Christie writes:
I have a 3.5 year daughter named Alexandra Brielle, but we call her Allie 99.5% of the time. We also have a 1.5 year old son named Keegan Gregory (Gregory is my husbands middle name). Keegan and Alexandra seem so different, but the Alexandra was picked in a last ditch effort to name her. I still don’t love her name. My husband liked it when he picked it and he loves it now, I was so frustrated that I ended up agreeing and never could come up with anything I liked better. I do like the nickname options she has, and I like that she has a good grown up name to fall back on. So if all else fails, I guess that would be a good thing to duplicate in another girls name… nn options, nice adult full name. I LOVE my sons name. This time around, I still can not find one girl name that I more than kinda like. Not one girl could I picture as MY BABY.
Our last name is Parker.
Boys names I love (in this order)
Camden
Liam
Lachlan
Deacon
Declan
CullenBoys Middle Names
Nathaniel (family)
Nicholas (family)
Michael (family)
James (just kinda like it)Girls names I kinda like:
Genevieve (Genna/Jenna) (this is the only that doesnt get deleted off the list everytime we start over… but I still dont love it)
Elisabeth (Lissa) I dont like the beth part but I like that its long like Alexandra… friend suggested Elisabelle and I like the sound, but i’m just not sure here…
Claire (does this fit with Alexandra?)
Anneliese (I dont like the nicknames and I know people will try to call her Annie/Anna or even worse Elise)
Emmeline (Emmie… dont know about this one)
Madeleine (Maddie… lots of little Madison’s running around with this nickname, and I am sure about the full name)Girl Middle Names
Nicole (family)
Anabelle
Arianna (husband likes)Names that I can’t use…
Julia
Ashleigh (no Ash names)
Aidan
BraxtenNames that we have discarded…
Boys
Kieran, Logan, Luke, Landon, Lincoln, Caleb, Tiernan, Callum, ConnorGirls
Sophia, Ava, Samantha, Gabrielle/a, Amelie, Embry, Emerson,Feel free to bring up the discards if you think they fit. I mostly need girl suggestions, but I would love opinions on what fits with Keegan the best as far as the boys name go.
Also, after this baby… we may end up trying one more time… so if you could pick the two best boy names and two good girl names, that would be even better!
For a girl, I suggest Anastasia, Cassandra, Penelope, Philippa, or Philomena. They’re all nice long Greek names, like Alexandra, and in fact I think they favorably emphasize the ancient-Greek elements of Alexandra.
Or to go a different route, perhaps Felicity, Arabella, Clarissa, Josephine, Evangeline, or Susanna: all long and feminine like Alexandra, but without the Greekiness. I also like Annabelle as the first name.
I notice all your boy names are Celtic; I wonder if you’d like Celtic girl names?
Bethan
Brenna
Bridget
Bronwyn
Carys
Ciara
Elspeth
Emlyn
Fiona
Flannery
Gwendolyn
Gwyneth
Isla
Kennedy
Madigan
Mirren
Riona
Tamsin
To narrow down the boy names, you could choose your favorite of Lachlan, Declan, and Cullen, since they all have the same ending. Since you have two each of Ls, Ds, and Cs, whichever name of those three you choose, you could choose a second boy name from the names starting with the other two letters. So, for example, if you choose Declan, that would rule out Lachlan and Cullen (same ending), and then it would rule out Deacon (same starting letter) and you’d choose from Liam and Camden. If you chose Lachlan, that would rule out Declan and Cullen (same ending), and then it would rule out Liam (same starting letter) and you’d choose from Deacon and Camden. My own favorites:
Keegan, Declan, and Camden
Keegan, Declan, and Liam
Keegan, Lachlan, and Camden
Or of course you could choose none of the -lan endings and go with something like Keegan, Camden, and Liam, or Keegan, Liam, and Deacon. There are so many good combinations.
For middle names I like Declan Nathaniel, Camden James, Liam James, Lachlan James, Deacon James, Cullen Michael—but I think most of the middle names match up nicely with most of the first names.
I would use Callum (from the discard pile) over Cullen, because I’m worried that Twilight’s Edward Cullen will have a long effect on the name Cullen.
I absolutely think Claire goes with Alexandra. Especially the nn Allie and Claire sound so cute together.
I also think Margaret nn Maggie would be great.
Similar to one of the names on your girl list… I had a friend in grad school named Annalise. She didn’t shorten it ever as far as i know.
Good luck finding something that clicks for you and your husband.
My new favorite girl name is Gretel/Gretal. And I think it goes with Alexandra and Keegan.
Caroline seems like a good match for Alexandra. You could call her Carrie or Carly for short. Caro is another option.
Madeleine is so great. Another nn could be Madge or Mads.
Lydia
Julia
Katerina
Beatrix
Camille (Cami)
What about Isabella Nicole? She could go by Bella or Belle? I think it goes great with Alexandra. Alexandra and Isabella!
For a boy, maybe Gavin Nicholas or Gavin Michael. Gavin is my own sons name and I love it, and it’s not extremely popular, but not unheard of either!
Just a few suggestions :) Happy Baby Naming!
I like Deacon!
I have a Camden. I think Keegan and Camden might be a bit too matchy, though. I like Cullen too (and I love the Twilight books), but I think I can do without people having that association with my kid’s name. I’m not ballsy enough to use it, but if you are …
I like Genevieve out of your list and Penelope out of Swistle’s list.
So, Deacon or Genevieve IMO :)
For girls, how about
Fallon
Tamsin
Ella
Caitlin
Quinn
Eileen
Fiona
Eleanor
Brynn
Moira
Evelyn
You’ve got some great names to choose from! I am fond of Declan and it would likely have been the name we had chosen were we having a boy. Declan Nathaniel Parker or Declan James Parker would be my picks from what you’ve selected.
As for girls names, I notice you discarded Amelie, but I think Amelie Claire is such a beautiful name. Something to consider perhaps? Not sure it sounds quite right with Parker, though…
I LOVE Swistle’s suggestion of Flannery for a girl and I think it’s great with Parker as a last name. Not sure what you could use as middle. Maybe Maeve?
I also love Elliot as a girls name: Elliot Annelise Parker would be so pretty!
Good luck!
Alexandra is a very pretty, classic name with great nicknames, so I wouldn’t feel so bad about it. I understand you want to find the name that ‘grabs you’, but at least what she ended up with was a great name to have (Allie is such a cute nickname!).
Claire is one of my favourite names, and it absolutely goes with Alexandra/Allie — they’re from a similar group of classic, feminine names.
Here’s a random list of some of my favourite girl names, because maybe one will strike you (since I like both Alexandra and Claire, maybe you’ll like some of my list?). I’ve never had trouble with girls names I like, boys names always stump me more! haha!
Isabella (was already mentioned above, I like this and you can have Isa – could be pronounced “EE-sah”, Izzy, Belle, Bella, Bells, so many nicknames).
Adriana/Adrianna or Adrienne
Claudia
Cecelia/Cecilia (nicknames: Cici, Celia, Lia)
Leah
Maya/Maia
Hannah
Sydney
Nicola
Natasha (Tasha, Tash, Nat)
Natalie
I also really love the suggetions of Cassandra, Anastasia, and Caroline.
The boy names you’ve chosen are very nice names, but am I the only one who thinks they’re a little matchy with Keegan? I think the worst fit is Keegan and Deacon – they practically rhyme. Liam is almost a bit rhymey sounding to me, too, but not as bad. Then Camden and Cullen both start and end with the same sounds as Keegan, which is just a bit too matchy for my tastes.
I think the best fits (from your list) with Keegan are Lachlan and Declan. I also loooove Callum (from your discard pile) and think you should reconsider it!
Oh! This seems like the perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite names. Friends of mine named their daughter Evangeline, and call her Evie. I love, love, love it, and think it would go well with the style and nn style of Alexandra (I also love Alexandra, btw, and have often thought if I had a daughter I’d name her that and calle her Ali).
Evelyn could also be shortened to Evie.
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GAH. I SKIMMED, okay, I SKIMMED. And I just saw that Swistle recommended Evangeline. So! I Second it!
Oh! Or what about Harriet? You could call her Hattie. I think Harriet is such a sweet name – Hattie is even sweeter!
I saw that both Caroline and Carys were mentioned separately above; I named my daughter Caroline and her nickname is Carys (‘Care-iss’). This may fit all of your qualifications! I was picky about nicknames too, and I liked Caroline but not Carrie, Carol, or Liney. I kind of made up Carys as a nn but I love it and it makes sense to me.
How about Colin? Colin James Parker. I like it.
Some lovely girl suggestions:
Angeline
Clara
Elinore
Eloise
Jacqueline
Mathilda
Clara Anabelle Parker. Alexandra, Keegan and Eloise. Allie, Keegan and Mattie.
Good luck!
What about Virginia? You could still use Ginna as the nn.
Haven’t read the rest… what about Magdalena? Nicknames include Maggie, Magda and Lena.
For you I love Genevieve or Caroline. Genevieve is one of my very favorites. I think Gabriella would be quite nice too with Alexandra though I see you have discarded it. For boys, I really like Deacon and Lachlan.
Now, I LOVE the name Carys, but do you guys think its too uncommon that the pronunciation will always be a problem? I’m sort of throwing another question out to the board, I don’t love it with Alexandra which is so classic and long and greek, but I am intrigued by it nonetheless.
Erin: Lately “Carys” is appealing to me a lot, I love it every time I hear it. I don’t think it would be mispronounced too much (‘Care-iss’, right? That’s how I say it, LOL!). I think most people would know how to pronounce it/will have heard of it somewhere for it to work.
I love Caroline with nickname Carys; that’s a great way to use a classic long name, and a beautiful/not over-used shorter name.
Thanks for the input Steph, when I first saw it I admit I thought it was pn Carries, but I like Care-iss a lot (and I think that, or Kah-riss, are both acceptable pronunciations from what I looked up).
And back to the original poster, Clara is a great suggestion too! Hope you can find something you love (Genevieve, Genevieve…)
I think Elisabeth is a great choice. It has more nicknames than almost any name I can think of. Also, my cousin has a daughter named Annabelle and they call her Annie and Bella frequently. And I like Swistle’s suggestion of Susanna(h), with Suzy or Sukie or Anna as nicknames.
I like Liam best from the boy list.
Liam Nathaniel
Liam Nicholas
If you want another boy option. I knew siblings named Alexandra and Zachary. I always liked those names together.
I come from a family of four, me being the oldest. Erin Lanelle(girl), Kendall Saer (say-er)(boy), Dayna (like Dana) Alexandra and Zachary Scott. Other names my mom considered to go wtih Alexandra were Daley (or Dalie) (day-lee) and Paige. Allie and Daley would be cute together, and so would Allie and Paige. Or, you could be like us and have an Allie and Erin. :)
Penelope, Penelope, PENELOPE! Holy smokes, that is lovely with your other choices, I think! Allie and Penny and Keegan. Yes, yes, yes!
Declan is a perfect name for a boy. Dec is a fun nn.
For a girl you might want to consider the Irish Shelagh, Moira or Shebahn (not sure how to spell it.)
If you like the Greek, we have friends who named their daughters Calliope and Sappho and their new little brother is going to be Xerxes. Serious. Just a thought. Good luck! -M
I like Penelope and Felicity.
I like Elisabeth from your list. Allie and Lissa. So cute! I also really like Swistle’s suggestions of Josephine. Josie is such a sweet nickname.
From the boy list, Declan is my favorite. Not too rhymy with Keegan, but still goes well together.