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I think it would be a really fun actor name. If I was an actress I would have picked something really fun and vivacious like this. Seems a bit much in the day-to-day life though

I think it’s too much for real life. I do love it for a cat, however.

I really do like Cleopatra, but it feels a bit like a one-person name to me, unfortunately. Very cool name, though! Leocadia gives me similar vibes :)

I’m not a fan. It’s far too associated with the Egyptian queen.

Cleopatra is a no for me, as it’s far too tied to one figure in history. Cleo on the other hand, I absolutely love.

Cleo is perfectly fine. In fact, I even like it. However, Cleopatra is certainly a bit much. I remember once looking through my cousins grade school yearbook and in my second-cousin class, (their niece) there was a girl named Cleopatra.
Not a name you'd soon forget on someone, even when seeing it in a decrepit yearbook.

Don't like it

It's about like Guinevere or Charlemagne. I feel like I've met one before, but she must not have been memorable, because I can't recall when or what she looked like. I think it sounds pleasant and quirkily grandiose but fairly tame.

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I think I'd rather use Clea or Clytemnestra.

This message was edited 3/26/2023, 12:37 PM

I think it's beautiful, granted a bit much and a one person name, but I find it really nice and Cleo is epic. I can't explain why I like it, I just do. I'm not sure what black people have to do with any of this, I have an Ancient Egyptian (Greek?) name and it had nothing to do with race.

This message was edited 3/26/2023, 9:34 AM

Some people find it "posh". (I found it on a "posh" name list somewhere on the Internet)
In my opinion, it's (a bit) ridiculous and dusty for a modern girl. Plus I've never liked the -patra part... (why not Cleomatra, Cleomitera?).
But seriously, everyone would call her Cleo anyway.

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However I'd prefer Cleopatra to Madison.

A lot of people choose to believe that Egyptians 'were the same as' modern black (sub-Saharan) Africans. Unsurprisingly, they can't prove it, but that doesn't stop them. The historical Cleopatra would be difficult to live up to, if one even wanted to. I prefer Cleone, but not enough to use it.

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Is Cleopatra used by modern Greek parents?

I mean, I would love to meet a Cleopatra. So for purely selfish reasons, I'm into it.

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The reasoning behind Cleopatra being chosen in this day and age would be interesting. Rox's comment on Blaxploitation film characters is a good point, and also I feel like it's more widely known now that Cleopatra wasn't black or even Egyptian/African, so if a Black family chose it as a sort of cultural reclamation name, I would be curious about why they chose her as a reference. Maybe huge fans of the Liz Taylor movie would pick it? Maybe there's another Cleopatra reference I'm not aware of. I would definitely want to hear the story behind the choice!

I don't think it would work. The only reference anyone's likely to have aside from *the* Cleopatra is the seventies "blaxploitation" movie "Cleopatra Jones; seems the movie writers probably already knew the name was campy and implausible and used it on purpose.

I adore Cleo, but I think Cleopatra is a bit much.