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.
“Lu” names I like:
Lucia
Luciana
Luciella
I like all of the names on your list, though I don’t think any of them could have the nickname Lulu.
I really couldn’t find any good G names that fit your criteria. There are a lot of good ones that end in “a” – maybe you could expand to that. I don’t neccessarily think two names ending in “a” don’t go together- depends on the name. I love Greta. I do like Gabrielle and Greer from your list though.
Other G names:
Gayle
Glory
Gelsey
Garden
Gentry
Gidget
Ginger
Gladys
Glenys
Grey
Miranda Gayle
Amelia Grey
Clara Gentry
FWIW, I know a little girl whose name is Emma and her family started calling her “Emma Lu” which then turned into “Lulu”. So she has that (totally adorable) nickname, but it technically doesn’t have any correlation to her given name.
I agree with Swistle that you needn’t feel obligated to continue the “G” middle name tradition just because of the precedence set. I love the middle names of Louisa and Lou with almost any first name!
I really like Clara Gabrielle and Amelia Gabrielle from your list.
If you decide to skip the middle with G requirement, though, I love Louise as a middle. I think it sounds good with almost anything. Annabella Louise would be very pretty. Also Amelia Louise.
I love the idea of the repeated initials instead of going with the G middle name. That way this little girl will “match” her older sister in a really neat way. My favorite is Liliana Louise!
We call our baby girl (Lila Katherine) Lulu ALL the time. It seems to work. :) I have a friend with a Lucia who they also call Lulu.
If you’re stuck on a Lila Gwendolyn or Lucia Gwendolyn actually sound very nice together.
That should have said *If you’re stuck on a G middle name* sorry
I know a few babies who go/went by their ‘in utero nickname’ for a while although it had no connection to their given name, so calling her Lulu even if she isn’t a Lousie etc is not so far fetched…
From your list I love Miranda, Emilia and Clara.
My suggestions: Adela, Antonia, Camilla, Lenora, Marina, Viviana.
For the mn, I love Gabrielle. Do you like Gaelle, Gail, Garbo, Geraldine, Greysen.
Congratulations on breaking the one girl only tradition, and good luck!
Luella/Luana Ginny
Luca Gia
Lilliana Louise is my favourite of the suggestions.
One of the names on your list made me think of Amalia (I heard it pronounced Ah-Mall-Ee-Ah).
I second (third?) Lucia .. it’s my fiance’s daughter’s name, and she’s lovely… pretty and aka ‘Lu’.
Love Luella with the nn lulu. Luella Gwyn is wonderful.
From you list I love Emelia. Emelia Jane is on my girl list currently. Emelia Gwyn in nice too..
From Swistle’s list I adore Bianca, Fiona or Eva. The mn Louise is very sweet.
whacky idea – You could use Grace as the middle name. Why not? So they would (presumably) share a middle name and a surname. The middle name hardly ever gets “used” anyway.
Julia, Flora, Isabella, Athena, Freya, Camilla, Lola, Lena, Rosa, Olivia, Tula.
Love Isla and Viola from you list!
I love for Gray for the mn. Lila Gray___. Or Georgie or Grayson for the mn.
If you don’t like any “lou” first names how about “lee”? Lianna, Leona or even Lea? Then she could be Lee-Lou. (this may be too much of a stretch I don’t know.)
Other -a names to consider…
Alicia
Carissa
Eliza
Isabella
Jemima
Lyra
I especially like Sebastien, Georgia and Eliza together.
What about using Grace again as a middle name. It is a name that you love and the girls would have that connection. You used a family name for your son and this would create a new and different kind of tradition.
3 cheers for Eliza Grace or Eliza Greer.
Hi, Elissa –
Congratulations on your second little Miss!
I love the name Louisa! That name had popped into my head before I had even gotten to the “Further Complicating Factors” subheading. It is such a sweet name and it works very well with your other names.
I also like Clara from your list.
I thought you might also like Hannah, Henrietta, or Edna.
– Hannah Greer.
– Henrietta Louise.
– Edna Gabrielle.
my niece is alyssa, we call her lyssie, but when she was little my sister called her lucy.
I think you have a lot of gorgeous names!
I love the name Lucia for a “lu” name.(pronounced “Loosha” although I guess you could go for Lu-chee-a as well) Lucia was one of my favorites but is also the name of my dad’s first wife so I couldn’t use it!
And I’ve always loved the name Geraldine, for a G name. A little old-fashioned but I think it’s cute.
I have to agree with Jess. Before I got to the complicating factors section and the part about your other children calling the baby “Lulu” I thought Louisa would be the perfect name for you:
Sebastien, Georgia, Louisa.
Maybe you would reconsider Louisa?
More G names:
(apologies if I repeat suggestions)
Genesis
Gillian
Giselle
Glory
Gertrude
You could also match Grace with another virtue name. So the middle could be Faith, Hope, Joy, etc.
I agree that Lucia, along with Lucilla, Lucienna and Lucretia, is perfect for the “Lu” nickname! For middles, what about Gaëlle or Geniéve? Lucienna Geniéve is pretty, as is Lucia Gaëlle. Also, has Gracielle as a middle been suggested yet? Clara Gracielle or Emelia Gracielle is georgeous!
Luella Grae!
Would you consider Lorna Lark?
Sebastien Gordon, Georgia Grace, and Lorna Lark. Sebby, Gigi, Lola (first syllables from each fn and mn).
I’m coming to this late but couldn’t resist commenting: my younger daughter’s name is Lydie Rebecca (that’s the French version of Lydia because her father’s French and we live in France) but I’ve nearly always called her (when being affectionate, not reprimanding) Lydie Lou… To me that sounds soooo cute (and my Lydie Lou really is very cute, though I may be biased of course ;-))…
Oh – and a French name that isn’t very common (but you do hear it) is Garance, which is quite nice for a middle name perhaps (and ties in with Sebastien’s French connection)…
Glennon is another possible G middle name. It would sound pretty with several of the possibilities.
Thanks Guys for all your help. We have alot to consider.
I am currently waiting it out in the country where I will give birth. Will let you all know what we decide.
Thank you all for taking the time to read and consider our question.
Elissa
What did you decide in the end? I thought Louisa Gabrielle would have been the obvious choice. It ticks all the boxes and also sounds beautiful!
Just wanted to say thanks for the picture! Adorable! She really really looks like a LuLu!