Monthly Archives: August 2012

Baby Boy Coakley, Brother to Beck

Elizabeth writes:

We need your help. I am due (not until the end of December, but I’m a planner) with our second child, who will be a sibling to our son Beck. We struggled terribly to find a boy’s name we could agree on when pregnant with Beck, and now I’m having trouble finding a name that sounds like an appropriate sibling to Beck. (We still have the girls’ names we picked out during the last pregnancy, so our real dilemma is if this is another boy.) Here’s the situation: we generally likely fairly traditional names and nothing too weird or “out there.” I know that might not perfectly describe the name Beck, as it is fairly unusual, but we also love names that have meaning (to us), and Beck is my mother’s maiden name. Beck’s middle name is my last name (Martin) and his last name is my husband’s last name, Coakley. We will likely use Martin again as the middle, and Coakley will be the last name. Contenders include Elliott (also vaguely a family connection, as I had a grandmother Eleanor and my husband had a grandmother Ellen), but I worry that it’s three syllables (as opposed to Beck’s one syllable name) and it doesn’t really have a nickname (I abhore Eli). I know I said we’d use Martin as the middle name, but with Elliott I kind of like the middle name August (my husband’s middle name is Augustin. He is the second son of a second son of a second son, all of whom had Augustin somewhere in their names. If this is a second son, I kind of think we should go with the tradition, although I vastly prefer August to Augustin, and my husband is okay with that). So Elliott August. One strong possibility, but I’m not sure it’s “the one”. Is Elliott a sibling to Beck? I’ve considered Noah, but my husband feels it’s not right. I kind of like Nicholas (baby is due near Christmas), but I wonder if Nick and Beck are too similar? I always wanted a Jack, but I feel Jack and Beck are DEFINITELY too similar. I love the name Luke and it would be an honor name, but when you say “Luke Coakley” quickly is sounds like you’re say “Lou Coakley” and I don’t like Lou. Maybe Lucas? I like a number of names that end in the “ie” sound like Charlie and Henry, but I don’t think that works with Coakley–too sing songy. I’m sure I’m missing some great names. Help! What would you name Beck’s brother?

and

And update for you. We found out that we ARE having another boy, so the pressure is really on to find a name. The names in my original email are still contenders, but I also wonder about Bennett. It would be an honor name (my husband’s best friend who passed away was Benjamin—we prefer Bennett), but I wonder if Beck and Ben are too similar? Also, do they sound like brothers? I’m not sure they fit. Another thought is to move August to the first name space and have August Martin Coakley, nickname Gus. I think Beck and Gus are a cute sibling pair, but I’m not sure about Gus as an adult man’s name. Is it too geeky? Are there other names we should be considering? Why is this so hard?? Thanks for your help.

I think if I knew brothers named Beck and Bennett, I might keep accidentally calling Beck “Beckett.” The names seem too similar to me, though an excellent style match.

I think Gus is great with Beck and will work fine as a name for an adult—and if it didn’t, he’d just go back to using August.

Because your firstborn has an honor name, I think you have some flexibility: it’s common for a firstborn’s name not to quite match the style of the sibling names, because of all the people who had to use James IV when their style was more Caden, or all the people who changed naming styles, or who used a name that didn’t fit with their usual style and then couldn’t find any names to go with it. If anyone were to blink at, say, Beck and Elliot (and I don’t think they WOULD blink—sounds like a literary style match to me), they’d stop it as soon as they realized the name Beck was a family name. If Elliott seems too much longer than Beck, using the Eliot spelling would help some with that, as well as increasing the literary appeal.

Emmett is similar to Elliott, but with only two syllables instead of three.

Lucas is nice too. The strong K/hard-C sound helps connect it to Beck.

If you like Noah, and you like Nicholas for the Christmas-name connection, I wonder if Noel would work? Noel Coakley; Beck and Noel.

If you’d like to stick with the one-syllable idea, I like Reid and Grant. Or Dean or Dane? Or Grey? Or Finn or Gage or Nash or Hayes. There are a lot of good ones in the Brisk and Breezy section of The Baby Name Wizard.

Or Levi would be nice. Levi Coakley; Beck and Levi.

Or Miles. Miles Coakley; Beck and Miles.

Or Ezra. Ezra Coakley; Beck and Ezra. I like the coordinating short-E sound tying them together.

Or Leo is nice and short, without making you feel like you’re painted into a one-syllable corner for future children. Leo Coakley; Beck and Leo.

Ian, too. Ian Coakley; Beck and Ian.

Or back to one-syllable: Heath. Heath Coakley; Beck and Heath.

Name update! Elizabeth writes:

Just wanted to thank you (and your readers) for all the naming assistance and let you know that August Martin Coakley was born December 23, weighing 8 lbs and measuring 20.75 inches. We are having a wonderful time with baby Gus!

We vacillated between the names Elliot and August for a long time. About a month before Gus was born, however, a good friend had a baby boy and named him Elliot. That in itself wasn’t a deal breaker; she lives far away and isn’t part of our daily lives, but it made me realize that Elliot was a very specific person, and he wasn’t my baby! From then on I started thinking of the baby as Gus, and my husband did too. One of your commentators noted that she felt our “style” was really honor names, and I think she was right. By giving our son the name August Martin, we were able to honor both sides of the family. It was the perfect name for us!

Baby Naming Issue: Tilly vs. Tillie

30 Replies

Casey writes:

My husband and I are expecting our second child, a girl, in early December. We have a two year old son named Arlo Harrison. We actually came to a consensus on our daughter’s name very quickly due to early concerns that she might have a very serious birth defect (which thankfully was later shown not to exist!) We decided on the name Matilda Kate. We very much like the name’s meaning: “mighty in battle,” and were drawn to it when it looked like she might have some early battles to overcome.

So why am I writing? We are planning to call her “Tilly,” but I have no idea the correct way to spell it, and I am very much one who likes to spell things THE correct way! I’ve looked around google to see if I could find a consensus on Tilly vs. Tillie, but have yet to find a concrete answer. My initial thinking was that “Tillie” was correct, but then I read somewhere that it had too many parallel lines, and now I wonder if that’s not the case. I don’t find that I have a strong preference for either one, and I realize that having her name misspelled is not as big of a deal as it would be if Tillie/Tilly were her given name, but I’d still love your and your reader’s thoughts on which is most commonly accepted!

Many, many thanks!

It is times like this I wish for a giant shelf of name encyclopedias. Well. I do have The Oxford Dictionary of First Names, and that is a start. It has a listing for Tilly but not for Tillie. Tillie is mentioned within the Tilly listing as a “variant.” So according to The Oxford Dictionary of First Names (the book I trust most for name origins and meanings), Tilly is the main spelling.

The Baby Name Bible lists both nicknames in the same entry, with the -ie spelling first: “Tillie, Tilly.” (This choice may be alphabetical: Abby/Abbie is also listed “Abbie, Abby.”) Then in the description, when one or the other spelling needs to be chosen, it chooses Tillie: “Tillie is cute, frilly, and sassy all at once.”

The Baby Name Wizard lists nicknames for Matilda in this order: “Tilda, Tillie, Tilly, Mattie.” In the description, when one spelling needs to be chosen, it chooses Tilly: “It’s also rising in the U.K., along with the nickname Tilly.” Under the listing for Abby, it says this: “In the 19th century, Abbie breezed along happily with names like Tillie and Mattie. Today Abby is the most common spelling…” (I include this because perhaps it indicates that the dominant ending changes with fashions.) Tillie is listed as a sister name for Lottie and Roscoe; Tilly is listed as a sister name for Maisie, Pippa, and Roxie.

Tilly is the one I would have guessed was the main one; in general, I think of the -ie ending as less standard for most names, although of course there are exceptions (Carrie, for example, or Hattie or Maggie or Elsie).

For the specific example of Tilly/Tillie, I prefer the look of Tilly—but that of course would be purely subjective. I think one reason I prefer the Tilly spelling is that -lly/-llie words seem to more often end in Y: Billy, chilly, dilly-dally, filly, frilly, hilly, Holly, Kelly, Milly, Molly, pilly, Polly, Sally, Shelly, silly, Willy. In favor of the Tillie spelling: Billie, Callie, Ellie. (Other -llie/-lly examples to add to the list?)

The Social Security Administration’s data base can’t tell us how people are spelling it when it’s a nickname, but it can tell us that in 2011, there were 51 new baby girls named Tilly and 36 named Tillie.

I think the answer here is that there is no answer: both spellings are valid, neither one is “right.” You can choose the spelling you prefer. And she will probably spell it both ways in junior high!

If it would be helpful, we can also have a poll over to the right to see what most people consider the correct spelling. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Tilly

Baby Boy $amuel, Brother to Louisa Claire

19 Replies

M. writes:

My son is due September 16th and is currently nameless. My husband (Josh) and I (Melissa) already have a little girl named Louisa Claire, and will hopefully have another baby in a couple of years time. Our surname is $amuel, which you would think would be easy to work with. For us, it has not been so easy. Even Louisa’s name doesn’t sound quite right with it.

Our favorite name is Max, but Max $amuel sounds like Mac $amuel or Max Amuel when said out loud. Do you think that is a definite deal-breaker? His middle name will most likely be Hudson, so it would be Max Hudson $amuel. Of course we could name him something like Maximilian, but as we don’t like that at all he would go by Max 100% of the time, therefore he would still be Max $amuel.

I have been looking at names on your blog and a name you suggested recently has really stuck in my head and I have found myself absolutely loving it! The name is Caius. Of course it doesn’t work with our surname either. Caius $amuel = Caia $amuel :-(

Other names I really like that my husband does not like include Oliver, Everett and Evander. Clearly I like ‘v’ sounds!

My husband like’s the names Jacob, Aidan and Lucas. I don’t particularly like Jacob, I like Aidan but not enough to consider it (plus a friend of mine has a Jayden and another friend has a Kaiden), and obviously we cannot have a LOUisa and a LUcas AND it doesn’t work with our surname (although I do like it).

At the moment we are also considering the name Declan, which I do really like. However I don’t believe my husband likes it as much as he claims…I think he is sick of talking about baby names so is just agreeing to whatever I say (LOL).

Any suggestions would be very appreciated! Popularity does not concern us too much, but I would prefer to use a name that is not so common.

My general feeling about run-together names is that it depends on how embarrassing/confusing the run-together is, and on how much you love the name. I definitely think it can work if the former is low and the latter is high.

I think Max $amuel is workable if you love it. Neither Mac $amuel nor Max Amuel is an embarrassing mistake, and I think you and he would get accustomed to pausing between the first and last name to make it clear: “Max…$amuel.” Or, for example, you’d say, “Hi, this is Max. Max $amuel.”

Caia $amuel is a more embarrassing confusion. The name Kai would work better: Kai $amuel. But Kai does not seem as compatible with Louisa as some of the other options.

I like Declan from your list, too.

May I suggest one of my own recent favorites? George $amuel is handsome, and Louisa and George is almost irresistible to me.

Another of my own pet favorites: John $amuel; Louisa and John.

Everett and Oliver makes me think of Elliot and Emmett.

If you don’t mind repeating an initial, I wonder if Levi would work. In style it reminds me of a sort of combination of Max and Oliver and Jacob, and it has the V sound you like. Levi $amuel; Louisa and Levi.

I was curious to see what The Baby Name Wizard would recommend as brother names for Louisa; she lists Foster, Hugh, Jules, Emerson, and Anton. My favorites from that list are Foster and Hugh.

A name similar to Max is Jack, but with less of a run-together issue—it could be Jax $amuel, I suppose, but Jack is so much more common.

Name update! M. writes:

One of your lovely readers suggested the name Sullivan which I loved and also turns out to be a family name on my husband’s side. We ended up agreeing on it a couple of weeks before he was born, and decided to use Max as his middle name. I was a bit sad to think that I will never have my Max, but there is no guaranteeing we will ever have another boy. Plus I LOVE having my little Sully :-)

So Sullivan Max $amuel he is!

Baby Boy Grefay, Brother to Jack and Lila

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Jennifer writes:

Just discovered your wonderful site in my frantic search for the perfect name for baby #3 (due September 6, but realistically, any day now!!). This pregnancy has flown by and we’ve been putting off the naming decision until now!

So, our son’s name is Jack and our daughter’s name is Lila. Now we’re having another boy and have not fallen in love with any name. Well, I have fallen in love with one: James. BUT, it’s my husband’s name (although he goes by Jim) and he refuses to name our second son James for fear that later in life our firstborn son will grow resentful that he wasn’t given his Dad’s name. I think this is ridiculous thinking…but is he right? Can only the firstborn son carry the father’s name?

So in lieu of James, I/we like Max, Charlie, Benjamin, Bradford, I also like Graham but I feel it clashes with our surname starts with ‘Gre’ and ends sounding like ‘fay’ (similar to the sound of ‘buffet’.I hope that makes sense)…it sounds very French when pronounced correctly (which is rarely!).

If this were a girl, I love the names Georgie (Georgia) and Harper and Maggie…

I hope you can help! Maybe it’s hormones and fatigue but I can’t seem to make a rational decision or even think straight at this point!

Although it’s traditional for the firstborn child to be the namesake, there isn’t anything inherently more worthy or important about the first child; I suspect the only reason is so the honor name is used at the first opportunity. If there’s no reason for the children to believe that this third child would be particularly favored by his parents, I think it’s likely the children won’t much care—or if they do care, the caring could go either way: either “Why didn’t _I_ get dad’s name?” OR “Why didn’t YOU have to get dad’s name?” An honor name is a mixed gift: there aren’t any specific benefits that go along with it (the benefits are more for the one who is honored)—and there are downsides, such as not having a name all of one’s own, and dealing with any confusion that results from sharing.

One of my friends had twin boys, and they gave the father’s name to the secondborn twin, so that each boy would have something: one boy is the firstborn, and the other is the namesake. It seemed like a good idea to me, and a good source of spin for other situations.

In this case, my bigger concern would be that the names Jack and James seem very similar, especially with a father Jim. Jack and Max also seem very similar to me, though a good fit style-wise.

Charlie is my own favorite from your list. Jack and Charlie are highly compatible names, but without being too alike. Benjamin is a very close second, especially if he’ll go by Ben: Jack and Ben is a wonderful pair of brother names.

I also suggest Henry: Jack, Lila, and Henry.

Or Sam: Jack, Lila, and Sam.

I’m finding it a little challenging to find a brother name for a Jack. I think it’s because Jack is a nickname name but also considered a stand-alone choice. So it feels compatible with other nickname names (Max, Sam, Ben, Charlie), but those names are not as often used as given names. So then having, say, a Jack and a Charles, or a Jack and a Benjamin, or a Jack and a Samuel, feels as if one boy has a good nickname and the other doesn’t, or that only the nickname is the same style as Jack.

A name like Leo would be perfectly compatible with Jack—but I’m afraid it’s too close to Lila. Drew might be perfect: it’s short for Andrew but often used as given name. But I’m not sure it works well with the surname. Maybe Cole? It can be a nickname for Nicholas or Colton, but it’s also given on its own. Or Liam—but again, probably too close to Lila.

Other nickname possibilities:

Daniel/Dan
Edward/Ed/Ned/Ted
Camden/Cam
Alexander/Alex
Nicholas/Nick
William/Will

From this list, I think my favorite combination is Jack and Will. (Another post asked if “Jack and Will” would bring “Jack and Jill” to mind. I thought probably it would be a minor issue, and that it would be easy to say “Will and Jack” instead—but it’s the sort of issue I like to mention so that you can think of it beforehand rather than afterward.) I like how all three children would have four-letter names, unless that would make you feel pressured for future children. Jack, Lila, and Will.

Baby Name to Consider: Thames

49 Replies

Nichole writes:

For some reason, my husband has become completely enamored of the name Thames and wants to use if for our next son. I looked up pronunciation and the Thames River in England (and thus the British pronunciation) is “temz”. But the Thames River in Connecticut (and thus the American pronunciation) is said to be “thaymz or taymz”.

My questions: 1) how do you / how does your average N. American reader pronounce Thames when read and spoken?; and 2) is “Thames” a name that is too off-the-wall to consider as a first name?

Thank you!!

Oh, interesting! I immediately pronounced it “temz” in my mind—but if I saw it as a child’s name, I’d wouldn’t assume that was the way it was pronounced. I wasn’t familiar with the Thames River in Connecticut, but I still would have wondered if Thames as a name might be pronounced to rhyme with James, with a soft TH sound; I’m not sure if the river in Connecticut is well-known enough to affect the U.S. pronunciation. I’d also wonder if it might be a creative spelling of Thomas. Or I’d wonder if it might be thay-mus, to rhyme with Seamus/Shamus. I’d be very uncertain, and would feel uncomfortable even taking a stab at it.

According to the Social Security Administration, the name is unused or nearly unused in the United States: Thames is not in the data base, which means it was used for fewer than 5 boy or 5 girl babies in 2011.

My own opinion is that it would be a hassle to carry that name in the United States, with more confusion over spelling and pronunciation than would be worth it. I think, however, that it would make a terrific and distinctive middle name.

What does everyone else think? Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]

And in the comments section, say how you would have thought Thames was pronounced if you encountered it as a child’s name.

Thames

What Are Your Favorite Unisex Baby Names?

70 Replies

Reader Melissa had a really good idea: We should do a series of posts called things like “What’s your favorite unisex name?” or “What’s your favorite uncommon name?,” and then have a list of links to that series in the sidebar. It might make a good reference section for people to browse when they’re looking for inspiration.

So let’s try it, and let’s start with “What are some of your favorite unisex baby names?”

If you’re like me, you might be suddenly nervous about your choices. Let’s agree NOT to be: we’ll just list any that come to mind, and it doesn’t matter if they’re our actual top favorites because we can always come back and add more later, and of course our answers don’t have to correspond with names we’d use OURSELVES, and duplicates in the list are fine and expected and even helpful for showing group preferences. We’re just creating an inspiration/idea list for others to look through.

I’ll go first:

Carson
Ellis
Emory
Grey
Hollis
Joe/Jo
Lane
Lee/Leigh
Merritt
Reese/Rhys
Rory
Teagan

Now it is your turn. You can list one or many, whatever you like. Think of it like someone says to you “I’d like to find a good unisex baby name,” and you say “Ooo, how about…?”

Baby Naming Issue: Can a Baby Choose Its Own Name?

24 Replies

Sasha writes:

Just saw your site and I really love the in depth name discussions. I have a situation so I thought I would ask your advice.

My husband and I are expecting a baby girl in January. The name we have chosen is Victoria, namely because it has always been my favorite name. We are both Anglophiles, we love the regal sound and I like the fact that it is not in the top ten. Our last name is Marks, so Victoria Marks has a good British feel about it, even though we live in California.

Now the other night my husband had a dream that the baby was born and looked up at him and said “Hi my name is Zoe.” He now feels that she is more of a person to him as Zoe than as Victoria. We are thinking of naming her Victoria Zoe and he has started to refer to her as Zoe.

I still want to call her Victoria, as that is the name I love in my heart, but I am also open if Zoe is indeed the better name for her. This is my first and will be my only child. So my questions are: has anyone had a name shake up and how did you feel about it afterwards, and, is it possible for a baby to “choose” her own name, so to speak, in a situation like this?

I am looking forward to your thoughts on this.

The question is not whether I believe it’s possible for a baby to choose its own name, but whether YOU believe it. Do you believe that each fetus has its own inherent name even before birth (as opposed to the name chosen according to the parents’ tastes), and that the fetus can broadcast that name telepathically into its father’s dream?

If you do believe this, then the child’s first name should be Zoe: she has specifically chosen it (or, depending on which belief we’d be going with, has come to understand that it is hers), and has specifically and clearly told you. Ignoring those wishes and giving her a name you KNEW wasn’t hers would be a serious decision.

If you instead believe that people have many dreams about their babies-to-be, and that those dreams are dreams rather than prophesies or truth-revealing communications, then you can continue to do what parents generally do, which is to choose the name themselves.

My own dream experience has not been one of truths revealed. During my pregnancies I sometimes dreamed a baby boy was a boy, and sometimes dreamed he was a girl. Sometimes I dreamed he was born way too early, or that he was something other than a baby, or that he died, or that I gave birth to him at home, or that he was blonde, or that I wasn’t pregnant at all. Sometimes the dreams happened to correspond to reality, and most of the time they didn’t.

So in your shoes, I would see a husband’s dream as a fun story that we might want to incorporate into the naming process if we happened to agree on the name anyway. I’d go with your plan: sticking with your original agreed-upon name choice rather than dramatically switching styles, and using the dream name as a fun middle name as well as a nickname for her daddy to call her. Victoria Zoe Marks is a wonderful name, and Z. is a very fun initial, and the naming story is a highly enjoyable one.

Twin Baby Boys Squelch-with-a-W, Brothers to Lila Grace

13 Replies

Kristin writes:

I am pregnant with twin boys and in my 36th week. I had a pre-term labor scare a few weeks ago and have been on bed rest ever since, so these boys could arrive at any moment. The one thing left on our to-do list is to come up with names.

We have an older daughter whose name we absolutely love, Lila. Lila is classic, elegant, easy to say and spell, old fashioned, yet contemporary and it suits her to a tee. Grace is her middle name – it’s a family name that was coincidentally present on both my husband’s and my side of the family. So it was a no brainer that our daughter would take that as her middle name. Our last name sounds like Squelch but with a “W”. Therefore, we want boys names that aren’t too harsh sounding. My husband’s name is Evan and mine is Kristin.

Requirements are that the first name be two or more syllables, doesn’t start with W and isn’t be in the top 100 names. I also don’t want matchy, rhymey names or names that start with the same letter for our twin boys. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to agree on any names and neither of us loves the options we’ve come up with either. We feel like we’ll never love any boy’s names as much as we love Lila’s.

My first name ideas: Bryson, Everett, Bennett, Emmett, Emerson, Avery and Grayson

My middle name ideas: Owen, Miles and Alexander

My husband’s first and middle name ideas: Miles, Max, Jason and Earl

My husband like Miles and Max as first names. But Max paired with our last name sounds like a single first name. Also, I don’t like the M and M theme or the fact that they are monosyllabic. I’d like a better flow with our last name. I really like Everett Miles but the fact that my husband wants to use Miles as a first name and Everett is so close to my husband’s name Evan, makes me question it. “Hi, I’m Evan and this is my son Everett.” Sounds odd, right? My husband doesn’t like Bennett because he worries about him being nicknamed Benny. But I love the meaning – blessed. Emerson reminds him of the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Does anybody have that association these days? He also dislikes Owen but I like that it is a variation of the name Evan. So, in essence, it’s a tribute to my husband. He has also mentioned Jason which is his first name and his father’s name. I don’t love the name but I’m willing to consider it probably more as a middle name because I’d like to stick with classic old timey names as a theme for our kids and don’t really think it goes with Lila. Another one of his suggestions is Earl, his father’s middle name. Certainly better as a middle name than first but kind of old sounding. Any ideas for us?

I will start by suggesting that your goal not be to find names you love as much as Lila’s name. The name Lila has already become synonymous with your much-loved daughter; any new names are unlikely to measure up until they’ve had time to become your sons. It’s also possible that boy names you love as much as Lila’s name don’t exist—and yet you would nevertheless need to choose names. So instead, I suggest the more attainable goal of finding your favorite two boy names.

And in fact, I might start by finding ONE favorite boy name. An exercise that can be useful when naming twins (especially if you don’t want any twin-name gimmick) is to pretend you are expecting just one baby boy, and find a name for him; then pretend it is some time later and you are expecting another single baby boy, and find a name for HIM.

Looking at your lists, the pairing that stands out to me is Miles and Everett. Like the name Lila, both are old-fashioned yet contemporary names. They’re coordinated but not matchy in any way. You’ve got Miles down as a one-syllable name, but I say it with two syllables: my-yuls. Evan and Everett seem too similar for brothers, but not for a father/son; I think the mild connection is nice, and that the frequency of it seeming strange in an introduction is likely to be very low. I do wonder if Lila and Miles are too similar, though; they do share a lot of sounds.

If Everett continues to seem too close to your husband’s name, and if Miles doesn’t seem too close to Lila, my next choice is Miles and Bennett. I think as long as your son doesn’t himself choose to go by Benny later on, you can avoid the nickname.

My concern with Emerson isn’t the band but the usage: currently it’s used more often for girls. The name Avery, too, is currently used much more often for girls. If you use either name, I suggest using both: Emerson and Avery are very compatible names. I’d use them with boyish middle names, for clarity; perhaps Emerson Miles and Avery Bennett, or Emerson Earl and Avery Jason if you’d like to use the family names. Lila, Emerson, and Avery.

I see a lot of -ett and -son on your list, so I think I’d explore that for more possibilities. I’ll avoid very common names, but I’m ignoring the arbitrary Top-100 cut-off: since some of the names on your list are Top 100, I’ll assume you mean “not very common” (i.e., not Mason) as opposed to “#101 is fine, but #100 is not.”

Elliot is one of my own favorites, though maybe it’s too much L with a sister Lila. I might pair it with Oliver, and then perhaps the L sound is unifying rather than duplicating: Lila, Elliot, and Oliver.

Or perhaps I’d pair it with Simon, so that one boy shares the L sound and the other shares the long-I: Lila, Elliot, and Simon.

Garrett is another possibility. Perhaps we could pair one -ett name and one -son name! Garrett and Harrison. Garrett and Anderson. Garrett and Davison. Or replace Garrett with Beckett—there was a character named Lyla Garrity on the television show Friday Night Lights; I’m not sure how many people would think of it with a Lila and a Garrett. Anderson and Beckett for Baby A and Baby B, if you like a leeeeeetle twin-name gimmick. Or Beckett and Harrison, or Beckett and Davison, or Beckett and Thompson.

I love the name Henry with Lila. Henry works well with Simon, Oliver, Everett, Emmett, Elliot, Miles, Grady, Isaac, Frederick—lots of names.

We recently did another question about twin boys, and I got caught up in the fantasy of naming twin boys and made a bit of a list; perhaps that might be of some use. Some of those pairs are a little matchier than you’re looking for, but individual names might stand out. Henry and Malcolm. Harris and Calvin. Emmett and Louis. Ian and Leo. Davis and Simon. Gideon and Ruben.

Will the Name Marigold Become a Huge Hit?

21 Replies

Kym writes:

Hubby and I are expecting our sixth child, a girl, sometime this October. We are calling her Marigold – a name I’ve loved since the sixth grade and a name that hubby has grown to love, too. It has take me (not hubby) a good while to grow brave enough to use this name, because I’m sure there will be raised eyebrows and chatter behind our backs, but the name has finally solidified for me and to us, our daughter is already Marigold. There is no other name I love (except for the names we’ve already given our other daughters.) Now, my only concern is that I was told there is a new NBC show premiering in September in which there is a girl named….you guessed it….Marigold. I’ve confirmed this; it is true. I am a tad worried that there will be a huge influx of Marigolds being born in the next few years, not to mention how many will think we named our October daughter after the girl in the September show. It’s rather bumming me and I need some input. Will this very uncommon name become a huge hit?

No.

…I suppose I shouldn’t be so definite. Violet, after all, has done quite a journey up the ranks recently. But I still say no for Marigold: I think it’s a charming name, it’s on my own list, and I think it’s more likely to stay unusual—if not QUITE as unusual as before.

I think there will be at least a little jump from the show, because many people who have never even heard of the name Marigold will now suddenly have it brought to their attention—but I think there will be a lot of people who HAVE heard of it who will say “Oh, shoot; well, now that it’s in a show I don’t want to use it anymore.” I also think that if the show is a success, you will have to deal with the occasional or even frequent “Oh, like the show?” But you will say, “No, we chose the name before the show came out,” and that will be the end of it. And maybe the show will tank and it won’t even be an issue at all.

Keep in mind, of course, that many a person has made many a prediction that looks very, very silly later on. “Oh, computers will never take off!” “Television is just a fad!” “Madison? That’s the perfect ha-ha name for the crazy mermaid to choose, since no one would ever ACTUALLY use it!” There IS the risk that the time is absolutely ripe for a name like Marigold (books and TV shows often tap into incoming trends, rather than being the cause of them), and that the show will rocket it to the top. I’d put my money on a small spike that works in your favor by giving the name a pleasing normality/familiarity that keeps people from acting like you named your daughter Tulip or Hydrangea—but I could easily be absolutely wrong.

It sounds like it doesn’t really matter, though, if your daughter is already Marigold to both of you. It’s too bad about the show, but it doesn’t seem like you’d want to change her name on the off-chance that it will be a serious problem.

Let’s have a poll over to the right to collect others’ predictions. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Marigoldpoll

Name update! Kym writes:

Well, here she is…our little flower, Marigold! Not one person has made any association with “that” TV series yet, and I’d say a good 98% of the people who hear her name absolutely LOVE it. So that makes for a happy momma (though I’d be happy regardless). Marigold was born in October and after choosing her name, we learned that the flower for the month of October is….the marigold! Fancy that. :)

Thanks all for your comments!

Baby Boy Wylie, Brother to Violet and Scott

28 Replies

K. writes:

I am 4 weeks from having a beautiful baby boy in my arms and I don’t feel settled on any name. I still probably spend 5 hours a day thinking about it.

Our last name is Wylie, and we’re considering Robert, Cooper, or Zachary as middle names (all significant family names.)

My daughter is Violet Noelle Wylie. And my son is Scott Brian Wylie. I love how Violet and Scott sound together, though I know they’re stylistically different. Violet had long been my favorite girls name and Scott is my husband’s middle name. I’m so glad I took a bit of a risk on Scott. I’m sure some people think it stale and tired. But for the most part it gets good reaction and actually feels fresh on the under 5 crowd!

So my dilemma:

We’re leaning towards Oliver. But I just can’t stand how popular it is. It is particularly popular in my state even though I don’t know a single Oliver. The other problem is that Oliver sounds like Violet’s brother but not really like Scotty’s brother!

Other’s on the list:

Heath

Rhett

Reid

Penn

Simon

Sam (sooo popular!)

Peter

James (nn Jamie)

I feel like its slightly odd to use Simon, Peter, and James since they’re so biblical? Am I over thinking that? The other small problem with Rhett, Reid, Heath, and Penn is that they lack nickname potential. I used to love one syllable boy names (hence choosing Scott) but the name pretty much got hijacked and we call him Scotty 99% of the time. So now I fear the one syllables a bit! What should I choose? Of course, I’m open to other suggestions from you and your readers. This is our last baby and I so want to love his name as much as I love Violet’s!!

I think names like James, Peter, and Simon have all been fully mainstreamed by now: someone certainly COULD use them because of their biblical status, but they’re just standard names at this point—as are Matthew, Andrew, Joshua, David, Michael, Benjamin, Daniel, Ethan, Mark, Caleb, Luke, Jonathan, etc.; practically the whole classic/traditional/timeless list are names that also appear in the Bible. Even Noah, Ezra, Ezekiel, Moses, Abraham, and Isaac are mainstreamed at this point, due to a recent trend of Quirky Biblical names. Perhaps if I encountered a family with ALL biblical names, I might WONDER—but encountering just one name from the list, it wouldn’t even come to my mind. In a family with a Violet and a Scott, it certainly wouldn’t seem biblical.

Although I do like to avoid style clashes within a sibling group, I think there are many styles that are different yet perfectly fine together. Scott and Oliver is an example of this: they’re definitely not the same style, but they’re fine: at most they provoke a small, interested, surprised feeling—but no “What happened THERE?” feeling as there might be with, say, Maverick and Jason, or Sunshine and Jessica. Scotty and Ollie is pretty cute!

I think if you’ve found you nicknamed Scott to Scotty against your original plan, I would avoid Penn.

Simon and Sam have an initial working in their favor: when two names are of somewhat different styles, a matching starting initial can make them seem more similar. Scotty and Sammy, Scotty and Simon.

Rhett has a similar situation but with its ending: the three names become linked through their ending T-sounds. Violet, Scott, and Rhett. I can see how you might want OR not want that; I think if I encountered it in the wild, I’d find it appealing. I even like how both boys have double T’s.

Scott and Peter seem like a very good combination to me, and the T sound in Peter ties his name to his siblings.

I think my favorite from your list is James/Jamie: it gives you the same “one-syllable name, two-syllable nickname” pattern as with Scott. James Cooper Wylie; Violet, Scott, and James; Scotty and Jamie.

I suggest not trying to compare your feelings for a new name to your love of a name you loved for years and that has now fully become your daughter to you. The new name is almost always going to feel a little funny at first, while the established name can feel as if it’s been perfect from the beginning. Instead, the goal can be the easier one of just finding the name you like best of the possibilities: not “As much as I love Violet” but “The one I like best from this list.”

Since you’ve had the experience of finding that a name off its style peak can sound fresh on a small child, I suggest the name John. Like Scott, it’s one-syllable and not currently on-trend. Like Scott, it sounds fresh and surprising in a kindergarten class full of Cadens and Masons. (In fact, that’s how the name first caught my riveted attention: I saw it written in a child’s hand on a cute drawing up on the kindergarten wall.) John Robert Wylie; Violet, Scott, and John; Scotty and Johnny.

I’d also add Grant. It has the T-ending, and I think it goes well enough with both Violet and Scott. Though Scott is more familiar to me at this point as a first name, Scott and Grant are both surnames.

Name update! K. writes:

Our beautiful boy was born on September 14th via repeat c-section. It took me about 2 days to settle on his name, though my husband was certain from his birth. Now, I am so in love with his name, I really can’t believe it. I was so worried I couldn’t be satisfied this time around. We chose Simon Cooper Wylie as his name. It’s thanks to you and your readers! First, I was hesitant to have the name start with an ‘s’ but once I removed that restriction knew I had a winner. Secondly, when only a few people liked Simon the best off my list, I realized I was routing for it! That made it easy! Thanks so much!