Baby Girl Grabiner, Sister to Charlotte; Creating a Girl Name List from a Boy Name List

Jennifer writes:

Hi!

I am writing to find out how I can get your help!

We are due with a second baby girl in August and are really struggling finding a name that we love. Our first daughter is Charlotte Lucy Grabiner. We are working on using the nickname Lottie more regularly (shes 2.5 now). My husband is Josh and I am Jennifer.

This might be an unusual situation but we actually only have boy names that we love – lol! So I thought maybe if I shared those with you you might be able to come up with some girl names in a similar style so that we can finally find one we really and truly love. The girl’s name does not by any means need to be a feminine form of any of the boy ones, rather I am looking for one that has a similar quality or style to it. I’m not sure how you would categorize our taste (southern, classic, not popular but not too unusual, strong, prep school like – ha ha, ??? I’m having trouble putting it into words). Anyway so here’s the boy name list. Good luck and thank you!!!!

Emmett
Whittaker (our #1 choice for a boy – Whittaker Bates Grabiner, Whitt for short)
Bennett
Everett
Landon
Dexter
Fisher (middle)
Mark (middle)
Bentley
Bates (middle)
Yates
Preston
Graham
Penn
Blake
Anderson

 

It depends in part on whether you plan to have more children. If you might have a boy in the future, I would want to be careful not to suggest a girl name that would rule out a favorite boy name: for example, if you’re planning more children and would definitely want to use Whittaker for a boy, I wouldn’t want to try to sell you on Whitney. But if you’re definitely stopping at two, I’d be looking for ways to get you something close to the names you weren’t going to get to use. Also, if you’re planning more children and would use Whittaker, I might look for double-T names for this baby as well, just for fun.

Another issue is that it’s common to have quite a different style for girls than for boys. The name Charlotte is vintage, literary, and currently popular; I wouldn’t use those same adjectives for very many of the names on your boy-name list. If I’d seen only your boy-name list and didn’t know you had a Charlotte, I might be suggesting names such as Sloane, Carrington, Britt, Bex, Kerrigan, Presley, Lane, Darby, Padgett, Yeardley, Greer, Ellery, Waverly, Whitley, Hollis, Rowan. If I’d seen you had a daughter named Charlotte but didn’t see your boy-name list, I might be suggesting names such as Evelyn, Eleanor, Josephine, Vivian, Nora, Abigail.

When I look at names that go well with your boy-name style, I keep coming up with options that seem to clash with Charlotte: Charlotte and Peyton, Charlotte and Berkeley, Charlotte and Avery, Charlotte and Lennox. This makes me hesitate to answer your question as asked. Because your daughter’s middle name is also vintage, literary, and currently popular, I tentatively conclude that your style for girls is different than your style for boys—though there is some overlap in names such as Emmett, Everett, and Graham.

Charlotte is a name that can sound sweet or sassy. Others that seem like that to me, without clashing:

Beatrix
Camilla
Cecily
Eliza
Emeline
Esther
Eve
Fiona
Frances
Georgia
Harriet
Josephine
Katherine
Lila
Matilda
Nora
Philippa
Phoebe
Ruby
Simone
Stella
Vivian
Winifred

 

 

Name update!

I deeply apologize for this email coming so much later than I ever anticipated. I want to thank y’all and everyone else for the immense amount of help y’all provided us in naming our sweet baby girl.

August 1, 2013 we welcomed our 2nd daughter, Emmeline Rose Grabiner, sister to Charlotte Lucy Grabiner.

Swistle and many commenters suggested the name Emmaline/Emaline/Emeline. As I wrote in my interim update, I was in love with the name Emmaline. My husband, however was not.

Over much discussion we found that we wanted to avoid a nn of Emma due to its popularity (#1 name the previous year).  Also, many Google searches later I discovered the historical version of Emmaline is actually Emmeline.  I liked that that the name had a history, that it avoided a natural nickname of Emma from its spelling, and allowed for a more acceptable nickname to us of Emmie.

Rose is a family name.

So we now have a Charlotte and an Emmeline. And although we don’t use them all that much now, we have nicknames of Lottie and Emmie. Love!

Thank you again and again for all the help!!

Jennifer

33 thoughts on “Baby Girl Grabiner, Sister to Charlotte; Creating a Girl Name List from a Boy Name List

  1. Bonnie Jo

    I have followed Swistle’s lead and listed names in the same way she did, so many great suggestions I hope I don’t confuse you further by adding to the list of many great possibilities.

    Names that I think would go well with Charlotte without knowing your boy name list:
    Amelia
    Sophie
    Hannah
    Isobel
    Olivia
    Emily
    Anna or Annabelle
    Alexandra
    Harriet (Hattie and Rosie)
    Elizabeth/ Eliza
    Daisy
    Holly
    Rosemary ( Lottie and Rosie)
    April
    Hazel
    Grace
    Amy
    Penelope (Penny and Lottie)
    Adelaide
    Edith/ Edie
    Alice
    Louise/ Louisa
    Clare or Clarabelle
    Cate/ Kate/ Catherine/Katherine
    Magnolia (Lottie and Maggie) or Margaret

    Girls names that feel the same or look the same as your boys names – found this hard and mostly went for names that are surnamey or sound strong or bold to me but I did try to keep Charlotte in mind too:
    Emerson
    Maddison
    MacKenzie
    Delaney
    Cassidy
    Raleigh
    Regan
    Blaise
    Paisley
    Blythe
    Quintin
    Aster
    Piper
    Lyric
    Avery/Ava
    Evelyn/ Eva/ Evie
    Ivy

    This was lots of fun, hope it helps and all the best:)

    Reply
    1. Bonnie Jo

      Wanted to add that Cassie and Lottie sounds good if you liked Cassidy. Cassidy has that surnamey feel and sounds southern too. Charlotte and Cassidy

      Reply
  2. M.Amanda

    Hmm, to me Charlotte says “classically feminine” while the boy names say “preppy,” so my list includes girl names from both. I really like Sloane, Darby, and Georgia from those Swistle mentioned. You might also like:

    Caroline – I like as a sister name for Charlotte
    Whitney
    Brigid
    Sabrina
    Patrice
    Letitia – Lottie and Lettie, maybe a bit confusing, but cute
    Delphine

    Reply
  3. maria

    How did you pick Charlotte Lucy? Do the names have family significance, did you just love them individually, did you have a favorite teacher named Lucy? Figuring out what made you pick Charlotte’s name might help figure out where to look for your second daughter’s name.

    From your boys list, and keeping in mind Charlotte’s name, it seems you do like the T sound, with that in mind:

    Scarlett – Lottie and Carly (Scarlett Mary and Charlotte Lucy could be Lottie Lu and Carly May)
    Harriet – Lottie and Hattie
    Martha/Matilda – Lottie and Mattie
    Juliette – Lottie and Julie

    Another sound that repeats itself in your boy list is – ay – , so with that in mind:

    Maisie/Macy
    Katherine – Lottie and Katie
    Maeve
    Adelaide

    Some more ‘southern’ sounding names:

    Stella
    Magnolia
    Susannah
    Tallulah
    Louisa
    Azalea

    Some left-fielders:

    Annesley
    Bellamy
    Carrigan
    Winslow – Winnie?
    Brynn
    Somerset
    Blair
    Hadley
    Auden
    Wren

    For middle names, Rose and Mae are always nice and go well with Lucy.

    Reply
  4. A

    Here’s my list. I tried to find things that would go with Charlotte and Whittaker, but I also included Graham since it seems to kind of bridge the gap between the 2.

    Annalise, Ava, Cordelia, Cora, Lilah, Audrey, Emily, Violet, Gemma & Daphne

    Reply
  5. Cassandra

    Charlotte Lucy strikes me as very literary (I’m thinking Charlotte’s Web and Narnia’s Lucy Pevensie). Even if it’s not intentional I think it’s a nice theme that I could imagine continuing, so I would probably try to find a literary name that style wise (not popular not unusual etc.) still seems connected to your boy name list (if that makes any sense).

    Anne
    Aurora
    Beatrice
    Clarissa
    Cecilia
    Ellis
    Fleur
    Lavinia

    Reply
  6. Janelle

    Georgia/ Georgie
    Caroline
    Louisa
    Katherine
    Alice
    Emily
    Magnolia
    Samantha
    Pearl
    Reese
    Natalie
    Lauren
    Helen
    Susannah

    Reply
  7. Hannah

    I almost always agree with Swistle’s genius, but I think she missed the mark this time! There are PLENTY of spunky girls’ names with Southern, preppy charm. Here are a few I think would work marvelously with your family:

    Georgia (Georgie)
    Caroline
    Clementine
    Mary ______ (Mary Claire or Mary Kate would be lovely)
    Annabel (Annie, Belle)
    Piper
    Virginia (Ginny)
    Delilah (Lila/h)
    Felicity
    Brooke
    Belle
    Clara
    Daisy
    Margaret (Maggie, Maisie)
    Savannah
    Alexandria (Allie, Alex, Lex)
    Augusta (Gussie)
    Susannah (Susie, Annie)
    Violet

    Reply
  8. liz

    Emmett makes me think Emma or Emily (but I wouldn’t do Emily unless you want endless comparisons with the Brontes).

    Both Charlotte and Lucy are author names (Bronte and Montgomery), so maybe you’d like more author names? Georgette (Heyer), Josephine (Tey), Agatha (Christie), Louisa (Alcott), Frances (Burnett), Noel (Streatfeild), Enid (Blyton), Joanna (Spyri), Jane (Austen), Margaret (Maron), Dana (Stabenow)

    Reply
  9. Lashley

    Re: the suggestions of Georgia, Savannah, and other place names. Although Charlotte, on its own, as a girls’ name, isn’t often associated with the city of Charlotte, once you start adding in other Southern place names, it gets a little theme-y for my tastes.

    Otherwise – fun project! The adult Charlotte I know DID in fact go to prep school, so I can make the link between your boy list and that name quite easily.

    I like the suggestions of Magnolia and Adelaide.
    Paisley popped into my head and now I can’t get it out. Paisley Yates Grabiner maybe?
    Meredith
    Simone
    Sophie
    Tess(a)

    Reply
  10. Lucky

    You need a name that works with both Charlotte and Whittaker, Lottie and Whitt. You want a name that would sound at home on a prep school playground.

    From Swistle’s suggestions, I really like Frances (Frannie) and Matilda (Tillie). I also like Beatriz, but I would use Dante’s spelling of Beatrice.

    Here are my other suggestions:
    – Edith (Wharton), nn Edie, Charlotte, Edith, and Whittaker.
    – Edna (St. Vincent Millay), nn Edie, Charlotte, Edna, and Whittaker.
    – Evangeline (Longfellow poem), nn Evie, Charlotte, Evangeline, and Whittaker.
    – Corrina (Greek poet), Charlotte, Corrina, and Whittaker.
    – Vanessa (Jonathan Swift), Charlotte, Vanessa, and Whittaker.

    Reply
  11. Kaylee

    Perhaps categorizing your styles into a theme is overcomplicating things. Instead, let’s think of names that go with both Charlotte and Whittaker (and Lottie and Whitt) nicely.

    Kathryn (nn Kat, Kit, Kitty, Ryn)
    Charlotte, Whittaker and Kathryn
    Lottie, Whitt and Kitty

    Madeleine (nn Maddie, Leni)
    Charlotte, Whittaker and Madeleine
    Lottie, Whitt and Leni

    Josephine (nn Josie)
    Charlotte, Whittaker and Josephine
    Lottie, Whitt and Josie

    Avalon (nn Ava?)
    Charlotte, Whittaker and Avalon
    Lottie, Whitt and Ava

    Miriam (nn Miri)
    Charlotte, Whittaker and Miriam
    Lottie, Whitt and Miri

    Works well with both Charlotte and your “Boy Name” List:
    Daphne
    Claire
    Jillian
    Sadie (either directly or as a nn for Sarah)
    Evangeline

    Good luck! Hopefully this is helpful. :)

    Reply
  12. Heather

    I see someone else already suggested Gemma, and that was literally the name that jumped into my brain when I read this! There are lots of names I’d second (Magnolia, Harriet nn Hattie…) but Gemma seems to bridge the gap nicely. A bonus is it’s neither insanely popular or completely unused. I notice you didn’t mention a set middle name, in which case Gemma Claire is divine and gets my vote. Charlotte Lucy, Gemma Claire and perhaps a future Whittaker? :)

    Reply
  13. nieke

    Just piping in to say I’m another one with a longer list for boys than girls. I like Stellan more than Stella, Milan rather than Mila and so on, so this seems like fun! The obvious suggestions would be Emma, Emily, Evelyn, Eva, Penelope or Grace all of which are gorgeous with Charlotte. There are already so many good suggestions, so I’ll try not to repeat!

    From Whittaker:
    Waverly
    Willa (or Wilhelmena/Willemena)

    From Landon and Anderson:
    Lisanne
    Annaliese
    Lillian

    From the Bs:
    Beatrix/ Beatrice
    Bellamy
    Bette (maybe from Isabetta?)
    Brigitte

    From Graham, Everett and the ‘et’ endings:
    Greta
    Vivienne

    From a combination:
    Gloria
    Natalie
    Dorothy
    Eleanor
    Flora
    Millicent

    From the middle names:
    Faith
    Mae
    Bay
    Kate
    Rita

    My favourites would be:
    Charlotte Lucy and Willa Mae
    Charlotte Lucy and Beatrice Faith
    Charlotte Lucy and VIvienne Bay
    Charlotte Lucy and Lisanne Rita

    Reply
  14. Kim

    I think Susanna, spelled this way too, fits perfectly with Charlotte. It is also a very pretty, underused name in my opinion.

    Charlotte Lucy and Susanna Jane perhaps?

    Nicknames Susie (too cute), Anna, Annie or Zanna.

    I also think that the name Jenna sounds great with Charlotte and is maybe a better fit with the boys’ names you like.

    Charlotte Lucy and Jenna Louise perhaps?

    All the best!

    Reply
  15. sarah

    Have you considered any of the names from your boy list for a girl? I know Blake is becoming more popular for girls, in fact in my neighborhood we have girls named Charlotte and Blake who are both in kindergarten. Even though Charlotte is a classic/traditional girls name and Blake is more androgynous/surnamey, I do feel like they are both trendy for girls right now so it wouldn’t seem weird to me if they were a sibling set.

    Other names I think go well with Charlotte:
    Holland/Hollis, nn Holly
    Phillipa, nn Pippa
    Eden/Edith, nn Edie
    Eve/Eva/Evelyn, nn Evie
    Caroline, nn Carrie or Callie
    Lillian, nn Lily
    Elizabeth, a million possible nicknames :)
    Annabelle, nn Annie
    Arabella, nn Ari
    Rosalie/Rose/Rosemary, nn Rosie or Romy
    Harriet, nn Hattie
    Henrietta, nn Hennie
    Meredith, nn Merry

    good luck!

    Reply
  16. Laura

    I think the focus is a little too strong toward finding a “matching” sibling name; I don’t think Charlotte falls squarely in a highly specific name category from which you cannot deviate. I tried to work with your list of boys’ names to create similar sounding girls’ names that sound alright to me with the name Charlotte. Here’s what I came up with, my apologies if I’m repeating previous suggestions!

    Emmett > Emma/Emmaline, Ellis, Ella, Ellery
    Whittaker > Whitney, Willa, Wilhemina, Winnie
    Everett > Everly, Avery, Everlyn, Evelyn
    Landon > Linden (this is one of my FAVOURITE girl names!)
    Dexter > Odessa
    Fisher (middle) > Finley
    Mark (middle) > Marlowe/Marlo/Marla, Marcy, Mallory, Marina, Marta/Martha
    Bentley > Penelope
    Yates > Yale/Yael/Yail
    Preston > Paisley, Paige
    Penn > Penelope, Penny, Drew, Sloane
    Blake > Blakely, Blythe, Brooke
    Anderson > Antonia, Annette, Andrea, Drew (Anderson reminded me of Andrew which led to Drew as a female version)

    I hope this helps!

    Reply
  17. Ira sass

    I typed some of your boys’ names into babynamewizard.com to see what came up for sibling names. Here are some options [I starred my favorites]:
    Lillian [Lily]
    Brett
    Cameron
    *Marin/Maryn
    Addison [Addie]
    Meredith
    Blair
    Blaine
    Blake
    *Justine
    Aubrey [kind of a tongue twister w/ Grabiner]
    *Avery
    *Elise
    Phoebe
    *Talia

    I think an -er name would be awkward with Grabiner, but since you like Whittaker:
    Harper
    Parker

    From others’ suggestions I like:
    Penelope

    What about Bryn or Brinley?

    Reply
  18. bee

    Just some more suggestions to add to your growing list! Some may be duplicates, but this is what I thought of before looking at suggestions from others.

    Lavinia
    Gwendolyn
    Evelene
    Octavia
    Nellie
    Rosetta
    Blanche
    Phoebe
    Georgiana (nn Gigi)
    Geraldine (Gigi again)

    Reply
  19. Anonymous

    I’m going to throw in one of my current favorites, Cecelia, nn CeCe. Lottie, CeCe, & Whit. Charlotte, Cecelia, and Whittaker.

    Reply
  20. Hannah

    You might be interested in playing around with Nymbler (nymbler.com), which allows you to generate lists of names based on names you already like. I put in Charlotte and Whittaker and came up with:

    Ella
    Ava
    Josephine (Josie)
    Constance
    Michaela
    Jane
    Harper
    Philippa (Pippa, Phillie)
    Audrey
    Alice
    Victoria
    Rose
    Adelaide (Addie, Adele)
    Clara
    Hannah
    Georgia (Georgie)
    Rosabel (Rosie, Belle)
    Lena
    Violet

    It also came up with a bunch of other names that didn’t seem to fit your style (Mathilde?), so it’s worth going back to Nymbler to poke around.

    Reply
  21. Diane

    I love the nicknames Lottie and Whitt. Totally southern and charming! I like Georgiana with Georgie as a nickname and Evangeline with Evie as a nickname. It also sounds good with the sibling names. Lottie, Whitt and Georgie or Lottie, Whitt and Evie :)

    Reply
  22. Ginny

    When I read your list: “southern, classic, not popular but not too unusual, strong, prep school like” Ainsley/Ansley immediately popped into my head.

    Reply
  23. E

    Have you considered Whittaker for a girl or will there potentially be #3? I think it works just as well and works with Charlotte too. I actually had it on a potential girl list but had a boy)… Whittaker Jane, Whittaker Faye?
    I also really like Jane, Paisley, Phoebe, Helena (nn Nell?), Magnolia (Maggie, Nolie, Lia) or Magdalene (Maggie or Lena), Waverly, Susannah (Sunny), Penelope (Poppy), Mallory (I know this can sound a little dated to some but I really like it and like Charlotte and Mallory together though not sure about Lottie and Mallory or Lottie and Molly – maybe too matchy sounding). I love Georgia but not sure with Charlotte if a little to place-namey. Or how about…
    Zoe
    Sylvie
    Norah
    Blakely
    Quinn
    Avalon
    Edith (adore Edie… side note, I also love Enid!)
    Sage
    Tess (You could even do Theresa/Therese nn Tess… or you could just name her Tessa but I love the simplicity of Tess. Lottie and Tess.)
    Cora
    Ruby
    Dahlia
    Give us some more feedback and lets go from there!

    Reply
  24. Eliza

    I like the suggestion of Darcy and also Simone. I know a sister set called Charlotte and Simone. The best suggestion may be Cecelia. Lottie, Cece and Whitt.

    Reply
  25. Jennifer

    Hi y’all!!

    This is so fun AND so helpful! Thank you!!! I need to really sit down and sift through all of the suggestions with my husband but to answer a few questions…

    We chose Charlotte partially for the city name and partially because we just loved it.

    Lucy is a family name – great grandmother.

    Right off the bat I can tell y’all that some of these names I love but alas we can not choose do to close friends/relatives having just chosen the name for their little girls:

    Stella
    Eleanor (Elle) (which unfortunately rules out any of the Emma names too and I LOVE Emmaline, even though my husband does not, Emma is too popular for him)
    Georgia
    Lilliana or Lilly
    Jane
    Annabelle
    Clara, Claire
    Grace

    I think that covers all the ones suggested that have to be eliminated. Also, my husband has vetoed a double name :(. :(.

    Oh and also our last name is pronounced as one syllable (Eliminate the I – so Grabner), if that helps.

    Thank y’all again and again!!

    Reply
  26. Kelsey

    I agree, the names don’t need to match so much as have the same feel to them.

    My favourites that I think would go well with Charlotte (and a Whittaker):
    Emmaline
    Adalaide
    Adeline
    Penelope
    Gemma

    Reply

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