Caroline or Eleanor

leftylizard

Hi there!

We are having our first baby this May and we can't decide between Caroline or Eleanor.  Looking for pros and cons to both?  

Eleanor would be an "Ellie", but my husband thinks that's cute while she's young, but not as a grown woman.  

We love Caroline, but I'm afraid many will call her Carolyn instead and I can't really come up with a neat nickname except Cara?  

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc...would be GREAT!  Both positive and negative thoughts welcome.  HaHa!
Happy Holidays!

nurse714

I like Caroline better. I know some that go by Caro"line" and some that go by Caro"lynn". I don't think pronunciation is a big deal. Once you tell the person, they will usually remember. I don't know any Carolines that have a nickname so no suggestions. 

LNic5

I like Eleanor over Caroline. I prefer Elle or Nora as nn (Eleanor has better nn options than Caroline

The only nn I can think of for Caroline is Carole

alyralfs

Eleanor!

harmonicbabe26

I like both. Obv love Caroline, we chose that for the new baby. In my mind the only true nn for Caroline is Carrie. Cara is a standalone name. As for mixing up with Carolyn, sure that will happen but prob not as a rule. Caroline is pretty main stream so most people will get it right once they know her. You can never avoing mistakes completely. Heck our own family mistakes our 3yo's name, they'll spell it Kathryn or Catherine... And she's been around a while. Who cares.

I like Eleanor too. If Ellie becomes too juvenile, she can always revert to her full name as an adult if she chooses to.

hillgirl322

Both are great names but I prefer Caroline.

elvinnoe

I'm on team Eleanor.

Both names are pretty though. I know an Ellie who is in her thirties and it fits her very well. Either way, if it's a nn, it's not like she's stuck with it forever.

mamayo26

I like both my SS is Carolyn (I know that is different from Caroline) but she sometimes goes by the nn Car (I've heard that used on my TV show too).

There are two Eleanor's in our life right now (both actually Eleanor Ann). One has the nn Nellie (which I am not a huge fan of) and the other they call EAP which is her intials and pronounced eep, cute, but not a name she'll probably use with the public. My son couldn't say Eleanor when is was 1.5, so it came out as Nor which we all thought was cute, but again probably not a nn to carry through life.

4N6s

I'm in love with Caroline right now.
I don't think a nickname is needed.

Eleanor is great too. I prefer Nora as the nn, if you're going to use one.

ashiscute

I really like both. I don't love Ellie as a nn but love Nora. I don't think caroline needs a nn.

blu-eyedwife

Love both.  I prefer Eleanor to Caroline (my son would have been an Eleanor if he was a girl) but I dislike the nickname Ellie which is just about everywhere these days.

Dr.Loretta

I like them both. She can be Ellie as a little girl and Eleanor as an older woman

libby+nate

I like Eleanor with the nn Nora. Ellie is cute, just a little popular. With Caroline you may have to correct pronunciation, but that's not a huge deal and you only have to tell people once. People will mispronounce/misspell many names anyway. Both are both beautiful names! Congrats on the baby girl!

DaisyZH

I love them both, tough choice! I'm going to give a slight edge to Caroline.

emmy236

I love both. I love Eleanor a bit more because I've always had a soft spot for the NNs Ella and Nora

parenthood4

I love Caroline! No nn needed.

Seahorse85

I love them both. It depends if having a nn that relates to her first name is important to you though. I'm one of those people that likes to have a 'grown up' name option with a cutie nn to use so I'd go with Eleanor if it were me purely based on that.
However, I do like a pp's suggestion of Carrie as a nn for Caroline.

zebrapanther1311

Well my dd is Eleanor so that's my vote

We called her nori for a while but then she requested we call her Nora instead of nori. It wasn't hard switching nick names. Your dd may choose to do so if Ellie is too childish for her.

Caroline is also beautiful and on our girl list. I don't think you would have a problem with pronunciation. I've met a Carolyn and most people referred to her as Caroline unless specified.

jelina

These are two of our top contenders right now! I love them both. The lack of NN options is hurting me a tad towards Caroline. I am not into Carrie, sounds weird with our last name.  Good luck! I think you can't go wrong!

this decaf life

Love Eleanor. I prefer just Eleanor, then Nora, then Ellie. Ellie isn't my favorite NN but it's just fine and it's cutesy but Eleanor is a perfectly grown up name.

Caroline is fine but NMS.

DawnJM25

DD is Carolyn and if we have another girl she will be Eleanor!  We have the same taste.  Even with it spelled with the -lyn ending people still say Caro-LINE.  Either way you spell it you will probably have to clarify for people but after that it's not a big deal. 

pblge

I really like both. My MIL goes by Ellie and it's never seemed strange on her, or another adult.

carolyngrace

My name is Carolyn and people call me "Caroline" (or spell it that way) constantly. I've only met a few other Carolyns in my whole life.

My point is, go for Caroline. I doubt too many people will confuse it with Carolyn. 

carolyngrace

BoyMommyDana said:

I love Caroline with maybe the nickname Carly.

Is that a common nickname for Caroline? Seems like a stretch. 

12roo1985

I prefer Caroline. When a Caroline i know got married they played that song "sweet Caroline ba ba ba" as she walked down the aisle. So adorable. Not really a reason to pick that name but I fell in love with the name after that.

ashbasler

I am a bit biased since I have a Caroline! Cara was our go to NN, however, we have yet to call her that. Her cousins have once or twice called her Carrie, which I'm not a fan of. I have had to correct a few people of pronouncing it wrong but they usually pronounce it correctly after. Only a nurse at her pediatricians office can't seem to grasp pronouncing her name right, but it's nbd.

PianoLover4

Totally adore both!  But Caroline as the edge for me.

Coconuthead

I prefer Eleanor!

mlee116

I like both names, but since we are naming our baby girl Caroline, I'm voting for that one. I do like Eleanor, but Caroline is just a little more my style .  I also know a lot of little girls right now named Elle/Ella/Ellie/Nora, so I'd rather just steer clear of anything that could have those nns.

Pronunciation doesn't bother me so much because I'll just correct them, though a lot of people know what we're naming her (thanks DS for giving it away!), and no one has said Carolyn.  I'm also not worried about a nn.  We actually planned for DS to be called by a nn and it just never stuck, so I'm ok with her not having a nn either.