Annabella?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Annabella?
8
Sun, 05-13-2007 - 10:48pm

Hi ladies~

Coming back to the name gurus for a bit more help. You all had a hand in naming #2 and #3 over here so now it's time for #4! We have 3 girls with very classic feminine names and want to stick with that theme. Until about a week ago we were set to go with Charlotte Paige. Early on in this pregnancy DH (who NEVER wants to talk names) mentioned a restaurant he wanted to try called Isabella. He then says, "I really like that name." Hhhmmmm. . . I do like it but two strikes against it.

1. Too popular/trendy for my taste. I prefer not to break the top 50.
2. A family we know and don't really care for just had a baby and named her Isabella.

Yesterday while participating in that treat all of us expectant moms do~watching A Baby Story~there was a baby named Annabella. Hmmm. . . So I mention it to DH as an alternative to Isabella. He says he doesn't hate it~high compliment from him! My questions.

1. How popular IRL is it? How trendy?
2. Does it fit with my other girls?
3. Will she forever be called Anna or Annabelle?
4. Do we toss Charlotte~which has been on the short list for all the others~for what might be a passing whim?

Help! Thanks again!

Jen
Mommy to
Caroline Rebekah '98
Amelia Kate '03
Greta Lindsay '05
EDD #4 July 07

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
In reply to: hooisermommy
Sun, 05-13-2007 - 11:11pm

On the 2006 rankings, Annabelle is 206 and Annabella is 556. With names consolidated to account for spelling differences (god, I'm neurotic) Annabelle moves up to the 150s and Annabella is the mid-400s, so probably about 1 in 1000 little girls is named Annabel(le) or Annabella. It seems a little bit more common to me than that because so many -ella names are popular right now, but it is actually fairly unique.

I do prefer Annabelle over Annabella because I don't like the doubled A sound in Ann-A-bell-A (each sounds like the end of a name to me), but both are pretty and I think you'll be able to get people to call her whichever you choose. As far as style, I think it's a bit "girlier" than your other girls, but not uncomfortably so.

I must say, though, that I really prefer Charlotte. I think it is a bit classier and will fit an adult better than Annabella.

I do think it makes a wonderful middle name though, and Charlotte Annabelle or Charlotte Annabella is a nicer combo, IMO, than Charlotte Paige. (I think Paige has a bit of a colder/harder sound than the rest of your dd's mns, as well as being NMS.)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
In reply to: hooisermommy
Mon, 05-14-2007 - 3:21am

Annabel is one of my favorite names.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-09-2005
In reply to: hooisermommy
Mon, 05-14-2007 - 9:05am

1. How popular IRL is it? How trendy? Not trendy at all, quite uncommon
2. Does it fit with my other girls? Yes, but not as well as Charlotte
3. Will she forever be called Anna or Annabelle? No, unless she wants to be
4. Do we toss Charlotte~which has been on the short list for all the others~for what might be a passing whim? Can't tell you that.. up to you! I like both names a lot but do prefer Charlotte.

-Nikki
http://destastory.blogspot.com/


                             
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
In reply to: hooisermommy
Mon, 05-14-2007 - 10:18am

With Caroline, Amelia and Greta (all wonderful, btw!) ...


Annabella is ok, but I do prefer the simpler Annabel with your girls, especially since Caroline would be the only one without an "a" ending (Carolina would be a different story ) and AnnabeLLA and AmeLIA would be too similar for me. To be fair, I also prefer Annabel in general, so that may partly be a personal preference.


I love Charlotte, but would find it odd with a sister named Caroline. I'd assume the parents were either trying very hard to honor a Charles (and perhaps thought the first wasn't obvious enough) or were completely ignorant of the actual origins of Caroline/Charlotte (not assuming that here ... just something you might encounter with both forms as two dds' names).


Another name that might appeal to you both is Scarlett. You have the nearly-identical sound of Charlotte, the prominent S sound of Isabella, and it works beautifully with Caroline, Amelia and Greta! Just a thought. ;)


HTH

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2007
In reply to: hooisermommy
Mon, 05-14-2007 - 4:10pm

I like Annabel or Annabelle much better than Annabella. Annabella, to me, is much too long of a name and probably would be shortened to "anna" or "bella," whereas, Annabel is one syllable shorter and may have less ppl calling her a nickname. It is my number 1 favorite name -- although I do love Charlotte as well.

I'd say keep both on your list -- or combine for Charlotte Annabella -- and see how you feel when she is born! :)

Good luck!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-13-2007
In reply to: hooisermommy
Mon, 05-14-2007 - 10:52pm

I second everything that Kelli said. The Caroline/Charlotte thing was the first thing I thought of when I read the post. I do always find it odd when there are two forms of the same name in a family. The second thing I thought was that I like Annabel much, much better. Annabella is a little frilly for my taste.

~Rachael

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
In reply to: hooisermommy
Thu, 05-24-2007 - 10:21am

You gals are great! We have dropped Annabella as the passing whim of a pregnant woman and stuck with our original Charlotte. Charlotte has been on our short list all the other times so we know we love it. I think we were just getting a bit sick of it since it's been "in play" for 9 years! LOL! I do know that Caroline and Charlotte are both forms of Charles but most "regular" people who don't know much about names don't know that so I'm hoping that will slide. Everyone brought up points I had already thought of but to have someone else say it makes it stick. That's why I came! :-)

So it shall be Charlotte Paige, Grace (another fave but WAY too popular), or maybe Annabel!

Thanks again!

Jen
Mommy to
Caroline Rebekah '98
Amelia Kate '03
Greta Lindsay '05
EDD Charlotte Paige/Grace/Annabel 8-2-07
OR it might be a boy! Wyatt Jackson FOR SURE :-)

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-13-2006
In reply to: hooisermommy
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 11:29am
I like Amalia instead of Amelia