Sydney writes:
We are the Bradshaw Family, and we have two daughters with our first son on the way around May 26, 2013. The hubs is Reid Harrison and I’m Sydney Louise. As I wrote earlier, we have two daughters already. Our first is Ayla Jennifer and our second is Mackenzie Simone, and the two names couldn’t be more different.
Ayla is five years old and her name is unheard of around our town. It was a name we just stumbled upon in a name book, and we immediately fell in love with it. Jennifer was my husband’s sister’s name who unfortunately passed away years ago in a car accident, before I ever got the chance to meet her. It meant a lot to my husband and his family to honor his sister and I was more than happy to oblige.
Mackenzie is 17 months old, and unlike her sister, her name is a little more popular around our town, but not over the top. She is affectionately known as “Kenz or Kenzie” around our house and amongst family and friends. We picked her first name after she was delivered because in all honesty, she just looked like a Mackenzie. Her middle Simone is a variant of my father’s name.
Now we are expecting number three and we can’t find the perfect name that sounds great with our girl’s names. We had two girls names put together which were Emerson Lilly (middle name is after my husband’s grandmother) and Teagan Louise (my middle name) which we will now set aside for future purposes, as we do not plan on this being our last child.
Now each of us have our own list of boys names that just seem so different. His name list includes Jacob, Owen, Eli, Cameron and Cole. Now, I like the idea of Cole and Cameron, but it just doesn’t feel like it could be Ayla and Mackenzie’s baby brother. Now my name list is Easton, Luca, Jake, and Blake, but yet again, these don’t seem like our baby boy’s name either nor can my husband and I compromise on one of our names.
I’m hoping that you could help us find a great name that sort of unites the two girl’s names together. The middle name will either be Samuel (after my husband’s father), Maxwell (my husband’s grandfather), Reid or Harrison (both after my husband). I’ve heard so much great stuff about your website that I hope you could help us.
Please and Thank you.
I think Ayla and Mackenzie are very compatible in style. I’ve heard that the name Ayla has Hebrew/Turkish roots, but I think its current usage is more often from Mikayla/Kayla: just as Madison and Madelyn led us to Addison and Adelyn, Kayla led us to Ayla. If your second daughter had been named, say, Haia, or Suna, the name Ayla would have seemed to belong more to the Hebrew/Turkish roots; but used with Mackenzie, it fits perfectly with Emerson and Teagan.
I think your boy name lists are also very compatible. I would probably cross off Eli for being too similar to Ayla, and Cameron for being too unisex (it could equally well be a sister name for an Ayla and a Mackenzie), but all the others seem like candidates.
Since you both have Jacob/Jake on your lists, I’d lean toward that. If that’s not quite right but you want something similar, I’d look at:
Caleb
Dane
Dean
Drake
Gabe
Gage
Grady
Hayden (maybe too similar to Ayla)
Hayes (maybe too similar to Ayla)
Jacoby
Jameson (may rule out Emerson later)
Nathan
Zane
Or if Cole is close but not quite right:
Cade
Camden
Carson
Carter
Case
Chase
Clark
Coleman
Collins
Colter
Colton
Holden
Kyle
Joel
Nicholas
Nolan
I’ve gone back and forth on suggesting Colby. On one hand it’s a nice combination of Cole and Jacob. On the other hand, I’m not sure I like the stuttering B sound it creates with Bradshaw, and I wonder if Colby brings Carrie to mind.
I wonder if you’d like Sawyer? Sawyer Bradshaw; Ayla, Mackenzie, and Sawyer.
If Easton is not quite right, I wonder if you’d like Weston. Weston Bradshaw; Ayla, Mackenzie, and Weston.
Or I like Wilson. Wilson Bradshaw; Ayla, Mackenzie, and Wilson.
It would rule out Teagan for a girl, but Teague would work for a boy. Teague Bradshaw; Ayla, Mackenzie, and Teague.
A lot of your middle name options seem like they’d be great as first names: Samuel, Maxwell, Harrison.
It seems that both Ayla and Mackenzie sounded right to you and your husband when your babies were born. Most likely you’ll have that same aha moment with this boy – maybe it is a bit more scary now because you have experience picking (great) girls names and had names set for another girl. This throws you off your game for a bit but all of the names you have on your respective lists are great and go well with Ayla and Mackenzie.
In the interest of culling, I might take off Samuel and Maxwell from your middle name lists because you have already used the S and M initials for your second daughter. Naming your son after his father is also very beautiful, and both names under consideration would be fantastic.
Since you both like Cameron and Cole, but neither seem to fit quite right, another C/K name might work, as Swistle proposed.
I personally think Callum, Callan, Kade or Kieran would go well.
i.e. Kieran Harrison/Kade Reid.
Upon first glance, Ayla and Mackenzie don’t look like they “match”, but I think you can easily make the case that both have Scottish/Irish (or Gaelic) ties – Isla/Aili/Ayla, and Mackenzie.
From your list, Blake and Cameron would be a good fit to tie in with that (admittedly loose) theme.
Some other ideas–
Brody Harrison
Logan Reid
Ewan Harrison
Gregory Reid
Bryce Harrison
If this were to be your last child (which I see it is not), a Z name would be cute with A being the first and M being the middle letter of the alphabet.
Swistle has a lot of great suggestions (as usual). I would be hesitant about Hayden though. Because of actress Hayden Paniteire(?) I think it might read girl to some people.
From your list, I would eliminate Eli & Cameron for the reasons Swistle mentioned. Jacob nicknamed Jake seems like a wonderful compromise-it seems almost too easy. I think you should really hang on to this one as an option. Maybe deciding on a middle name for it would help it seem more like your baby.
I 2nd Caleb & I also really like Colby. The repeating B doesn’t sound stuttering to me at all.
I also really like Harris or Harrison with Ayla & Mackenzie. Would you consider moving the honor name to the 1st position?
Some other suggestions-Evan, Liam, Ethan, Jude, Mason, Miles, Declan, Ian, Elan, Zane, Tristan.
What about Harrison? It’d be a great nod to your husband.
Ayla, Mackenzie and Harrison
Ayla, Kenzie and Harry
Samuel’s one of my favorite names.
Ayla, Kenzie and Sam
Maxwell’s an awesome middle, but Max and Mackenzie might be too close.
Kyan would be a good brother name here I think.
I usually agree with Swistle, but here I think the names of your daughters are quite different, one more established but uncommon, the other a recently popular surname name. If you want a bridge name, Jacob would be the one, as it’s established, but currently popular and it has the advantage of being on both lists (almost). You could always name him Jacob and call him Jake sometimes. I like Owen, Blake and Cameron as well, though. How about Nathaniel (Nate). It has that long a from Blake and Jake and sounds good with a lot of your potential middles. Nathaniel Harrison is very handsome, as is Nathaniel Reed. Or if you want to use the gaelic strategy Swistle mentioned, there are a lot of names to consider but how about Declan, or Duncan. Declan Maxwell? Duncan Samuel?
I see a lot of C suggestions, it seems like the letter that might bridge your lists. I heard Conan on a little boy and it was surprisingly adorable.
Conan Samuel Bradshaw
Conan Maxwell Bradshaw
Conan Reid Bradshaw
Conan, little brother of Ayla and Mackenzie
I think all of the above middle name options sound great, though probably wouldn’t work with Harrison. A lot of people might think Conan O’Brien but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle springs to mind for me.
I love the name Colby but if you don’t really want a gender neutral name I’d probably stay away because I know a couple girls named Kolby. Cobey would be ok? But almost all names are gender neutral these days. I’ve recently heard Logan & Bentley for girls & I’ve only ever known them to be boy names.
I love the names Ayla & Mackenzie, they’re both fun/spunky/girly names. We have very similar taste in girl names :)
My favorite of your lists is Cole.
Boy ideas:
Hudson (love)
Cason/Cayson
Landon
Chase
Dawson
Bentley
Brogan
Brody
Mason
Cael/Cale
Kashton (Kash)
Zander
Parker
Paxton
Rylan
Kyler
Gage
Carson
Lane
Breckin/Breckin (love)
Rowen
Hayden (neutral)
Jaxten/Jaxon
Damian
Dominick
Layton
Collin
I just left the previous message, but I almost forgot about Holden. Love that name.
Ayla, Mackenzie & Holden
CUTE!
Nolan, Carter, Jonah
Keep us updated, please!
Brayden, Seth, Beckett, Gavin, Brady, Taylor, Tanner, Trevor, Dylan, Zackery, Tristan
What about Tyler? Sounds great with your daughters’ names.
I’m presuming you pronounce Ayla as Ay-lah, not the Turkish way Eye-lah, here of course.
Ayla, Mackenzie and Tyler
Tyler Harrison Bradshaw
I also really like Carson, Ryder, Cooper, Lincoln or Connor.
Good luck!
Using a T name would be a S.M.A.R.T idea! I really like Maxwell as a first name. Then you can use Louis as the middle name in case you don’t have any future girls to use Louise. There is also Cohen which you don’t hear everyday but is not too “out there.” I LOVE how well your name and your husband’s name sound together.
Jacoby Harrison might be a good fit for your family. It’s pronounced juh-COH-bee and might lend itself to the nickname of Jake without being overly popular. (Jacob was THE most popular name for boys in 2011 and just won’t seem to quit the top ten list).
Best wishes to you and your growing family!
While Ayla and McKenzie seem pretty different, Ayla and Kenzie sound great together… and I have to admit despite ALL of the other options offered, I like Cole as the little brother.