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Helena no contest

Helena hands down. Bella is prissy and kind of dated.

Helena. I’ve known so many annoying Bellas that the name itself is annoying to me. And Helena is much more beautiful and sophisticated.

I like Helena. I think it sounds elegant but it's still simple and fairly strong. It definitely reminds me of a Midsummer Night's Dream (and while the character isn't particularly interesting, the feel of the play in general rubs off on the name Helena for me).

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Bella is overused to the point of sounding meaningless. It's also just "pretty" which is boring/cliche at best and toxic at worst when it comes to naming an actual person. I think of Bella Swan and just the whole concept of faceless YA damsels.

I really like Bella, no longer name. Helena is boring to me and I find the pronunciation ambiguity confusing. I think Bella is snappy and kind of bold.

Helena. Unfortunately Bella is a very popular dog name right now, as Anneza mentioned below, but I still like Helena so much more than Bella or any other -bella variants. It feels more fresh.

This message was edited 11/17/2022, 5:46 AM

Bella is incredibly trite and also universally canine. I'd avoid it at all costs. I don't enjoy names with two possible pronunciations, and Helena is in that category. HELina is OK but I prefer Eleanor. The usual pronunciation where I live is huhLEEuhnuh, not in English but very prevalent. So my choice would actually be Helen or Eleanor over Bella.

Helena. I would pick almost anything over Bella so that's a low bar to clear

Don't really like either. I would prefer Isabella nn Bella