Anneliese or Amelia?

[Toastytoaster96]

I'm very stuck between these two for a newborn due in January.

Neither have sentimental value, so I'm completely open to opinions or other options. Throw a spanner in the works!

Annaliese is beautiful name

Annaliese, although I’m biased :)

Amelia is prettier but both are too popular for my liking.

Like PPs suggestion of Liesel, I went to Uni with a lovely one!

Anneliese is lovely. And I like Annie/Anna/Liese too as shortenings.

I've never liked Amelia - find it too long and a mouthful to say. I prefer the very similar Emilia as it can be shortened to Emmy. (But prefer Anneliese).

Both are nice. Take the extra e out of Annelise though, it’s too difficult to spell.

It's the standard spelling I know of.

@ItsAWoozyItsAWazzy , isn't that the German spelling and pronounced Annuh-Leezuh? I'd spell it Annalise in the UK

I can personally guarantee you that 99% of Brits can't spell Annelise either.

People will get used to the spelling.

A name posted in a thread is different from a name you meet someone with. I know people with more difficult names and more difficult spellings who don't have problems. Learning someone's name and spelling has a lot to do with kindness and respect and kind, respectful people will make an effort. The others don't really matter anyway.

This is just my opinion but I'd rather spell Anneliese out until the end of time than have a name as extremely popular as Amelia. She may not face spelling issues as much but she'll likely face "Amelia B.", "the short Amelia", "the brunette Amelia" etc. issues as she'll meet lots.

I also wouldn't care whether or not it's fashionable in Germany as it is pronounced differently here anyway and she'll live in the UK. Also, names come and go out of style and most names will ultimately have a comeback. Liliana is really out of style in Italy but still a stylish choice in many other countries.

They won't, @caitlinrose. They really won't.
And many will struggle with how to say it.

I know an Annalise and she gets her name misspelt almost daily, and says her colleagues call her all sorts including Annalisa and Annalouise.

I know someone who misspells our surname despite having been a neighbour for about 50 years, and it's not an unusual name or spelling (think Deniss for Dennis - not the actual name, but something that style).

@caitlinrose thanks for denying the lived experience of those who actually have the name.

Despite being in my late 40s there are people who have known me since birth who cannot spell or pronounce the name.

I soon got used at university to answering to any pronunciation and leaving people to spell it how they like.

However everyone comments it's a lovely name so there is that.

Amazing isn't it how people insist you only have to spell it out or correct the pronunciation once.

I have a tricky name and it gets mispronounced, the misspellings are incredible, and I get people correcting me. All the effing time.

I didn't deny your experience I simply said that kind and respectful people would bother to remember the spelling of a name that belonged to a person they care about or spend time with.

I've had a friend called Caoileann which just looked super confusing to me when I first met her but I made an effort to learn it.

My name is Caitlin which gets misspelt a lot but the people who care about me, who are kind, who consider other people's feelings learnt how to spell it.

I'm sorry that the people you spend time with aren't considerate enough to do this for you but they probably wouldn't bother with easier names then either. I have friends called easy names like Sofia who get Sophia all of the time but that has something to do with these people not trying and not with their name being difficult.

Anneliese, nicer and not ubiquitous.
I dont have a word of German and I can spell it.

Then her colleagues are just plain rude.

I've worked with people from all kinds of countries with names ranging from Vijessna and Caoimhe to Nicodemus and Isobel and people managed to remember the name and spelling.

If you are surrounded by people who care and make an effort it won't matter. If you're not then even an Amelia can get Emilia, Amelie, Amy, Emily etc.

I prefer Anneliese, but with that spelling I'd expect it to be pronounced the German way: Ann-uh-lee-suh

Anneliese - such a gorgeous Germanic name.

There are a gazillion Amelias, and I can't get past the 'mealy' sound in the middle.

I'm an Aneliesa, Ann eh lee sa, yes people spell it wrong but I always get compliments

@caitlinrose , the receptionist at the GP's surgery sees all sorts of names, I doubt that she could give a flying fig how my name should be pronounced. Same does for dental surgery receptionist, pharmacist, hospital staff ...

But you know better than I do. Unless you have a tricky name yourself, you haven't a clue.

With the names you have given, I'd have to guess with Vijessna, (Vee-essna, Vigh-essmna - German, Dutch, something else?), Caoimhe (Keeva or Kweeva), Nicodemus (I know one - Nicko-deemus, but biblical name, so might be Nickodemmis or ...), Isobel (Isso-bell)

I actually do have a tricky surname and my first name isn't easy either (it can be spelt Kaitlyn, Caitlyn, Caitlin, Kaitlin, Katelyn, Catelynn etc. - I think in fact it's one of the names with the most spelling variants) yet people remember it because they make an effort. Again, I'm sorry if people in your life don't make that effort but people who don't care will even get easier names wrong or confuse common names such as Eve and Eva.

It's just odd to me how people manage to remember chemical formulas for science class or French vocabulary but not how to spell Anneliese. It's clearly because they don't care and not because they actually can't. Otherwise these people wouldn't have been able to finish school.

I won't discuss this further because I've simply had very different experiences in my life but I do think that it's possible to remember a nine letter name. If people don't it's because they don't want to or don't care not because they can't.

I would hate to have a foreign name that was not only mispronounced but also often mis-spelled.

Amelia, Aurelia etc all work beautifully in English.

Annaliese, definitely.

I'm sure other posters are quite right that it is frequently mispronounced but I really don't understand why. It's hardly a tricky three syllables.

If I had had a girl I would have called her Amalia, pronounced Amma Lee Ah, with the emphasis on Lee. It's how the Greeks pronounce the name and I always loved it when I lived there. Mind you I had some weird fangled notion of spelling it Ama Liyah, so it was probably for the best I had a boy!

It's hardly a tricky three syllables.

Many people pronounce it with 4 syllables as that is the original pronunciation.

@Gummibär , isn't Amelia an english name? Aurelia can be said as Or-eel-ya or Or-ail-ya, Ow-rail-ya etc so I don't think it works that well.

I know one and her mum says Anna Leece.
i think it’s spelt Annalise.