Clelia - Yay or Nay

[SparklingMoet]

I read a thread recently in relation to the name Clelia for a baby girl and loved it.

However, it attracted so bad comments that it reminds of female genitals/clit.

I was wondering why Clelia has this association and names like Cleo or Chloe don’t…

Is it really that much bad name and a big no?

I was on the other thread.
The silly comments about genitalia are because people don't know it's a very old, traditional Italian name and has been in existence since Roman times.
That said, as I also said on the thread, it's very very old-fashioned and not in an "old lady chic" way.
Any Italian hearing a baby has been. called Clelia will presume she's named after some ancient relative and, rightly or wrongly, feel a bit sorry for her whilst laughing behind her back at being lumbered with such a dreadful name.

It’s a no for me as it looks like a misspelling of Celia to me and it’s unusual enough that I reckon that would be a right pain for the child through life.

I've only heard of one person called Clelia. I had never come across the name before. I don't have any feelings about it, but people do often misread it as Celia and refer to her as such.

PS, wrt Chloe and Cleo- despite also coming from another culture/language, enough of them have passed into English speaking culture to not seem weird.
I'm 57 and can remember a Chloe on Playschool in the early 70s. Fascinated me that someone had such an amazing and unusual name. Fast forward 40 years and it was the most common name for girls in the country.
That's not going to happen to Clelia.

Thank you!

Are you Italian? I appreciate that it won’t go well in the UK but do you think that Italians won’t like the name too?

It's awful. Sounds clunkly and looks misspelled

Jesus, this place is obsessed with vaginas. Can't hear 'Quinn' without thinking 'quim' or 'cl' without thinking of clitoris! Honestly, no one irl will make these bizarre associations.

I don't like the name though, it does look like a misspelling of 'celia.'

Go with Cleo, Celia or Clementine. 3 beautiful names.

No.

Any Italian hearing a baby has been. called Clelia will presume she's named after some ancient relative and, rightly or wrongly, feel a bit sorry for her whilst laughing behind her back at being lumbered with such a dreadful name.

All of that will be the reaction Italians? Can please anyone advise whether this name triggers disgust only in the Uk or weather it has the same effect in Italy too?
Sounds weird for an Italian name to receive such bad comments from Italians…

It’s gaining popularity in Italy and was the 168th most popular name in 2020: www.behindthename.com/name/clelia/top/italy

it’s probably similar to other countries that names go out of fashion and then come back 4 generations later. I had a great aunt (Italian) called Clelia and always liked the name. Go for it if you like it!

It is a bit clunky, and rare, so it's easy to mistake it for Celia. Think about it again, the L following the C doesn't trip off the tongue easily, well for me anyway.

There is only one Clelia I've heard of, an Irish actress called Clelia Murphy. I think she was/is on the cast of Doctors on BBC.

I’d honestly never heard of the name “Clelia” before this post, and whilst I can understand others saying it might easily be confused for the name “Celia”, I don’t personally see any weird sexual connotations. In primary school certainly, I wouldn’t expect anyone to be making a clit/genitalia joke at the child’s expense (as I’m sure most that age wouldn’t know what those words were), and anyone older than primary school age should have the sense not too (unless they’re on mumsnet apparently). I say if you like the name or have an attachment to it, you should use it - your child, your choice of name.

There was someone on TOWIE called Clelia. I quite like it.

Regardless of its history, it's buttfuckingugly imo

No, I'm not Italian, but have been here for 30 years. The latest published govt figures on names had 149 girls called Clelia born last year. It's hovered between 100-150 per year for about 10 years, increasing from 70 odd ten years previously. It's the 315th most popular name and accounts for 0.08% of the total, so while it might be increasing in popularity, it's still very uncommon. I've only ever met one. She's 22 and it was her grandmother's name.
This website has the govt statistics for names - it's great for searching.
I'd say most Italians would have the reaction to Clelia that Brits would have to a baby called Mavis or Doris.

www.istat.it/en/analysis-and-products/interactive-contents/baby-names

I don't know why we have a second thread on a name practically universally disliked. Either ignore the comments or choose another name.

I love Clelia , very pretty, call your baby the name you like . 💐

It's an old name but I can't say I like it.

I don’t see any genitals connotation. It’s not like Clytemnestra or something where the word clit is literally in the name.

I just think constantly having to correct from Celia will be a pain in the arse.

If you like the name and don’t think it’ll be a pain for your child to have to respell and correct all the time, go for it OP. I think it’s quite a pretty name with an unusual sound.

Sounds weird for an Italian name to receive such bad comments from Italians…

spunds like it's the equivalent of calling your baby Doris or Gertrude. Not a nice cute old lady chic name just an ugly old fashioned name.

Just use the name, it's your second thread about it. It's your choice what you call your baby.

There are plenty of popular names that I dislike and plenty of unpopular names that I do like.

I think it's pretty. To me it just sounds like a standard European name - I don't know where the "clitoris" thing that people are mentioning is coming from. They sound nothing alike apart from the first two letters. And you're right - if Clelia is off-limits because of those two letters then surely Clementine, Chloe and Cleo should also be. To be honest, I think some people are just looking for reasons to dislike it because they dislike foreign/non-English names almost by default, but it's not socially acceptable to admit that. So they come up with tenuous associations.