Eleanor vs Elenore

[XenaTheWarriorPrincess]

Hey guys,

I'm having a girl and me and my partner have decided on the name Eleanor. We both love it and fine with any possible nicknames that may arise from it.

However, we disagree on how to spell it. I envision it as Eleanor but he sees it as Elenore. Both seem to be valid existing spellings and are pronounced the same way and mean the same thing, from what I can tell Elenore is just an alternative spelling.

Just looking for opinions really on which one you prefer/would choose.

I LOVE a good mumsnet pronunciation debate. I would agree with you, I know several Eleanors and they all pronounce it EL-uh-nuh. All from different areas but all with non rhotic accents.

Actually, I know an Eleanor from Somerset who definitely pronounces the R as she has a glorious, broad Somerset accent. But she still always emphasises the first syllable and doesn't really use an O sound in the nor. So it's more like EL-uh-nerrrr.

Thanks for all the input guys!

Just to clarify, the intended pronunciation is ellen-or not ellen-uh. its definitely 'or' round where I am.

Dialect/accent differences can affect pretty much any name, even mine (vividly remember a lunchlady when I was at school pronouncing my name meeshell), so I'm not too bothered about it, plus it will likely be shortened to something (ella, el, ellie, nell, Nellie, etc)

We've got bags of time as I'm actually only 16 weeks, so plenty of time to convince dp that the 'Eleanor' spelling is best!

As a person with a name not spelt as the most common version of it, just use the common one. We don't get money for every time it's spelt wrong and thank god there isn't a limit on words daily as mine would all be spent saying "no it's spelt...". It's nice when writing correspondence because it singles you out but that's it.

Eleanor.
Revamped spellings of traditional and easily recognisable names is pretentious.
Sorry.

I know you’ve probably had your baby by now but I just found this thread and wanted to throw in my two cents 😄 my daughter is 5 and she’s Elenore, we named her after the Turtles song so wanted to have the same spelling. I see Eleanor as El-LEAN-nor now! My Ellie’s had minimal issues with spelling, my name is Ashley and I’ve had spelling issues my entire life so I think you can’t get away from it! Our spelling is pretty rare in Aus but I’m ok with it 😊 either is nice, I also like Elinor as another post suggested! More historical I think

Elenor has roots in - and as far as any reliable source I've been able to find knows ONLY in - Medieval English and Welsh. So I doubt that OP's husband would need to "learn English", had he actually suggested this spelling. And Elenore (which is the spelling the OP actually asked about and said her husband prefers) has a very old, and some would say archaic now history of use in Danish, Dutch, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. So sub-mediocre try at a xenophobic slur, regardless.

OP, I would use Eleanor or Elinor in the UK. Eleanore is also traditional although less common and a bit more awkward in my opinion.

ElleNORE with the emphasis on the last syllable sounds ugly. IME most people with that name prefer the emphasis on the first syllable, so Elenore is definitely better avoided.

Like others have said Elenore looks like you can't spell.

Its not true that all British people pronounce it Ell-uh-nuh I am English and I'd pronounce it Ell-uh-nore, however to totally contradict myself most I have met pronounce it Ell-uh-nuh.

Also though, I once new a mother who pronounced her Eleanor Ellie-a-nore (so produced the a softly as well, it was quite subtle). I thought that was beautiful. It is a beautiful name whoever it's pronounced.

Please stop. We chose Eleanor. She was stillborn. Don't revive this thread any more it's SO painful for me.

This.

I’m so sorry OP.
I hadn’t seen your post when I posted.