Léo vs. Léopold nn Léo

I can never really decide which I like better, so I thought I’d get some opinions. To me, both options have great points, but different ones, which makes the choice hard. Léopold feels “gentlemanly” to me and it has a lot of history to it. Léo is more fun and boyish, but I still think it would age well.

My last name is one-syllable so both would work, but longer names seem to match the best with it, so that could be another point for Léopold.

Thoughts?

PS: Going with the é because I’m planning on raising bilingual, and [name]LAY[/name]-oh is more pleasing to my ears than [name]LEE[/name]-oh.

I’m not a huge fan of either, but [name]Leopold[/name] offers a more formal variation.

Not sure why you’d bother with the accent. You are in the US, and will not be able to use it on any official forms. It really is a waste to even attempt to put it on there. People the world over come here and remove accents from their names. [name]Just[/name] a fact of life. You’ll jsut have to correct peoples’ pronounciation.

I agree with all of this. [name]Even[/name] with the accent, you’ll still have Americans pronouncing it [name]Lee[/name]-oh.

Sure, it might cause you some pronunciation problems, but if you prefer Léo or Léopold, I say go for it. With the pronunciation “[name]LAY[/name]-o” I prefer just Léo to Léopold. It feels complete, and so graceful to my ears. I don’t like plain [name]Leo[/name] as much (feels less complete to me) though I like [name]Leopold[/name] (without the accent.) Go figure!

I am not a fan of [name]Leo[/name] with accents or [name]Leopold[/name] with the accents either. I prefer just [name]Leo[/name] or [name]Leopold[/name]. [name]Leo[/name] with the accents (I have no idea how to get my keyboard to do the accents) is a very boring/common middle aged man name where I live. I just think of middle aged french men smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and yelling at the Montreal Canadians on there tv.

Wow, such opposition to the é. Lol, did not expect that. Well I’ll give it some thought about keeping it as a written thing but I am set on saying it with the lay-o sound.

I adore [name]Leopold[/name]; it’s handsome and classic, yet still unusual. [name]Leo[/name] is a very accessible and recognisable nickname, so I definitely think it works. I love it!

It’s your choice, but just be aware that no one is ever going to pronounce it right the first time.

I know :slight_smile:

My reasoning to use it would be not because I think it will magically ensure correct pronunciations, but because [name]Leo[/name] itself is one name, and Léo is another, fundamentally said differently. I’m sure I will need to correct it at some point.