Katharine, so cool that you met a Tallulah! I always want to rush up to parents and congratulate them in circs like that.

And Emmy Jo, Millicent won you over? High praise indeed!

As for Melisende and her variant spellings, I think this is one of those very tricky situations. While Melisande is clearly the modern French – and related to the Debussy opera and also sometimes taken as a translation of Melissa – the rest is difficult to pin down. Melisende/Melisanthe/Melissande was out of regular use (in favor of Millicent) by the time most spellings became formalized, so the same *person* probably had her name written multiple ways, much less different people in different regions.

I tend to stick with Melisende because it is the spelling preferred for Melisende of Jerusalem, the 12th century queen of Jerusalem mentioned above. But I’ve also seen her name spelled Melisent, so even royalty weren’t necessarily excused from ambiguity in their given names.

Melisende’s family tree is pretty rich, though – her parents were Baldwin and Morphia, and her sisters were Alice, Hodierna and Ioveta. She married a man named Fulk and had two sons: Baldwin and Amalric. Melisende was named after her paternal grandmother and had a niece who was given her name, so it must’ve popped up in noble circles throughout the era.

But I’ll bet that original source documents call each of those women by at least two or three spellings of the name … but that’s a guess, not based on specific research.

I love the cute nickname Millie, but I’d rather use Matilda or Amelia (both favourites of mine) to get there instead.

Your post has won me over, though! Millicent IS pretty! Why didn’t I realize it before?

I do think I slightly prefer Melisende, for it thoroughly medieval vibe.

I do find Millie completely charming and while Millicent’s not my favorite way to get to her (that’s Pomeline) but I do like Millicent and would be very pleased to meet some.

As was mentioned, Millie is a very popular choice in the UK, but of all the Millie/Milly’s I’ve heard, I’ve never once come across a Millicent. To me, the name Millicent gives you so much more flexibility than Millie as you can decide for yourself which you prefer to be known as and not got through life with nothing more than a nickname…

Completely off topic, today I heard a mother calling her toddler back to her with a name that most certainly stands out from the crowd of Emily’s, Ellie’s, Sophie’s and Chloe’s – Tallulah! This was my first real life encounter with a Tallulah – a name I thought was reserved for celebrities! All I can say is give me Millicent any day!