Cordelia of primary school age. I don't think it's pretentious but you'd have too Miss C Surname in the household.

duvetdayforeveryone · 06/03/2022 10:31

Elodie