ILSE........... it is a proper name isn't it??????????

[wideratthehips]

at the moment i'm really liking Ilse (which i think is pronounced ill-sa). not Isla (eye-la), not Ailsa but Ilse.

DH thinks i've made it up and we are stumped because the boys name i like is Tavish and he thinks i've gone bonkers and is going to wait until the baby arrives...gah, any thoughts?

I lived in Germay for part of my childhood. it is a German name (as far as I am aware), pronounced ill-seh, not ill-sa.

I think it is pretty, but would be worried about pronouncing it ill-sa as it is so close to Ailsa...

just gooogled and it would appear that Ilse is indeed a proper name - possibly Dutch/German/Northern European girls name from what I can make out.

Tavish also a real name (in case you weren't sure ) - leader of the Scottish Lib Dems is called Tavish

ahh - took ages to type my post and see hippi got there before me - stil at least we both agree that is has German links

As long as you accept that you and your dd will constantly have to correct people who think it's Ill-sah... as a general rule, I think it's probably best to avoid names that you don't know how to pronounce in the first place!

I agree with Edam. Your dd will have a lifetime of correcting the pronounciation, as well as saying 'no I am not German'

Pretty name, if you lived in Germany...

Tavish is funny

Ilse, now that was on my list years ago...let me see...I thought it was pronounced 'Il - sea' but could well be wrong!

It is pretty - no reason it'll be tough wrt pronunciation, there aren;t many ways you can go wrong with it. Easy to spell as well.

You have my blessing

Not Tavish though...please! Where did that come from?

I love Ilse - pronounced Il-seh. I have a very good German friend with that name!

.yes thanks everyone, the lifetime of correction could be off putting. we have a scottish surname amd my husband and two ds all have very scottish names

thanks hippipotami for the clarification...okay...anyone want to give a quick opinion on Fenella?

Oh I think ilse really good with a scots surname, sounds scottish...iyswim.

Fenella - Ok, never really considered it - I'm not into anything with ella on the end but as they go, not bad! Unusual as well.

crazyloon1

Tavish was the name of dh teddy when he was litle.....hehheheheh that sounds mad but i really like the name!

to me scottish names for boys always sound wonderfully handsome, and the three males in my life all really suit theirs, and of course are all gorgeous

Tell me your surname is not McTavish though.

Oh that is very sweet origin then. I can see why you want it! x posts [

mad e up

lol MMJ - you're a bit late - both names have been confirmed as genuine names

tavish isn't made up!! its a bona fide name

sounds made up though

but surely that could be said of most foreign names

no not neccessarily.

I like Ilse. I also like Tavish, though it sounds descriptive.

Casablanca - OK, it's spelt slightly differently but it's the same name.

eh?

wasn't there a Ilse St Clair on the Generation Game? [old gimmer emoticon]

Was waiting for someone to mention Casablanca.

It was Ilsa on Casablance - easier to pronounce, but easily muddled up with all the Isla's there seem to be at the moment. I'd choose Ilsa rather than Ilse though because of the pronounciation problems.