Octavia vs Emerald

[rejectedprincess]

I can’t decide between these two names for baby daughter. I love them both but my issue with Octavia is I don’t like any of the shortenings. Help me choose!

Love PP's suggestion of Imelda

Will suggest Olympia as alternative or Atalanta.
I like both your ideas OP.

Of the two I prefer Octavia

Emerald is beautiful, so much nicer.

Octavia is a bit try-hard.

I know and Octavia and everyone calls her Skoda :(
Emerald i'm not keen on at all

I know a really cool Octavia who shortens it to Tev/Tevs, which is a completely different vibe to Octavia, so you do get a broad range of nickname options with Octavia.

I think I prefer Esmerelda to Emerald. Essie/Ellie/Meri etc type nicknames?

I know it's quite flashy/frilly and not to everyone's taste perhaps, but if you're considering these kinds of names then maybe you can go all out.

I prefer Octavia. For me, Emerald seems like a stage name for a stripper.

Sorry but Octavia is a Skoda! 🚙

Octabia automatically made mevthink of a Skoda model. Didn't realise it is a classical name.

@SlightlyFurther Vaia is usually pronounced “Vay-ah” though, like Taia is pronounced “Tay-ah” - so all the sounds and letters are in Octavia. Makes more sense to me as a nickname then Polly does for Mary or Sadie for Sarah etc yet those are still well known as nicknames.

And I disagree that with those posters that say that Octavia sets you up for a “lifetime of teasing” - that is going to be very area dependent. In a multicultural city, a diverse social set or she’s going to private school (with similar unusual names for kids), it’s unlikely to be a problem.

If you live in a small community where she is going to the local school and all the kids are called Theo, Noah, Isla or Lily etc, then yes I agree that an Octavia might be subject to teasing (although even then, there are many more Ophelia’s about now and they seem to survive, is Octavia really so different?)

I bet you also think that everyone named April must be born in April and Hollys should be born in the winter 🥱.

The only Septimus I know is an only child.😀

I love Emerald. Heard a friend talking about their friend and it just sounded lovely and posh. It also has good NN options, Em, Emi etc

Octavia

Couldn’t agree more. Kids have this name for life and will use it for job interviews etc. It may sound cute, unusual and sweet for a kid but really think about these names for a grown up.

Neither btw.

I like Emerald, nice to have a hard ending sound (like a Harriet, Maud feel) but with a prettier start. If she seems like it would suit her then go for it, I wouldn’t blink if I met a baby Emerald especially with Emerald Fennell being quite famous etc. (though I think her name is odd, with two such green names!)

Emerald is beautiful. I’m not keen on Octavia at all.

Octavia, and the nn Via.

Emerald could be Merry, I suppose. Not Em. Too many of those.

id think she was conceived in the back of a Skoda if you called her Octavia.
pretty name though

Which would you most like to be called yourself OP?
Personally I don't like either but given I am also Pipkins age apparently nobody cares what I think, probably rightly so

Octavia but I do like pp suggestion of Ottilie

The only Octavia I ever met was called Toc or Toccy for short

Octavia is synonymous with skoda for me sorry

I think Emerald is gorgeous, I love stone names. Ruby, Amber, Jade etc have all been popular so why not Emerald.