Hello, Swistle!
My family is expecting a baby girl, arriving this September. I have loved the name Eloise for years, and my husband does too. When we found out we’re having a girl, it seemed like a done deal. Barely thought twice about Eloise. Her middle name will be Anne, which is my middle name, along with my mother and sisters’. Her two-year-old brother is Remington Joseph, who we call Remy.
A few weeks ago I started reconsidering Eloise because of all the “El” names becoming so common. We have close friends with an Ellie, Elliot (girl), Ella, and Eleanor. I know these names are growing in popularity too, and now I’m afraid there will be several “El” names as she gets older, and people will have to think twice about what her name actually is. I love the full name of Eloise, and all the potential nicknames are adorable too — but maybe too common.
What we love about Remy’s name is that it feels unique without being totally off the wall. I’m starting to wonder if Eloise holds that same power. To me, Remy’s name is cool and a bit edgy; is Eloise too sweet and girly? Are the names Remy and Eloise from two different worlds, in the universe of baby names?
Other names considered:
Juliet/Juliette – My husband loves this, and I think it’s beautiful too. However, I don’t love that everyone would immediately think Romeo and Juliet when hearing her name, especially with brother Remy (Remy & Juliet sounds pretty close). I love Romeo and Juliet, but I don’t know if I want my daughter’s name associated with a tragedy/suicide.
Olive – I like this one. Husband does not, but at least entertains the option.
Sylvie – I like this one. Husband does not, but at least entertains the option.
Amelie – We love this name and think it’s perfect with Remy. However, we’d most likely be correcting people throughout her life and she’d mistakenly be called Amelia, especially as that name is growing in popularity too. Not sure about a good nickname either?
I’d love to hear from you and your readers!! All opinions welcome. Thanks so much.
Kellie
I love the name Eloise so much and I would hate to see you rule it out just because El- names are popular right now. On the other hand, I absolutely understand why you’re worried about this, and I would be too if I were you. My younger kids are in school with what feels like a thousand girls nicknamed Addie/Addy/Maddie/Maddy, and I have to admit it steers me away from even the much less common Ad-/Mad- names.
Well. I am not sure what to advise. My inclination is to push you to use Eloise. My own kids’ classmates have nowhere near as many Ellies as Addies/Maddies (I am sitting here with Edward, age 14, and he says he doesn’t know any Ellies at all—but I wish I could ask Elizabeth, because she is far more aware of such things; also I know she knows two Ellas), which makes me feel as if the El- names are not as much of an issue. But…my own youngest kids are 12, 14, and 14, which is like a half generation older than your new baby! The daycares might be currently PACKED with Ellies, and your own experience lines up with that possibility. I would hugely value input on this from those of you with littler kids: are you finding you’re surrounded by Ellerys and Elizabeths and Eliettes and Eleanors, all going by Ellie? Does it put you off of El- names a little, as I have been a little put off of Ad-/Mad- names?
I wonder if you would like the name Louisa.
To move on to other questions, I don’t see Eloise as too sweet and girly. Not that it doesn’t contain sweetness and femininity, but my first associations are with the bold and cheerfully naughty Eloise of the Kay Thompson books. Style-wise, I think of the name as belonging with other formidable-yet-fun-to-say choices such as Georgia, Philippa, Margaret, Eleanor. And I don’t see any issues with it as a sister name for a Remington/Remy; it seems to me like a nice fit.
Looking at the other finalists, I think the Olive/Olivia and Amelie/Amelia/Emily confusion issues would bother me more than the El- names issue, especially since Olivia and Amelia are both Top Ten names and you’d prefer something less popular. I was going to say I wasn’t bothered by the Shakespearean Juliet(te) associations (though I think I personally would get weary of the jokes), but Remy and Juliet does seem too evocative for my own preferences. I like the name Sylvie a lot, and even better as a nickname for Sylvia; I like it less with the surname, because of the almost-but-not-quite-alliteration of S- and Sch-, but that’s a very subjective thing.
Of your options, my definite favorite is Eloise, and I find myself hoping you will use it.
My almost -5 year old Eloise goes by her full name, and I find the strong long-vowel + hard consanant ‘Z’ sound sets the name apart quite a bit. If you love it, use it!
I have a almost 3 year old Eliza. On her soccer “team” there is an Ella, in her music class, an Eleanor. I have a coworker with an Ellie, a cousin just named her baby Ellie and at the playplace in town I know of at least 2 El named kids (we live in a city of 35000). I have not noticed any El names at her preschool however. I haven’t really found this to be too many, or really a problem. There are also a lot of Addy’s in our friend group.
If you went with Eloise, and found there were many El’s in her class or playgroup, could you revert to calling her Louise as a nickname?
“El” names are huge in my circle of pre and early school age. I know two actual Ellie’s, one Eloise, lots of Ella’s, Elise’s, Ellis’s, etc. I would say that if you like it, keep it (it is super cute with Remy!) but we personally would have picked different if we had realized the trend of one of our kid’s names coming on point. If trends bother you also stear clear of Olive. Oliver has been a top 10 for years and Olivia is also super popular. I have heard a couple people naming babies recently thinking “Olive” to be cute and slightly different. Olive to me has the same problem of trendiness as Eloise.
We have a 7 month old Eloise. We’ve met Eleanors and Ellies and Elliots but no Eloises.
We usually call her Elo or Squeezie (because Eloise rhymes with squeeze). We love the name and all of the fun nickname possibilities! We have considered calling her Lou or LuLu as a nickname too – so you can kind of avoid the Els if you want to.
Squeezie!!! ❤️❤️❤️
I have a friend Amelie and not once have I made the connection to Amelia or heard anyone confuse it. I think it’s a non issue. That super cute Amelie movie probably helps with that too!
I love Eloise! Obviously she can go by her full name, but if you’re the nicknaming type, she can stand out as Lo/Loey or even Weezy (though my personal fondness for Steel Magnolias makes this seem more accessible than it might be for others on a toddler!)
I think you need to use Eloise! You love it. Yes, there are lots of other popular El names right now. But there are NOT lots of Eloises amongst them. So long as you do not call her Ellie, I think her name will still be unique. I teach preschool. I’ve never had an Eloise in class before. I know ONE baby Eloise. Last year I had zero El names on my class roster.
Amelie is also simply wonderful with Remy! Sure, people will need to learn it’s not Amelia, but so what? Once they learn, it’s fine. I love Sylvie too. Never ever met a little Sylvie or Sylvia.
Amelie Amelie Amelie! It’s perfect with Remy. I have a name people confuse with a more common one and it has never bothered me. Once people know it’s Amelie it’ll be a non issue except possibly with strangers and then who cares?
I’m also Team Eloise. She’s spunky and you love her (and having one daughter with a more popular name I can say you will love her name even if you don’t love that you hear lots of Els around.) I think you can distance her from the El-gang by using her full name or intentionally steering a non-El nickname. With Remy, I’d non-EE ending anyways, like Lulu or Lise or Lola.
For Amelie – if you’re saying it the French way, you’re bound to get “Emily?” more than Amelia.
I can’t give much input on the popularity of El names, since I don’t live in the US, though I’ve been hearing about El named kids a lot of the time. But I love Eloise so so much and I personally think it would be a great pity if you felt like you can’t use it. It goes well with Remington imo. I also think that as long as she won’t go by Ellie, Eloise is a really distinctive name so shouldn’t sink in the pool of El names even if it would be big. As Swistle, I’d be much more bothered by Amelie being called Amelia or Emily, which I think is definitely likely, the more that some people pronounce Amelie in such a way that for me it’s sometimes confusing if they say Emily or Amelie, just as it is with Amelia and Emilia. But Amelie is a really lovely name. I’ve heard about an Amelie nicknamed to Am, though this nickname doesn’t feel too appealing to me. Sylvie’s lovely too. Remy and Juliet indeed sound a lot like Romeo and Juliet. I think Louisa could be a lovely compromise for Eloise, if you decide you can’t use the latter. I also like Louise a lot, but I know it may feel off putting because of how common it is as a middle. How about Heloise? I really like this one, and it could help with the El dilemma, though perhaps it’s too out there for you?
Team Eloise. Also, if for some reason you have regrets and a daycare is filled with Ellies and Elises and Ellisons, you have a built in charming alternative from her middle name: Annie!
Well, it indeed would be a pity not to use Eloise – but if you really feel like it’s not distinctive enough, here are some names that (to me) feel or sound like a possible alternatives for Eloise:
Giselle (Remy & Gigi!)
Estelle (baby Essie!)
Isolde
Liesel
Blaise (although it may be too unisex to pair with Remington…)
Alisa
Lila
Viola
Adeline
Helene
Noelle
Pauline
Justine
Camille
Daphne
Livia
Cecilia
Ophelia
Bianca
Lucille
Isobel
Marceline
Ainsley
Bliss
Beatrice
Vivienne
I feel you could nickname Eloise to Lola, Lou, or Lulu and avoid the El names…. and in Texas there are a lot of kids answering to El names. I know one Amelie and she goes by Milly. Milly is climbing in popularity though (a lot of Amelia’s/Camille/Millicent’s and just plain Milly answer to this nickname too) so maybe that nickname isn’t your best option
Please use Eloise!
But if you don’t, please use Sylvia nn Sylvie, because my step-mom’s mother was Sylvia and she was a sweet peach.
But if you don’t, would you be amenable to Hilda or Frances or Estelle or Esther or Louisa?
I have a 2nd grader named Elinore who goes by Ellie. Before she was born we planned on calling her Nori but alas, once she was born she was clearly an Ellie 😆 I was terrified of her being Ellie B. at school but not only is she the only Ellie in her grade, she is the only Ellie in her school! On the other hand, there are 3 Zoes in her grade and 3 Jacksons in her grade. I have a couple friends on social media who also have Ellies but so far, in day to day life, it hasn’t been an issue. If we run into other Ellies while out and about, it has become a fun game to find out “which kind” of Ellie they are! Ellie has become a common nickname but there are so many ways for it to come about that we have yet to meet an Ellie who is an Elinore/Eleanor. There was an Eleanor friend, but she went by Ella. If you love the name use it! I also like the suggestion of Louise as a nickname!
I also really love Amelie and think it sounds so good with Remy too! Good luck!
My favorite from your list is Amelie, and I don’t think you’d have a huge problem with Amelia confusion–in the same way that people typically do not seem to misremember Olive as Olivia (so similar, and yet so critically different!). “Remy and Amelie” is smashing to my ear. I also like Amelie better than Eloise with your last name, though I think they both sound fine on that front.
However, what a shame not to use Eloise if you love it! I have a toddler, and I can confirm that there are many, many little Ellas and Ellies running around in his age group. In my neck of the woods, most of the Ellies seem to be Eleanors, though I often don’t find out what the full name is. (In those cases, I do assume–perhaps wrongly–that it’s probably Eleanor.) If you don’t want her name to be thought of as common for its time, then you should not use Ellie as a nickname–it WILL get grouped with the others, particularly among people who don’t have occasion to learn her full name. But if you intend to call her by her full name most of the time, I think you can avoid that issue! It’s a very sweet name, and though people seem to be DISCUSSING it often right now, I don’t think I’ve met a single one in my son’s peer group.
Team Eloise. 1) It may never get shortened because it’s so much fun to say. We have a Beatrix and had all these fun nickname possibilities, but everyone just loves saying Beatrix, so she exclusively goes by Beatrix. 2) I would not intuitively shorten Eloise to Ellie, so I don’t see it in the same family as Ella, Eleanor, and company. 3) Most importantly, you and your husband both love this name. I think that’s so much more important than anything else, and I feel like you’d regret not using it.
In my 5 year old’s kindergarten class, there’s just an Ella. But 2 Avas and an Avelyn. And 2 Myas/Mayas.
I really think you should just use Eloise. Most of the el named girls I know were named specifically for the Elle/Ellie/Ella nicknames. As long as that isn’t your intent, Eloise should have no problem standing out. In fact, I think the full Eloise would be refreshing in a sea of Elle/Ellie/Ella. Is seems a bit more substantial and whimsical all at the same time. ( I know that probably doesn’t make sense). It also has other lovely (and much less common) nickname options available if she wants them.
If you can’t quite pull the trigger, I’d strongly encourage Louise or Louisa instead.
My thoughts on the other names on your list;
I agree Olive and Amelie will be misheard. Also, Amelie and Remy are too similar to my ear.
Sylvie is nice, though I prefer Sylvia. Perhaps you’d also like Lydia?
I really don’t like Juliet with Remington. On its own, Remington strikes me a dashing. It is very strongly associated with The (old) PI show Remington Steele, which is where I first encountered it as a first name. However, paired with Juliet i have an overwhelming association with the gun manufacturer. I think the hyper feminine and romantic association with Juliet just forces my mind to associate Remington with something hyper-masculine? IDK, because the gun is not my strongest associate with Remington on its own or with any of the other names on your list.
For something more similar in style to Remington/Remy, I’d maybe look at less common/surprising names with a more traditional/familiar nickname. Juniper/June, Magnolia/Maggie, etc.
I know a couple “EL” girls, but most of the Ellie’s were named with the intent to use the nickname “Ellie” instead of their full name. Honestly 2 were called Ellie Mae. If you plan on calling her Eloise that should differentiate her from the others. Another nickname suggestion is Lolo. My son has a friend called that and it is super cute.
My first thought was to suggest Louisa if the “El” names feel too common, but then Louisa has been a lifelong favorite of mine, as has Ellen. On further consideration though, I would encourage you to use Eloise. While I think I probably would not choose Ellen right now, as much as I love it, Eloise has a more distinctive sound to it and I really don’t think she would get lost among the Eliies and Eleanors. Plus, I love the idea of using Lola or Lulu as a nickname.
Echoing the support of Eloise as a name, and loving all of the potential “L” nicknames beyond Ellie — Lolo, Lulu, Lou, Loie, Louise.
I love the name Eloise and used it as a middle name for my daughter. I don’t know any other Eloises. I do know two young Elizabeth’s, but they live in different towns. There are not any Eloise’s at our daycare, and honestly I don’t think there are even any Ellie’s/Ella’s. Yes, she will encounter people whose names also start with “El” but I think she’s pretty unlikely to run into many other Eloise’s. I would still use it. It’s a great name, it gives you joy and it gives me joy too :)
I lean toward Eloise, even with the Ellie issue, because you were so set on it. I only know one Eloise and she’s in her early 20s. But like Swistle, I know fewer little kids now that my youngest is 13.
I’d definitely steer away from Juliette with a brother Remy. Olive is cute.
Disclaimer: not in the US so just for interest’ sake.
The Ella/Isabella/Belle names were big here 15 years ago when I named my first. Anecdotally, the girls in his class (there are several Isabelle/a) are now using Izzy rather than Ellie. I think that seems to fit more of the androgynous aesthetic that is cool currently with teenagers.
Amongst my youngest’s set (3-4 year olds) I know one Eliza and several Evelyns (I put Evie in with Ellie mentally). I think Evie/Evvie/Ava is more of a style match for Ellie these days now that Ella/Isabella is on the slide popularity wise. Eloise is a fair way away from these if used in full.
The reality is that vowel heavy names are the sound of this generation. Over time this name will age just like any other name does (Think Pam, Linda, Susan, Jan, all in their 60s). I don’t think you are looking at another ‘Kristen/Kirsten/Kristie/Krissie’ style situation just because El is popular but not that popular and also Eloise has the ssss /zzzz ending rather than an L or vowel like so many of the other E names.
I would go ahead as you say you love it and you both agree. That’s gold in baby naming! If you really have to shift do you like Louise? It is similar but not quite the same.
FWIW I also love Juliet and Julia but think that Remy and Juliet is problematic.
Just to throw something else out there…have you considered Anne Eloise? You will probably run into other little Ellies and maybe even other little Eloises, but I have a five year old Ann and we haven’t run into another child with her name yet (Although there are Annas). Ann Eloise has a great flow too…you could almost use it as a semi-double name.
I think if you love Eloise you should use it, because it is a great name. That said, I teach a Mommy-and-Me class in addition to having my own three young kids so I am constantly meeting new babies and toddlers and can confirm that the “El” names are indeed popular. I know a lot of Ellies (usually Eleanor, sometimes short for Penelope) and Ellas. Eloise itself has also become pretty popular in my city.
I’ve yet to meet an Amelie, and think it sounds great with Remy. I don’t think it will get confused with Amelia that often. It might get mixed up with Emily at times, but despite seeing that Emily continues to be a popular name I feel like I know way fewer young Emilys than Ellies/Ellas.
I also really like Sylvie. It gives me that same pleasantly surprised feeling I get when I hear Remy.
I like the name Eloise, but I do think she’ll be one of many El’s. Plus it’s kind of a tongue twister with your last name.
I like swistle’s suggestion of Louisa. Remy and Louisa is such a good sib set. Or what about Louise?
To me Amelie feels very different than Amelia, I think because the emphasis is on a different syllable. I like Amelie a lot better than Amelia. I think if anything she might be mistaken for an Emily.
Romeo and Juliet rules out that name for me, but what about Julia? Or Julianne, Juliana, June? Remy and June is very cute.
I also like the suggestion of Lydia.
I like Eloise. No one has pointed out that your name, Kellie. I think you have a perfectly valid reason for not using Ellie as a nickname. Kellie and Ellie is just too saccharine a pairing. Eloise nicknamed anything but Ellie is perfect. Louise, Lulu, Lou, Weezy, Lois, etc.
Pairing Remy and Eloise pushes Remington towards “French” instead of “gun.”
Remy and Juliette… um, no.
I love Louisa and prefer it to Eloise, but that’s just my taste, not yours. Other names that sprung to mind were Sybil and Lavinia.
I am in the situation of having an Eleanor radar and, thus, seeing them everywhere, but, yes, I see them everywhere. My 5-year-old is named Eleanor (hence the radar), so sometimes I don’t love how many there are. Like Swistle said, on the other hand, though, there aren’t THAT many. She’s never had one in her class. There aren’t any in her older siblings’ classes. Some we know go by Ellie, some Nora. It’s not a problem and every time I see or hear of another Eleanor, I try to think of it as someone saying “you picked a GREAT name! we love it, too!”
I’m a kindergarten teacher and I have an 8 year old and a baby of my own (Amelia and Sylvia, so I obviously LOVE your name style), and I would say there are some “El-“ names but nothing too overwhelming. I mean, there are lots of Madisons and Mackenzies, too, and Parker and Harpers all over the place. How would you feel if she were in class with an Ella and/or an Eleanor? Would it irritate you, or no? I’ve had plenty of Ellas and Eleanors, but not one Eloise in 11 years of teaching (and don’t know any), so it seems much less common. It’s a VERY nice name!
I think Eloise is lovely and distinctive from the other “El” names. However, if you are concerned you may look up the various “El” names popularity in your state. Sometimes what is popular in one state is not very popular in another.