Eleanor to Eleanora, Elora or Eliora?

[LemonRobin]

We called our DD Eleanor but didn't realise what a popular name it is and she also just doesn't feel quite like an Eleanor. I have an incredibly common name paired with an incredibly common surname as does DH and would like something slightly more unique for my DD.

She hasn't been called anything except Ellie or endearments so changing the birth certificate wouldn't affect her.

Eleanor is lovely. I far prefer it to your new suggestions.

Me too.
I'm not mad about the Ellen-OR pronunciation but that's fairly unusual.

I don't like Elle as a name or nickname. It just means 'she'. And in accents which don't pronounce the letter 'l' clearly, it becomes 'Eww'.

Broken record here but I agree with everyone else! Eleanor is classic and timeless and less popular than Ellie, actually. All the other options are at best frilly and aggressively feminine and at worst give made-up vibes.

(NB I do love Eleri and Elowen but neither seem the vibe you're after!)

Oh, and I say this as an Eleanor myself. Despite its popularity now I still love my name, while I'd hate to be any of the others on your list.

Eleanor - I LOVE
I wouldn't change that. Call her Elie.

Others..
Ellinor
Elena
Eloise
Janelle
Gabrielle
Ellen
Elise
Honoria
Helen
Eliza

I’m English and would not say Nor. I’d say Ellen-uh. I’ve noticed the name pronounced Elen-nor on American TV programmes eg The Good Place and I’ve read (on here) that Elen-nor is the American pronunciation.

Eleanor is beatitudes and timeless and far superior to some of the other suggestions which sound made up.

I name change every time an eleaNOR/ eleNUH thread comes up to say - this is why I no longer use my first name which is EleaNOR. I got to about 25 and just couldn’t be doing with it anymore, you spend so much time correcting people and then they will tell you you are wrong cos people have weirdly strong opinions about it even though it is not their name. Americans I’ve met pronounce it - ele-NER anyway so that’s another pronunciation to have to fend off. It’s a curse!

People love the name on MN but all my fellow Eleanors I know don’t use the full version and I use my middle name. In theory it’s a nice name but where I live now it’s pronounced, el-nuh half the time 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Eleanor is lovely. If you are concerned about popularity then it's 'Ellie' you may want to rethink.
You could start calling her 'Nor', 'Nora' or 'Elle'.

I know an Eleanor who goes by Lenny.

I love Eleanor and don’t think popularity matters much with a classic name but if if you are set on changing it then I agree with those who say Helena would be the obvious choice to change to - similar classic feel, fairly similar sound if you pronounce it the “Helen-uh” way (as many do), yet quite underused in the UK. You can then still call her Ellie, or Nell, Leni etc

If you really dislike Helena, then I think of your choices Elora is the nicest (but then I like the film Willow), albeit quite an different style to Eleanor/Helena - although a few might miss hear Elora as Laura. I personally find the extra syllable in Eleanora and Eliora sounds a bit frilly.