Tamara writes:
My husband and I are expecting our 3rd and final child in just 3 weeks and we still don’t have a short list of names. I discovered your blog just a week ago and really like your suggestions.
Ethan has my grandfathers first name as his middle name and Audrey has my grandmothers middle name as her middle name. We will find a family name to fit whatever first name we come up with, but names like Maxwell, Campbell, Louisa, Laura, Rosina, Lindsay and Gordon are among the possibilities.
I really love the strength in our other children’s names and that they have meanings. I think they fit those two personalities really well. I should also mention that we are Australian’s and don’t want a name that screams of another place or one that is really popular. Ethan is in his late teens and when he was born the name was very uncommon here and now it polls in the top 3 boys names every year. Audrey is also not very commonly used here, not since the 50’s anyway. Ethan and Audrey also have no real possibility of a great nick name so they get Eth and Auds… which we really don’t like and so many of the names on our list don’t have nice shortened forms.
Our “girls” list currently reads like this:
Violet
Harriet
Scarlett
Eleanor
Louisa
PatienceViolet is the one for me, but my husband is not feeling it. He doesn’t like the fact that it ends in T and reminds him of the word violence. So many of the names we love end with a T… I think that has been a major factor in us not being able to settle on anything. We also really like the name Ivy but as we are IVF patents it seems a bit weird!
Our boys list currently reads like this:
Elliot
Maxwell
Oliver
Quinn
Nelson
Austen/Austin
Lawson
Liam
Edgar or Edwin
Aiden
Lloyd
OwenI just don’t love any of them. Audrey was going to be Maxwell if she was a boy, but friends have recently used it in naming their son and we’ve gone off it a bit. My husband really likes Liam and Austin. I feel like Austin is a bit too soft or something… can’t quite put my finger on it.
HELP????
Name update! Tamara writes:
You were kind enough to post my plea for help way back in April, so it’s been almost 4 months since our beautiful little girl came into the world. We went into the labour ward with 2 boys names and 2 girls names and didn’t settle on THE name until after we had called home to our other children and their anxious grandparents.
After many tears due to the realization that my husband would not come round to Violet, I asked him to sit down and watch ‘Gigantic’ staring Zooey Deschanel with me. I felt that while we loved the name Harriet it wasn’t our favourite only for the fact that we don’t know, have ever met, or haven’t even come across a Harriet in popular culture. We needed a positive association with the name, so we watched the movie together and although that Harriet is mostly called Happy throughout the film it did the trick and it became OUR front runner. DH allowed me to use a name from my family as middle name as I did with our other two. So Harriet Louisa Taylor has my grandfather’s mother’s and sister’s name… both Louisa’s known affectionately as Lou. We haven’t attached a nick name to her yet… although I do love Happy…. we’ll just wait and see who she is. She arrived 5 days late and weighed in at 3940gms and was 51cm long. She has a lovely dusting of red hair like her daddy. We adore her and her name.
Thank you readers for your input and wisdom. You did help me work through some of my issues. Thank you Swistle for this amazingly supportive and warm environment.
PATIENCE! Oh, god, I love that name.
BUT…that doesn’t really fit with your “sibset” as well as, say, Eleanor or Violet would. I love Eleanor, and it has a few adorable nicknames for you to choose from, too: Elle/Ellie, Lena, Nora, and Rory. Violet has Vy, Vi (vee), or even Lettie. Would you like, maybe, Anabelle, Claire, Charlotte, Eloise or even Viola instead?
I love Ivy, and don’t think its too weird, but it gets kind of tangled with Audrey, I think. What about Iris or Dahlia? Or Clover? It might be too “cutesy” for you, though.
For boys, I like Quinn and Oliver for you. As alternatives, what about Cole, Wyatt or Henry? I also like Elliot and Edgar, but you might not like the similarity to Ethan (two syllable, starts with E). If you don’t mind, though, I’d also suggest Everett and Emmett.
What great lists you have.
I especially love Louisa, Eleanor and Violet, all of which sound great with Ethan and Audrey. I think Ivy is very sweet too (Ivy Louisa SWOON!) and don’t think people will associate it with IVF.
For a boy I like Oliver, Liam and Nelson. Oliver Gordon sounds distinguished.
Good luck!
Good list and they mix and match well, too. I see a lot of possibilities but here are my top two for each gender:
Eleanor Lindsay Taylor. Ethan, Audrey & Eleanor
Violet Louisa Taylor. Ethan, Audrey & Violet
Oliver Gordon Taylor. Ethan, Audrey & Oliver
Owen Maxwell Taylor. Ethan, Audrey & Owen
I really like all these. Good luck choosing.
If your husband is troubled by how close Violet is to violent, maybe he’d be ok with Viola?
Viola Lindsay Taylor, Ethan, Audrey and Viola?
My grandma’s name is Violet, so I have a soft spot for that one =)
I was thinking Isla or Lila could be alternatives for Violet. Or Juliet.
Louisa is another favorite. What about Eliza as an alternate?
I’d first like to say that I would never, ever, ever in a million years link the name Ivy to IVF, and even if someone DID do that, 1) how many people in the world honestly know you two went through IVF, and 2) how long will those who do know remember?
Ivy Taylor is a beautiful name, and anyone who comments on a link between a beautiful newborn baby with a lovely name and IVF treatment deserves a swift kick in the face. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think anyone would even think of it, and if they did, I doubt they’d have the balls to say anything about it. My only beef with Ivy (and I mean ONLY!) is that you seem to want a name with a potential nickname, and Ivy doesn’t have much.
Now that I am done with my little rant! I also love the name Louisa for you! Louisa Taylor is lovely, lovely, lovely and has plenty of nickname potential: e “LouLou, Isa, Lisa, etc.
As a fellow Australian I have to point out that Oliver has been a top ten name for the past three years. Liam and Max are in the top 20 and if you combine the two spellings of Aiden this would also be top 20. If popularity is a concern for you I would avoid these names. To my mind Edwin is very close in sound to Ethan, so maybe these comments help you to narrow your boys list?
My personal favourite of your boys names is Elliot. Ethan, Audrey and Elliot sound a good set to me.
I’m actually surprised Eleanor isn’t in the top 100, though the nicknames Ella and Ellie are. Ethan, Audrey and Eleanor also make a good set.
I wonder if you would like Philipa, nickname Pip or Pippa? I think of this as a very strong, but feminine name.
Ethan and Edgar sound like brothers.
Edgar Gordon is SO masculine!
All your kids would have names beginning with vowels, too… if you care about that sort of thing.
Do you like the name ‘Daphne’ for a girl? It’s botanical like Ivy, ends in an ‘ee’ sound like Audrey, and isn’t popular. It also comes with the cute nickname of Didi (dee-dee).
Daphne Louise?
Or do you care for Lillian? Lillian Rosina feels as classic as Audrey Josephine.
Other names that ends with a ‘t’ are Suzette and Colette.
Whichever direction you go, Louisa and Patience are FABULOUS names… I especially like them in the middle name position because Josephine has a similar feel to them.
All the best to your growing family! So excited to hear what you choose!
I like the suggestion of Viola. Julia is another nice option. Ethan, Audrey, and Julia.
thank you all for your words of wisdom. It really has helped me sort through a few of the issues in my head. we have only a week to due date and still haven’t settled on anything, but I feel we are getting there. Can I ask what you all think of first names ending in the first letter of a surname. In our case 3 of my 4 favourite girls names and 1 of my top 3 boys names end in “t” and babies surname is “Taylor”. Also does anyone know a Patience nn other than Patty? It’s not that I particularly want a nn-able name, it’s just the culture here in Australia to shorten everyones name… even seemingly un-nn-able names!
When she gets older, don’t forget to get her a copy of the book (and later, movie) of “Harriet the Spy”.
Also, a copy of Noel Streatfeild’s “Skating Shoes”.
Congratulations on the birth of Baby Harriet! Hattie is an adorable nickname. I absolutely loved the book “Hattie and the Wild Waves” when I was growing up! Happy or Hattie would be precious!
Oh, I LOVE the name Harriet, and it seems so perfect for your family. Harriet Louisa is gorgeous! Congrats!!!
(P.S. That picture is adorable; thanks for posting it!)