Elsie-Mae or Sofia-Something?

[Papergirl1968]

Asking on behalf of Dd, 18, who is 34 weeks pregnant.
She has been keen on Elsie-Mae for a long time, but recently has been considering Sofia-Something instead. Not Sofia-Mae as that is similar to the name of a friend she's recently fallen out with.
I know hyphenated names aren't popular with everyone and I strongly suspect that on a day to day basis baby will just be called by the first name, but does anyone have any thoughts about Elsie v Sofia, or suggestions for Sofia-what?

It's complicated as my DDs are both adopted, and Dd1's baby, Ella-Rose, went right into care from hospital and was subsequently adopted herself, so Dd1 is finding Dd2's pregnancy and the fact that this baby will be coming home, unlike hers, very difficult. The pair of them are not on good terms at the moment, to put it mildly.
I love Grace as a middle name but that one of DD1's middle names (chosen by me). My mom's middle name Elizabeth is her other middle name (coincidence as it was chosen by birth parents) but that rules it out for the new baby.
I'm not a massive fan of hyphenated names either but Dd2 definitely has her own ideas. I just remarked that I liked Romilly after seeing the ITV news correspondent and she pulled a face!

That's so sad. In view of this maybe you should try to steer DD2 away from El- names and Rose as a middle.

New baby's dad is not on the scene incidentally so he has no say.
I know people will judge but both my dds had an awful start. They've been exceptionally challenging kids but dd2 has turned things around since getting pregnant, and after the heartbreak of losing Ella, this feels like a new start for us.

It’s really difficult as depends on your circles but yes, hyphenated names do rather scream teen pregnancy. But it’s her baby and her choice.

I like Elsie, Elsie May is far nicer than -Mae

I would go with:
Elsie Violet
Elsie Harriet
Elsie Katherine
Elsie Elizabeth
Elsie Charlotte
Elsie Philiipa

But I have very different tastes to an 18yo

Leigh is hideous IMO, I have a distant family member who has hyphenated with it and it’s not my taste at all.

But ultimately it’s her baby.

It sounds like you all need this baby. I’m sorry you’ve all had such a hard time.

The-mae is awful.

Elsie or Sophia are lovely.

Sophia Maeve ?

I like both Elsie and Sofia and also May which I think works with both names. Alternative names to go with Sofia
Sofia Ruth
Sofia Mary
Sofia Ellen
Sofia Lily

I agree, it's awful.

I love Elsie, hate the name Sofia.
Definitely drop the hyphen though.

I'm not keen on Elsie, only because it's so so common now.
Sofia is gorgeous though and I love that spelling too :)

Sofia-Hope
Sofia-Lily
Sofia-Kate
Sofia-Wren
Sofia-Beth

They are both nice and popular

Sofia Hope?

As PPs say, try and talk her out of the hyphen

I think of the two Sophia/Sofia is more popular

I personally know a lot more Elsie's than Sophia's!

Ditch the hyphen- very naff especially May/mae/rose/grace.
Sofia or Elsie with a nice middle name are lovely.

Ahh I don’t think hyphen names are that bad! Posters can be a bit harsh on here for any naming trend that is basically ‘more popular among working-class than people than middle-class’ it’s often literally the only reason some names are declared as ‘dreadful’

That said, IME people who give their kids hyphen names can have trouble convincing everyone else to use the full name. I knew a little girl named Evie-Rose and her mum gave up trying to remind the nursery workers who immediately dropped it to just ‘Evie’, the same happened at school and she’s generally just known as Evie now. Ditto a few teens I’ve known with hyphen names, most people don’t even realise as everyone just uses the first name!

I take the point about hyphenated names. I know one young woman in her 20s whose mother was insistent she use both nanes, but now she's grown up she has started to use the second name only, whereas I tend to refer to dd1's child as just Ella rather than Ella-Rose. I also used to be friends with an Anne Marie as first and middle names who went just by Anne and was very glad her father had talked her mother out of Anne-Marie.
I wonder if there are some regional variations in the popularity of names as I don't know of any Elsies round here (Midlands) while Sophia/Sofia is a little more popular but still not one of the top names.
Adopters can't change first names so I only had the chance to change a middle name each for my dds. I'm starting to realise what a huge responsibility naming a child is but I can only guide dd. She did initially want to spell Elsie as Elyse till I pointed out the poor kid would go through life not only having to spell it out but also correcting the pronunciation of it as people would think it was Elise.

Elsie May was my Nan's names so I love it for that reason, but have to say there are more imaginative middle names out there nowadays. How about
Elsie Marie
Elsie Pearl
Elsie Julia
Elsie Louise
Elsie Wren
Elsie Suzanne

My DD is Sofia Rose. Rose is after my nan.

How would Dd1 feel if maybe Dd2 said that she would like to honour her Niece by calling her Sofia Rose so they both shared a middle name? Could bring them together.

Another way could be Elsie Rae so they have they have the same initials.

That's not a bad idea, PM. DD2 had been trying to avoid anything too similar to Ella-Rose but I like the idea of paying tribute to her in that way.

Had been trying to avoid anything similar because DD1 would accuse her of copying, I mean, but if both of them would accept it as paying tribute not copying, Rose actually goes well with both Elsie and Sofia. Although perhaps Elsie-Rose and Ella-Rose are too alike. We could perhaps get away with Elsie Rose without a hyphen.

Sofia Lee sounds like soft cheese .
I'd ditch the hyphened double name and choose a nice name on its own

@Papergirl1968 Oh bless you all. It sounds like this baby is something you all really need and she’s going to be such a special addition after your circumstances.

Like many I’m not a fan of hyphenated names but this is your DDs baby and if that’s what she wants then she should do that.

Much prefer Sofia to Elsie.

Sofia-Joy
Sofia-Hope
Sofia-Claire
Sofia-Alice
Sofia-Lily
would be my suggestion for her. Wishing her the best x

I think Sofia Elsie (no hyphen) as in first and second name sound lovely