See the results of this poll: Which names for my Spanish granddaughters?
Respondents: 65 (This poll is closed)
- Elena : 43 (34%)
- Irene : 12 (9%)
- Isabel : 33 (26%)
- Manuela : 8 (6%)
- Valentina: 32 (25%)
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] are my favorite FN options. 
For middles, I would vote for [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] [name_f]Eva[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f], or maybe [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]. I think [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] work well, too, but I like [name_f]Eva[/name_f] more than [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]. [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Eva[/name_f] is okay, but I think [name_f]Eva[/name_f] works better with [name_f]Isabel[/name_f].
Good luck!
My vote is for [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] [name_f]Eva[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f], too.
I like [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] too, but my daughter is leaning more towards [name_f]Irene[/name_f] because of the meaning and because it’s much less common.
My vote is for [name_f]Elena[/name_f], [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f].
I really love your grandchildren’s names in your signature, especially [name_f]Carlotta[/name_f]!
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] got my votes - they’re lovely names that work beautifully together. Of the middles, I love [name_f]Eva[/name_f], [name_f]Iris[/name_f] and [name_u]Carmen[/name_u].
[name_f]Irene[/name_f] certainly is that. Does it work well in Spanish/Portuguese? Admittedly, I am much better at knowing how things would work in [name_m]French[/name_m], but I took a few years of Spanish in college, and I’m semi-attempting (very halfheartedly!) to learn Portuguese, and I wasn’t thinking [name_f]Irene[/name_f] would really work in either language very well? [name_m]Even[/name_m] the Russian [name_f]Irina[/name_f] seems to work better in Spanish to me than [name_f]Irene[/name_f], but maybe I’m way off course. You all would certainly know better than I would!
I voted for [name_f]Manuela[/name_f] and [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]. These are so beautiful together. I also love the nn’s [name_f]Ella[/name_f] and [name_f]Tina[/name_f]!
The pronunciation of the name [name_f]Irene[/name_f] in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese is practically identical. It’s more or less pronounced EE-reh-Nee ( “reh” like in the name [name_m]Rick[/name_m]). It’s been very fashionable lately in Spanish statistics, if I’m not mistaken in the top 10. In [name_u]Brazil[/name_u] it’s mostly a strong, grandma name (all my daughters are hopelessly grandma-name lovers) and I think in [name_f]Italy[/name_f] it wouldn’t be so different. My late husband’s grandmother was an Italian woman named [name_f]Irene[/name_f], so it’s also a family name.
Our only problem with [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] is the huge popularity of it and the alternatives [name_f]Isabela[/name_f]/[name_f]Isabella[/name_f]/[name_f]Isabelle[/name_f].
My daughter likes the name [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] (I suggested it and love it!), but she’s much more fond of small names, so [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] would automatically nicknamed [name_f]Nina[/name_f] (we hate [name_f]Tina[/name_f]).
[name_f]Manuela[/name_f] is neutral for us. She would definitely be nicknamed [name_m]Manu[/name_m] ([name_m]Man[/name_m]-OO) and/or Manolita.
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] and [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] [name_f]Eva[/name_f] is my vote! Absolutely stunning
Oh I love [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]. It’s just so beautiful it’s hard to find a name as pretty to put with it but I think [name_f]Elena[/name_f] comes close. I’m not a fan of [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] or [name_f]Irene[/name_f] myself - just not my taste. I don’t mind [name_f]Irina[/name_f] though and would fit a lot better with [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] than [name_f]Irene[/name_f] does.
Good morning everyone (at least it’s morning here for me :D) [name_f]Livia[/name_f] and I would like to thank you all for your opinions, feedback and suggestions! [name_f]Elena[/name_f] is pretty much guaranteed, we love that it’s short, cute, classic and elegant, but meaningful. A baby [name_f]Elena[/name_f] would certainly bring a lot of light to our lives.
Now we must decide between [name_f]Irene[/name_f] and [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]! [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] has been officially discarded from the shortlist.
Here are the favorite combinations:
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] Tulipa
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u]
[name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Valentina[/name_f] Tulipa
[name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_f]Eva[/name_f]
[name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u]
[name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]
[name_f]Irene[/name_f] Tulipa
[name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]
[name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u]
Our last name is Montalvo.
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] & [name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f] & [name_f]Irene[/name_f] Tulipa
[name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u] & [name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f]
Those are the twin sets I like best. I think my favorite would be [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Iris[/name_f] & [name_f]Irene[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f].
Not really though. It’s [ee-reh-neh] in Spanish and Italian (“reh” as in rest and “neh” as in next), [ee-REHN] in Portuguese and [ee-REH-nee] in Brazilian Portuguese. If you add the English pronunciation I think it could be a tough name to wear in a multilingual context (if you don’t mind her being called by different pronunciations).
My favourites are [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Valencia[/name_f] & [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] [name_u]Carmen[/name_u]
Well, @sugarplumfairy, thank you for your criticism Despite there being a few basic pronunciation differences, which is natural when referring to different languages, the variants are few and not so great, as say, the English pronunciation of [name_f]Irene[/name_f] (Eye-reen) or the [name_m]French[/name_m] (Eeh-enn). My daughters and I all our lives have had our names pronounced in different ways. My name for example, in English is pronounced EYE-riss, whereas in Portuguese it’s EE-reess… sometimes if you’re Portuguese or Carioca, EE-reesh. It’s normal for us, because we’ve always traveled a lot, so the variants to [name_f]Irene[/name_f] wouldn’t be bothersome, in fact, quite the opposite.
But thanks again for your concern. This is what I love about Nameberry, somehow, everybody cares!
We’re experimenting with [name_f]Elena[/name_f] and [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] as first names. If they’re approved my the mommy, we’ll move on to middle names. Thank you everyone for the suggestions and taking your time to help us with opinions!