Adelaide vs Adeline

Both Adelaide and Adeline are beautiful, classic sounding names that have been gaining popularity for the past decade in the U.S. While both quite similar looking, they are also distinct enough that it's very possible they would both appear on many people's lists. So how do you choose if you are partial to both? Well, hopefully today's Name Battle will help you do just that!

Before I go into these names in depth, I'm going to add a disclaimer here. I actually lived in the Australian city of Adelaide for six years. It was where I moved to when I left home, where I went to University, where I went clubbing and where I met my husband. Both of us still have family there, so we occasionally visit. I have some fond and sentimental memories of the city, and a few no so good ones too. But it makes it very hard for me to think of it as an "exotic" destination name. You however may feel differently.


Origin and Meaning
While some may not care about origin or meaning, for others this can make or break a name. Meanings can carry aspirations for our children, or be a way to honour someone or something we love, while origins can be a way of honouring a particular heritage or your ancestry.

Adelaide - Adelaide has quite the European heritage. She's German, originally Adalheid from the words 'adal heid', meaning 'noble kind'. She's Adelaide to the French, and you'll also see her as Adelheid for the Dutch or Adelaida for Polish.

In Adelaide's original context, noble was meant to denote that someone was highborn. When I hear of noble though, I think of the alternate definition of "exalted moral or mental character or excellence; admirable in dignity of conception, manner of expression, execution, or composition". This makes me love names with a "noble" meaning.

Adeline - Speaking of noble names, Anna at Waltzing More Than Matilda tells us that "Adel" names were abundant amongst the Frankish nobility as it emphasised that their daughters were high-born and hence made them better marriage prospects. With that in mind, you may have already guessed that Adeline comes from similar roots as Adelaide. Also German, she simply means 'noble'.

Adelaide Kane

Famous Namesakes & Associations
Let's face it, this stuff matters. If for no other reason than we understand the horrified looks we get when we tell people that we have named our new bundle of joy Adolf, Alcatraz or Jezebel.

Adelaide - For many Australians, Adelaide will always be a not-so-glamorous city. The city itself was named for a beloved queen. Queen Adelaide was a German princess who married King William IV of England. She was adored as a modest, charitable queen with a sympathetic record of several miscarriages and no surviving children. The city of Adelaide was founded during William's reign in 1836, however there are also many other towns, streets, buildings, monuments, rivers, places and even an asteroid named for her.

Many other noteworthy Adelaides can also be found in history, song and fiction. There was a Saint Adelaide, songs by Beethoven and artists Anberlin, The Old 97's and Ben Folds; the ditsy but lovable character Miss Adelaide from the musical 'Guys and Dolls'; and Madame Adelaide of Disney film 'The Aristocats'. Contemporary examples include character Captain Adelaide Brooke on 'Doctor Who', young Australian actresses Adelaide Clemens and Adelaide Kane (who plays Mary Queen of Scots in 'Reign') and daughters of celebrities Rachel Griffiths and Katherine Heigl.

Adeline - Adeline seems to be most popular in song - 'Sweet Adeline' was a barbershop quartet favourite and covered by The Seekers, and since then Weezer and Elliot Smith have also released songs with this title. Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers went with 'Oh Adeline' for one of their songs instead, and Brian Wright and Kasey Chambers both simply used 'Adeline'. Green Day owns indie record label Adeline Records, and at the other end of the spectrum there's 'Ballade Pour Adeline' or 'Ballad for Adeline', an instrumental piece. 'Sweet Adeline' is also a stage musical.

Famous bearers include Virginia Woolf (who was born Adeline Virginia Stephen); Chinese-American author Adeline Yen Mah; Malaysian model and 2006 Miss Malaysia World Adeline Choo; French actress and writer Adeline Blondieau; and South African model come pop sensation Adeline Mocke. Variant spellings seem to be more popular for our screens, with Bailey Noble playing an Adilyn currently on 'True Blood'; Claire Coffee Adalind on 'Grimm' and Blake Lively due to appear as Adaline in the upcoming 'The Age of Adeline'. And let's not forget those celebrity babies - Simon Helberg's Adeline was born in 2012.


Pronunciation & Nicknames
Some people fall in love with a name for it's nicknames. Others aren't too fussed. But if it matters to you....

Adelaide - Pronounced AD-a-layd, immediate nicknames that spring to mind are Addy or Ada. Then there's Aidy (I like this one), Dell, Della, Ads, Lady, Adele, Ley, Lainey, Leia, Elle or Ellie. Most of the ex-Adelaidians I know living in Melbourne tend to refer to Adelaide as "Radelaide" - it's an inside joke because while Adelaide is a very nice city, it's not exactly exciting or "rad". But I mention it because Rad, Rads or Radelaide would make for a pretty cool nicknames for a spunky little girl.

Adeline - Adeline has a few different pronunciations, which tends to explain why there are so many spelling variants as parents try to make it clearer which pronunciation they are aiming for. The French pronounce it a-de-LEEN, while English speakers will say ADD-a-line (rhymes with fine) or ADD-a-lyn. Nicknames are almost exactly the same as one would use for Adelaide, although Lin, Linny and Lina are extra possibilities depending on which pronunciation you use.


Popularity

Graph courtesy of
Our Baby Namer

Some want a name that is popular because it means it is familiar and well liked, others prefer a name that is
rare and will make their child stand out in a crowd.

Adelaide - Adelaide is well recognised but not super popular. She's never been in the top 100 in Australia, but has gotten close in a couple of states in recent years. She has started dropping again though, possibly due to false concerns that she was getting a little "too" popular. In the U.S, more babies than ever before were named Adelaide in 2013 - 1007 to be exact - which still puts her at #321. She's been slowly rising for the past decade and could continue to climb higher.

Adeline - Adelaide and Adeline have followed very similar popularity patterns in the U.S, although Adeline has consistently been the more popular of the two. She was a top 200 name at the start of the 20th century but dropped out of the top 1000 in 1954, returning in 1999. It has followed a similar path in Australia. It's hard to gauge her true popularity with so many variant spellings around now, although Kelli Brady estimates her popularity to me more like #34 (not #232) in 2013 when alternate spellings are combined.


Feel & Impressions
These are the things that often attract us most strongly to a name, whether consciously of unconsciously. What feelings does it evoke for you? What characteristics or traits do you envision someone with this name having? And do you like those things?

Adelaide - Of the comments I've read about the name Adelaide, overwhelmingly the most common impression is that it's an elegant name. It's also described as classic, regal, beautiful, feminine, delicate, graceful and timeless. I'd like to add spunky to that list.

People who don't like it tend to say it feels fussy, fusty, clunky and old lady-ish. They don't like that it has "laid" in it, or that it reminds them of lemonade, Gatorade and Powerade.

Adeline - Pronunciation is a major factor here, as the most common complaint seems to be that it sounds like "add a line". Why not just use Madeline, people say. Of course, this is avoided if you're using the a-de-LEEN or ADD-a-lyn pronunciations. It also explains why most of the spelling variants seem to be aimed at emphasising the latter pronunciation - Adalynn, Adalyn and Addilyn are all more popular than Adeline is. However for that sweet, classic and old fashioned charm it's hard to go past Adeline.


Having lived in Adelaide I have quite a soft spot for this name, but feel like it would be a little too dorky for me to feel comfortable using it as a name. I say dorky because Melbournites generally consider Adelaide (the city) to be a bit quaint and behind the times. Maybe I's use it as a middle, due to the meaning it has as the city where I met my husband. Adeline though.....

Objectively, I like Adeline as a name - it's pretty, a little bit different and sweetly charming, but it's just not quite my style. For me it lacks a little of the spunk and flair that I feel Adelaide has. I'd probably go with one of the many other "Adel" names out there so I could have a name with the 'noble' meaning that I love but that also has spunk and flair, vintage charm and a less direct association with the city.  Maybe Adelaine or Adelais. Just thinking out loud here ☺

How about you - what arguments would you add, and which (if either) would you be more likely to choose?

Inspiring Names - 'Sliders'

You may remember a show from the late 90's called 'Sliders'. It was one of Jerry O'Connell's biggest roles at the time - one that brought him attention as an adult actor, not just "that fat kid from 'Stand By Me'".

Rembrandt, Arturo, Wade and Quinn

If you're not familiar with the show, the premise was this - science whiz teen creates a machine that transports you between parallel dimensions. He brings his science professor over to his house to show off his revolutionary machine, but as he is demonstrating it something goes terribly wrong. The teen, his professor, his best friend who is at his house at the time and a lounge singer who happens to be driving past his house are all swept up in a vortex and transported to a parallel world. However, as it was still in it's experimental stages, the science whiz kid and his professor are unable to get them directly back to their own dimension, and hence the foursome have no choice but to "slide" from dimension to dimension until they hopefully arrive back in their original world.

If I haven't lost you yet, it was a great show. But besides the interesting story lines, one of the things I remember loving about this show was the names of the four main characters. The two teens had gender bending names, while the two older characters had very classic sounding but unusual names. I may not necessarily use these, but they have always stuck in my mind.

QUINN

Quinn Mallory was the science whiz kid, the character portrayed by Jerry O'Connell. Until then, I had only heard the name as a girls one, so I was intrigued by the idea of it being used on a male. I realise this seems strange, as in the US Quinn has been far more popular for boys right up until two years ago. In 2009, 'Glee' burst onto our screens, introducing us to the beautiful, complex and popular cheerleader Quinn Fabray. In 2010 girls Quinns outnumbered boys by just 44 children. This increased in 2011, and we'll probably see this trend for a few years yet, if not permanently.

Quinn is an Irish name meaning 'descendant of Conn'. In The US it was the 188th most popular girls name, and 297th most popular boys name in 2011, and it is the favourite Q name for either gender. 

WADE

Wade Welles was Quinn's best friend, played by Sabrina Lloyd. The only female of the original foursome, Wade often helped bring the heart and humanity to situations when Quinn and his professor started to lose sight of anything besides facts and figures. She also was the long time sufferer of a massive crush on Quinn. 

Wade is definitely entrenched in our minds as a boys name, and in 2011 was ranked #549 for boys in the U.S. That's not to say there aren't other female Wade's out there. It's just that there's never been more than 7 girls given this name in a single year. So obviously this show did not boost Wade's popularity as a girl's name while the show aired. 

Wade means "at the river crossing", so is an option for people looking for a different, not too obvious water related name for their child. It may not be everyone's idea of a great girl's name, but it suited this character to a T - tomboyish, spunky, but with a softer side to it.

ARTURO

This is perhaps one of the most interesting names of the show (well, for me at least). Professor Maximilian Arturo was played by John Rhys Davies, a great English actor possibly best remembered for the Indiana Jones movies, and more recently, as Gimli in 'The Lord of the Rings' movies.

The character sometimes tended towards being quite supercilious, and his posh sounding name suited him well. Arturo is an Italian version of Arthur, thought to mean 'bear'. Which I guess also suited this actors appearance, and the characters sometimes grumbly, sometimes roaring nature. I much prefer it to Arthur, personally, which for some reason has a slightly wimpy feel to me.

Arturo was #461 for American boys in 2011. While not a popular name for girls, like Wade it has been given to a handful of girls sporadically over the years. But unlike Wade, I personally have trouble imagining it suiting a girl very well.

REMBRANDT

Rembrandt 'Crying Man' Brown - played by Cleavant Derricks - was unlucky enough to be driving past the house when the vortex swelled out and swallowed him up with the other three. He was most out of his element, being an artist to the scientifically oriented Quinn and Arturo. What I loved about his character is that he was the one that seemed to grow the most over the course of the show. He started as a rather vain, struggling singer, but grew to be a thoughtful, selfless and caring person.

Rembrandt is synonymous with the great Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt Van Rijn. So I guess they decided to give the singer and artist of the group an artists name. Rembrandt is a Dutch name meaning 'sword advisor', which arguably often became his role in the group. Interestingly, 2011 was the first time it appeared on the US SSA list, after being given to just 5 boys. I think people had been deterred because the artist association was so unavoidable. But perhaps the rise of Matisse as a name has made artist names a little more accepted, and helped put this option back on the table.

Quinn about to slide through a vortex

The show ran for 5 seasons, and over the course of their adventures some of these characters left, to be replaced by the other primary characters. But for me, these four original characters were the core of the show. Was 'Sliders' a favourite of yours? Would you consider any of these names? Or maybe it's a different sci-fi show that introduced some names that have always struck a chord with you. If you want more sci-fi related names I suggest you also check out Geek Baby Names. It's a new blog dedicated to names from science, sci-fi and fantasy, and owner Clare has already looked at some great ones.

Bram

Cutie Bram - gorgeous photograph by Glow Foto

It's hard to do a month of Halloween baby names and not mention Bram. Firstly, Bram (Stoker) was the famous author of 'Dracula', the most widely recognised (and perhaps the first) fictionalised record of vampires. Second, it's just an uber cool name, and one of my favourites.

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' is a tale of the infamous Count Dracula. It is written in diary form, from the perspectives of young Johnathan Harker, who first visits the Count at his home in Transylvania, Johnathon's fiancee Mina  (short for Wilhelmina - another great name!) and Doctor Jack Seward. Stoker's version of Dracula has become the traditional, almost standard ideal of the vampire, and many of the ideas we now read about in vampire stories or see in vampire movies are based on concepts from this story. Note that there is no mention of vampire skin sparkling like diamonds in this book. If those are the kind of vampires you like, this original tale is not for you :) I first got around to reading the book earlier this year, and became smitten with the name Bram, thinking how cool it would be on a little boy.

Bram originated as a nickname for the name Abraham, and Bram Stoker himself was indeed an Abraham. Abraham or Abram is a biblical Hebrew name, meaning 'father of multitudes', and hence Bram is thought to have the same meaning. However Bram does actually have a history of being a name itself used by the Dutch and the Gaelic. Reportedly, the Dutch associate it with Bramble, and accordingly the meaning in that part of the world is 'a thicket of wild gorse'. On a different but also nature themed note, Bram apparently means 'raven' in Gaelic, a bird that is traditionally seen as a harbinger of death and also commonly associated with Halloween.

As you can see, Bram can be quite the chameleon. If you prefer it as a nickname and want a longer option for the birth certificate, there are several choices besides Abraham or Abram. These include Bairam, Braham, Bramley, Brampton, Bramwell (with another spooky connection via actor Bramwell Fletcher who appeared the 1932 horror 'The Mummy'), Brigham, Bertram, and Byram.

Bram has slowly risen in popularity over the past 40 years in America, but is still by far a popular name. In the last four years it has been given to just 37-38 boys, which in 2011 ranked it at position #3037. It is however a very popular name in the Netherlands, where it was the 16th most popular boys name in 2011. Other notable Bram's besides Stoker are Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent file sharing software, and Bram Fischer, the South African lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela.

With some great namesakes, Bram is one of those names that almost no-one uses, but everyone knows. It's short, strong, and has a Gothic feel to it. It's a versatile name, with both biblical and nature origins. Bram would definitely be a great option, especially if you're looking for a name that stands out but fits in.

Bram Stoker and a modern cover of his tale 'Dracula'