We really like the name Elle (pronounced EL), but our community is about 15% hispanic which means 2-4 kids in her classroom may speak Spanish as a first language. “El” in Spanish is the masculine form of ‘the’, and ‘elle’ can be translated into ‘they’.
Am I crazy to think I shouldn’t name my child Elle, if she will have spanish-speaking classmates? What do you think? If your first choice of name was a common word in another popular language, what would you do?
I think it’s fine. It’s not like it’s a bad word or anything. And yes, [name_f]Elle[/name_f] can be translated to “they”, as a Spanish neopronoun (AKA, a pronoun invented recently) but I doubt that many children will be aware of that seeing as it’s not a commonly used Spanish word at the moment. Mostly it might just sound similar, which I don’t think is a big deal at all.
I think it’s fine. It’s a familiar name and not a bad word in translation either
I also think it’s fine. The translation isn’t negative and it is a known name so I don’t see any confusion.
I don’t think it would be an issue! [name_f]Elle[/name_f] has established usage as a name, so I wouldn’t be concerned. If it really bugs you could use a longer [name_f]El[/name_f]- name (Eleanor, [name_f]Eliana[/name_f], etc) and use [name_f]Elle[/name_f] as a nickname, but it’s totally fine on its own (:
Latino here!
You’re definitely fine. It not something that’s so crazy unusual that it’d be weird to the kids or even their parents. In fact my own parents even considered the name [name_f]Elle[/name_f] for me when they were pregnant! Tons of Spanish names start with [name_f]El[/name_f]- (Elena, [name_f]Eliana[/name_f], [name_u]Eli[/name_u], [name_f]Elvira[/name_f], tons more) and are very common nicknames [name_f]El[/name_f], [name_u]Eli[/name_u] or [name_f]Ela[/name_f]. [name_u]Trust[/name_u] me, you’re fine!
I agree it won’t be a problem. [name_f]Elle[/name_f] isn’t used much (to my knowledge) and el/él isn’t negative or tease-worthy.
Thank you!!!