Vivid and Various Variations ;)

General Name Discussion
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Okay, I love - really love - some names that others find old-fashioned, dull, etc.

This thread goes out, in some ways, to the “boringest” of all: the really classic ones that have a strong presence in Europe and who’s variations populate pages and pages of baby name books and have their own feels.

This is not a full list of each one’s variations(!), just my favourites. Please add your own favourites.

[name]Elizabeth[/name] - I love it itself, I also love [name]Eliza[/name], [name]Elspeth[/name], [name]Lilibet[/name], [name]Lillian[/name] (sometimes noted as an [name]Elizabeth[/name] variation) & [name]Isabel[/name].
[name]Mary[/name] - [name]Marie[/name], [name]Miriam[/name], Mariamne… not sure if [name]Mara[/name] counts as a variation… [name]Marigold[/name] is more of an elaboration/reference…
[name]Catherine[/name] - [name]Caitlin[/name], [name]Kathleen[/name], [name]Catriona[/name], [name]Katerina[/name], [name]Katrina[/name], [name]Katia[/name], [name]Ekaterina[/name], [name]Reina[/name]/[name]Rayna[/name]
[name]Anne[/name] - [name]Hannah[/name], [name]Hana[/name], [name]Ana[/name], [name]Annabel[/name]
[name]John[/name] - [name]Owen[/name]/[name]Eoin[/name], [name]Ian[/name].
[name]James[/name] - [name]Jacob[/name], [name]Hamish[/name].

I kind of feel like [name]Elizabeth[/name]/[name]Mary[/name]/[name]Catherine[/name]/[name]Anne[/name]/[name]John[/name]/[name]James[/name] go together (they ought to, they’ve spent hundreds of years hanging out! lol) but not all the derived forms blend nicely.

[name]Hamish[/name] and [name]Ekaterina[/name] doesn’t really work for me. And I don’t want to have two of a kind: an [name]Isabel[/name] and an [name]Elizabeth[/name], or a [name]Caitlin[/name] and a [name]Reina[/name].

What are your favourite variations and what sibsets would you make out of them? Would you stick to the most classic forms? [name]Do[/name] you find the variations more fresh than the Anglo standards? [name]Do[/name] any of them strike you as unusable?

[name]Do[/name] you like a name that has a handful of different forms? I might be back to add more later if anyone else is interested. I realized I had too many names on my list that repeat each other, mostly batches of [name]Catherine[/name] and [name]Elizabeth[/name] forms.

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[name]Edward[/name]-[name]Duarte[/name], [name]Edvard[/name]
[name]Edmund[/name]-Edme, [name]Odon[/name], [name]Odi[/name], [name]Eamon[/name], [name]Edmundo[/name]
[name]Anna[/name]-[name]Aine[/name], [name]Anya[/name], [name]Annika[/name]
[name]Helen[/name]-[name]Helena[/name], [name]Helene[/name], [name]Ilona[/name], [name]Ileana[/name]

[name]Duarte[/name], [name]Anya[/name] and [name]Ileana[/name]
[name]Aine[/name] and [name]Eamon[/name]
[name]Edvard[/name] and [name]Helena[/name]

When it comes to classic and their variants it really depends on the name.

I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] and [name]Helen[/name], but I also adore their variants like [name]Eliza[/name], [name]Helena[/name] and [name]Ileana[/name]. However I don’t think I would use [name]Elizabeth[/name] as first name mainly because it is the name of one of my cousins, and would put [name]Helen[/name] in middle place to honour my [name]Nanna[/name]. [name]Ileana[/name] is a little too exotic for me to use, but I would happily put [name]Helena[/name] or [name]Eliza[/name] in first place because they are different but also beautiful.

I’m not a fan of [name]Edward[/name] though because I find it a little dull but [name]Duarte[/name] is gorgeous and exotic but I know “I” would never use it.

[name]Edmund[/name] I find a little more fresher as a name compared to [name]Edward[/name], it is also the name of Sir [name]Edmund[/name] [name]Hillary[/name] whom my great-grandmother was an acquaintance of due to their love of beekeeping. So I suppose thats probably one of the reasons I’m more drawn to the name. BUT I like [name]Eamon[/name] slightly better.

I do find the variants fresher than the classics, but some are unsuable for me but others are not. It really depends. :slight_smile:

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I would rather see a parent pick a true classic like [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]Edward[/name] over some trendy name like [name]Madison[/name] or [name]Jayden[/name], but I have to admit that I find them rather dull myself.