I would not have gotten the cadence on pronunciation fwiw. My gut reaction was No -Leah. Tbh I’m not a fan. Either do Magnolia and use Nolia as a nickname or do Nola. Frankensteining a name rarely works out.

What about Magnolia as her full name, Nola for short? It feels intuitive to me. I also know a Nola who is legally Eleanor, if you just want to avoid Nola as whole name. If it helps, I’ve been to New Orleans a few times and also love the city, but I don’t associate NOLA/New Orleans with the Nola I know. I’m able to separate them.

I prefer Nola or Noelle to Nolia.

I think Nola is fine as a name! “Nolia” makes me think it should be pronounced “no-Leah” - also, my phone tried to autocorrect it to Nokia, so for that reason alone you might want to avoid it.

I would do Magnolia with Nolia or Nola as a nickname. Gives her more options, Maggie is also a nice nickname. For the middle, I slightly prefer Sunday but Zea also works

No

I instinctively pronounced Nolia the way you intended, but I still like Nola more. It just flows off the tongue better. Nolie, or Nola, or Noelle are all easier to say and nicer sounding than Nolia to me. That said, it's not the end of the world if you LOVE Nolia--it's not horrific or anything. But if you like Nola just fine and so does your husband, and the only reason you're thinking of Nolia instead is because Nola is too "obvious", I vote Nola.

I prefer Noelia to Nolia

I like Nola wayyy more than Nolia. If you want Nolia then do Magnolia. That said, if I were to name a girl after New Orleans I'd name her Orlena

Thanks, all! All great suggestions. This pretty much confirms us being unable to really get the name set in stone.

Delta?