Is naming our baby Elsa weird or strange??

[Sydnie]

Anyone who thinks your daughter is destined to be in a classroom full of little Elsas really doesn't understand how naming statistics work at all.

Yes, Elsa has slowly and steadily been gaining in popularity over the last 20 years. It was the 528th most popular girls' name in 2013, compared to being the 864th most popular 20 years prior. However, translated into numbers that means there were only 560 little Elsas born in the entire country last year. Compare that with Sophias, which was the most popular girls' name. There were 21,075 Sophias born in 2013(and that doesn't include Sofias, so the name itself is much more pervasive than it seems!)

Now, obviously Elsa will make a statistical leap due to the popularity of the movie. But let's talk worst case scenario and say it becomes 3x as popular as it was last year. That would move it to roughly the 187th most popular name. A leap like this would be very unlikely, as remember it took it 20 years to move 300 spaces up the list, and because of how statistics work the higher you move up in popularity the harder it is to gain on the names more popular than yours. But ok, 3x more popular. To give you an idea of comparable popularity, the 187th most popular girls's name in 2013 was Kendra.There were only about 1700 Kendras born in the entire country last year. Is there an epidemic of little Kendras running around your kids' elementary school, being forced to go by their last initials? Yeah, I thought not. Some names more popular for baby girls than Kendra last year include, Ximena, Hazel, Valentina, Eliana, Londyn and Hadley. Obviously, being even the 187th most common name means your name is pretty darn uncommon!

Now of course, if you name her Elsa, the cultural reference to the movie will be around for a longgggg time. People will always ask you/her if you named her after the princess, especially when she's young and in the princess crazy stage. As long as you don't mind getting that question all the time, you should go for it! It's a lovely, classic name

 

[sayheyrenee]

FYI - Belle was named after Johns (dead) wife (Brady's Mom)

I'm another huge DOOL fan!

 

[mantysk8coach]

I think you're fine! Naming your daughter after a cartoon character is much safer than naming your child after a real life celebrity who can take a wrong turn in life and become a punchline.

Yup, I named my middle daughter who is now 6 Miley.

*** In full disclosure, our oldest daughter was a huge Hannah Montana fan at the time. We didn't name our daughter AFTER Miley Cyrus...it was more that we just liked the name. It was different, but not weird. Although I can't picture our sweet little Miley as anything but Miley, I'm sure we were judged behind our backs, and honesty, yes, I regret it. We assumed eventually Miley Cyrus would fade away and by the time our DD was in school, no one would even make the connection. Sigh..... She can always go by her beautiful, but popular middle name later in life if she chooses, which is Sophia.

So anyway, I think Elsa is a beautiful name if you have the patience for all the "Oh! From Frozen?" comments you are sure to get!

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Everyone else in the world is going to be naming their baby girl this over the next year. So, you are definitely not strange.

Just be prepared in 5-6 years for other girls in your kindergarten class with the same name.

 

[3boymthr]

I remember back when my kids were in school a boy named Skylar

There was a soap opera character with a name that SOUNDED like that but spelled differently-I thought it weird to name your kid after a tv show
Now its a popular name-who knew

It's been a thing for people to do for longer than you'd think. DH is named after one of the characters on the show My Three Sons. Poor man - forever stuck with a little kids nickname - which drives me nuts. I can't tell you how many times we get told you can't put a nickname on official documents - we've even had documents sent back to us to be corrected and signed with his "real" "full" name. Okay but that is his real full name.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

My prediction is that she will be one of many Elsas born this year. As long as you're okay with her being Elsa (whatever the first letter of your last name is) all through her school years, then go for it.

Yep! I am named Michelle after my dad, Michael. My parents picked the name before the Beatles song came out. A month later "Michelle" hit the airwaves and viola...there were several Michelles in every class during my school years.

 

[tzolkin]

I named my DD Emma, and someone I work with actually asked me since I am a Harry Potter fan, did I name her for Emma Watson...uh, no. We chose Emma because its a family name.

People are always going to make assumptions about names.

My son is named Silas and I had more than one person ask if I named him after the Da Vinci Code movie character. (He was born a few weeks before the movie came out) Why yes, my husband and I saw "murderous albino monk" and thought, that's the perfect namesake for our child.


I know Elsa is a "normal" name, but due to the popularity of the movie, I think it's fair to suggest that most people will assume any Elsas born in the next year or two were named after the character. If you are okay with people making that assumption, then I think it's a lovely name.

I have a cousin named Ariel. Of course it is a name people use regardless of The Little Mermaid. But, female Ariels born in 1990 are likely named after the character.

Here's a recent article about Disney Princess name trends which includes charts of the popularity of different names:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/disney-princess-names_n_5318241.html

 

[Minnesota!]

In my August 13 babies mommy group...We have a lot of movie and TV show names...A few Bella's, Jacobs, Edwards, Cullens. Makes sense since most of the moms in that group were of the right age when Twilight was out...Also, Game of Thrones....One person named their child Kahlessii...I kid you not...Its a made up word. There are a few Arya, and at least one Sansa.

I named my DD Emma, and someone I work with actually asked me since I am a Harry Potter fan, did I name her for Emma Watson...uh, no. We chose Emma because its a family name.

Now my coworker(who is in labor as I type this) is naming her son....Donatello...Neither parent is Italian....Whenever anyone hears the name, they all say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....but to each their own...

My theory...think of your child as an adult...This is the name they will live with forever...Will they hate you for giving them something bad?

Re: the bolded. Ugh. I know of someone naming their due-this-summer daughter that. I just shook my head.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

If you decide to name her Elsa and people start to give you grief about you naming her after a Disney character, you can always tell them to "Let it Go"! Sorry. So sorry. I couldn't resist!!

 

[Robinrs]

Just be prepared in 5-6 years for other girls in your kindergarten class with the same name.

My son was born in 1993 and went to school with LOTS of Jasmines (Alladin)

My niece was born in 1970 and went to school with LOTS of Ericas (All My Children)

Yep! I am named Michelle after my dad, Michael. My parents picked the name before the Beatles song came out. A month later "Michelle" hit the airwaves and viola...there were several Michelles in every class during my school years.

I was named after a character in a soap opera and it just so happened that the song Rockin' Robin came out the same year. Everyone thought I was named after the song! If I meet a Robin chances are she was born around the same time!

 

[lauradis]

Anyone who thinks your daughter is destined to be in a classroom full of little Elsas really doesn't understand how naming statistics work at all.

Yes, Elsa has slowly and steadily been gaining in popularity over the last 20 years. It was the 528th most popular girls' name in 2013, compared to being the 864th most popular 20 years prior. However, translated into numbers that means there were only 560 little Elsas born in the entire country last year. Compare that with Sophias, which was the most popular girls' name. There were 21,075 Sophias born in 2013(and that doesn't include Sofias, so the name itself is much more pervasive than it seems!)

Now, obviously Elsa will make a statistical leap due to the popularity of the movie. But let's talk worst case scenario and say it becomes 3x as popular as it was last year. That would move it to roughly the 187th most popular name. A leap like this would be very unlikely, as remember it took it 20 years to move 300 spaces up the list, and because of how statistics work the higher you move up in popularity the harder it is to gain on the names more popular than yours. But ok, 3x more popular. To give you an idea of comparable popularity, the 187th most popular girls's name in 2013 was Kendra.There were only about 1700 Kendras born in the entire country last year. Is there an epidemic of little Kendras running around your kids' elementary school, being forced to go by their last initials? Yeah, I thought not. Some names more popular for baby girls than Kendra last year include, Ximena, Hazel, Valentina, Eliana, Londyn and Hadley. Obviously, being even the 187th most common name means your name is pretty darn uncommon!

Now of course, if you name her Elsa, the cultural reference to the movie will be around for a longgggg time. People will always ask you/her if you named her after the princess, especially when she's young and in the princess crazy stage. As long as you don't mind getting that question all the time, you should go for it! It's a lovely, classic name

No because Kendra would be one and most kids dont go to elementary school till they are 5.

As for your numbers this will not help because some names are more popular in regions then country wide.

 

[Shagley]

My cousin had a baby in July of 2013 and we knew months before that her name would be Elsa. We thought it was a cute, yet kind of unusual name. I remember seeing an advertisement for Disney's new movie and thinking how fun that our little Elsa, with such an unusual name, will have a Disney princess (queen actually) share her name. Now poor baby Elsa will always have everyone think that she was named after the movie Frozen, when the truth is she was born in July, and Frozen didn't premier until November .

 

[DeluxePrincess]

You can name your child whatever you want. Elsa is a pretty name. My sister was in a class with 3 other Heathers. She came out just fine.

 

[AustinTink]

My old, spinster aunt is named Elsa. Since I haven't seen Frozen, that's the only association I have with the name.

My name, however, was used in the title of a popular tv show when I was in middle school. There was a good 5 years of jokes from basically everyone I was introduced to during that time period. It dwindled in college. I still get the occasional reference every now and then. It's not fun. Just sayin'...

 

[MrsDuck]

I don't think it's either but I do think people will associate it with the movie and there will probably be a big flux in the name the next year or two.

Agreed.

I think it's a sweet name and if you both like it, go for it.

 

[design_mom]

My cousin had a baby in July of 2013 and we knew months before that her name would be Elsa. We thought it was a cute, yet kind of unusual name. I remember seeing an advertisement for Disney's new movie and thinking how fun that our little Elsa, with such an unusual name, will have a Disney princess (queen actually) share her name. Now poor baby Elsa will always have everyone think that she was named after the movie Frozen, when the truth is she was born in July, and Frozen didn't premier until November .

My friend, whose daughter was born in September 2000 like my son, named her daughter Fiona. The first Shrek movie came out in April 2001. "Our Fiona" is 13 now and people still ask if she's named after the ogre princess. It drives my friend crazy, but Fiona seems to take it all in stride.

I agree with most of the posters. I suspect Elsa will gain a lot of popularity in the next couple of years. (Whether it's enough that she ends up with 3 other Elsas in kindergarten remains to be seen.) If you love the name, use it, but be prepared to have lots of people ask or assume that you picked it from the movie. However, just because you choose a name that hasn't been used in a movie yet, there's no promising it won't be. At least Elsa is a known quantity now (the PP's story about Silas the murderous albino monk made me chuckle.)

 

[msjprincess]

I guess I'm really OLD-but when I first heard this name associated with the movie I misheard it as 'elsie' and thought of elsie the borden's cow then when dd informed me it was 'elsa'-I immediately said "they named a Disney princess after the bride of Frankenstein?" (Elsa Lanchester, who portrayed the original bride of Frankenstein, and who was married to probably the best actor to ever portray the hunchback of notre dame-Charles Laughton).

I must be old too. I thought the same thing.

I don't think of it as a pretty princess name at all.

 

[HM]

I'd keep exploring names and come back to it if you find nothing you like better.

My son was one of eight Christophers in his grade in elementary school. He likes his name but I think would have preferred not to have the same name as so many other kids in his same year. I'm afraid any child named Elsa now is likely to have many friends with her same name.

 

[mom2rose&john]

I have a co-worker who named her daughters Belle and Aurora. She is a Disney Lover to say the least. The only people that associate the names to Disney are the people that are familiar with Disney. I do not think it is strange nor weird if you would like to name your child any name you, as their parent, love. If it is what you like then name her Elsa.

However, I will give you the same advice my grandma gave me. Say the full name (any name you choose) out loud many, many times to see if you still like it after so many repititions. If the flow and sound still appeal to you then go for it.

 

[wendy46001]

Ugh! That drives me crazy about my DD (Bella) I have not read one page of a Twilight book, nor viewed one scene of a Twilight movie! But I get asked if she was named after the movies. Or now that she is older and beginning to read some teen books, people ask if she has read Twilight yet. Ummm, no! She isn't old enough!

(for the record, she was named after a character on Days of Our Lives. I always loved tthe name Isabella, ever since John and Marlena named their baby that when I was a kid! )

Another mom of a Bella (actually we call her Bell but her classmates all call her Bella). Yes i get the twilight stuff...Also get the beauty and the beast comments.

Oh well, i named her after a Charles Dickens character (Arabella) at least the book is a classic

People also think we were trying to be original spelling Isabella. So really you cant win. Just pick something you like.