Name Spelling - Advice please!

natalknitter15

I'd love to have some opinions on name options!

My husband and I love the name Matilda. Her middle name will be Christine, for my mother. It appeals to us because it isn't a "trendy" name (I believe it's not even in the top 500 for popularity) and we find it to charming and sweet, but without seeming silly.

I like the traditional (American?) spelling of Matilda. My husband prefers to have it spelled Matilde or Mathilde, but pronounced the same way - Matilda. I also prefer the aesthetics of his choices, BUT I don't want our child to forever be having to say "Matilde, spelled with an 'e' at the end."

What do you think?

wassuphoes

Behind the name lists both Mathilda and Matilde as a variant of Matilda. So unless you're specifically trying to honor your heritage with those spellings, I'd stick with Matilda.

Everycol0r

Matilda, most non-German people are not going to realize the e should make an A sound. I think the name is unique enough to warrant the phonetic spelling. Kudos on the German name! My daughter's name is Adelaide.

LizWhiz87

I prefer Matilda. And it is an absolutely lovely name, especially with Christine. Congrats on picking such a charming name!!

chaniship

Everycol0r said:

Matilda, most non-German people are not going to realize the e should make an A sound. I think the name is unique enough to warrant the phonetic spelling. Kudos on the German name! My daughter's name is Adelaide.

Adelaide is a beautiful name!

Knottie1431899811

I have to confess Mathilde is a guilty pleasure name spelling for me. I didn't personally make it up, and there are no y's, so it's cool, right? Anyway, if DS had been a girl, his name would have been Alice Mathilde. There is something about it that looks very pretty to me.

dramaphile

I would go with Matilda since it's the more common spelling, but Matilde wouldn't be bad. It's not common enough of a name that everyone would have the spelling ingrained in their brains and one way or the other.

MixedBerries88

I'd probably go with Maltida just for ease of spelling and pronunciation. I love your choices though! Lovely!

g8trkim

I would use Matilda. It's an adorable name!

natalknitter15

Thank you to everyone for the input! I really appreciate it. 

MamaWren919

I would definitely go with Matilda. Anything else will just be confusing. Matilda Christine is lovely.

Elsa1984

I would stick with the American version of the spelling. We had it on our list for a girl, and my husband also wanted Mathilde/Mathilda. However, I would have never let that fly, and would have put my foot down for the Matilda spelling , because I feel that when she would say her name, most people would think to spell it that way first. We have a very German last name, which she will be needing to correct people on pronunciation and spelling her entire life (or at least until she is married, if she changes her last name), so I didn't want to her to have to do it with her first name as well. 

Our kiddo didn't end up with Matilda for a first name, but she did end up with a German name. And I did STILL put my foot down with the spelling, and went with the more common spelling in America, for the same reasons I stated above.

dancingmatilda

Definitely Matilda!!!

shaw1234

Matilda

4N6s

Matilda.

mrsmommya

I agree.  Matilda.

We have a Madelyn and although I preferred the traditional spelling Madeline...I didn't want people calling her Mad-e-line... 

LNic5

I'd stick with the Matilda spelling...unless you're trying to honour someone, no need to get fancy!!

groovylocks

So somebody like me would mistakenly put the e at the end. 

You're going to get ambiguity in either direction and the e looks nicer, though either one is acceptable. 

The h? Eh.. I'd take or leave it. I think I prefer Mathilde.