Cam writes:
We are excited to welcome a second girl to our family on/around April 18, 2011, but we can’t get traction on her name! We just had a girl two years ago, and agreeing on her name was a big enough challenge! She is Aerin R—–. Think of our last name as “Goldstein,” but it starts with a “B.” We love Aerin’s full name. The problem is that my husband and I vetted so many names with her; we have very different tastes; and I would like to avoid common names.
My dream is a fresh, pretty, interesting, but non-trendy name. My husband would be happy with names like Jessica or Mia (too common for me), but he will defer to my choice if he likes the name enough. Why is this so hard? I like names in theory, but end up rejecting most! Any new ideas, or thoughts on our existing options, would be much appreciated!
Current short list:
Sela (a Hebrew name – my husband’s favorite of the ones I’ve suggested)
Isla (I LOVE this one, but we are both nervous because of the likely mispronunciation issue)
Serena (seems long to say, but sounds perfect with our last name)
Names liked in theory …
Annelise
Ciel
Eden (LOVE, but already used by close friend)
Elletra
Ivy (LOVE, but my husband rejected as a stripper name, which I think is crazy!)
Liles
Luella
Louisa
Scarlett
Other facts:
We live in a big city. I am Southern, and my husband is Jewish.
“S” names are good because they would honor my husband’s grandfather (who was Sidney, but we don’t love the girl’s name Sydney except as a middle name).
Middle name could be Adelle (strong family associations), a “J” name like Juliet, Sydney as mentioned above, or something totally different.
I would prefer NOT to use a nickname.
If I gave birth today, “Sela Adelle Goldstein” would be our frontrunner. But I can’t help but think that Sela doesn’t sound “strong” enough, AND I worry about people hearing “seal” when they hear it (insert seal barking noise!). Thoughts?
Thank you SO much!
Ivy a STRIPPER name? Oh, I wonder if he’s thinking of Drew Barrymore in Poison Ivy? She was a bit, er, provocative in that movie. And the DC Comics character Poison Ivy also dresses scantily. Maybe Iris instead?
If you love Eden but can’t use it, I suggest Haven. It’s similar in sound, and I think the association is nicer: less paradise/nakedness/temptation, more safe/comfortable/protected.
If you’re worried about the seal in Sela, I wonder if you’d like Celia? It has the same sound in it, but because the name is more familiar, the “seal” is less noticeable. Or Cecily and Celeste are both very pretty. Or maybe you’d like Selah? According to The Baby Name Wizard, that’s the Hebrew name (pronounced SAY-lah), and Sela is “an unrelated biblical place name.” If that’s true, that would let you keep the S and the Hebrew while losing the seal.
If you like Isla but want to avoid the tricky pronunciation (though it’s getting common enough that I think soon most people will know how to say it), maybe a rhyming name such as Lila? Or I think Mila is so pretty, and that might remind your husband of his frontrunner Mia.
Serena doesn’t seem too long to me.
Name update! Cam writes:
Our dear baby girl, Isla Adele, arrived nearly two weeks late, at the beginning of May. I was about to lose my mind waiting for her! My husband and I had numerous conversations about names as we waited for her to arrive, and yet we still didn’t name her until just before leaving the hospital. All along, I loved the name Isla the most, but we were afraid of the pronunciation issue. (We pronounce her name “EYE-lah,” but it reads like “IZ-lah” or “EES-lah.”) Finally, we decided to go with the name we loved, even if it might get mispronounced when people read it. We figure that “Isla” is short and simple, so it’s easy for people to remember once they hear it. Plus, we like how it sounds with her big sister’s name, Aerin.
The Swistle input was super helpful, both in making me feel good about our ideas, and in giving me new ones. I was really frustrated about our inability to choose a name while I was pregnant, but reading the responses to my question (and many others) was informative and just plain fun. I thought it was interesting that so many readers liked Sela (my husband’s first choice). I admit I still sometimes wonder if we should’ve picked Sela instead of Isla, but I just don’t LOVE it the way I love Isla. We get a ton of compliments on Isla’s name. I just hope she likes it when she grows up!
P.S. My husband never retreated from his view that Ivy is a “stripper name,” but we all know that he’s wrong about that! :)
Aerin and Celeste are a wonderful sibling pair!
I have different views on Eden vs. Haven. I am related to an Eden, and I never once have thought of the name as having a nakednes/temptation vibe, even before I got “used” to it. I think beautiful garden and peaceful paradise when I hear it. Haven for me has a negative shelter asociation instead of a positive shelter association. And it rhymes with Raven, which is a bird I’m not fond of. Raven can be a name, but I always ALWAYS think Edgar Allen Poe… “quoth the raven, nevermore.” And such is the way personal name connotations arise. :)
OK, so names:
S name… Sela reminds me of Seren (Welsh for star, I believe), which reminds me of Keren (Hebrew for glorious dignity, I know a woman from Israel named this). The meaning of Seren is star, which is also the meaning of Esther, another option from Hebrew.
I really like Swistle’s suggestion of Selah. SAY-lah sounds familiar yet I’d never heard the name before today.
I like Serena or Celeste.
Hit publish too soon. So, Keren and Seren rhyme with Aerin, but that’s how I got to Esther from Sela.
Ivy reminds me of Evy (EE-vee), which could come from Evelyn. Also rhymes with Aerin, but the L and the extra syllable break it up. Evy reminds me of Edie, from Edith. I knew a girl named Edie paired with a short middle name, and she went by the whole name (think Edie Sue or Edie Jo). One thing that just came to me: maybe Edie is too like ED. Darn. I like that name.
I’m still kind of hung up on the idea of Ivy as a stripper name. I don’t get that.
But anyway…Sela(h) is nice as is Serena (which I don’t think is too long) and they both get you the S initial. As for the middle name, it would matter to me which side of the family a J name or Adelle would honor. It would be nice to honor someone on your side, since S is for a relative of your husband’s. Serena Juliet is quite pretty, but maybe you could use one of the more popular names your husband likes for the middle. Sela Jessica for instance or Serena Mia.
Or would you like Miriam or Naomi? They both have the mi-sound of Mia.
I don’t think Isla will get mispronounced. It is starting to rise in popularity. I love Isla the best from you list.
Serena is nice and reminds me of Sienna. Do you like Sabine?
More ideas: Audrey, Carys, Ayla, Elia
Congrats and good luck!
I really like Sela(h)- I know it’s a Hebrew name, but it sounds very Southern to me (at least here in GA). I’ve heard it pronounced “see-lah” and “say-luh” and “sell-uh”, so you may have to spell/pronounce it for people more often than you’d like, but I think it’s a very pretty name that’s worth the (possible) extra trouble.
I love StephLove’s suggestion of Naomi. The French version Noémie is a favourite of mine. What about Evan or Evanna (or Ivana/Yvonne, etc) instead of Eden or Haven? Ivana would lend itself to the VERY NON-STRIPPER nickname Ivy (stripper?! really?? I just see English prep), and Evanna/Yvonne would be a cute Evie. Isla makes me think of Viola (“vy-lah”) and Violet(te)- would those work instead? But like Swistle said about Isla- it’s getting to be well-known, so pronounciation shouldn’t be a problem. If anything, I’d think it confused with “ees-lah”, like in Spanish…which is just as pretty!
How about Sydelle? It’s apparently used as a female form of Sidney, and it brings in the Adelle sound. It’s unique and lovely, I think! (I’ve only met one).
Good luck.
-E
I love, love, love the name Serena. Especially with Aerin as a sister. Sela(h) is also very nice as is Isla. You can’t go wrong with any of your favorites :)
A baby Serena could go be Sera or Seri. I love it.
Never considered the name Haven before, I think it’s really pretty.
All of your top 3 choices are fantastic. I can understand nerves when you’re committing to such a big decision, but I love your choices and wouldn’t look any further.
As a pairing with Aerin I personally prefer Isla – there’s just something about putting vowel names together that appeals to me.
I think Serena and Selah are great options.
Similar to Sela, I know a Cilla .. might be less likely to relate to ‘seal’ haha, either way I think they are both beautiful :D
good luck :D
I read your post and thought, “Hmmm… Iris would be a great choice!” Of course, Swistle knows her stuff and already had it in her response.
Aerin and Iris.
Both begin with vowels, both fresh, both elegant, both strong and feminine.
Iris seems like classic southern AND refined Jewish.
Iris Adelle? Iris Jullienne?
All the best to your growing family… very excited to hear what you choose for your new little girl!
I like the name Selah spelled with the -h. Makes me think of the poetic Psalms of the Bible that often have that word. I think Isla is cool and gorgeous and goes well with Aerin.
OH! and I love Swistle’s suggestion of Mila. I wonder how others pronounce Mila. With a long e (Meal-a) or i sound (rhymes with Willa)?
Selena would be a good combination of Sela and Serena. Aerin and Selena.
Stellafide- I say it MY-lah, to rhyme with Lila and Isla. I suspect the other pronunciations would occasionally need correcting.
Stellafide: With the Mila spelling, I’ve always said (and usuallly heard) MEE-lah, but every once in a while I hear MY-lah. Usually MY-lah comes with a Y, though: Myla. For MILL-ah, I feel like it needs two Ls.
I think Sela is a pretty name, but as an Israeli I can tell you it means “boulder.” It is also used in Jewish liturgy as sort of a contemplative exclamation (the spelling is different for the two meanings). It’s not a name used in Israel.
Iris is also gorgeous! Good luck picking a name.
-Chaya
I still have no idea how to pronounce Sela or Isla. Serena I do like though.
Anonymous- Sela is SEE-lah. Isla is like Lila (LY-lah) without the L.
Mila is used a lot in Eastern Europe and is always MEE-la there. Same in other countries in Europe (it has a Slavic or Latin root :))
I think Mila and Aerin are really nice together! I also like Mariana and Aerin.
I like Sela, and I particularly like it with your surname, but I prefer the spelling Selah. That makes it more obvious to me that the pronunciation is SEE-lah, where as Sela looks more like “SELL-uh.” Is anyone else with me on this one? Bueller?
I am the same Anonymous from above, and forgot to add:
I also like Mila for you. If you want something longer, I know a Milena (pronounced Mee-LAY-na) who goes by Mila (I actually think Mila Kunis’ given name is Milena as well).
Sorry swistle but I have to inform you the actress is Uma Thurman who played Poison Ivy…. not Drew Barrymore. :)
Kristen- You must be thinking of a different Poison Ivy. This is the one I referred to: Poison Ivy.
Pretty baby, pretty name. Congratulations on the birth of Isla Adele.
I’m glad you chose the name you “LOVE”. As others have said, Isla is being heard more and more, and I think pronunciation won’t be as much of a problem as you feared. (I’m also glad that you spelled Isla correctly.)
First of all, I just LOVE that someone is considering naming their baby “Sela,” (even though they eventually went with Isla Adele, which is absolutely gorgeous).
My name is Sela, and I can tell you that it IS Hebrew, and it means “rocky crag, cliff,” and was the former name of the BEAUTIFUL town Petra (Google it, and you’ll see why it was named Sela). Sela is the Hebrew version of the Greek Petra/Peter/etc. It is mentioned in the Bible several times both as a word in reference to the Church’s strength and foundation and also as in the place.
“Selah”‘s meaning is unknown. People will tell you it means a whole bunch of different things along the lines of “contemplate, pause,” or something musically related, but honestly no one knows. It’s used a lot in the book of Psalms in the Bible.
And just for clarification, because people ALWAYS get this wrong, “Sela” is pronounced, in Hebrew, as “See-luh.” “Selah” is pronounced however you want it to because it’s not a word anymore, but most people pronounce it “Say-luh” or “Sell-uh,” which is how most people mispronounce my name, and both pronounciations are ones I think sound awful. “Selah” is becoming a lot more popular in big family Christian circles, and it’s the name of Lauryn Hill’s daughter with Bob Marley’s son.
But yeah, I’m definitely happy to see someone even considering my name. It’s beyond uncommon, and 99% of the people I come across tell me they love my name.
Sela Kate Freuler