Mathilda - too common?

[namestasher]

Love the name Mathilda, but concerned it's the new Olivia.
(Nightmarishly common)
If I name one of our soon-to-be daughters Mathilda, will she be faced with seven other Mathilda's in her class when she goes to school?
It's a great name, but is it just too overdone?
If so, any recommendations for alternatives? Thanks!

Matilda is great.

Others ..
Clotilde
Miranda
Marina
Mariella

Thanks everyone!
Oh! I assumed Mathilda was the most common way to spell it! 😕
I feel like Matilda isn't quite as nice-looking..?

I've never seen it written as Mathilda. I've seen Mathilde but I'd assume it was German. The Roald Dahl book is Matilda.

I think you are in the minority with the spelling.

If you look on Darkgreener you can enter names to see how popular they were about 2 yrs ago and how popular they have been since 1996.
Babies called Matilda in England & Wales since 1996 (darkgreener.com)
Babies called Mathilda in England & Wales since 1996 (darkgreener.com)

I wouldn’t spell it with an h. She will be forever correcting people.
I only know one Matilda, who I think is twelve or thirteen. Lots of Tillys around though.

Mattea is very pretty and doesn’t shorten to Tilly. I prefer it.

We are thinking of Matilda for our second and don't know anyone with it so deff didn't think it was that common..but our eldest is Isabelle (Izzy) which is super common and doesn't bother us at all. We find it cute when she finds another Izzy in the playground..

Call your kid a name you like and what else matters??

Also lots of dcs might not like having “math” in their name! I think the spelling Matilda is softer and prettier- and eliminates the risk of Hilda as a nickname. I think Hilda is a sufficiently awful name I’m not going to ruffle feathers by saying that?

There is also the Hilaire Belloc poem which always put me off the name a bit .

I’m afraid I see the HILDA jumping out at me. And to me that is a name only fit for use as Hilda the Hippo.

If I don’t see Hilda, I see MATH.

I think Matilda is much prettier personally.

I'm surprised the numbers are as high as they are.
I work with databases of U5s and haven't come across any in my line of work. I wonder if it is geographical ?

I'm seeing Ivy, Dottie / Dorothy, Edie, Evie, Edith, Anna, several varieties of Isobel - Bella - Isabel - Isabelle - etc, Emmaline, Elsie, and Olivia, but not seen any Matildas.

However, if you do use it, I agree with everyone else, it will be a real pain for her throughout her life having to correct everyone who spells it the more usual way if you put an 'h' in it.

Clotilde sounds a bit like a non-medical name for endometriosis? Or a brand name for something to have on scones with jam? Or someone really silly?

I think it doesn’t cross over to English well because clot is just not a nice English word.

I have a Mathilda. Please spell your child's name however you choose.

My Mathilda is 17 and nobody has ever mispronounced or misspelled it.

She is Mattie to her close friends and Hilda more recently at sixth form. But then a pp thinks Hilda is awful. You can't win.

Oh I’m so sorry .. that was me. I thought really hard before posting and ensured I have never met a Hilda.

But meeting people can change your mind about names.

… I could only think of Hilda Ogden and a children’s book with Hilda the Hippo, neither of which really sold it. I’m sure your DD is a better ambassador for the name!

There are multiple Matildas in each class at my DD's primary school, so it's "nightmarishly common" here. Definitely avoid the H though.

I like the name Hilda. I think it sounds happy and upbeat.

I think you will end up with her having to say, ‘It’s Mathilda with an h’ over the phone across her life. She will invariably get some people spelling it Matildah!

Matilda is an absolutely beautiful name though.

I like Matilda or Mathilde (if you were French)

Definitely drop the H.

You could call your child
Fifi-Trixibelle and she could still be one of 3 in her class. You just don’t know with names. I don’t like the Mathilda spelling though It makes me want to pronounce it Math-ilda.

No need to apologise to me. DD chooses to call herself Hilda now she's pretty much an adult. But is more than happy with being Mathilda and Mattie as well.

She's very quirky, a raging feminist and obsessed with medieval literature and history, knits, makes her own clothes, draws, writes. She marches entirely to the beat of her own drum and I have to say, Hilda really suits her.

She was the only one in her primary and high school and rarely meets another one. It isn't nightmarishly popular. Girls here are all called Ellie, Evie, Eva, Ella, Millie, Mia type names.

Ah… well the own beat might explain it a bit as I’ve honestly not come across a Hilda IRL. Sounds like she’s making it her own. Good on her.

My Mathilda is 17 and nobody has ever mispronounced or misspelled it.

Ever ? I find that incredibly difficult to believe, as most people get their name spelled incorrectly at some point, even when they have names that are really common.

I was one of the people saying I didn’t like the h spelling. But in fairness it’s probably more “ correct” in the sense that it comes from the German and French, which both use the h to spell it.

Yes but it would be Mathilde, and the French and Germans sound th as t

"What's your name?"
"Mathilda, spelled M.A.T.H"

School, GPs, hospitals, friends etc have only ever needed to be told once. Same as with a significant proportion of people, it might need to be spelled out the first time.

I suppose people have made mistakes at some point of course like they do with all names, as you say. But it's never been a noticeable or remarkable issue. It isn't condemning to a lifetime of spelling or mispronunciation as people on here have said.

School, GPs, hospitals, friends etc have only ever needed to be told once. Same as with a significant proportion of people, it might need to be spelled out the first time.
If only.

Well luckily, that's the case for us.

I have a really uncommon name (only ever met one other) and have lots of questions about spelling. Even as somebody who deals with it, it's not really a problem.