Lily or Clelia - Italian baby!

[GreenBlacksButterscotch]

We are Italians living in the UK the last 5 years and due in 2 months our DD1. We live in a relatively international/close to London area and our kid will have an italian surname.

We are in between Lily and Clelia.

• Lily because it's easy, international, straightforward and works well in both UK and Italy. There are not many Lilys around here. What put us a bit off is that for Italians it sounds a bit too international (not authentic Italian), and a bit childish/too cute for an adult. Not a strong enough standalone name!

• Clelia is a family name with strong italian heritage behind. Originated by Cloelia and it's a significant name for us as it is the name of a relative that we want to honour. Clelia in Italy is Cleh-Lia not Clee-Lia, and this how we are planning to call her. I know in the UK the default is Clee-Lia which is why it puts us a bit off, having to correct people is annoying. But, I mean it will be just a few corrections in the beginning of everything i.e. nursery/school/work etc. and then end of story?

We don't want a double name, so please don't suggest that! Just advise between the two please given our circumstances and given we are not British and we don't know if we will ever return back to Italy!

I like Lily the best out of these two. Prefer Claelia spelling, but I do like Clelia.

Lily, with Clelia as a middle name if you like.

Of the two, Lily. I don't think it's too childish, it's classic and very pretty and it's fine as a standalone name.

I know you didn't ask for suggestions, but Lilia sort of combines the two names.

I much prefer Clelia

Clelia as it has more meaning for you.

Having said that Lily is a lovely name, so you can't go wrong either way.

Never seen or heard the name Clelia before and was expecting it to be a typo for Celia.

I’d go with Lily, it’s far easier in the UK. With Clelia, you’ll get different pronunciations and it also looks to UK people as Celia with a typo, I’d assume you’d get Celia a lot as well.

Both lovely names. I suspect you'd get Clay-lia more in the UK, rather than Clee-lia, but I could be wrong.

My son has a non-English name that's very unusual around here and I find that once you've explained the pronunciation people do tend to get it. Remember that people can manage lots of common names too - Sarah/Sara/Zara, Ev-lyn/Eev-lyn, Lauren/Law-ren etc.

Lilia is a great suggestion though! Gorgeous.

I have Italian heritage and an aunt Clelia in Naples! It's a lovely name and very unusual. Far more so than Lily. If you want to honour your Italian heritage then it's a no brainer. And there won't be 10 others with the same name in her school, or even town!

Both lovely! Lily is a more popular name, so depends how you feel about that.

I also assumed it was a typo for Celia.

I much prefer Lily.
Clelia will be mispronounced and misspelled. I would give it as a middle name.

Lily is gorgeous. It's fine as an adult name.
I think you'll have endless problems with Clelia. Celia is better, but I don't like it much - I worked at a French company in the UK and the French people could never understand why my colleague Celia was called "if there is" ( or something like that)!

Two beautiful names, but it doesn’t sound like either actually does what you need it to of being both strongly Italian and easy to pronounce and spell to English speakers.

I’d go for Clelia as a middle name and look at other girls names that work in both languages for the first name. Isabella, Francesca, Rosa, Caterina, Serena, Alessia, Livia, Mia, Maria, Clara, Carlotta, Imelda, Caroline, Camilla, Gabriella, Anna, Stella, Beatrice…. There’s so many beautiful girls names to choose from.

Good luck!

Thank you all! Lilia is not too bad.

Does it sound a bit made up in the UK or is it a valid name?

Lilia definitely doesn’t sound like a made up name, although all the ones I’ve known have had central / Eastern European heritage.

I don't think Lilia sounds made up. Ironically, Clelia which is a real name actually sounds more like a made-up name, or typo for Celia as others have said.

Lily is a lovely name though. One of my favourite paintings is "Carnation Lily Lily Rose" by John Singer Sargent and every time I meet a Lily or a Rose it makes me smile thinking of it.

Don’t they struggle with the Y in Italy, with it not existing in Italian? Or is it commonly used now?

The Lilia I know gets called Lila a lot unfortunately. But it definitely doesn’t sound made up

I've never heard of the name Clelia but I did naturally pronounce it Cleh-Lia so that's good. If you love it best use it. I've lived in East London all my life and you hear a lot of different names so won't be unusual in that regard. I know multiple Lily's here so it is well used.

You almost convinced me to vote for Clelia because of the lovely family tradition however, I do think that you might be underestimating the amount of explaining both you (and in time) your daughter will need to do regarding the pronunciation and the spelling.

I actually think that Lily is lovely for an adult. It's light, pretty but also chic and sophisticated. It's just a beautiful, simple and easy name that one could happily float through life with. It's a name that brings a smile.

So, Lily gets my vote.

I would choose Lily
They are both pretty names but I think you will mostly get “clee lia” in UK or people will mis-read it and think it’s Celia

I prefer Lily, Lilia, Lilian or Lilliana. The last 3 could be shortened to Lily day to day. I think of it as an adult or even older woman's name, so not sure why some would think its babyish. They are all lovely.

I've never heard/seen the name Clelia and also thought it was a typo for Celia. I appreciate Cloelia is a family name, but I first thought cloaca- which is a urinary/faeces tract in some animals.
it will be just a few corrections in the beginning of everything i.e. nursery/school/work etc. and then end of story?

Sorry, but it won't be end of story! It will be a life time of spelling and correcting people. I have a 4 letter name, its not uncommon and I love it- but I've had to spell it out and correct people my entire life.

Lily!

in the uk people will think cleliah is a typo for celia it also autocorrects to coeliac on my phone!

Livia works better in both languages and has no pronunciation confusion

If you spell it Claelia you’ll get more people pronouncing it Clay-lia too.