I like a lot of names that start with [name_f]El[/name_f]-. The only problem is that my youngest sister is named [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] and she goes by [name_f]Ellie[/name_f]. It’s mostly a family nickname, she goes by [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] at school, but it’s what I call her and unless that changes, I don’t want my child to have to share that with her. I’m not much of a nicknamer as it is, but I know from experience that young kids like to shorten names. Can any of these names be used in full or avoid the nickname [name_f]Ellie[/name_f]? I dislike [name_f]Ella[/name_f] even more than I dislike the idea of having two Ellies, so that’s not an option.
[name_u]Eloise[/name_u] (I like [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] or [name_f]Lola[/name_f] as potential nicknames)
[name_f]Elowen[/name_f] (Also like [name_f]Lola[/name_f], dislike [name_f]Winnie[/name_f])
[name_f]Eliza[/name_f]
[name_f]Elsa[/name_f]/[name_f]Elsie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleni[/name_f]
[name_f]Eliora[/name_f] (not sure with this because [name_f]Leah[/name_f] is my other sister and I dislike [name_u]Rory[/name_u] for a girl)
[name_f]Elysia[/name_f] (nn [name_f]Elsie[/name_f]/Lisi/[name_f]Sia[/name_f])
Is [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] avoidable? Any other nickname ideas? Thank you!
Short answer is no, [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] isn’t completely unavoidable. In my opinion, the names you listed are beautiful and not really long enough to warrant any nicknames, but we cannot control what other people in our future children’s social circles will call them. Good news is that it would seem like your family would at least avoid calling her [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], since your sister already goes by that name. You could always try the trick of introducing her by her actual name and correcting when someone calls her [name_f]Ellie[/name_f].
With [name_f]Elsa[/name_f] and [name_f]Elsie[/name_f], I doubt you’d run into any problems.
For [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] you could use [name_f]Liza[/name_f] or [name_m]Eli[/name_m] (as in ee-lye, like the nickname for [name_m]Elijah[/name_m])
[name_f]Eleni[/name_f] could be nicknamed [name_f]Leni[/name_f]
[name_f]Lili[/name_f] could be a nickname for [name_f]Eliora[/name_f], [name_f]Eleni[/name_f], [name_f]Elysia[/name_f] and [name_u]Eloise[/name_u].
[name_f]Lolo[/name_f] could work for [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] or [name_u]Eloise[/name_u].
There’s no way to 100% nickname proof any name, so if you did use one of those names in future you would probably need to be prepared to accept the possibility of her being called [name_f]Ellie[/name_f].
Agree with what namergirl has said.
I think there can be a large difference between what a family calls a child and what friends will call them - and that absolutely has the possibility of working in your favour. It has for my name, I was named [name_f]Caitlin[/name_f] but all my family refused the NN ‘[name_f]Katie[/name_f]’ as it was my Grandmother’s name - but I was called [name_f]Katy[/name_f] regardless outside of family and there hasn’t been confusion since the two rarely cross over in any significant way.
Though, your names are on the shorter end so they don’t have many options. I think [name_u]Eloise[/name_u] - [name_f]Lola[/name_f] is great and I think [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] holds well on its own.
Couple of other options:
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] - [name_f]Nora[/name_f]
[name_f]Lola[/name_f] - Great name on its own - no confusion then!
[name_f]Layla[/name_f] - similar to [name_f]Lola[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] - [name_f]Lena[/name_f]. Might visually look similar to [name_f]Eliana[/name_f], so you could use a spelling like [name_f]Alayna[/name_f].
[name_f]Lainey[/name_f] - a cute NN for [name_f]Alayna[/name_f] also or a name on its own.
[name_f]Alana[/name_f] - [name_f]Lana[/name_f]
I think the surest way to avoid an unwanted nickname is to offer an alternate. So if you like [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] but not [name_f]Bella[/name_f], say, “This is [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], we sometimes call her [name_u]Izzy[/name_u].” You’ve done that with [name_f]Elysia[/name_f], [name_u]Eloise[/name_u], and [name_f]Elowen[/name_f]. With the other names, they don’t all have a strong [name_f]El[/name_f]- sound, so I think [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] and [name_f]Eleni[/name_f] are safe. I think it would be pretty odd to shorten [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] to [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], as they’re almost the same, so that’s probably safe too. [name_f]Eliora[/name_f], [name_f]Elowen[/name_f], and [name_u]Eloise[/name_u] are all long names with strong [name_f]El[/name_f]- sounds, so [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] may unavoidable for those. But I do know a number of Jessicas who are always [name_u]Jess[/name_u], never [name_u]Jessie[/name_u], so it’s possible [name_f]Eliora[/name_f]/[name_f]Elowen[/name_f]/[name_u]Eloise[/name_u] could be [name_f]El[/name_f]/[name_f]Elle[/name_f] not [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], it would just take a bit of insistence on your part.