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I kind of like it! It has a good sound to it, and even if it's a little unusual I've heard more out there names

Fellow nerd here, and I haven't told the family yet I already have my heart set on an unusual middle name if my next child is a girl... really looking forward to explaining it to them I'm glad your family reacted well!

it's not my taste but it does sound pretty to the ear. if i were you i might be nervous about using it only because you don't seem all that confident about it. it's one thing if u can just own that you love the name but you were nervous even mentioning it to your husband and SIL! you're going to probably want to explain/justify it to everyone you meet, unless you love it enough to just own it! ya know?

My kids have ethnic Indian names that are not necessarily easy to pronounce, because we wanted them and liked them. If you want it, practice saying it out loud, writing it down, explaining to people how to say it, figuring out if you'll get ragey each time people mispronounce it (because they will) and then decide what you want to do

Wouldn't it be Il-lyr-ia (like lyric?)

I would hate my parents if it was my name, sorry!

I'd take Illyria over Paisley any day. I think it's very pretty and melodic.

I immediately thought of Game of Thrones (another nerdy reference!).

@badwolf: I was really having trouble sounding it out in my head but @macintosh: @Greentea: made it make sense phonetically. If you love it, then you love it.

I like it as Elyria

I think it's beautiful! And I personally prefer it spelled with an "I." With an "E," I'd be inclined to pronounce it "Ehl-lyr-ia" rather than "Il-lyr-ria."

I like it, I like it even better with only one L, and to me it rhymes with Syria.

I tend to read slowly and carefully but to be honest the Ill part tripped me up both visually (three vertical lines) and then also in meaning. I do like the sound of it though so I might go with the E spelling.

I like it! And I'm totally into nerdy names. Our daughter was River (Doctor Who and Firefly). We're considering for this one Apollo or Helo (Battlestar Galactica), Lily (Harry Potter), and something with the nickname Rory (Doctor Who). But very few people we know would get any of the references.

Non-need here, so I don't get any of the character references. But I do think it'll get constantly mispronounced by kids and other parents alike. If this doesn't bug you, go for it. It's unusual, but not weird or offensive. I was trying to think if there were any negative associations/similar sounding words, and couldn't really think if any. The only one that popped into my head was "malaria", but even that's a bit of a stretch (as in it's not something kids would use to tease her).

If you use it, you might want to come up with a good, succinct explanation of where the name came from - people are so mosey and are due to ask, haha

Short answer: Go for it

I think it's a beautiful name. I'm not fluent in Dr. Who, but I made the Shakespeare connection immediately - in fact, the last time we saw Twelfth Night, I think I brought this name up to my DH. There are worse places to look for naming inspiration than in the Bard's work.

Like others have said, just make sure you're ready to own it. It's not *that* unusual - it has a lot of sounds in common with a lot of popular names, and it's super close to Ilaria (Italian version of Hilary), which I'm hearing more and more. I don't think you'd get any "ew, where did you come up with that!?" reactions, which you seem to be bracing for. More likely, it'd be "that's a pretty name. I've never heard it before - where's it from?" And then you can choose to offer as much or as little explanation as you want.

@badwolf: I love the sound of it and don't think it's hard to pronounce, but I'd personally consider alternate spellings. Like others I'm visually thrown by the Ill (three vertical lines) and the phonics of "yr" not being a r-controlled sound. I think the unusual letter combinations (the ill, the yr) is highly likely to make people stumble or mispronounce often. I had a student one year named Ilario, so maybe spelled minus 1 "l" (Ilyria)?
It's a beautiful sounding name and I have no qualms using nerd-related names (we're planning on a Rory from DW, too!). I do feel like any spelling is really going to be hard to read/spell so your child will have to deal with that.

FWIW when I saw the thread title, I thought the name was going to be Spatula or something.

@badwolf: From my experience, you gotta name the baby what YOU want. Family will criticize, hellobee will criticize, friends will criticize, but at the end of the day it's your baby. And people start warming up to the name after birth!

I don't know how to put this delicately- it sounds like an illness to me. What about something also melodic-sounding, like Aria?

The name sounds really pretty, but I think it will be much easier if you use the Elyria spelling. It also seems like it would alleviate most of the concerns other people have brought up.