Katie writes:
My husband and I are expecting our third child on 9/22/11, although I have a history of early labor and delivery. We have two sons together Owen Samuel (age 4) and Eli Benjamin (age 17 months), and I am thrilled we are finally expecting a little girl! The pregnancy has been fairly easy so far, but the hardest part has been picking out this little girl’s name.
When it came to our sons names, we both agreed on the names fairly easily with little compromise. Owen’s middle name Samuel is my husband’s middle name and Eli’s middle name is my father’s name. With our little girl, we would love to have a virtue middle name, more specifically Grace, but it is not a necessity.
The one girl name that my husband and I loved before we had children was Ella. The problem is that we now have an Eli and the names are way to similar for our comfort. We want our little girl to have her own identity in our family.
Our short list of girl names are:
Stella- our compromise to the Ella problem, but it doesn’t feel like the perfect name and I don’t know if this is the compromise I want to make.Mia- our front runner at the moment, but once again it does not feel like the one. Also it’s rising in popularity, the name just doesn’t feel complete, and the alliteration with our last name seems to bother my husband
Savannah- although I love this name and my husband seems to like it too, we both feel that it doesn’t seem to go with our son’s names.
Halle- a new name that I found while reading an online article and I love it, but my husband isn’t as sold. He thinks it will be constantly mispronounced as hay-lee instead of hal-ee.
Addison- a name we both just like, but don’t feel like its our baby girl’s name.
Just for reference, if this baby would have been a boy, his name would have probably been Caleb Jackson or Luke Alexander. Please help us! We are running out of time, patience and we are tired of Owen and Eli referring to their little sister as “Baby.”
Stella Marsh is a terrific name, but I can see how if what you wanted was Ella, the name Stella might be too different in sound and style.
Willa is probably my top choice for you. It has the sweetness and gentleness of Ella, but without the part that makes it too close to Eli. Willa Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Willa.
Or perhaps Clara is my top choice: it has the sweet and gentle, it has the L and the -a, but it’s not too similar to either sibling name. Clara Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Clara.
Sadie is not quite the same style as Ella (sassier, I think), but I love it so much with the surname and the brother names. Sadie Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Sadie. And I like the repeating long-A sound if you use Grace as the middle name; it seems like it would be very pleasing to call her “Sadie Grace.”
Molly, too, has sweetness (and a double L) but it won’t work if your husband doesn’t like alliteration. Molly Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Molly.
Savannah makes me wonder if you’d like the name Anna. I recently read a novel that made me PINE for the name Anna Hope. They called her Anna Hope (that is, instead of calling her just Anna while the Hope disappeared into Middlenameville), and I couldn’t believe how quickly it grew on me. I had a mini-crisis over the idea of never getting to use such a great name myself. Anna Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Anna.
Or the name Annabella would give you the -ella at the end—sort of a combination of Savannah and Ella. Annabella Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Annabella. If that seems too long and frilled for the brother names, Annabel would be very nice. Annabel Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Annabel.
Speaking of names from novels, now I’m reading another book with a Nell. I wouldn’t have thought that was a name I felt one way or another about, but I like it quite a bit in the book, and it has the -ell from Ella. Nell (Nellie) Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Nell.
Calla might work. Yes, I like it, and I like the nickname Callie, too. Calla (Callie) Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Calla.
If you like Mia but it doesn’t seem like enough name, I’ve heard it used as a nickname for Amelia. Amelia Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Amelia. It bothers me a little bit that the name Eli is in the name Amelia—but it’s pronounced differently, so it’s not likely anything anyone would notice except to say “Oh, cool!”
There’s also Mila or Mina or Mira, all of which have pronunciation issues that might be worth the hassle to add substance to the name (Mia has a couple of pronunciations, too).
If pronunciation issues are the main problem with Halle, I’ve seen it spelled Hallie. Although perhaps that would look like a creative spelling of Haley and would make things even worse. Hm.
Out of nowhere: I wonder if you’d like Delaney. Delaney Marsh; Owen, Eli, and Delaney.
Name update! Katie writes:
So sorry this is coming to late (and so long!), but with a newborn, a kindergartner, and a little boy who has hit his terrible-twos, things have been a little hectic in the Marsh household. Our baby girl decided to grace us with her presence slightly earlier than expected on August 15th, 2011 and her first 26 days of life were spent in the NICU due to a bacterial infection. She is home now, safe and sound, but due to her early surprise, we were unprepared on her name to say the least. When she was 4 days old, my husband and I finally sat down to figure a name out for our little miracle. Just days before she was born, we finally eliminated Ella/Stella from our list because we knew it just didn’t sit well with us, compromising on a name we loved. We came to your website and we waffled back and forth between Molly, Sadie and Delaney. Each name sounded great with the middle name choice “Grace”, but we were stumped. After another day, we eliminated Delaney because that was our least favorite of the three names. I loved Sadie, my husband loved Molly, and we were stuck, but ultimately, my husband ended up adjusting to Sadie and so our miracle preemie daughter became Sadie Grace Marsh. Thank you so much for the help Swistle! We couldn’t have done it without you!
Your sons have such short names it would be odd for your daughter’s name to be more than five letters. Also, it should be a two-syllable name to go with Marsh. Anna and Clara are classic. Gia, Lia, and Luna also fit the criteria.
Hannah? Sounds like Savannah, but for me it has a feel closer to Owen and Eli.
I really like the Mia Marsh alliteration. What about Malina?
What about Leah? Rhymes with Mia and you seem to like L sounds. Leah Grace. Owen, Eli and Leah.
Rebecca has a similar cadence to Savannah, and Becca feels a bit like Ella. Rebecca Grace. Owen, Eli and Rebecca.
Would Ella feel like it had a more distinct identity if you did a two-part first name with Ella like Mary Kate? You could call her Ella Beth, for example. Ella Beth Grace. Owen, Eli and Ella Beth.
In line with Swistle’s suggestion of Annabella, there are other girls names that end in -ella that you could use. I think Daniella, Gabriella, or Mariella/Mary Ella would fit best with your boys’ names. Mary Ella Grace. Owen, Eli and Mary Ella.
Best of luck!
How about Adele or Adella?
I like Mia too. I don’t think it’s too short, but I like the suggestion of Amelia, with a nickname of Mia. There’s also Emelia, Maria, Miriam, Malia, Mariah, or Mirabelle.
I think Adele is a very pretty name that fits the trend for -elle/-ella names but is under used at the moment.Perhaps you’d like it too?
Another name I like for your criteria/sib set is Cora. Owen, Eli and Cora Marsh.
I actually think Halle Berry has made the name very recognisable for most people and doubt you’d have many pronunciation issues.
Isn’t Hallie an older spelling than Hallie? Nora Ephron has a sister named Hallie. (And a sister named Delia, one of my favorite names — Delia Grace. NN Lia? Close enough to Mia?)
Oh no Blogger ate my comment earlier! Sigh.
I suggested
Adele
Addie (or Adelaide)
Susannah/Susana
Harriet nn Hattie–close to Hallie, although I think Halle Berry has made the name pretty recognizable.
Anna Hope is awesome and I love all of the kids names starting with vowels.
Calla and Willa are both terrific.
Cora.
Clara is just great.
I know a Lucy Grace and they go really well–and Lucy fits well with Owen and to a lesser extent Eli.
Maya is a bit like Mia.
Lila feels like Ella to me.
Nora.
Isla
Ava
I also think Halle is recognizable. How about Bella?
My kids are Owen, Elijah (Lijy), and Adelaide (Addie).
Savannah made me think of Susannah as well and I think it fits better with Owen and Eli.
What about Aurora with the nickname Rory? Samuel, Elijah and Aurora. Sam, Eli and Rory. Aurora Grace. Lovely! :)
I second the Bella suggestion. And any of the -bella names would give you that nickname. Isabella, Annabella, Arabella, Carabella, Corabella.
I like Halle, and along with other commenters, think Halle Berry has made the name easily recognized and pronounced.
I also really like Cora and Anna.
I’m not a fan of Savannah Marsh, mostly because of Savannah and Marsh both being biological ecosystems. But that’s just the science teacher coming out. :)
Cora Grace. Anna Grace. Halle Grace. All beautiful!
Congrats on the new baby girl on the way!
Well, I love Calla and Willa in general. Can’t go wrong there. Delaney was a clever suggestion, too, by Swistle. There are some fabulous suggestions here in the comments as well that seem like they’d really work for this family. Don’t ignore Adele or Susannah. I want to throw into the ring for you all the option of Helena pronounced either way.
I see others have already suggested -ella names, but what about names starting with El-? Eleanor is gorgeous, and Elizabeth is always a classic choice, too.
Some other suggestions:
Ivy
Ava
Chloe
Phoebe
Zoe
Emma
Naomi
Lily
Avery
Scarlett
Lila
I think I like Sarah, and you could call her Sadie. Owen, Eli, and Sarah. Owen, Eli and Sadie. I don’t know where you live but I knew a few Halles in NY/NJ and we always called them Halle. I was also going to suggest Amelia for Mia. I know an Amelia/Mia and also an Amelia/Millie, which is super cute.
I love that both of your boys’ names start with vowels. If it was me, I’d want to follow that trend, depending on how many more children I was planning. Both of your boys’ names have at least one biblical name. Since you mentioned that those names (Samuel and Benjamin) were family names, I’ll ignore that as a theme.
– Anna Grace. AGM. Owen, Eli, and Anna. I second (or fifth) that suggestion.
– Annora Family Name. Annora is a virtue name meaning Honor. I love that it gives you possible nicknames Ann, Annie, or Nora.
Others I like for you.
— Jane.
— Layla.
I like Stella & Mia from your list. I don’t think Mia is too short. Would you consider Ada instead of Addison? It seems to fit better stylistically with your sons’ names.
Willa sounds perfect, but another idea is Isla.
Or Emily, or Emma?
I like Halle! Owen, Eli and Halle. Halle Marsh.
I don’t think it would be mispronounced that often … I went to college with a Halle who didn’t seem to have any issues. It’s a spunky and unique name.
Or – since you like Savannah and “a” ending names, what about … SERENA.
Serena Grace Marsh. Serena Marsh. Owen, Eli and Serena.
Sadie is also adorable.
You have great choices. Best of luck!
Another for consideration – Sienna.
Owen, Eli and Sienna.
Sienna Grace Marsh.
Has spark like Sadie, just a little different!
I was wondering if you’d like Kenna. Or Eva with a short e as in ever. But that might be too close to Eli again.
I think you have some wonderful names, and Halle would definitely be recognizable as Halle Berry’s pronunciation I would think.
Annie is another favorite.
Tessa? Owen, Eli, and Tessa?
I LOVE Tessa with Owen and Eli.
Congratulations on your well-named baby, and as another former NICU parent, so glad to hear all is well after Sadie’s NICU stay!