Monthly Archives: January 2011

Baby Girl T (Rhymes with Kayla), Sister to Sebastien and Georgia

Elissa writes:

We would love you and your reader’s help. We have our third baby due in early March. We have a boy and a girl and have, with previous naming decisions and personal preferences, painted ourselves into a bit of a name corner (although of course my husband doesn’t think so) so we are calling on you, and your fabulous readers to give a little assistance.

This has turned into a bit of an essay so I have broken into subheadings, please feel free to edit unreservedly.

By way of background:

Our first born, a son, is Sebastien Gordon [Sebby] (French spelling in honor of French Godmother, middle name is my maiden name), our second born is a daughter, Georgia Grace [Gigi] (First name ending in “a” as per family heritage – Mediterranean, where female names always end in an “a”, middle name – loved it and wanted a G name to go with my maiden name). So after two children I thought I was done and really thought anyway, if we do have anymore that we would have a boy (3 generations of mine and husband’s family only has one girl in each family, no matter how many children), so I used all my favourite G names on Gigi’s big names (as she calls them) and then was really really shocked that we are having a second little Miss.

Added to this background is that it took us 6 days to name Gigi and Sebby after birth and this time we don’t have that luxury (birthing in a third country – need to get birth details, translations, passports and visas ready ASAP).

Rules:

So basic rules are,

· First name ends in an A,

· Middle name begins with a G (Husband does not think that this is as necessary as I do),

· We like traditional names, but not really into names that are incredibly popular.

Complicating Factors:

First name preference is to not start it with S or G.

As first name ends with A and so does last name, first name we have to be really careful those two names don’t rhyme, this also cuts out all ending in an “a” middle names, like Gemma.

I really only like Gabrielle (Greer as a stretch) as a G middle name. I don’t like but have considered Genevieve, Gwen, Gwyneth, Gretchen

I am not into kre8tive spellings of names but will consider different spellings if there is a reason.

Further complicating Factors – which would be great to incorporate but probably too difficult:

Our children, from when they have been told, have been calling this baby Lulu. It has kinda stuck we have thought that it would be nice to try to have this as a possible nn for her first name, in this light we have thought of Tullulah, Louisa, Lucinda, Eloisa (this is very close to my name so is out). I have not really been struck by any of them.

Our list:

Our list includes the following, which I think gives an idea of our likes:

Clara

Annabella (with Greer- not Gabrielle)

Miranda

Amelia/ Emilia?Amalia

Isla (Husband not really on board with this)

Viola

Ilona

Helena (Husband not keen)

Amaya (out there for me- but I love the evocative meaning of “night rain”. However, with Georgia meaning “farmer”, and the meaning for Sebastien currently escaping me, I am not sure I should really focus too much on meanings when I haven’t in the past.)

I really like all the names on the above list but don’t feel any of them is “right” (perhaps because I am yet to see our little girl). All of them I go through phases of thinking is better than the other (currently my favourite on the list is Emelia, but that could change tomorrow).

So that is about it, please help as you can!

I’m not sure about the middle name. My feeling is that there is no reason at all to feel obligated to continue that theme after only two children, especially if you don’t LIKE any more G names. On the other hand, if it’s important to you I think it can be done. But…again, if you don’t even LIKE any more G names…and there’s no particular REASON to match a middle name initial…and we get so few chances in our lives to choose baby names…and if you already have a lot of other requirements you’re trying to meet…AND it can’t end in an A…well, then maybe this little detail could be dropped. It isn’t as if the older children will say, “Guess mom and dad ran out of LOVE when they ran out of G NAMES, nyah nyah!”

Possible G names:

Garland
Garnet
Gillian
Ginger
Giselle
Gwyn

Lulu can still be the children’s special nickname for her, even if it isn’t part of her official name. Or, if you decide not to do a G middle name, her middle name could be Lou or Louise: adorable AND fun to say with the first name AND gives you the Lulu.

Possibilities (with Kayla as the stand-in for the surname):

Bianca Giselle Kayla; Sebastian, Georgia, and Bianca
Eva Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Eva
Evelina Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Evelina
Fiona Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Fiona
Liliana Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Liliana
Lydia Lou Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Lydia
Minerva Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Minerva
Nora Lou Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Nora
Philippa Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Philippa
Viviana Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Viviana
Willemina Louise Kayla; Sebastien, Georgia, and Willemina

Bianca is the only one I didn’t use Lou/Louise with, because of the initials BLT.

I like how Liliana Louise and Lydia Lou give you repeating initials, as with Georgia Grace.

Philippa Louise probably wins for cutest nickname possibility: Pippa Lou. Well, or maybe Willemina with Willa Lou. Or Minerva with Minnie Lou. Well, Lou just makes a very cute middle name, especially with a shortened first name. And I love combinations like Sebby, Gigi, and Pippa.

Name update! Elissa writes:

Apologies for not getting back to you earlier… Terrible of me but we moved countries and it just slipped my mind. Hopefully this photo of Emiliana Gabrielle makes up for it. She is a wonderful nearly 9 month old and still gets called Lulu nearly exclusively.

Thanks for all your assistance. Although we loved some of the suggestions, particularly Pippa, think that seeing names like Evelina, Viviana and Liliana made us think.. Emiliana. It is a bit of a mouthful but we love it as her big girl name.

Thanks again.

Baby Boy Mikalik

12 Replies

Anne writes:

My husband and I are expecting our first child March 4th. He is a boy and his middle name will be Davis in remembrance of my husband’s mother, who’s maiden name was Davis. Our last name is Mikalik, pronounced mick-uh-lick.

We could easily named quadruplets if we were having a girl, but boy names have us stumped!

I love the names Cowen, Eliot, and Wyatt. I also like some “m” names like Malachi, which doesn’t sound very good with the last name.

My husband likes Hucksley and Aiden.

One name that we both like is Korbin, but we aren’t totally sold.

We both want a name that is uncommon, but not too weird. I am not a fan of one syllable names.

Any suggestions?

Thank you so much!

Since you like Cowen/Cohen and Korbin, I wonder if you’d like Corwin or Callan or Camden?

If you’d like to avoid commonness, Aiden is out: combining only the three spellings in the Top 100 (Aiden with .76%, Aidan with .27%, and Ayden with .24%) gives us a name that outranks the number one boy name in the U.S. (Jacob, with 1%). And it seems even more common than it is, because of the rhyming names Brayden, Caiden, Hayden, Jaiden, etc.

The name Eamon has a similar sound, but it’s not even in the Top 1000. Eamon Davis Mikalik.

If you do use Korbin, I recommend spelling it Corbin (unless, of course, you have a specific reason for spelling it with a K): a common technique for feminizing an androgynous name is changing a C to a K (Kamryn, Karsen).

Eliot and Wyatt make me think of Everett, but I’m not sure I like that tumbling rhythm: Everett Mikalik.

If your husband likes Hucksley/Huxley, I wonder if he’d like Hartley or Harris or Haskell or Hatcher.

Little Boy Six, Brother to Audrey, Layla, and Julian

27 Replies

Heather writes:

I too am having a dilemma with choosing a name for our soon-to-be son. We are adopting a toddler boy from China, hoping to have him home early summer.

We already have three bio children, twin girls, Audrey Elizabeth and Layla Marie, and a son, Julian Oliver. When we decided to adopt we immediately knew we loved the name Roman (it was a runner up with Julian). But once we decided to adopt from China, my husband sort of backed away from it because by definition the name means “From Rome”. He didn’t see it fair to bring a Chinese boy to America and name him a name meaning from Italy. Plus then we found out several people in our family don’t really like it either–which isn’t a deal breaker as no one really liked Julian and we love it. Also, we probably won’t use a Chinese name for various reasons, especially since we feel his Chinese name will always be his to have, just not what we and everyone calls him. So, after sort of pushing Roman to the side, (though we still love it) we’ve made a short list of:

Nolan
Jeremiah
Malachi (nn Chi {pronounced Kai})–Nice, subtle Chinese feel
Beckett
Easton
Wesley
Roman–still had to include it

The first/middle name combos we like the best are (probably in order of favorite to least favorite):
Nolan Beckett
Jeremiah James
Roman Beckett
Roman Wesley
Wesley Easton–Love that this means from the West to the East (and back again)
Easton Beckett
Malachi James

Trouble with Easton is that it sounds so much like Ethan (our neighbor boy). I like classic yet modern names, not too trendy, not too unusual.

Also, the “B-rated” list, mostly that I liked but husband did not so much:
Emmett
Griffin (love nn Finn)
Hayden
Jonas

And names that I cannot use: Noah, Micah, Nathan, Owen, Joseph, Ethan, Benjamin

So do you think Roman would be a deal breaker for our little Chinese boy? Does the name really evoke a certain feeling or geography that won’t match our son? Any other suggestions? Oh, and our last name is Six.

Thanks!!

Hm. This is a tough one, and I suspect answers will be all over the spectrum. To me, the name Roman definitely does bring to mind Rome and the Romans—but on the other hand it’s sounding more namey all the time. I have similar (though opposite, because it’s connected rather than clashing) qualms about the name Easton, what with references to Eastern medicine and Eastern religions and so forth: it’s not like it’s a flagrant connection, but it comes to mind. It does seem better in adoption situations to avoid names that deal with geography, but if I met a boy from China named Roman I would maybe blink once—it’s not like I’d think “WHAT WERE HIS PARENTS THINKING??”

For a name that’s similar to Roman but doesn’t have a geographical connection, I think Nolan from your list is the best. My favorite with the other siblings’ names is Wesley.

I don’t feel any need to add to your list at all: those names look like really good candidates. Let’s have a poll instead (over to the right). [Poll closed; see results below.]

Six

Baby Naming Issue: The Protocol of Using a Namesake Name

13 Replies

Traci writes:

My question doesn’t deal with specific names, but I’m hoping you and your readers will want to tackle it anyway. Both of the names we have picked out are names with great meaning to my husband and I. Recently, I’ve started having nervous second thoughts, not about the names themselves, but about family ramifications and protocol.

The details:
For a girl, we are planning to name her after our mothers (my mother’s for a first name, his mother for a middle name.) My mother is still living, his has passed away. The names sound beautiful together, and we love them. My mother is very easygoing and I am 99.9% confident that she will be honored if we name our child after her. Still, are we obligated to inform her beforehand? (We’d like for it to be a surprise. Is this a bad idea?)

For a boy, we would like to name him after my grandfather who has passed away. I had a special bond with this grandfather , and this is well known in our family. After he passed away, he left some personal family treasures to me, which caused some hurt feelings from other family members, particularly his daughters, (my aunts) I’m wondering naming a child after him might cause hurt feelings in the family, or be perceived as snobbish in some way. Similarly, should I talk to them about it before naming this child?

Finally, are there any other points of etiquette with regard to naming a child after a family member (living or dead)? We would appreciate any or all advice as we are considering family names very strongly…

Thank you so much.

I would like to be able to wave these concerns away with a pfff sound: to say, “Don’t be ridiculous, of COURSE your mother will be honored! And your aunts might even feel somewhat mollified about the inheritance issues when they see further evidence of how much you loved their dad.” And I do think that’s the advice most likely to be true. But I am a writer on the internet, so I’ve been made painfully aware time and time again that if there is a situation in question, there will be not just one or two people but a whole GROUP of people offended and angry about it.

This is due not to The Evil of the Internet, but rather to the way the Internet lets us so easily collect data from an enormous pool—without being able to compare the size of the sample to the size of the pool we took it from. If we get twenty comments on this post and ten of them say “I would BOIL WITH RAGE if someone used my name without asking me first!!,” we don’t know if that’s ten people out of twenty or if it’s ten people out of seven billion. This makes it impossible to confidently say to you, “No, keep it a wonderful, wonderful surprise for your mother, OMG she will be so happy, this is so much fun, be sure to let us know if she CRIED WITH JOY!!”: I have to keep in mind the few people who would be offended and furious by something that is widely considered a very touching honor.

Sigh. The world can be a hard place to live.

Well. Here is what I will say instead: If you think your mom is 99.9% likely to be pleased, I would go with that. And yes: surprise her. I think that after this many years, if she were the sort to be upset/unhappy at having a baby namesake, you would know. She would have said things in other contexts (birth announcements, friends’ children, any discussion involving namesakes or how she chose your name) that would have given you a feeling for it over time.

And in the case of your grandfather’s name, I will say the same: Use it. If you knew for a fact that using his name would injure your aunts’ feelings, I would then advise you to gently prepare them for the idea that you were likely to do so, to cushion the news—and yet I would still say you should use the name. Your intentions and motivations are GOOD: you’re not naming a child to rub anything in their faces, and if you WERE trying to rub their faces in anything, “naming a baby” would be a pretty silly way to do it. Furthermore, since your grandfather has already died, they can’t even grouse that this is a way to kiss up; and since they’re presumably done having/naming children, they can’t grouse that you’re stealing a name they wanted to use. (It is making me tired, thinking of all these ways people could misunderstand each other. *world-weary sigh*)

You asked about other points of namesake etiquette, and aside from various cultural/family/religious traditions (which people generally already know, if those traditions apply to them) the main thing I keep in mind when considering family names is whether another family member might feel like they have a bigger claim to the name. For example, if my brother were a Jr., I’d be hesitant to name a child after my dad: seems like my brother should get first dibs. I might discuss such a namesake with my siblings anyway, even if there were no Sr./Jr. issues, just to see what’s what and to avoid unpleasant surprises/misunderstandings.

In most cases, though, I think discussions of dibs and claims tend to be ugly and inappropriate: a certain birth-order grandchild doesn’t have dibs on a grandparent’s name, for example, and two or three or even ALL the grandchildren can ALL use the name without it getting used up. And things get even trickier, because of course a person can call all the dibs they want and be as nasty and hurt-feelingy about it as they can, but if they never have children, or never have a child of that sex, or if the child’s other parent doesn’t agree to the name, those dibs are meaningless—and especially silly if it caused someone else not to use the name.

Whew. In short (TOO LATE), I think it is delightful that you want to use family names, and thrilling to imagine the happy surprises, and I fervently hope that when you announce the names of your children there will be rejoicing throughout the land rather than bitterness and family strife.

Name update! Traci writes:

I wrote awhile back about the protocol for using a namesake name. (You responded here.)
The baby is a boy, and so we named him after my grandfather, Clayton. As you may recall, I was a little nervous that some of the aunts would find the name pretentious or flaunting my special relationship with him, and I’m happy to say that has not happened. Instead, they were quite pleased, and proud! Not only this, but my grandfather’s sister (my great aunt) was so thrilled she was moved to tears! We love Clayton’s name, and are so happy we used it. Thank you to all of the commenters and to Swistle, who encouraged us to follow our hearts. I’ve attached a picture!

Baby Boy or Girl Four, Sibling to Jonas

15 Replies

Jennifer writes:

I’m hoping you can help me with a name for our second baby (due 2/22/11, gender unknown). Due to a miscommunication at birth, my older son was named by the NICU nurses. When I met him a few hours after birth, he had a big sign over his isolette stating his name was Jonas. All the other relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc.) had already met him, so it really had already become his name. And frankly, as long as he was breathing, all else seemed unimportant at the time. Its a name that suits him perfectly and we are very happy with it, but for baby #2, we’d like to name him/her ourselves.

Our last name sounds like “Four”
The other 3 of us have names that start with “J”, but I really don’t want a fourth J name. It just seems like too much. Do you think this is fair to a second – and last – baby? (for what its worth, the three J’s all have birthdays within 4 days of each other, and this baby will be born a whole different month).
We like names that are less popular, trying to avoid something in the top 100. Hubs and I both grew up with ridiculously popular names.
We want to avoid anything that is gender neutral
We need something that is at least 2 syllables and can’t be easily shortened to one syllable (because last name is only one syllable)
My husband would like a name that has a good song associated with it – I consider this criteria negotiable. :)
I really like flower/nature names, but am not set on them.

Some of the names that we’ve considered and discarded:
Juniper (J criteria)
Violet (the idea of a purple baby reminds me too much of my son at birth)
Everett (hubby likes it, I just don’t)
Audrey (our next door neighbors and good friends have an Audrey)

Still considering, but just don’t feel great about:
Lucy (hubs has red hair, not sure if I could name a red headed girl Lucy, too type-cast)
River (too gender-neutral?)
Vera

Can you help us out?

Can you tell us more about the miscommunication? That is, did you intend his name to be Jonah but the nurses thought you said Jonas, or was it that you intended a completely different name altogether, like Griffin or Keegan? (Both Griffin and Keegan might work as brother names.)

Yes, I think it’s fine to break from the J thing. If you had three children with J names and were planning a fourth and final child, I might reluctantly suggest you stick with Js—but I don’t think parent initials are as noticeable. And if you LIKE a J name (if, for example, you love the name Juniper), I don’t think you need to let the unintended J theme stop you.

The name Jonas sounds very good with other biblical names such as Ezra, Asher, Levi, and Elias. I love it with Gideon, and I think Gideon is such a great and underused name. I also like it with Reuben and Simon and Gabriel—though Gabriel shortens easily to Gabe. It’s great with Judah (which gives your husband Hey Jude), but perhaps too similar, and also a J, and also shortens easily to Jude—so, er, pretty much wrong in every way, now that I think of it.

If you like River but want something more distinctly boyish, I wonder if you’d like Forest? It has an old-timey style lacking in the more contemporary River, which also makes it go well with Jonas.

The name Everett makes me think of the two other names I’ve mentally filed it with: Emmett and Elliot.

Or Griffin or Keegan, from above.

For sisters, I’ll dip once again into the biblical names: Lydia, Tabitha, Claudia, Adah, Esther, Miriam, Naomi. Miriam in particular seems unfairly neglected.

For something more along the lines of Juniper and Violet, I like Acacia, Azalea, Briony, Calla, Ember, Emerald, Hazel, Ivy, Magnolia, Marin, Verena. Or Felicity, but maybe that’s too alliterative with the surname; or Iris, but maybe “two syllables ending in S” is too similar to Jonas; or Beatrix, but it shortens easily to Bea/Bee.

For something more similar to Lucy: Eliza is pretty, or Phoebe, or Cecily, or Annabel? Or Clara or Cora. Of those, I think only Phoebe has the sass of Lucy; the others emphasize more the sweetness. More sass: Molly, Ruby, Sadie, Georgia.

Question Update!

Baby Boy Queen, Brother to Ryan Aubrey

14 Replies

Stephanie writes:

We’re having our second baby, a son, who is due February 1st and we are completely stuck for a name! We gave our daughter a name that feels special to us, and now are having a hard time finding something to fit the new baby. I thought I’d email since we’re running out of time…

Our daughter is a year and a half, and her name is Ryan Aubrey. We settled on ‘Ryan’ pretty early on – although we did keep it a secret until she was born. We didn’t decide on her middle name until we were at the hospital. The name, ‘Aubrey’ didn’t have any special significance for us, we just thought it was pretty, and were looking for something feminine for balance.

But now that we’re having a son, we can’t think of anything we love. We agree that we want something distinctly masculine, but not common. We have an evolving list, but are not sure that any of these names are the one. I’m hoping someone could suggest something great we may not have thought of yet! Here are a few we haven’t vetoed yet:

Brady
Carver
Cole
Colton
Conrad
Dalton
Donovan
Garrett
Grayson
Holden
Kellen
Landon
West

Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks so much!

Name update! Stephanie writes:

Thanks for posting our question, and we appreciate all the great comments ;)

Our son, Garrett Conrad Queen was born on Thursday morning, and we’re all doing great!

Thanks again

Baby Girl Jen_____, Sister to Eliot

20 Replies

Faith writes:

I’d love to get some help with baby girl names. We have a son, Eliot Lee, and our baby girl will be born on the 27th (as in NEXT THURSDAY!) We had settled on two possibilities if the baby was a boy (Graham or Tobin) but are somewhat at a loss now that we know she’s a girl. Our last name is two syllables and starts with Jen–.

When we were first married my husband and I agreed that we both liked the nickname Winnie. My husband really liked the name Winsome but it seems to fanciful to me. We though Winifred was a better option to keep Winnie but now I find myself unsure if it’s too stuffy. It would solve a lot of problems if I was 100% sure of Winifred but I’m not. The problem is that I’m not 100% on any other name either and we have less than a week (eep!)

I find myself being drawn to 3-syllable names but it’s not a deal-breaker. In general I like classic but not super popular names that have the option of cute nicknames. My husband suggested naming her after me (Faith Margaret) which I think is sweet but don’t really want to do but I think Faith for a middle name might be nice.

The two names at the top of my list were Vivian and Naomi. My husband’s name starts with N and I kind of think it might be nice for her to have her own initial. But if we went with Naomi I’d like to find a middle name that starts with R so the two of them have the exact same initials as a way of honoring him.

Some other names we’ve discussed include:

Rosalie (husband thinks it’s too frou-frou)
Louisa (husband thinks it’s too frou-frou)
Evangeline (Too long and too matchy-matchy with Eliot)
Eliza (LOVE it but it feels too matchy-matchy with Eliot)
Alice
Pauline
Ada
Adeline
Matilda
Imogen (the alliteration with our last name seems too cute. Also, it seems like a lot of people here in the States would mispronounce it)
Mae

More possibilities for Winnie are Gwendolyn and Gwyneth and Guinevere. They do tend to produce something more like Gwinnie/Gwennie, but I think you could make it Winnie—or maybe you’d also like Gwinnie?

Or there’s Winter, which is not as fanciful as Winsome and not as formal as Winifred. Or my favorite might be Wynn/Wynne: it’s a good grown-up name that passes the “Would it work on a doctor or a lawyer?” test, but also goes easily to Wynnie. …No, my favorite is still Winifred, but my SECOND favorite is Wynne.

If you go with Naomi, I like the repeating O-sound of Rose: Eliot Lee and Naomi Rose. Naomi Rachel would be pretty, too, or Naomi Rae, or Naomi Rain, or Naomi Reese, or Naomi Robin. Or Rosalie might be too frilly for your husband as the first name, but maybe he’d like it better as a middle name: Naomi Rosalie. Or perhaps Naomi Faith to honor both father and mother?

Name update! Faith writes:

I wanted to drop you a line and update you on our baby girl!

We decided to name her Naomi Catherine with Catherine being in honor of my MIL. Objectively speaking I might not have picked the name Catherine since it seems a little long to follow Naomi but I have a wonderful MIL and love that our daughter shares this connection with her. We actually find that we call the baby Nomi most often which is what my three year-old christened her. :)

Thank you again for all of your input and for the input of your readers. I loved reading your feedback and all the comments!

Baby Girl Myers, Sister to Olivia, Griffin, and Ainsley

10 Replies

Michelle writes:

We’re expecting baby #4(girl) on 2/20/11, she’ll join Olivia Grace(age 9), Griffin Caleb(age 5) & Ainsley Faith(age 3). Our last name is fairly common, Myers, so we like different, but not totally weird first names. We’re pretty much in agreement that this baby’s middle name will be Hope, b/c we feel it flows well w/the other girl’s names we have. Olivia has become VERY popular since our naming & I’m not one for “popular” names, so we’re trying to stay away from them. I also don’t care for gender neutral names or anything that starts with a “B”( the whole initial os “BM” bothers me…). B/c our other 2 girls both begin with vowels, we’re rather torn if this should influence our decision this time. So, a name that starts with a vowel, not too popular, not gender neutral & goes well with the middle name Hope. We really like Charlotte, but are concerned about how common it is becoming………Help, we’re really stuck over here!!!!! :)

Let me start by putting in a good word for my top-favorite baby-naming resource: the Social Security baby name site. The problem with trying to avoid popular names is that they are often already popular before we start hearing them, due to the fact that babies are not mingling in many social circles. Let’s see, for example, the chart for the name Olivia:

(screenshot from SSA.gov)

To you it seems as if the name suddenly got way popular after you used it, but if Olivia is 9 years old, you would have been choosing her name about 10 years ago, in 2001. And in 2001, the name Olivia was already in the Top 10, with a clear climbing path behind it: even in 1998 or 1996, it was clear the name was popular, and getting more popular very quickly. So this website is my top-favorite resource for avoiding surprises later on.

If you are collecting opinions about the vowel thing, I think it’s unnecessary. I don’t think anyone will even notice, especially with a consonant-initial boy name in there. If it’s fun for you to try to coordinate (as with the middle name), then by all means! But if it’s limiting you in a way that’s making you stressed and giving you trouble finding names, then I will assure you there is no reason to force yourselves into that corner.

Assuming you DO want to use a vowel, here are some possibilities:

Abriella
Acacia
Adele
Adeline
Amabel
Anastasia
Annika
Arabella
Arden
Ariadne
Astrid
Athena
Aurora
Averil
Elena
Eliza
Ellery
Ellison
Elodie
Elsa
Elsbeth
Ember
Emeline
Emerald
Emlyn
Iliana
Imogen
Iris
Isadora
Isla

I included a few names that start with a long A, but I mostly leaned toward the ones that started with a short-A, to further separate it from Ainsley. I did the same with names that included a Z sound: I left a few in, but mostly avoided them. I avoided -ly endings completely.

If you like one of the names on the list but don’t feel it goes well with Hope, other middle name possibilities are Charity, Honor, Joy, Mercy, Patience, and Serenity.

Baby Girl or Boy Schmidt, Sibling to Regan and Reece

22 Replies

Caroline writes:

My husband and I couldn’t be more opposite when it comes to baby naming… well, in lots of things actually but identifying our child is simply the most crucial issue at this moment. He offers names based on who he knows or what famous person shares the name (i.e. our in utero nickname for this child is “Pancho” named after a 1980’s race car driver!) regardless of the ridiculousness of the name. In fact, I think he likes the idea of naming the child after someone else and I tend to avoid that entirely. I want someone to say “what a great name” when they hear of our child’s arrival but not wince or scratch their heads wondering where in the heck it came from. And I do not want a name that has been used by someone we know (even if only an acquaintance) – it’s no fun.

Our different personalities and naming preferences aren’t the only consideration. This little one is due Feb. 28th and will be little sister or brother to my daughters Regan Olivia & Reece Elizabeth. The girls are from my prior marriage – and both names were/are perfect. Although more Regan’s have popped up, both names are relatively unique in our area and I loved them paired with a older, more traditional middle name.

So, the first issue is how to come up with a name we can both LOVE. Second issue is whether we stick with the R’s – which seems a bit weird to me because they won’t share last names, former marriage, etc. On the other hand maybe we should go with the theme so none of them associate themselves as being from a different family. Ugh – husband says I’m way overthinking it! It’s his first child so I want it to be something we share, not an R name he is forced into by default!

We do have a girl name and a boy name we both like… he seems sold, but I’ve not had my Ah-ha moment with the girl name. Our last name is Schmidt.

Weston Zachary – my idea, he came around to it and he is pretty set on it now. Middle name is a must as this is after my brother who passed away.

Carson/Carsyn Rose – pretty sure I threw it out there and he instantly liked. Rose is after his mother and we both agree this shall be the middle name of a girl. I’ve read your suggestions of using Rose for a first name, but I’m not keen on that mostly because I don’t want “Rosie” and the confusion will be too difficult as his mom is living and we see them often!

Names that have been eliminated for various reasons just to give you an idea of our tastes… Sheldon (yes, he seriously loves this despite the “sh, sh – iness” with our last name); Raylin (too close to Regan, but was always his favorite girl name). I like Charlotte (but again the sh-sh sound), Kendall (but know a family with a baby Kendall), Cameryn (for a girl, but this is my niece), Mason (simply too popular).

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

And:

About a month ago I emailed you about Baby Girl or Boy Schmidt and the drastically different ideas my husband and I have about baby naming…

Since then we’ve made progress, but I need some opinions.

First, we love the name Weston for a boy. BUT, I’m struggling with the middle name. I lost a younger brother 10 years ago and always knew if/when I had a boy his middle name would be Zachary after my brother. Husband is of course on board with this, but I also know that he always anticipated a baby boy with his middle name (which is his father’s name… wait for it… Ivo – it’s a name that appears to be native to his hometown!!). I think we should use TWO middle names, he thinks I’m ridiculous and says he’s totally agreeable to Zachary. But, I just can’t shake the feeling that this is his only child and he might regret not having a “namesake” (even if it’s shared). So, is giving a poor child 4 names to spit out unreasonable, unfair or inhumane?

Issue number two… I told you that my daughters from my first marriage are “R’s” and I was unsure of whether to continue this trend. Let’s just say that if it’s a boy I’m totally ok with Weston (or a non-R name), but my girls have said “Mommy, it has to be an R if its a girl, so she’s just like us!” How can do anything else, right? Right. Except there is only 1 R name that I’ve come across that I like/love. Renna. Before you judge, the middle name will be Rose (regardless of first name) so you have to say it all to be sure it passes muster… Renna Rose. My fear? That I’m predisposing this sweet little angel to a future in pole dancing. My friends who have been quizzed say I’m overthinking it and that’s not at all where their minds go… but once you say it…

And is it to rhymey with Regan & Reece? I really think the R will bond them and in families with stepchildren I think this is really important.

I’m due Feb. 28th and I saw you were at/near these due dates…. please help. This will be the 3rd and last for us and I had no idea how difficult it would be to name this sweet one!!

Thank you!

I can give personal-experience feedback on the two middle names issue, because my kids have two middle names and so do I. And this is my feedback: it’s not as much hassle as I’d expected. On forms where it matters (applications and registrations, for example), I try to make it very clear: writing the middle names one on top of the other on the middle name line, or even making brackets with labels “middle names” and “surname.” I chose ahead of time which name I wanted as the default (for me it’s the second of my two middle names, but for the kids its the first) if a form only let me use one name/initial, so paperwork is consistent. The hassles have been things like occasionally needing to correct a form where the information has been entered as if the second middle name is the first of two last names, or where the first middle name has been entered as if it’s a second first name, but I think that’s happened maybe four times total in the twelve years since we named our first child. AND, it hardly ever comes up: middle names show up mostly on forms and never in introductions, so he’d be Weston Schmidt when he’s saying it or writing it on his homework. It sounds to me like your reasons for using two middle names outweighs the small hassle, so I’m voting yea on that one.

About the R names. That IS pretty cute and compelling, to have the girls wanting her to have an R name. Do you think they’d settle for an R middle name? Renna Rose seems fine to me (I will probably suddenly realize what you’re alluding to and then feel very silly!), but it’s too bad Renna has the same number of letters as the other two, in addition to all three starting with Re-: I don’t think they sound so much alike, but they look alike. Regan, Reese, Renna. Well, I wrote that out to illustrate the problem, but actually that’s kind of cute. I don’t know WHAT I think! Let’s see what everyone ELSE thinks!

Name update! Caroline writes:

After all the concern about baby girl names, we needn’t have worried… We welcomed Weston Zachary Ivo Schmidt to our family on Feb. 23, 2011. He is absolutely perfect and honoring both of our families with his two middle names worked out perfectly as well! Although my husband was concerned about having mouthful of names, as soon as he held Weston he proudly called him by all FOUR names without hesitation! I’ve attached a pic of our little guy… thanks for the advice!!