Sara writes:
As you may know, we have had some trouble in the last week or so in choosing a name for our baby girl, who is due this August. Although friends of ours (my brother’s in-laws) have used our name, we have decided to stick with the first name Hannah. I am absolutely in love with the name Hannah Grace, but Hub is not keen on the middle name. He will accept it, (I think) but he reasons that is sounds like a product; as in: “I need to go to the store for some Hannah Grace”. Since he still brings up that he is not a fan of the middle name of our first daughter, I would like to at least come to middle ground here. So please help me!!! The only stipulation I have is that the middle name can not begin with an “O” based on our last name. If you were saying her first name, middle initial and last name, it would sound something like “Hannah Obedient.” Our other children are named Edmund Mason and Caitlyn Renee if that helps.
Normally when I’m choosing a middle name, I like to choose something that has significance to me (a favorite author’s name, a favorite relative’s name), or something that didn’t quite make our First Name list (too unusual for us, a name that doesn’t fit with sibling names), or something that in some way balances the first name (a traditional middle name to balance a contemporary first name, or vice versa).
In your situation, where you already know the first name is common in your group, I’d shoot for a different goal: I’d be looking for a middle name that sounded good when I needed to use it to differentiate MY Hannah from THEIR Hannah. Something short and easy to say—very similar to your first choice of Hannah Grace.
Hannah Claire
Hannah Faith
Hannah Fay
Hannah Jane
Hannah Jeanne
Hannah June
Hannah Kate
Hannah Sue
Go on and vote in the poll to the right [poll closed; see below], but also leave your comment below: What would you choose as the middle name for Hannah?
[Poll results:
Hannah Claire: 41 votes, roughly 38%
Hannah Faith: 4 votes, roughly 4%
Hannah Fay: 4 votes, roughly 4%
Hannah Jane: 29 votes, roughly 27%
Hannah Jeanne: 0 votes
Hannah June: 9 votes, roughly 8%
Hannah Kate: 20 votes, roughly 18%
Hannah Sue: 2 votes, roughly 2%]
[Update! Sara writes: “Although I was set on Grace for a middle name, Hub changed his mind in the delivery room and we settled on Lynne. SO…baby named Hannah Lynne. Thanks for the help. :)”]
I am totally in love with the name Hannah Jane – I love Jane as a middle name, and I think it goes perfectly with Hannah!
Um, I’m a little partial to “Claire” (what, you didn’t think my parents ACTUALLY named me Clarabella, did you?), but besides my obvious bias, I think Hannah Claire sounds delightful and will fulfill the requirement you pointed out of distinguishing Sara’s Hannah from another Hannah. I think if she wants anything even slightly different, Hannah Grace is NOT the way to go, as I imagine (although I’m not looking at any charts or graphs or anything) that Grace is a VERY common middle name for Hannah.
I know an Anna Claire, so Hannah Claire sounds right. But I don’t know how popular this is and if that would factor into your choice. I also know a Hannah Beth, which I think is very cute too.
Of the others, I like Faith, Kate, and Jane. I agree that it should be a short name.
May I also suggest
Hannah May/Mae?
Love these ideas- she’s bound end up sounding like a darling little lady.
Barb- I eliminated “Hannah Mae” for sounding too much like “anime.”
I have a cousin named Hanna Jane and I love her name.
Oh, Sara, I really like Swistle’s suggestion of Hannah Claire. Very nice.
Hi, it’s me, Sara. : ) This is just what I was looking for; I had some sort of block and couldn’t get past “Grace”. I love Claire!!!! LOVE IT!! I’ll have to run it by Hub. I also really like Jane, but it sounds kind of country to me—and is also the character’s name on October Road.
Swistle- initially, I was thinking Hannah Belle, but then realized it sounded much like “Hannibal”. Thanks so much for doing this for me!!!
I voted for Fay, but also like Jo. Hannah Jo.
Love “Hannah Claire”. Mostly because it’s a combination of two of my favourite girls’ names. I also like the hard “C” sound after the softness of the name “Hannah”.
I like the suggestion of Hannah Claire, as it has the same flow as your first choice. I think you can still accomplish the flow with a middle name with more than one syllable, if you have one you love. For example, Cait’s middle name, Renee, would have sounded great: Hannah Renee.
Hannah Paige
Hannah Reese
Hannah Lynn
Hannah Sage
Hannah Marie
Oh oh, new favorite. I had forgotten until I saw Lori’s suggestion. I used to think Hannah Saige would be a beautiful name. Saige was my nickname in high school (because there were so many people with my actual name). And I always loved Hannah and thought the two would be cute together. So, maybe, Hannah Saige, Sara?
We have a daughter named Hannah. The name means “Graceful” – so, you would technically have the middle name of Grace, as it is included in the meaning of the name.
Our Hannah’s middle name is Lynn, if you are looking for another suggestion.
Hannah Lynn
Devan- I totally agree, and in fact originally had Hannah Jo as my top contender. But then I realized it causes the “Obedient” problem with the last name. Hannah Jobedient.
You know, my middle name is “Lynne”. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Would it be weird having Caitlyn and Hannah Lynne though? I don’t know. Caitlyn almost always just goes by Cait. (Which is why Hannah Kate wouldn’t work for us)
Jenn- the whole grace/graceful thing definitely comes in to play. I am unsure as to how big of a deal it is.
Lori—I love your suggestions, especially, Paige.
MD-funnny story—I was also called “Sage” which was the first 2 letters of Sara coupled with the 1st 2 letters of my maiden name. How odd!!
Thanks again everybody—I think this will foster some interesting conversation between Hub and me.
Sara! I LOVE Hannah Claire!
Hannah Jane is great too, though. Those are definitely my top 2.
And also, Ha– Hannah Jobedient.
I would consider Hannah Joy though
I would go with a more unusual name to go with Hannah, like Hannah Sage or Hannah Paige. One of my best friends is named Hannah Elyse, which I love.
Hannah Jane is my first pick, but Hannah Fay is pretty cute!
By the way, I love the name Kate for a first name.
Hannah Claire or even Hannah Kate. I agree with Steph that I like the hard C (or K) sound after Hannah.
Funny–Hannah Grace is my current name-in-reserve for my first daughter (family reasons, slightly abstracted). So I obviously think you should stick with that, husband be damned. But yeah, other than that, Hannah Claire is my favorite.
I like Hannah Marie very much.
Rayne- I like Hannah Marie, too. I was concerned it might sound too much like Annamarie.
Well, I had voted for Claire, but since Paige got thrown into the mix I changed my mind! Paige is my first name and I have always like it.
Hannah Rose
Weirdo here who really likes Hannah Faith. I have a thing about Claire though–stupid Breakfast Club ruined it for me.
Gotta vote for Hannah Claire. I LOVE the name Claire, but husband doesn’t ( IDIOT!) so I will never get to use it. Therefore, you MUST. Take one for the team, Sara! Go with Claire!
Even though the poll is closed, I thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts. Perhaps it’s just the way we speak in the south, but to me
Hannah Claire = An Eclair
Lori- that is exactly what my husband said. There is no pleasing him, it seems.