First, some news: I put in my paperwork to transfer to the college of Education at my university today! I should be enrolled as a student of secondary English in about six weeks, and I’m super excited! GAHHH I WILL SHAPE THE YOUTH OF TOMORROW AND MAKE THEM LOVE JANE AUSTEN AS MUCH AS I DO! Okay, maybe not, but I am really excited.
Anyway, my love of today’s name was inspired by that same lovely Ms. Austen: Elinor. In Sense and Sensibility, she’s the sensible one, a practical foil to Marianne’s emotional antics. I see a lot of myself in Elinor, and I sort of gravitated to her name a bit. The I spelling is so senseible and balanced. Eleanor looks clunky to me by compairson. Elanor is nice for the Tolkien connection but makes me want to say El-LAN-nor. El-LI-nor is so much nicer to me.
I probably wouldn’t use Elinor, as it is getting quite common, especially among name nerd circles. It gives me an inflated sense of popularity, I know, but I think it’s going to blow up big time. Nicknames Ellie and Nora plus the old fashioned appeal is going to make this one hard to pass up for most. It currently sits at 271.
I like Elinor in the middle, as an homage to my Jane, as she is my favorite author. Seriously, I’ve read all her novels but one (which I’m finishing right now). She’s a master of the written word. I love her. Here’s some combos I already have:
- Alice Dorothea Elinor
- Alice Elinor Catherine
- Daphne Elinor Margaret
- Daphne Elinor
- Charlotte Elinor Rose
- Prudence Elinor
I still adore AEC, but I think I love Elinor with Wilhelmina. Didn’t I have a Wilhelmina Elinor Catherine combo? I could have sworn…
Anyway, what are your thoughts on Elinor? Sorry for the brevity and fluffiness, I’m still getting back to 100%.
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Well, you know I adroe Elinor. For Jane as well, but more for the cousin that bore the name (she got it because her Mom was a huge Austen fan as well)!
I too prefer it in the middle, I like Nell, yes but not enough to consider it up frotn where, in my neighborhood, she’d be Ellie in 30 seconds. I loathe Ellie, it’s again an elephant name in the house (Josie got a fluffy pink elephant Webkins the other day and promptly announced “This is Ellie!). So Ellie’s just an elephant name for us. (I christened my first Elephant Zelda, but the succeding ones have all been Ellie).
Of your combos, I’m really loving
Alice Dorothea Elinor , I dislike the back to back ‘e’s in the rest of them. Makes my eyes flipa bit trying to seperate them. Flip Elinor to second middle on the rest and you’d have my whole hearted endorsement on the rest, except for Charlotte (and you know why I dislike Charlotte)
I adore Daphne, but not with Elinor next to it. I still want to seperate those ‘e’s! Daphne Alice Elinor? (for some reason the e/a blend doesn’t bother me as much).
And I think I remember that Wilhelmina combo of yours too! Wilhelmina Elinor Catherine is divine and would probably be my choice as well, you know how I adore Wilhelmina, but I just can’t get him on board entirely.
Oh well, maybe I can live vicariously through you!
Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Haha, well I can’t get mine on board with 2 middles! It’s a bit of a conundrum. Anyway, thanks for the ideas, I think I’ll keep Dorothea Elinor and Elinor Dorothea on the list.
Nell is the superior nickname, I agree.
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Congratulations on the teaching program! I was originally planning to teach secondary English as well — I ended up getting hired at a private elementary school, and I love it, but it would be awfully fun to teach literature and writing more in-depth. (There’s only so much you can do with first-graders, you know.)
As far as Eleanor/Elinor goes, I love it. Did you know Jane Austen actually used both spellings in her works? Elinor is the oldest sister in “Sense and Sensibility.” Eleanor is the sister of Catherine Morland’s love interest in “Northanger Abbey.” I always thought that was unusual. It seems like someone would prefer one spelling to the other and use that spelling exclusively.
Anyway, my preferred spelling is Eleanor, but I don’t mind Elinor. I have noticed that it seems to be fairly popular among our set, but it’s still not very common among the population at large. Actually, it’s one of the names my husband and I have been able to agree on — he wants something that’s familiar but not often heard. He’s rejected my beloved (C/K)atherine as too common. So Clara, Sonia, and Eleanor are our agreed-upon top three.
Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Thanks Emmy Jo! I’m super excited to start my classes. That’s the reason I decided on secondary: the depth.
I’m reading Northanger Abbey right now and have come across Eleanor. I hadn’t at the time of this post, though. It’s a really funny book. And yeah, it is weird that Austen would use both spellings. However, they were a lot more interchangeable back then.