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Diana
Is Diana still usable? I'm in the UK, and my number 1 associated with the name is Princess Diana, even though she has been dead since 1997.I love the name, but I just don't want everyone thinking I named a child after her.
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I don’t think the association is that strong. If you want an alternative then Diane would work.
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What puts me off Diana is the inevitable use of Di as a nn. And of course the association with the former owner!Are you the kind of person who would name a child after a celebrity? If you are not, your friends will know; and if other people suspect that you have, doesn't that say more about them than about you?Of course, you could consider using it as a mn, or substituting Diane or, preferably, Dinah.By chance, I gave my first daughter a name associated (by some!) with royalty - not British. And a friend whom I'd always thought was pretty sensible assumed it was "because of" this princesssy person. I stared at her blankly and said "Oh, no, I've never met her" which led to a swift change of topic!
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I can't use Dinah, as in my accent it is the exact same as diner.
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Well, I'm in the US, and though Diana isn't as popular as it once was, it's not really unstylish and probably never will be. It's been twenty years and change, and anyway, most people don't spend much time thinking about the motives of others in naming their kids when the name is as familiar as Diana; the princess isn't the only association, there's Diana Ross and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and plenty more. And even fewer of them would bother to say anything even if they did assume you named her after the princess.
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I think it’s common enough that people won’t think only of Princess Diana. I’m sure a lot of people do immediately think of her, but I know I usually don’t. But then again, I’m from the U.S., so it might be different. It’s a nice name, though.

This message was edited 1/27/2018, 12:41 PM

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I prefer Dee-Ah-Nuh. Its a decent name, although, not a favorite. I prefer Cynthia too it
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