Thalia for a girl?

[soon2befamilyof4]

Had never heard of it before but heard it last night and me and DH both really like it. It was in the name book as both Talia and Thalia but I think Thalia is the proper way to spell it?

What does everybody think? We like a name to be uncommon but not comepletly random iyswim?

You could make nicknames out of any name - if you love it, go for it! I think it's a lovely name and nice also for being unusual.

erm, don't want this to descend into an acadmic debate on the classics, but just to be clear/add to the confusion, that's modern that Greek pronounces Thalia with the "th" as in "think". Arguably, Ancient Greek would use the hard sound, so Three Graces Thalia, might have been hard "T" if you were around during the time of Socrates.

I'll shut up now

"Thalia can refer to four distinct entities in Greek mythology, two of whom were daughters of Zeus, and a third of whom bore him sons. The name Thalia, or Thaleia (both pronounced /θəˈlaɪə/) is spelled Θάλεια in Greek and derives from the same stem as θάλλειν "to bloom".

That oval letter with the line through it is called Theta, and is pronounced "th"

Muses, though, not Graces. I was wrong about that. She was the Muse of humour and drama and stuff like that. A pretty cool person to be named after!

That was interesting. I promise - it is spelled with a Theta. Which is like a oal with a line through it. Even Wikipedia agrees with me, although it won"t c and p!

I always thought Talia was short for Natalia, is it actually a full name on its own then?

Never heard of natalia - sounds too much like Nutella to me

Yes I am pretty sure Talia is a name on its own, but I wanted to check on here first incase it wasn't or something!

Try this to hear it spoken encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/thalia.html
Sounds like Tha-LYE-ah

I think it's Russian (or maybe Italian?) but am probably wrong!

Nat-aah-leah

So I would pronounce Talia as Taah-leah IYKWIM

Talia definitely a name on it's own, it is the feminine of Tal and old Hebrew name from the Old Testament apparently. How can an old biblical name be downmarket - sorry.

More common in the US, there is an actress called Talia Shire who was Mrs Rocky (Adrienne).

We looked at the three spellings and decided on Talia being the easiest. We have only ever had positive comments and everyone says what a beautiful name she has.

sweetkitty - is your DD Talia then?

Yes 3yo DD2 is Talia, really suits her cannot imagine her being a Katie or an Emma or something common.

I think DD2 will be a Talia TBH. It is the first time me and DH have both liked a name enough to agree on naming DD2 it.

same here with our DD2, we couldn't agree on anything, ours is Talia Erin we have a very short surname so wanted a 3 syllable first name.

We were even more stumped when naming DD3

The Thalia I know is most definitely Thalia with a "Th" pronounced "Tar-lee-a". Her mother spends a lot of time telling people how to pronounce (and spell) it. Pretty, though.

We have a short surname too so wanted a longer sounding first name!

And DD's name isn't very common so didn't want DD2 to have a common name.

My dd2 is also a Talia, love it for obvious reasons and hardly ever any mispellings unlike dd1's name.

DD1 has a common name with about 5 spellings
DD2 Talia very uncommon
DD3 not that commom but in top 100

We also have a Thalia who is almost 2 and I'm a bit peeved that it seems to be becoming more popular (as DH vetoed my favourite name, which isn't).

We pronounce it Tar-lee-a as well, with the emphasis on the Tar..

The nurse at the GP surgery always calls her Thally-ar. MIL spells it Tahlia.

(I still wonder if we made the right choice )

Thalia is lovely.

Written down i assumed it was pronounced 'taa-lee-a', and know of one or two children called that pronounciation / spelling.

Tala is nice, too.

Isn't Tala a brand of saucepans?

Just to take this in a different direction, Love Thalia, but how about Talitha? Could be shortened to Tally?
Agree that Talia could be short for Natalia.

It can also be spelled Talya but that version probably is short for Natalya

Think I prefer Talia out of all of them.

Talia lovely name

I have a friend with a Thalia. I have to say that I had never heard of it before they came up with it, and I had assumed it was a made up name, so interested to hear it has Hebrew roots and is a "real" name.

Pretty in a way but not my tasse de the.