BTW, I’m partial to the -el ending you’ve used. With the exception of Giselle and Gabrielle, most of those names always look more sophisticated to my eye when they omit the extra “le” from the ending. And it certainly doesn’t prevent parents from using the lovely nickname Ellie.

My fave -el ending name is Mariel. Unfortunately, my husband’s last name also ends with an -el, so we’ll never use it. Maybe for one of my goldfish …

When she was an infant she was all belly. She had skinny arms and legs and a big belly. My husband started calling her “Isabelly” which was soon shortened to “Belly.” After being called Needle Butt for most of my life, I refused to have my firstborn nicknamed after a body part. We shortened it again to Ellie, and I love it.

The nickname could be used for any name ending in -el or -elle … Isabel, Anabelle, Giselle … Just like Etta is a great nickname for anything ending in -ette … Cosette, Annette, etc.

And while I’d never given much thought to Eloise until today, I think it is quickly climbing up the ranks of my favorite names.

And I know what you mean about the question of matching. If none of your ancestors are Dutch, is it silly to call your daughter Saskia?

And what if it does reflect your heritage, but not the name you wear today? I know a woman of Irish descent who chose lovely Gaelic names for her children, which makes all the sense in the world – save that her husband’s surname is quite German.

It’s one of those case-by-case situations. But as far as Elodie goes, I’m with you – it’s so fantastically French that it almost requires a touch of Gallic history to justify the choice.

I think I might like Ellie, Eleanor and Ella if they weren’t so insanely popular in the UK. Of your alternative suggestions, I rather like Elodie but it is just too French – not that being French in itself is bad, on the contrary, it’s just that I am not French and would feel like an imposter giving a quintessentially French name to my child. Does that make sense?

I also love Elspeth and have done for years. It is an incredibly strong Scottish alternative to Elizabeth but somehow sticks on my throat a bit when I say it – I adore Elsa though! Elsaas a ncikname for Espeth – gorgeous!