Kathleen writes:
We are expecting what is most likely our last child – gender unknown – on the 23th of December. We already have four children. They are
Anne Judith, who goes by Anne, Annie, and sometimes AJ.
Jillian Theresa, who goes by Jillian or Jills.
Rodney Stuart, who is just Rodney.
Joan Maureen, who goes by Jo, Joan, and Joannie equally.As you can see, we like very classic names.
Now, as for the name for our newest addition, if it is a boy, we have decided on either
Thomas Edward
Michael Henry
William JamesWe’re not sure which goes best with our other children’s names, what do you think? And feel free to mix and match the first and middles, they aren’t set in stone. But we definitely want to use two of those six names. (And he will not have a nickname)
A girl’s name is where we have more trouble.
The names we are most drawn to right now are shorter J names, like June (#1 on our list), Jean, and Jane. We already have Joan, though, so obviously none of these names are going to work. We were wondering if you could think of any similar alternatives, that wouldn’t be too close to Joan.
Other girls names we like are Frances and Tess (#s 2 and 3 on our list), Sarah, Margaret, Mary, Katherine, Abigail, Charlotte, and Emily.
We also like Caitlin a lot, which is more modern, but has a very nice sound. The only concern is that my name is Kathleen, and I’ve occasionally been called Kate. We would probably call her Caitie. Is that a big problem? (I’m not usually ever Kate.. but people do call me by that name, sort of a friendly nickname, upon occasion)
We’re also kind of intrigued at two first names… something like Mary Katherine (that’s just an example). But we can’t come up with a combination we like. So if you could think of any combinations that sound good together as one first name, with the type of classic names we like.
Oh, and our last name is Dunham (pronounced “Done(like being finished)-um”)
Wow! We have quite a few questions! Sorry :) And thanks so much!
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those boy names. My personal favorite with Rodney is Edward. My favorite middle names with it are James and Michael: Edward James Dunham, Edward Michael Dunham. But I pretty much love every combination of those six names.
I also love all those short J names you love: Jane, Jean, Joan, June. And I agree with you that those names are one per family, so let’s see if we can find some other possibilities:
Eve
Faith
Fay
Fern
Grace
Hope
Ivy
Kay
Lynn
May
Pearl
Rose
Ruth
I find I am getting very ENTHUSIASTIC about these names, so much that I had a hard time finishing the list before starting to push them on you. Ruth, for example, sounds to me a lot like June, both in sound and in style. I think Kay Dunham is one of the best names ever—well, except for Fay Dunham. And Pearl Dunham. And Faith Dunham. And Grace Dunham. And…well, you have a GREAT surname for this kind of name, and I am envious.
Ivy Dunham appeals to me for the holiday feel of the name, and Grace and Hope and Faith have some of that feeling, too. On another post, commenter Michelle mentioned that Eve makes a very nice choice for a baby born on/near Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, and Eve Dunham is terrific.
I’m also very keen on your second-choice name, Frances. Frances Dunham—wonderful! Well, and ALL the other names on your list. How will you ever decide among so many good choices?? Anne, Jillian, Joan, and _____. Oh, how about Evelyn? Evelyn Dunham.
I don’t like the name Caitlin with your other children’s names.
For double first names, I like Mary Frances, Mary Margaret, and Sarah Katherine. As a non-Irish non-Catholic, I find Mary Frances and Mary Margaret appealingly Irish/Catholic—without feeling like they “have to be” either Irish or Catholic. More like reminiscent of Irish/Catholic, the way June is appealingly reminiscent of the 1950s without actually having to be from the 1950s. Sarah Katherine doesn’t have that same flavor to me, but makes up for it in freshness. Sarah Kate and Sarah K./Kay would be cute nicknames.
Name update! Kathleen writes:
Thanks so much for all your thoughtful insight (and that of the commenters as well).
We decided to go with Margaret June (the final pick if she’d been a boy ended up being your suggestion of Edward James), because at last minute we fell in love with the nickname Maisie.
Maisie arrived at 2:02 pm on December 23rd and is an amazing addition to our family. Thanks again for all your help!
I will have to go with Frances since it is my own first name! I am most often called Fran but started that myself in college when my boyfriend became my fiance and his last name began with an “S” and I wanted my name to flow better. Also, may I suggest my own middle name with it which is Rose.
I have an aunt Mary Frances and a cousin Frances Anne and another cousin Frances Elizabeth.
I can’t wait to see what you decide!!
I agree that you just can’t go wrong with any combination of your boy name choices. My favorite is Thomas James.
For girls, Sara(h) Beth makes a great double name option. I like Frances, but with an Anne already, the nn’s (Frannie/Fran, Annie/Anne) are too matchy. I LOVE Tess and think Tess Frances Dunham is a spunky, smart name that suits your naming style beautifully.
I love Swistle’s suggestion of Evelyn Frances. It would be lovely, I think. Since you have a Jillian, it’d end the set with another pretty three-syllable name. Nicknames like Eve and Evie are so cute, too!
for a boy i love henry or thomas.
henry thomas
thomas edward
swistle is right, all your boys names are great.
for girls, i love frances and tess/tessa.
some suggestion without repeating swistle’s or your own:
alice
abbey
amy
claire
elise
ella
lena
lily
marion
can’t wait to read the update!
my neice is Sarah Kate and i LOVE it – i vote for that for a girl and William James for a boy – Congrats!
My favorite of the girl names is Tess, I love it, although I think there are more middle name options with Tessa:
Tessa Rose
Tessa May
Tessa Kay
Tessa Fay
Tessa Katherine
Tessa Grace
Tessa Ruth
I could go on forever!
Great name choices! I’m just going to throw out some two-first-name names (taken from people I know in real life).
Sarah Christina
Sarah Jane
Mary Elizabeth
Emily Jane
Remember that show about the identical quadruplet girls? They had a Mary Clare and I thought that name was adorable. And there’s always Mary Kate, which might be a nice way to name the little one after mom.
Ruth was my first thought. I also like Frances and Tess. I agree that Caitlin seems like an outlier with the siblings. I like Michael and Edward from the boys list, but I think that all 6 names there are winners.
I think the boys names all work. In addition to the combos you have, I like Thomas James, or William Thomas, or Henry Edward.
For the girl name, my first instinct is to say go with Frances since June’s not going to work for you and it’s #2 on your list. It’s a pretty name and fits right in with the others. But I also like Margaret, Mary, Katherine,and Emily for you. Mary works well if you want to do the double name thing (Mary Frances, Mary Margaret, Mary Katherine, etc.)
You have so many good options, I don’t think I will make any new suggestions. Good luck choosing!
had to come back with a two-name first name that i just thought of.
Tessa Marie
(not Mary)
swistle, i recently rediscovered your baby name blog and i am OBSESSED with it.
I like all of your boy options and really think you can mix and match any of those six for a name that works. Really lovely.
For a girl, I vote Tess. Although if you like June, maybe Mae or May works for you. I love, love, love it. And it works great with your last name. Or it could be a great middle name, ie, Sarah Mae. Just adorable. Good luck and happy naming!
Mary Jane Francis
I love James Edward or Edward James for your boy. But they are all good, those are just my two favorites.
For a girl,
I like the idea of doing two firsts, and I think Sarah and Mary lend themselves best to that (although Frances does too, as in Frances Bean Cobain). I like Sarah Beth, Sarah Mae, and Sarah Jane (all suggested already, and Jane gets you the short J name you liked). With Mary I like something a bit different, like Mary Clare (from above also) or Mary Jean (too close to Jane)? or Mary Elise.
If not doubles, I love Evelyn and Eve and Tess. I also think Susanna would be a great name with your sibset, for what its worth. Rebecca too.
Before I say anything else, can I caution you against “Mary Jane”? I know it’s a classic name and such, but it makes me think of marijuana which I think is a really bad association.
I was thinking… maybe Caitlin wouldn’t seem like such an out-there choice if you spelled it Katelyn?
Anne, Jillian, Rodney, Joan and Katelyn don’t look so bad together.
I think Sarah is a beautiful name too, and love Sarah Beth or Sarah Mae (my own middle name is Mae, so I’m a bit biased there, haha).
I wouldn’t do Katelyn if your name is Kathleen. Also, as a fellow classic-name preferrer, I’d want to think hard about Caitlin and Kathleen being the “same” name (Caitlin is the Gaelic spelling of the name Kathleen–in Gaelic, it’s pronounced, roughly, KAHT-leen, though spelled Caitlin).
I love Frances but worry, too, about nickname similarity with Anne.
I like Tess, Alice, and Claire.
Mary Louise
Mary Louisa
Mary Lou
Mary Tess
Mary Theresa
Mary Rose / Rosemary?
Fern, Ellen, Helen, Justine, Maren, Marin and Marian all end in N.
All of your boy names are much more common than Rodney which has steadily declined from 176 to 503 in the past twenty years in the U.S.
Names around the same level of popularity last year that fit somewhat in style include Carl, Nelson, Roy, Walker, Leon, Ronan, Pierce, Warren, Kendrick, Frederick, Terrance, Jamison, and Tobias.
Joy would be my pick. It’s a great one-syllable J name and it fits right in with the season. Joyce is another pretty alternative.
For boys, I love the name Thomas.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the boy name combinations. Every son on my husband’s side has Edward somewhere in their name…
For the girl name you like Caitlin, you like older sounding names, you like the short J names, and you like the two first names.
My suggestion is close to Caitlin, yet different, has the short name, and gives you two first names:
Kay Lynn
You could call her Kay or Kaylie as a nickname. I also think Kay Lynn is easier to say than Caitlin, because it doesn’t have that sharp consonant in the middle of the name. And it will be different enough that she would have her own name separate from yours.
Only tangentially related, but I feel compelled to share: my mother-in-law Sandy has seven siblings. Names, in descending order of age: Jan, Joan, John, Jean, Jim, Colleen, & Maureen. Colleen & Maureen are the youngest and are twins; Sandy was the only one for whom their dad got to choose the name. So allow me to add enthusiastic support for your idea that the short J names can sound too similar. For the sake of those who might marry into your family one day: refrain! It gets VERY CONFUSING.
The end.
I LOVE the suggestion of Joy. It gives you a short J name, it’s festive for the season and is not too similar to Joan.
I wanted to also suggest Juniper. Which gives you the “June” sound of your #1 name, but is different enough from Joan, IMO.
As for double first names, I know a Mary Elizabeth that goes by Mary Beth. I think it’s a great combo.
Good Luck!