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Ellen vs. May
I'm reading "The Age of Innocence", so I thought I would ask, do you prefer Ellen or May? Which would you use in real life, if you had to choose one? What do you think of both names?
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May is a family name. I prefer it to Ellen, which I'd never use because I love Helen. I'd consider May as a mn.
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Both names are in my family! I prefer Ellen but if I had to use one as a first name I might choose May, because I could elaborate it to Maya and I don't like Ellie. (Maybe I could elaborate Ellen to Elena? If variants were allowed I would choose Elena.)
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May. (although ideally Mae) Either way, it's a classic and timeless name. Ellen on the other hand is more dated, and tied to a certain celebrity that many seems to hate. Of course there's other famous Ellen's out there, but Degeneres seems to be the first association that come to mind, outside of any personal connections.

This message was edited 8/3/2022, 7:33 PM

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Funnily enough, both are family names so its rather a coin toss. Honestly cannot say one is better than the other.
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I'd pick Ellen because I already like it. It's youthful but grown-up at the same time, doesn't really feel dated to one particular time period, and it's always been a mysstery to me why Ella and the ugly Eleanor got to be so popular now and Ellen not at all.May just souds like a frumpy hillbilly woman in a raggedy straw hat.
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May
Simple: I hate Ellen Degeneres
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May. Never cared much for Ellen.
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