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Evelyn, because I'm a sucker for Eve- names, and it's got a nice retro feeling. Also because you can use Evie as a nickname.

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Next Joanna, then Gillian way below the other two.

Gillian is too wishy-washy to me

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Joanna is lovely, but I prefer Johannah and, well, I don't know. Joanna on the wrong person is just wrong...

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So Evelyn it is. It's classy and you can use Eve or Lyn or Evie as nick names.

I like Joanna best because it's not as common for me and it just seems so classic and elegant with great nn options. Although I like Jillian, Gillian is just one letter away from Gilligan! Can't get past that, I'm afraid, or the temptation to pronounce Gillian with a hard g sound. I adore Eve and Eva, however, Evelyn seems dated and frumpy. I'm not sure why since I should love it. Then again, I really, really dislike any name containing Lyn / Lynn / Lynne.

Evelyn is the best.

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I am partial to Joanna.

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Hate Gillian.

I'm not an Evelyn person - not in favour of Eve, Eva etc in general.

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Which leaves Gillian and Joanna, both of which I enjoy hugely. I'd probably use Gillian, I think, because I prefer Jill to Jo.

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I've always enjoyed the idea of using Gillian and Juliet as mns for identical twins with otherwise non-identicallish names. Laura Gillian seems to be the leader!

Joanna

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It sounds the nicest.

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I like Evelyn too. Don't like Gillian, though.

Definitely Evelyn. I've always disliked Gillian. The sound grosses me out, if that makes sense at all. It's just a very unattractive name to me. Joanna just seems very dated to me, like it's the name of someone's middle-aged parent.

It's sort of a toss up between Gillian and Evelyn. I don't particularly love Evelyn, but I do love the nn Evie, I think it's adorable. And Gillian is quite cute. Not something I'm head over heels for, but very sweet-although I have to say I so like Jillian spellings a bit better. Joanna I just cannot quite like. Very, dowdy? And blah. IMO :)
Just a quick question- why would it be so miraculous? Are u just not planning on having kids? Sorry if you've posted about this before, I just don't ever remember reading anything about it. And if it's too personal, I also sorry. Simply ignore it:)

Gillian. Evelyn is just dowdy to me, almost as bad as Charlotte, and I've never liked Joanna. Kudos for wanting to spell it Gillian. Jillian looks so dumbed-down.

Evelyn! Because I'd take any excuse to use the nickname Evie ^_^

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Gillian seems pretty old-school to me. I've only ever met it in Enid Blyton kind of books.. plus, I don't like the shortening Jill.

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Joanna is okay. I don't really feel much about it one way or the other.

Joanna, hands down

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Joanna is lovely and very underappreciated. I want to like Gillian but I just can't stop myself from reading it with a hard G.

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I don't understand the appeal of Evelyn at all. It feels mannish and dated to me, and the potential for pronunciation issues is so high.

Joanna. It's simple, feminine and familiar but not as popular as one would expect.

Evelyn without a doubt. I adore the name and we actually had Evelyn May on our list if this baby had have been a girl. That was the name of my maternal grandmother's half sister who only lived for a few hours, so we wanted to consider using it. To our surprise, just last month, one of DH's cousins welcomed his first child with his wife, a girl, who they named Evelyn May! Amazing!

Evelyn. It's got a very pretty sound, and classic feel. Also I think Evie is a cute NN.

Gillian

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I like Gillian the most, I think. My daughter has a friend Jillian who does not even go by Jill, so I'm sure I really do think it is a great name IRL (tho I prefer it with a G like you). I think Jill for short is nice too, or Gilly prn Jilly. (nn Gilly prn gill -ee is bad IMO; changing initial sound feels very phoney to me) The only issue is that Gillian sometimes sounds a lot like Julian, when certain people say it.

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Joanna is about as nice. I don't like any of the nicks for it except maybe Joanie / Joni, and maybe Jojo for certain people. To me it is an "all three syllables" name. But it's not too formal seeming for that, and it's super timeless ... perpetually modern, even. It can sound good on an old woman, but it won't ever sound old.

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Evelyn is an old lady name to me, though, and I don't really like the sound of it very much. It has the same feel for me as Beverly. Like Tassie I would like it a lot more if it were EEV-lin.

This message was edited 5/3/2014, 2:38 PM

Evelyn: Grumpy, grouchy old lady name.
Gillian: I really like Jillian. Gillian doesn't look as pretty and while I think the risk of mispronunciation is low, Jillian eliminates it entirely.
Joanna: It's okay but I like Jillian much more.

To me, Evelyn kind of feels like it's trying too hard. Like it's trying to be old-school-but-cool and it's too obvious.

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I have no real feelings either way on Jillian, but dislike the spelling Gillian because it looks like it should be pronounced with a hard g.

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I love Joanna. Have for a long time. That would certainly be my choice.

Evelyn because Eve and Evie are lovely nicknames.

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Joanna is also nice.

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Gillian is a bit dated in my opinion.

Evelyn

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It's my current top pick anyway. :-) It was my grandmother's name. My combo for it is Evelyn Patricia.

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My second choice would be Joanna. I don't love it, but it's grown on me. I don't care for Gillian at all.

I so much wish Evelyn could be pronounced Eve-lyn (Eve, as in Adam and Eve.)Then I'd like it.But no-one would buy that.
I guess it's personal;the only Evelyn I knew well was my cousin's mother (thus my cousin by marriage), kind of a cold and distant woman.

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Gillian, very nice, but I'd spell it Jillian, I like J names.

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So, Joanna would be my favourite.

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Evelyne is having some popularity in my (French-speaking) community just now. I do know a few little Evelynes. They pronounce it "Ev-LEEN".

I'd go for Joanna Evelyn

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Gillian is not my style, I still see it as a name people 50+ have

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I love Evelyn, but Evie is so overdone lately

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Joanna is pretty and not very common at the moment so I'd choose Joanna but use Evelyn as a middle name

Tricky! I'd really love to see a little Gillian - it's a great name that needs reviving - but Joanna is my mother's name & I like that a lot too. Evelyn is nice enough but not a fave.
Would you ever shorten Joanna or Gillian?

Definitely Joanna. It's one of the two names my SO and I can agree on for a future daughter. I love it.

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I have a cousin named Gillian, so I personally couldn't use it, but I do like the name. I only like Gillian though, not Jillian.

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Evelyn is ok, but I'm not really a fan of -lyn names.

This message was edited 5/3/2014, 10:40 AM

Joanna with Evelyn as runner up. I like the name best out of the three and it just has an upbeat feel to it, Joanna does.

This message was edited 5/3/2014, 10:25 AM