Ella or Eleanor?

[louanne00]

Hello,

I am currently pregnant with my first baby, a daughter, and with her due any day now, we are struggling to settle on her name. We are settled in a way, on Ella, it has been one of my favourite baby names since I was a little girl and as soon as we found out her gender I was set on it, I love it. Her full name would be either Ella Rosemary or Eleanor Rosemary.

Our only issue with this name is it being regarded too “cutesy” and “nicknamey” and I worry that when she gets older, she won’t like the name we have given her. I realise childhood only lasts so long, she will be an adult longer, and I would like her to be taken seriously when she is older. I fear that a name like “Ella” wouldn’t.

So we decided what if we call put Eleanor on her birth certificate, so she had a longer, more formal name, but call her Ella, however, I know that I would never call her Ella, and neither would my partner, or family members, and I would only address her as Ella, so I feel like it’s defeating the reasoning entirely.

I like Eleanor, it’s a classic beautiful name, but I wouldn’t say either of our hearts are 100% set on it, Ella overrides Eleanor any day.

I wouldn’t want to make a mistake I might regret later, as this is our first baby, we want to get it right. Thank you.

Friend is called Eleanor and everyone calls her Elle or Ellie, not Ella.

Both are nice names. FWIW I know two Eleanor's - both are always Eleanor, no shortenings. But I think El/Ellie are more natural shortenings for Eleanor than Ella, which feels very much like a name in its own right to me. I'd say go for Ella if that's the name you love!

I much prefer Ella

I don’t think Ella is a nickname. It’s an alternative full name for Ellie IMO

Ella is more popular than Eleanor, so I can’t see there’s being a problem with it being too cutesy. It’s been in the top 25 since 2001 so there will be thousands of other Ellas around, and so Ella is just a normal name - not ‘too’ anything. If you only want to call her Ella, I’d put that on the birth certificate.

Have what you love. Ella is a nice name, it has no cutsie or baby name connotations to me.

Ella is lovely

I agree with pp. I don't think Ella is too cutsey or babyish. If you wanted to call her Ellie I would go with Eleanor, but Ella is different to me, it's a full name.

Go with Ella. I've known a few Eleanor's in my time and they were never called by their full name. Always shortened to Ella or Ellie. I think Ellie sounds more nicknamey than Ella, so go with the name you prefer :)

By putting Eleanor on the certificate you are giving your daughter choice in her future life., she might never choose Eleanor, or she might hate Ella with a vengeance. It will be her name, so whatever your own thoughts it would be sensible to give her the options to choose her name or change it in the future.

Ella definitely

I love the name Ella

I prefer Eleanor for the BC.

Ella is dreadfully dull, to me.

I’d put Eleanor on the birth certificate.

Lots of Eleanor’s are called Ella or Ellie as a nn, eg Ella Woodward for one.

I don’t understand why you wouldn’t use it as a nn, when so many people do??

I agree Ella is too saccharine as a full name, and also that while both names are v popular, using Eleanor at least means she has a a variety of options, should she want them (Eleanor, Ella, Nell, Lena, Lenny, Nora etc)

So yes, Eleanor nn Ella is best