Ottilie

[Snowbell99]

What are your thoughts on Ottilie?

I think it's kind of cute and not so popular.

The Ottillie I've met pronounces it Otta-lee - think most do in the UK.

I hate it sorry. But that's because I like names with a nice shortening and I don't like Otta or Tilly

Silly name.

Beautiful

It's very popular.

I love it. Loads of nickname options too- Lottie, Ottie, Tilly, Lee

I agree it isn’t comparable to names that have appeared out of nowhere, and until it gets into the top 100 I think it’s very unlikely to date poorly.

It may be a classic name in German-speaking regions but is it really a classic in the UK? I've never met an Ottilie and I never heard the name when I was growing up. It's somewhat common on babies now but among the adult population it's vanishingly uncommon. I don't think it's comparable to classic English names like Catherine or Eleanor. It's more like Saskia or Milena - it might be a classic name somewhere but it's too uncommon to have that label in the UK.

I do think it's a pretty name. The Zoella connection is a bit off-putting for me but it's not the worst.

I like it, it is very popular at the moment, but I’m not sure why that would put you off if you like the name and have family connections. It doesn’t stop people using Ava/Olivia/first name-May combos.

Thirty years ago when we bought our first home we decorated with wallpaper by a designer whose first name was Ottilie and I always said if we had a daughter I'd like to use that name. Then our only DS arrived and he's got a very traditional/popular British name.

Ottilie is so much nicer sounding than Ottoline.

I like the original (German) pronounciation, which, as others have said, is approx 'Ot-teel-ye-uh'. (As in the alternative spelling 'Ottilia'.) English versions, not so much.

Using a different pronounciation in English is a bit like pronouncing the French name Louis as 'Lewis'. But some people do that, of course. Each to their own. It's a matter of personal taste.

As others have also said, Ottilie (and Otto) have risen very, very rapidly in popularity: names.darkgreener.com/#ott Ottilie is fast approaching the top 100. It was 310 in 2016, 226 in 2017, 164 in 2018, and 122 in 2020. It will be interesting to see the 2021 figures when they are released later this year.

I love it!

If you like it, go for it. Who cares if it's popular or not!

@Rosieposie101

It's gone from 0 to very popular so will date badly. Everyone pronounces it wrong (it's not Otterly! It's more like Ott-ee-lyuh'). It's definitely gaining in popularity rapidly with this wrong pronunciation.

Ava has too and I don't think it will date badly. It's not Jaydeiynne.

The pronunciation isn't wrong, it's the English pronunciation of a German name. If you think it's wrong then Sophie as SO-fee would also be wrong because the French don't emphasise the first syllable.

Its a very pretty name as mentioned its very popular now but its no different to using any other popular name if it doesn't bother you. As long as you like it :)

I did hear on a podcast the Olivine as an alternative to Olivia and Ottilie and I thought it was very pretty x

@GetYourEightYearOldOutOfATree

The Ott-uh-lee pronunciation that seems accepted in the UK is just wrong. It's like deciding to pronounce (e.g. ) Grainne 'Grain'.

For me Ottilie will always be a woman who had an affair (at least an EA IIRC) in a Goethe novel. It's not one that's come back as part of German old lady chic. And I think in Germany it very much has the same sort of 'posh' vibe as names like Araminta do in the UK.

I don't think that's a fair comparison.

It's more like pronouncing Sophie as SO-fee or Elodie as ELL-o-dee. The French pronounce them differently but they are seen as acceptable English pronunciations.

@demoness

It may be a classic name in German-speaking regions but is it really a classic in the UK? I've never met an Ottilie and I never heard the name when I was growing up. It's somewhat common on babies now but among the adult population it's vanishingly uncommon. I don't think it's comparable to classic English names like Catherine or Eleanor. It's more like Saskia or Milena - it might be a classic name somewhere but it's too uncommon to have that label in the UK.

I do think it's a pretty name. The Zoella connection is a bit off-putting for me but it's not the worst.

I'd say it is, the same as Ava (which also reappeared out of nowhere) and I personally also don't know any granny Avas. With Ottilie having been used in the UK in the late 1800s it is unlikely you'd have met one. To me it is still classic just not timeless like Elizabeth.

@scottishnames

I like the original (German) pronounciation, which, as others have said, is approx 'Ot-teel-ye-uh'. (As in the alternative spelling 'Ottilia'.) English versions, not so much.

Using a different pronounciation in English is a bit like pronouncing the French name Louis as 'Lewis'. But some people do that, of course. Each to their own. It's a matter of personal taste.

As others have also said, Ottilie (and Otto) have risen very, very rapidly in popularity: names.darkgreener.com/#ott Ottilie is fast approaching the top 100. It was 310 in 2016, 226 in 2017, 164 in 2018, and 122 in 2020. It will be interesting to see the 2021 figures when they are released later this year.

If the source quoted here is accurate and legit, which it appears to be, then some of the claims on this thread are downright silly. Someone further up thread has claims to have four Ottilie’s in their 4 year old’s class.. which is pretty remarkable considering there were only 200 or so in the whole of England 4 years ago.

I think it’s important to remember too that the name pool is immensely larger and more diverse than it was 50,60 years ago. We all know of names like Alan, Gary, Sharon, Linda etc which bring to mind a specific age range but realistically, that isn’t likely to be a problem with the children of today. A number 10 ranking name 50 years ago could have been a large proportion of the population. Today, a number 1 ranking name in 2020 was 3640 Olivia’s. That’s out of 613k babies born that year

As pp have suggested I think you will get pronunciation issues.

Interestingly, despite zillions of threads about Ottilie and people saying it's really popular at the moment, I've never come across one in RL. Which surprises me as I live in an area where children normally have all the 'MN popular' names.

Snobell Can I very gently disagree - there's a whole syllable - or even two - difference between the English and German pronounciations of Ottilie. It's not just a matter of difference of stressed sounds.

In the same way, we have a Dutch friend who spells her name 'Anne' but pronounces it 'Ah-nuh'. And a French friend whose name is 'Bay-a-treece', not Bheer-triss. The two different language versions really do not sound the same.

Interesting article about baby names currently rising in popularity here:
www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2022/02/ten-girls-names-im-watching-for-2021.html

[quote scottishnames]Snobell Can I very gently disagree - there's a whole syllable - or even two - difference between the English and German pronounciations of Ottilie. It's not just a matter of difference of stressed sounds.

In the same way, we have a Dutch friend who spells her name 'Anne' but pronounces it 'Ah-nuh'. And a French friend whose name is 'Bay-a-treece', not Bheer-triss. The two different language versions really do not sound the same.

Interesting article about baby names currently rising in popularity here:
www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2022/02/ten-girls-names-im-watching-for-2021.html[/quote]
It's not just the emphasis with Sophie, it's also the O. Can't really explain it but the French don't open their mouths so much during the O sound and it's not as prominent.

I speak German and while Ottilie is technically ott-tee-lee-eh when you say it in everday life it become ott-teel-yeh so it's different but not that different.

I say bee-uh-triss in English, not beea-triss but I know what you mean. But technically this applies to so many names. Anne is the French form of Anna and pronouncing it ANN is therefore not entirely correct because in French it is more like UHNN. But it has been used in English speaking countries for ages and ANN is accepted everywhere. Same with Sophie. Ottilie is not quite as old but to me it is in a similar category (English pronunciation of German/French etc. name) and I don't see it as pronounce Gráinne as Granny or something like that.

Thanks for the article!

snowbell

I much prefer Ethollie pronounced Etolee .