Just for fun - your thoughts on my girl name list.

[Anonymous]

What is confusing about Gemma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We find out the gender this week. Boy name is already decided, but if it's a girl, here's my list.

Isla -how do you pronounce this?
Gemma -love it!
Nora -like it as a nickname and Ella -cool name
Ella

[Anonymous]

Americans don't know how to pronounce Isla. It is more of a British name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you name her Elanora then you can call her

Elanora
Ella
Elle
Nora

You’ll know who she is when you meet her Voila!

You can do the same with the simpler Eleanor.

[Anonymous]

Isla is having a surge in popularity, so I think that both young parents and kids will know how to pronounce it (my kids both do) and that it will be one of those names that identifies your child to a very specific birth date range. Take that as you will.

Ella and Nora are both very overdone IMO. Gemma feels like Isla - a fresh/trendy borrowed British baby name.

[Anonymous]

Are you British?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you British?

No, just pretentious with bad taste in names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All seem trendy.

Nora is from an Ibsen play…

Ok, mom of Nora.

It is still a trending name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a high school freshman and I cannot keep up with her I friends - Isla, Ilsa, Iila, Isa…..I honestly don’t know who she is hanging out with at anytime other than one of the Is.

It's the new Kristy, Christina, Christine, Chris, Kristen, Kyla, Kyra, Kiana from the '90's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isla is pretty, but I would seriously think about the pronunciation issue as this thread has already highlighted. A lot of people still say “Iz-la” or “Is-la,” so she will probably be correcting people often. If you know that from the outset, it’s worth reconsidering as she’ll have that issue her whole life in every new place she goes.

Gemma feels a bit more distinctive and still very easy to say. It is currently around the top 200 in the U.S., so familiar but not everywhere.

Nora and Ella are both classic and simple, but quite popular right now. Nora has been hovering around the top 30, and Ella is usually around the top 20, so she would may share her name with multiple classmates. Up to you if that would annoy you.

I’m surprised the pronunciation is an issue. Isla Fisher is a reasonably mainstream actress and I know of 2 elementary aged Islas. I’ve never heard of any issues with people knowing how to say their name.

It’s not so out there that I would worry a ton about this.

[Anonymous]

Pretty names. Nora is my favorite. Gemma is too precocious sounding for me. Isla and Ella are perfectly nice names. Best wishes for the birth

[Anonymous]

Fine but unremarkable. Ella and other similar names like Bella/Isabella are quite common though. Your kid could easily be Ella in a class with Isabella who goes by Bella, Emma, Isabella who doesn’t use a nickname, and Ellie.

[Anonymous]

All nice. I'd probably rank them Gemma, Nora, Isla, Ella. Mostly because Ella is soooo popular (and Nora, too, but I love it).

[Anonymous]

They are nice names. That said, there is a trend of two-syllable girl names that end in -a. There are many girls with very similar names right now.

-a teacher

[Anonymous]

I always thought Nora was a nickname for:
Eleanor
Eleanora
Honora
Honoria
Leonore
Leonora
*Lenore
Lenora
Norine
Annora
*This one is my favorite because of Poe's lost Lenore.