Which is the better choice - Isabelle or Isabella?

[caitlinrose]

After posting our list a while ago and taking into account your suggestions I have really started to like the name Isabelle. My husband likes it as well and we added it to our list.

It was suggested as an alternative to Isabella (which was on our list and still is) and many people said that Isabella was too common.

I like them both a lot but I have since heard that people say it's common as well so I don't know which would be the better choice out of these two.

We are adjusting our list right now so it would help us if you could tell us which one we should keep.

Which one is more common where you are?

Popularity isn't everything to us, which one do you like better in general? The sound or any associations the names give you? We would just like to avoid her always having to be Isabella Lastname or "the short Isabelle" etc.

We would use the full names mostly but sometimes Belle for Isabelle and Belle or Bella (which do you prefer?) for Isabella.

Is Isabella still associated with Twilight? Someone in the other thread mentioned it. What about Bella? Maybe better to use Belle for both?

Sorry, this got long.

We are sure about the spellings so we wouldn't consider Isabel or Isobel.

They are both very nice but both really done to death.

Of the two I’d go for Isabella as there’s only one way to spell it

Isadora, Estella, Ysella (Ee-Zella), Annabella, Arabella or Christabel might be with worth considering.

I lole both but prefer Isabelle...but out of Belle and Bella I prefer Bella! I don't think the Twilight association is a strong one for most people anymore

I prefer Isabelle but then that's what I called my daughter 18 years ago.

I prefer Isabelle. I get that the traditional spelling in the UK isn't this but I like this spelling better too OP. To me, Isabella is too frilly.

We used Isabelle as a middle name for DD - it came from my grandmother.

One thing I'll mention is that, at the moment, the Isabella in my daughter's class is being plagued with the "Isabella your boyfriend's here time for dinner" line from Encanto. Obviously you can't anticipate what film is going to be embedded in the psyche of kids next - but if Frozen was anything to go by we'll have a few more years before we pass beyond peak Encanto (I also have a friend who had an Elsa just before Frozen came out!)

My dd is christened Isabel but is called Belle by everyone except her close friends who call her Isa. Nobody has ever called her Izzy. If I was to do it again I would call her Isabella

Isabelle, though I really prefer it spelt Isabel. I think you could still use Belle for short if you spelt it that way, but don't use this name at all if it would really bug you if your DD later decided she'd rather be known as Izzy.