Eliane Sabrina?!

Girl Names
1

A few of my closest [name_u]Berry[/name_u] friends know by now (I think!) how I’ve struggled to add [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] to my list. I sponsor three little girls in South [name_u]America[/name_u] (they’re the best!), and years before I became a sponsor, I always knew that I’d wanted to honor them on my list, much like my family, because, to me, they are family. They’re almost like adopted daughters to me.

My first girly, whose FN is Is@bel (she goes by her mn), was super easy to honor, since [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f] is my favorite girls’ name, and has been long before I started to sponsor her. My most recent girly, [name_f]Mar[/name_f]!a Clar@, I’m honoring through her second name with [name_f]Claire[/name_f] (and maybe [name_f]Mary[/name_f] as a middle somewhere, too. I love [name_f]Mary[/name_f] and [name_f]Claire[/name_f]!). But I fell in love with [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] the second I laid eyes on her, but, alas, not her name, so much. I like [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] as a name fairly well, but I don’t really consider it my style and I’ve found it SUPER hard to pair up. I feel rather guilty about honoring Aru.my and M@ria Cl@ra, but not [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]. :frowning: (Sorry for the novel-length explanation!)

That brings me to [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]. I’ve been LOVING [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] lately–I love how dainty and [name_m]French[/name_m] she is!–and, on a whim, a couple minutes ago, [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] came to mind, and I love it. But I have a couple of questions.

  1. WDYT of [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]?
  2. Is [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] usable in the US? I’m sort of concerned that she’d get [name_f]Elaine[/name_f] or [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] 90% of the time, and while those are fine names (and I like [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] a lot), it’s [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] that I love. (I’m already preparing to kiss my beloved accented Éliane good-bye–she’s so much lovelier in her full [name_m]French[/name_m] glory!)
  3. Would you avoid [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] if you hated [name_f]Ellie[/name_f]? [name_f]Ella[/name_f] and [name_f]Annie[/name_f] are on my radar, but they don’t seem as special as [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] does?
  4. If you think [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] would be too much to put up with, what FN would you suggest for [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] as a double middle?

Thanks, Berries!

2

I really really like [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]! I think it’s totally usable in the US, it’s definitely not that out there. [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] may get confused for [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] occasionally, but it’s nothing I would be really concerned about. It’s a beautiful choice, and the corrections would be pretty minor, I think (though I too prefer the accent - I’d check the rules on naming in your state before ruling it out totally - they /might/ let you use the accent on the birth certificate, some states do).

I wouldn’t avoid it if I hated [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], no. There’s plenty of names I like that I dislike nicknames for - it’s another thing that’s relatively easy to correct. My mum hated the nickname Hail for my name, so as soon as someone called me it, she corrected them, and it died off pretty quickly after that.

3

[name_m]How[/name_m] would you prn. [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] in English. [name_f]Ellie[/name_f]-AHNN, eh-[name_f]LEEANNE[/name_f], … ?
Depending on that it might be easy or difficult to use in the States and easy or difficult to avoid [name_f]Ellie[/name_f].

As for the combo, while it’s not my style, I think the names sound lovely together and the flow is great.

4

[name_u]Ashley[/name_u], I love your heart for ‘your’ girls! Your posts about them and your sponsorship journeys always make me smile, because your passion for it genuinely radiates through each word. It’s so sweet that you would like to incorporate their names into your name lists! To answer your questions:

  1. I like the look of it, but pronunciation is a bit of an issue for me. I would say this as “ellie-ahn”, which has to be incorrect. Now is that a real issue? Not necessarily. If someone were to say this name to me a couple of times out loud, then I would remember it the rest of my life. Regardless of the [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] pronunciation thing, I do think it goes very well with [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] as a middle name! It’s actually a very pretty combo! :slight_smile:

  2. Yes. I kinda blended my explanation in my response to number 1. Sorry!

  3. Eh. I’m very torn on this. Part of me wants to say, “no way! If I love the name, I’d used it no matter what nicknames someone might use!” but then again, if a certain nickname physically made me react to it, then I would have to give it up. Sounds bit silly, but I’ve had to actually do this with my own list of names. Someone did something to me years ago and I cannot even think about using a certain name because the nickname of it would be his name…so yeah. I get it.

  4. I honestly don’t know. I think it is fine as is.

5

@[name_u]Haley[/name_u] - thank you for your positive review! haha. I’m glad you find [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] so usable. Honestly, I don’t mind [name_f]Eliana[/name_f] as much as I will [name_f]Elaine[/name_f], I think? They’re said pretty differently, but [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] sort of looks like a typo of [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]. :frowning:

@[name_f]Polly[/name_f] - eh, I say it pretty similarly to the [name_m]French[/name_m] pronunciation, but I think most people would say [name_f]EL[/name_f]-lee-anne or [name_f]EL[/name_f]-lee-ahn. I wonder if I could pull [name_f]Lili[/name_f] or even [name_f]Lily[/name_f] out of it? [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is probably a stretch, but I doubt [name_f]Lili[/name_f] would be? I had been thinking of [name_f]Lia[/name_f], too…

@[name_f]Alyssa[/name_f] - aww, thank you. They are really the best thing I have ever done in my life! I’m so proud of them and in love with them–it’s almost ridiculous. :slight_smile: Your pronunciation isn’t too far off–in [name_m]French[/name_m], it’s sort of like a mixture of your pronunciation and AY-lee-ahn, but with a [name_m]French[/name_m] accent, of course. :wink: I mean, I love lots of [name_f]El[/name_f]- names ([name_f]Eliora[/name_f], [name_f]Eliane[/name_f], [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Eliza[/name_f], [name_f]Elise[/name_f], [name_f]Eliska[/name_f], [name_u]Eloise[/name_u]/[name_f]Eloisa[/name_f], etc.!), but [name_f]Eliora[/name_f] and [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] are the only ones that actually have the [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] sound in it directly. [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] hasn’t kept me from [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] or [name_f]Eliora[/name_f], so it seems sort of foolish to let it keep me from [name_f]Eliane[/name_f], too? But obviously, I should draw the line SOMEWHERE for the number of [name_f]El[/name_f]- names on my list, lol.

I welcome any other opinions! :slight_smile:

ETA: I just realized, if I’m saying it more like AY-lee-ahn, I could use AY-lee as a nickname? I would usually spell it the traditional Scottish way, [name_f]Eilidh[/name_f], but [name_f]Eliane[/name_f] nn [name_f]Eilidh[/name_f] seems rather ridiculous to me. Not sure how else I’d spell it, though… Aylee/Ayley/etc. have always looked rather tacky.