Names Ending in -a more preferable?

[noahsark]

Looking through the Top 1000 baby names In the US, I begin to notice that names ending in a pretty, girly -a are much higher up that their equilivant non-a-ending names.
Even looking at the Top 4 for girls'. Isabella, Sophia and Olivia are much higher in the list than their relatives Isabelle, Sophie and Olive. The trend continues down the list:


Isabella [1] - Isabelle [105]
Sophia [2] - Sophie [59]
Olivia [4]- Olive [546]
Alyssa [20] - Alice [172]
Julia [55] - Julie [389]
Maria [86]- Marie [575]
Adriana [129]- Adrienne [696]
Daniella [150]- Danielle [195]
Elena [163] - Elaine [799]
Diana [191]- Diane


Do you Berries agree?
I personally much prefer Louisa to Louise and Diana to Diane, however, on the other hand, prefer Olive to the over used Olivia.
I think that Parents see names ending in -a to be much more feminine as can see more Nickname possibilities.
You Thoughts?

[arreisenlaluz9]

I used to want to tack -a or -ana on the end of everything to make it uber feminine. I'm sort of over that now, though Carolina as opposed to Caroline is still something I prefer.

I feel like 50 years ago there may have been a slight trend toward de femmeing names. So our mothers were called Diane and Sheryl and Susan... and now we (named Jennifer, Ashley and Jessica) won't pick names that remind us of middle aged women for our daughters. Instead we look farther back (following the hundred year rule) and find pretty, uber feminine victorian names. Or we try to update our mothers names into Diana or Susannah or something similar.

Or there's just something in the water that makes us want to tack -ana on the back of everything. Lol.

[annasage]

It seems that names ending in A are more preferable, I'm not exactly sure why, maybe people feel it makes them more flowy and complete. On my list, the ones that end in a are; Aerica, America, Aquila, Arabella, Araminta, Athena, Azalea, Caribba, Cassia, Cinna, Flora, Gwyneira, India, Jaquetta, Luna, Lyra, Marina, Masha, Pandora, Rayna, and Vera. So I've got quite a few. But on your list of comparisons, I prefer the right side, the ones that end in -e or -ie. And on my list I prefer Sylvie to Sylvia. Hmm.

[sillysheila]

To me, most of the names not ending in -a could be nicknames for those that do. Like Sophia nn Sophie. That being said, I much prefer Alice, Marie, and Elaine to their -a ending counterparts. Of course, that could be because the seem more classic to me. I also think popularity has an effect. If Olivia were further down the list than Olive, would you prefer it? I would.

[triplicate]

A large part of this seems to be a shift away from French forms, sometimes to Spanish or Italian forms.

In recent years, I've noticed myself drifting away from A endings, though more often to names that don't have familiar A-ending versions.

[jennipea382]

Honestly, I'm the opposite on most names. The only names I really love that end in a are Serena and Cordelia. I prefer Isabel, Olive, Caroline, Natalie, Adrienne, etc over their a ending counterparts. I've pretty much always been that way. But then again I've never been a huge fan of most belle/bella names.

[ashthedreamer]

I've always wondered about this, too! It does seem that most -a endings are a lot more popular than the non-"A" endings, but after reading a few of the comments, I've thought of some that don't fit the rule! Natalie is more popular than Natalia, and Lily and Lillian are more popular than Liliana...

I honestly go back and forth on which I prefer... sometimes I think I lean more toward the non-a endings, as Isabelle and Arianne are my top two, and Isabella and Ariana aren't. Olivia is on my top 3, though, and Olive isn't (although I would consider Olive as a nn for Olivia, as well as Liv, Livy, and Via!)... Liliana has been on my list but I'm seriously thinking of giving it up for Lillian. I prefer Aurelie to Aurelia, but Emilia to Emily/Emilie... I like Julia more than Julie, but Sophie more than Sophia... I honestly don't know why for some names I prefer the "A" ending and others I prefer the other ending... I seem to be a bit hodge-podge in that area, haha.

[c@29]

Spanish-Italian version? To me, both version is beautiful by their own.
It depends on what you need.
But maybe the a-ending is more popular because it sounds more delicate and feminin.

[lineska]

In a lot of eastern european countries, all girls names end in -a (as a caroline who married into a polish family, my inlaws usually say it carolina/carolinka just because it sounds strange to them otherwise).

I'm not sure just how many other cultures it's the same, but I'm guessing many.

[theatrenut23]

In my opinion, Julie sounds fresher and younger than Julia.
No offence meant, my name is Julia!
I like a lot of names that don't end in -a, like Eulalie, Valerie, Rosalie, Josephine, Rose, etc.
But I also prefer Arabella to Annabel, Brianna to Brianne and Roxanna to Roxanne.