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Rachel is not a pretty name. But that's okay. Some people don't like "pretty" names. They don't want a "princess." They want to name their daughters something tougher, stronger - something that will ensure she's "taken seriously." Rachel is one of the queens of this kind of name, up near the top with Margaret, Barbara, Sloane, and Grace (and Veronica, too, though she's a bit prettier imo).

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That said... despite the fact that I normally don't gravitate toward "variants" (face it, we tend to have standardized name spellings now, and a lot of variants do little more than cause their bearer unnecessary stress), I think Rachael looks infinitely better. Even though the spelling doesn't actually make a whole lot of phonetic sense (it looks as though it should be pronounced like Michael), I still think that second "A" makes the name look much more attractive. Possibly because the "el" looks so small when written out after that hard "ch" that despite giving it an odd number of letters, Rachael looks better balanced.

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I still doubt I'd name my daughter Rachael, though. I'm one of those people who gravitates toward the more "princess-y" names. To be honest, I prefer Raquel to both Rachel and Rachael.

I love it! I honestly like Rachael better, but I think I will use Rachel just for simplicity sake.

Rachel is how I'd intuitively spell it.

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I'm neutral on it. I can see the appeal (unique sound, biblical, feminine but not frilly), but I've never felt a connection to it, and I've not known many Rachels.

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I like the sound of Raquel, so I guess it's the 'ch' sound that makes it fall flat to me.

I like Rachel, even though it's common and I used to think it was too basic. Rachael just looks weird to me and I have a hard time pronouncing "ae" like a schwa. Raechel would make more sense (although I think it looks bad).

I'm not truly wild about Rachel. It's very harsh sounding and the nn Rach is pretty unattractive, imo. The Rachael spelling detracts from it even further. It looks like it should have three syllables.

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On the positive, Rachel has a nice meaning, it's elegant and I can understand its appeal to some.

I really dislike the name Rachel. I find it harsh and scratchy. That said, both are legit spellings, neither bugs me, but Rachael is a bit more intriguing if I saw it on paper.

I would expect an English-speaking person to be Rachael and an Afrikaans/Dutch/German etc person to be Rachel.

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Nice enough name, but though it isn't long enough to need a nn, it tends to shorten to Ray - or, I suppose, Rae - which I don't like, so I'd use it in the mn position if at all.

I know of some cool Rachels/Rachaels (there are some great ones on these boards!). However, I have also known such poisonous Rachels that the name is ruined for me. It's the name of a judgmental busy body (like Rachel Lynde).

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It was also popular with my generation and I cannot tell you how many I've known with siblings named Rebecca, Sarah, and Matthew. There's often a Leah or Hannah too. I love Rebecca, but Rachel, Sarah, and Matthew put me to sleep. The most white bread of names.

This message was edited 1/26/2019, 11:43 PM

I find the name to be very decent itself. (The spelling of Rachel I prefer much more) Though I'd honestly and,rather unfortunately,never met one who was pleasant and that deters me away from it. A name I think is perfectly fine in on itself but not one I imagine I would ever use or add to my collection.