Can Bella be a nickname for Isabelle?

[suzettenoisette]

These are our three final contenders:

Eva-Marie
Isabelle
Isabella

in that order. We haven't made up our minds yet, but theoretically could Bella be an occasional nickname for Isabelle or is that weird?

We like Isabelle a bit better than Isabella and would mostly use the full name but if people wanted to call her a nickname we'd prefer to offer Bella as a choice as we are not as fond of Izzie.

Thoughts?

Thought Bella was Isabella

Beautiful name op

Bella is short for Isabella.

Or Isabelle

Isabella - Bella
Isabelle - Belle

Or both is Izzy.

If you struggle with a popular nick name I would advise avoid. Family thought they could prevent a certain nick name needless to say it's what the little one introduces themselves as!

I definitely think you could use Bella as a nickname for an Isabelle if you wanted. I agree with you, I much prefer Isabelle to Isabella, it’s just somehow prettier.
Eva-Marie is gorgeous also. We have an ‘Eve’ name in our top two and I think Eva is beautiful.

I have a friend called Isobel who is known as Bella. It’s not prescriptive that not having an ‘a’ at the end means you can’t use Bella as a NN.

Yes of course it can! Nicknames and pet names can be whatever you like. I have a friend whose name is Magdalena but absolutely everyone calls her Daisy.

Of course you could use Bella as a nickname for Isabelle (and the various spellings).

You could call her Fred, or Pinkie or Izzie or anything you like as a nickname. There are no rules.

Lots of old ladies of my Mum's vintage (80) in Scotland called Isobel known as Bella. My Grannie was Isabella known as Bella by some and Isa by others but she would be 118 of she was still with us.
I haven't met any little Isabella's called Bella but why not, there are definitely precedents.

Of course you can.

Nicola gets called Nicky. There is no y in the name.

Isabelle can definitely have the nickname Bella.

Do you follow Katrina Scott?

Never use a name if you strongly dislike the most common diminutive. The window when you can correct diminutives and nicknames is very very short and there’s always the possibility that the child themselves will decide to start using it. If you really dislike Izzie then name your child Eva-Marie.

Clearly Bella or Belle can be a nickname for either, and often they are. Honestly.

I don’t see why not. What I would be more concerned about is you saying you will ‘offer Bella as a nickname as you don’t like Izzie/Izzy.’ If you dislike a common short form of a name I wouldn’t use that name at all. I called my son one version of his name when he was small, now that he’s older at school his friends all call him the other one. Something like he is Alexander, I always called him Alex but now everyone calls him Xander. I like both so it isn’t a problem, but if you dislike Izzy it would put me off Isabelle.

I've never actually met an Isabelle, is that the French spelling? It's quite a common name in Scotland but it's either Isobel or Isabel ( or even sometimes Ishbel).

I was surprised to realise recently that the Isabelle spelling is now more popular in E&W than Isabel.

Oh well, it's a fashion thing then. I always tried to avoid names and spelling that were fashionable, just in case they went out of fashion again ( my kids have " boring" names) but name fashion trends seem inevitable so not much point me getting pedantic about spelling!

I have a young relative NN Bella, call out to her in any public place with people under 25 and half of the females will turn and look at you. If you don't like names that are very popular, avoid.
Fwiw I know Bellas who are Isabelle, Isobel and Isabella.
I like Izzy more tbh.

Personally I wouldn't want to use Bella, or Belle, because I wouldn't want to call a girl a name that so obviously meant beautiful.

That is partly because it would be unfortunate if she grew up to be less than beautiful, but mainly because I wouldn't want to reinforce any feeling that a girl's worth was tied up with her appearance.

Having said that, anything can be a nickname for anything. My name has various shortened forms. I always use one particular shortened form, and that is how most people know me. But my mother always called me by my full name and my father and siblings called me by a different shortened form.

Over the years I have had five nicknames from various friends and family. Only one is actually related to my name.

You can pick whatever nicknames you like. Bella is an absolutely acceptable nickname for Isabelle. But just be prepared that she might like the nickname Izzy/Izzie herself when she is older, so not sure I would use a name if you really didn’t like the most common nickname for it.

I know an Isobel who's always Bella and considering that's the same name only spelled differently (and Isobel is even less likely to be Bella really compared to Isabelle) I think it's fine.

Yes, I think that's fine

I think you could, but I’d be tempted to go for Isabella if I wish to call her Bella as a nn.

It’s fine.

Tibby is also a nickname for Isabelle