My husband and I love the name Elena, but my husband also has a child from a previous relationship named Elliona. Elliona always goes by Ellie, and we’d likely call Elena by her first and middle - Elena Caterina. But are Ellie and Elena too similar to be siblings?
TIA!
ETA: the girls wouldn’t live together full time, as Ellie lives in a different state with her mom, and there would be a 10+ year age gap between them. Elena would likely always be Elena Caterina or a nickname, as my family always does nicknames or first and middle. Still too close?
ETA: thoughts on spelling it Elaina and calling her Lainey? (Question posted here as well)
I think they’re too close, personally. Unless they are exclusively called [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Caterina[/name_f], in which case they sound pretty different. But [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] or Elliona and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] are way too close.
I have to agree with the others, I think they’re probably too close unfortunately. I guess if she was always called by her first & middle it could work or nn [name_f]Lena[/name_f]? Would you consider swapping the names round - [name_f]Caterina[/name_f] [name_f]Elena[/name_f]? [name_u]Or[/name_u] maybe [name_f]Helena[/name_f] could work as an alternative to [name_f]Elena[/name_f] too?
[name_f]My[/name_f] family calls me [name_f]Caterina[/name_f], so we couldn’t swap them. I do like [name_f]Lena[/name_f] a lot though. Would they still be too close? [name_f]Helena[/name_f] is beautiful too, but we have a Puerto Rican Italian family, so it would be pronounced like [name_f]Elena[/name_f] anyway.
Elliona is always [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], but since [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Caterina[/name_f] isn’t here yet I can’t say for certain she’d always be [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Caterina[/name_f]. It’s common in my family for everyone to go by a nickname or their first and middle though, so she’d likely be [name_f]Lena[/name_f] or [name_f]Elena[/name_f] [name_f]Caterina[/name_f] all the time.
The girls wouldn’t live together full time, as [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] lives with her mom in a different state, and there will be a pretty significant age gap between them (Ellie is 8 and we likely won’t have kids for a few more years) but I wouldn’t want either to feel like they didn’t have their own name. We also like [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Isadora[/name_f] for girls, but we plan on having a big family and we have a high chance for twins, so we’re planning for multiple girls.
Normally I would say yes they’re too close. But given all the info, I actually think it could… maybe… work. There is a big age gap between them and Elliona doesn’t even live with you full time. I guess maybe how often she stays with you would make a difference on my answer though. But the biggest issue I could see arising would be if [name_f]Elena[/name_f] would want to go by [name_f]Elle[/name_f] or [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] as she grows up. Sometimes nicknames pop up in school among friends and things even if you didn’t choose them for her, so obviously having two Ellie’s would get confusing, but by that time it’s possible Elliona wouldn’t even go by [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] anymore anyway or whatever, it’s impossible to plan for all future nickname possibilities completely. I also don’t really see it possible to call her by her full first and middle all the time, as it’s a pretty long name, so I’m sure it would be shortened at some point, even if just to her first name. Which isn’t really an issue as long as she goes by her first name or by [name_f]Lena[/name_f], or some other nickname.
I think nn [name_f]Lena[/name_f] would make them different enough (you could always use it as her full name if you like it enough) plus reading your info about how [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] is older and lives in a different state, might make it less confusing having similar names anyway. [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Isadora[/name_f] are also beautiful, by the way!
I know a [name_u]Johnny[/name_u] whose father went on to later have a son with a different woman named [name_m]Jonathan[/name_m]. I think it made him feel a little extra weird about the new half-brother, like he was being replaced. That would be my biggest concern here. If [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] is cool with it, then go for it.
Thank you! [name_f]Luna[/name_f] is our top choice, and [name_f]Isadora[/name_f] is after his abuela, [name_f]Dora[/name_f]. I love [name_f]Lena[/name_f] but [name_f]Elaine[/name_f] is a common name in my family, so that’s why we chose [name_f]Elena[/name_f]. Now that I’m looking at it though, [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Lena[/name_f] are very similar.
That’s also my concern, especially since my husband only recently connected with his daughter. He wasn’t a part of naming her either. I think when the time comes, asking her is definitely the best call. We’d be using [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Isadora[/name_f] first, so it might be a nonissue anyway!
I would definitely say [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Lena[/name_f] are way too close so if you end up using [name_f]Luna[/name_f] first then I would say unfortunately maybe you should cross [name_f]Lena[/name_f] and even [name_f]Elena[/name_f] off your list. What about other similar names like [name_f]Elara[/name_f] or [name_f]Elora[/name_f]?
I would say they’re too close, I think the only exception would be if Elliona liked it and thought it was a good idea. But even then if you guys decided to have more children the next daughters name could be hard to match with Elliona and [name_f]Elena[/name_f]
I do think [name_f]Lena[/name_f], [name_f]Lana[/name_f], [name_u]Delaney[/name_u] or [name_f]Luna[/name_f] though would all work
Elliona and [name_f]Elena[/name_f] are very close, however [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] and [name_f]Lainey[/name_f] are cute together to me.
Other ways to [name_f]Lainey[/name_f] are [name_u]Delaney[/name_u], [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f], Adelaine/Adelaide, [name_f]Melanie[/name_f], [name_f]Lana[/name_f], [name_f]Madelaine[/name_f], [name_f]Marlena[/name_f] if any of these appeal to you?
I think [name_f]Helena[/name_f] is also too close but you could maybe do [name_f]Helene[/name_f]?
I also thought about [name_f]Alaina[/name_f] being slightly better than [name_f]Elena[/name_f]. I think given the situation, [name_f]Alaina[/name_f] could potentially work. I would do [name_f]Alaina[/name_f] over [name_f]Elena[/name_f] especially with [name_f]Lainey[/name_f] as a nickname. I would avoid any “Elle” names specifically though because even if you don’t intend for her to have an “Elle/Ellie” nickname, others could start calling her that and could be awkward.
Also to consider though, [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Lainey[/name_f] might too be a little close but [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] are so sweet together so maybe [name_f]Luna[/name_f] works best?
