Lara or Isabelle?

[MKWarrier]

DH and I had an original shortlist of names that I posted on here before. Of those names, I love Alice and also really like Jessica.

DH has now decided he doesn’t really like Alice and feels a bit meh about Jessica. He likes Lara and Isabelle (we haven’t discussed spelling of the latter, so it’s more about the sound of the name at this point rather than which version).

What are people’s thoughts on Lara and Isabelle? I like the sound of both, I’m just worried about the overall popularity of L names and Isabelle/Isabella at the moment. I don’t have a popular name, so I’m unsure how annoying it would be for DD to share a name / have a similar name to others in her class. Are these names just a bit meh?

We’ve been through the name lists so many times, and as our taste is quite classic, it’s unlikely we’re going to uncover a new name we both love at this point, so I think it’s going to be a case of one of us getting on board with the other’s ideas. DH has historically been the one to compromise on other unrelated issues, so I feel a bit like it’s my turn to compromise over this!

oh I love Lara Is I know an adult Lara but baby Lara is nicer than Isabelle.

Lara and Isabel ( this simpler spelling is more elegant imo unless she has French heritage) are 2 of the girls names on my own list . I find them much prettier looking/ sounding than either Alice or Jessica ( although I do like the “ultra classic” vibe of Alice and understand Jessica is Shakespearean which is fun).

Anyway, if you can’t decide between the 2 then I think Lara edges it - mainly because Isabel will usually have to spell her name ( even if you go for Isabelle, Isobel is also fairly popular too…). Whereas Lara is nearly as well known as Laura now (indeed it’s more popular for the under 20’s than Laura) so she hopefully wouldn’t have as many problems. Both are gorgeous, elegant, romantic sounding choices though

Lara is lovely. Izzy/ Issy are ten a penny. I know sooooo many under 15, not so many my age (51).

Thank you all! Interesting food for thought there, particularly that there seem to be some Isabelles who don’t like their name, and not necessarily for popularity reasons. We would probably use Izzy as a nickname if we went for this.

@EndlessVortex we found out we were having another girl pretty early so never really made a boy list, but in my head I would have called him Samuel. Theo and Adam were both names we considered last time too. I also love Benjamin.

@SometimesIchangemyname this is slightly how I feel about Lara too, though I’m not sure why! Otherwise I think I prefer it to Isabelle, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t quite do it for me, but can’t put my finger on why that is!

Lara❤️

Isabelle is too frilly - I do like it with the more traditional Isabel spelling but it’s quite overused these days no matter what way you spell it

If we'd had a girl we were going to call her Lara.

Love Jessica.

Isabelle/a and Alice I hate both soo over done.

If you would have picked Samuel for a boy how about Samantha

I like Lara and Laura

Lara; Isabelle has been done to death.

Lara

Far too many Isabelles and similar

There are over 20,000 primary schools in England and Wales, most of which will have no more than 60-90 kids per year group. Only 1,304 girls were called Isabelle in 2021 and it's on a downward trend so it's quite likely by 2024 there will only be about 1,000 registered. I hope that puts it into perspective that, although you can never guarantee these things, the poster who said Isabelle will 'definitely' be duplicated at school isn't necessary correct. Any name can technically be duplicated but the odds of it happening are actually a lot slimmer than you'd think. Popular names these days aren't anywhere near as popular as the popular names when we were at school as parents are choosing from a much wider pool of names. As a teacher, I've only ever had the odd duplication over the years and even then it's been quite random, not necessarily the names you would expect.

Out of the two I prefer Lara, which has always been a favourite of mine. I like Jessica too (shame about Alice, which is gorgeous). Isabelle is too frilly for me. I prefer the Isobel spelling.

Lara makes me think of Lara Croft

I like all variants of Isabelle

Lara. Beautiful, timeless name that can't be shortened to something hideous sounding.

There is no doubt on my mind: Lara

Lara for sure. Isabelle is quite over done.

Lara - ok but it blends into all the L names like Lyra, Lyla, Lily, Lila, Luna, Lola, Lila, Lucy, etc. Prefer Laura
Isabelle - I know too many Izzys. The -belle spelling is too frilly
Alice - love it
Jessica - like it a lot

Lara

Lara is a gorgeous name. Isabelle is very meh, any I know go as Izzy or Bella

Like both of them. They've made me think of Larissa as it feels like a combination of the two.

I have an Isobel.
She is 15 and one of 2 Isobels of any spelling variety in her 1600 pupil school.
She is Bel to her friends.

Isabelle, 100%. Pretty & classic. Lara is awful - bland & dated (and not in a cool / trendy way!).

Lara

Lara - less common and I know a lovely teenage one .
Or what about Larissa - the longer version - I always loved it from Dr Zhivago !

So many of DC's friends and acquaintancea are called Isobel/Isabel/Isabelle/Izzy/Bella. It's been so popular for 20 or so years and might be frustrating and quite dating to be on the end of the curve.

We know a toddler Clarabel. Would that strengthen the Lara sound for you and give DH a similar sound to Isabel?

Lara is a lovely name. Isabelle very common where I live.