(Today I have several posts I ran out of time to answer at usual length in the week after they arrived, but I’d jotted down a single suggestion in the spreadsheet. I’m going to post several in a row today with my extremely brief response, so that others can work on them further if they want to.)
Ellen writes:
Swistle! did you know that you can get pregnant the first time you have sex after giving birth? ME EITHER. (I mean I guess I knew but not welll enough to avoid it…)
soooo my husband (Edward) and I (Ellen) have basically been in shock and it’s only just now occurring to us that we should maybe name this current baby that’s baking in there. i’m now eight months pregnant and we have 10 month old twin girls, Lucy June and Nora Rose. yes, our THREE children will be under a year apart, and yes, we are freaking out. also hiring babysitters frantically. Ahem.we DID want three kids, we just weren’t thinking we’d have them this close. With the girls, with spent months and months figuring out their names. They were carefully planned, etc. We love that their names have such a nice rhythm. our surname is Salter, btw. anyway, with this preg. it took me an embarrassingly long time to even realize i WAS pregnant, because of the whole having infant twins thing, and we just started seriously thinking about names last week. it’s a boy, btw. so with the girls, like I said we thought long and hard and settled on names that were kind of similar–four letters, similar styles–but didn’t sound super alike. We sometimes call them Lucy and Nora but more often Lucy June and Nora Rose, because the names are super fun to say. We’d like a similar double barreled concept with The Boy. Our girls do not have family names, we told our families that we would find many other ways to honor them.so…um, help? oh, we don’t want to repeat initials. we don’t really care about popularity, especially as we usually call the girls their full names.our hastily brainstromed list, we are thinking about combos from this listOwen (but maybe too close to my name, but that might not matter at all since i’m the mom?)OliverHenry (but I dont want to repeat ending sounds)Caleb (but maybe too bliblical? we are not bliblical, we’re Unitarians)ReidTate (but sounds kind of girly, I guess because of Tatum)we are oddly drawn to Moss, but it isn’t really a name, so.Gage (doesn’t seem quite enough like a name)Gray (but again…is this really name-y? but could be a good middle, its a word name like June and Rose. but on the other hand, isn’t gray kind of depressing?)ArloNicoJude (but super close to June)FelixAny suggestions for us? BTW our dogs are Ambrose and Izadore, for what that matters, which probably isn’t much.THANK YOU!!!!
Owen Reid leaps out at me as an excellent combination, an excellent name, and an excellent way to repeat the 4-4 letter, 2-1 syllable pattern. I don’t think Owen is too close to Ellen.
Although I like Owen, it would bother me that it shares a lot with Nora but not with Lucy…
How about Otis? I like Lucy, Nora & Otis. Otis Tate. Doesn’t repeat the vowel sound like his sister’s names, but it repeats the ‘t’ which sounds nice.
Or how about Hugo? Lucy, Nora & Hugo. Hugo Gray? Hugo Gage?
Or Abel Gage? Abel Gray? Repeating the ‘a’ sound.
Good luck!
I think Reid Henry is great. Ill add Ian, Cade, Clark, and Grant as suggestions but I really don’t you can you wrong with any of the names on your list.
If you’re going to call your son by a double name, I’d definitely choose a middle that isn’t a surname name. I don’t know if Reid is officially considered a surname name, but Owen Reid sounds like a full name to me. It would work, but could be confusing sometimes.
From your list, I like Felix Oliver.
Other names I like with Lucy and Nora:
Sam
Simon
Jack
Henry
Benjamin (kind of long if you’re going to use his middle as well, but I love it with Lucy and Nora!)
If you like Moss, I think it could work as a middle name.
Owen Moss
Gavin Moss
Ethan Moss
Evan Moss
Caleb Moss
I like Caleb the best from your list, I don’t think of it as an especially biblical name.
good luck!
Arlo Reid fits very well together!
From your list, I agree that Owen Reid jumped out at me. Henry Reid was my 2nd thought from your list. I do like Henry Jude & Owen Jude, but agree that Jude is too close to June.
Some other ideas of combo names that I think would fit: Milo James, Ian Jack, Collin Graham, Evan Charles. My favorite is Ian Jack. It has the same fun-to-say aspect of your daughter’s names.
Arlo Gray – love it. Great first name, and the middle name slot is perfect for using a name that you don’t feel comfortable using as a first name. Nora’s R and O are separated by Lucy’s L; all three kids get a word middle. Nora, Lucy and Arlo – perfect.
I really love Grant with Lucy & Nora. How about Grant Reid? or Arlo Grant. Marlon Grant would be studly as well. Owen Grant is good too.
I spent a really long time writing a response to this trying to find a name that fit the pattern of your daughters name and flowed correctly. In my opinion the pattern of your daughters names are “common two syllable first name” and “word one syllable second name”.
The best I could do, after playing around with it for ages, is Owen Gray. Which is nice indeed, but I just don’t see using the whole thing all of the time like you do with the girls.
So I abandoned the “common” first name rule and I think my favorites are:
Arlo Gray
Nico Gray
Arlo West
Or make Reid into a word name:
Arlo Reed
Or abandon the “word” middle name, and I love Shay. Always have.
Owen Shay
Caleb Shay
And… because this is a novel anyways mine as well make it longer, other names I might throw into the mix
First – Otto, Bruno, Benji, Leo
Middle – Fox, Bear, Cay, Moss, Graeme
Just throwing combinations together — some from your list, some not
Simon Jack
Arlo Tate
David Moss
Milo Drake
Felix Gray (I like this one – since Felix means happy, it balances out the Gray. and it’s fun to say.)
Jasper Gray
Grayson Tate
I tried to get away from the 2-1 syllable combination, but I couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t sound clunky as a double-barreled name — Owen is especially problematic when combined with a longer name, since to me a name like Owen Henry sounds like “oh and Henry.” (I don’t know why that isn’t the case when combined with shorter names, but I don’t hear it with those)
arlo moss or arlo gray
Love it!
My hands down favorite is Oliver Gray. Really fun to say, really great with Lucy and Nora.
Best of luck with everything!
From your list these name combos stood out to me.
Arlo Tate*
Oliver Tate
Oliver Reid
Owen Reid
Felix Oliver
Combos I wanted to suggest:)
Leo Hendricks*
Samuel Pierce
Samuel Elliot
Dylan Elliot
Elliot Joseph
Eli Joseph
Julian Miller
Julian Pierce
Oliver Rhys
Liam Rhys*
Finley Tate*
* my favorites
Owen West or Owen Heath
I think Felix and Oliver sound perfect with Lucy and Nora.
Felix West
Felix Heath
Felix Grey
Felix Reed
Oliver Miles
Oliver Ford
Oliver Ash
Oliver Bay
Good luck!
Samuel, Joseph and Isaac sound great too.
Gray/Grayson is actually getting more popular and most people don’t see it as depressing. I’m guessing its resurgence has something to do with the book Fifty Shades of Gray, and if you want to avoid the association I’d avoid the name because that book is huge right now. I personally think of Dorian Gray, a nicer literary association but still kind’ve a dark book.
I like Felix as a first name a lot!
I vote for Owen Reid! Owen is 4 letters, a new initial and a different ending. Personally, I would avoid Gray due to the 50 shades connotation. (Btw – I am biased as I have both an Owen and a Norah but we have had many compliments on how well the names go together.)
I vote for Arlo! So so cute and fits pefectly with the sibset.
I really like Moss! I think it would work well as a middle name, and it goes nicely with Rose and June.
I love the names Lucy and Nora. I can imagine a lot of great boy names with your daughters’ names, but Owen seems like such a different style to me! I’d go another direction.
I LOVE Jack for you: Lucy, Nora and Jack.
I know it’s only one syllable…so if not a first name, it’d make a great middle!
Clark is also wonderful: Lucy, Nora and Clark.
Maybe you’d reconsider the two syllable rule? :-)
Or Hayes: Lucy, Nora and Hayes.
Henry is so perfect! Henry Jack: Lucy, Nora and Henry.
I know it has the same ending as Lucy but somehow I don’t notice as much, maybe because of the gender difference and the fact that when saying your kids’ names, Nora would go in between Lucy and Henry.
Raymond or Ray: Lucy, Nora and Raymond.
Or Samuel: Lucy, Nora and Samuel.
Walter Jack is great! Lucy, Nora and Walter.
I’d go for the more vintage and classic/timeless boy names. They pair so well with Lucy and Nora. Good luck!
I just realized you can’t go with Walter because….Walter Salter! Ooops. What a bummer because I love the nickname Walt. :-)
I like Owen Reid. I think Tate, Gray and Gage would work as middles with it, too, and you could use one of these names you like but feel not quite right about using as a first. I like Arlo in the sibling set as well, with any of those middles.
Your letter has me in a cold sweat as I have 5 month old twins and just realized I haven’t had a period since July. Gulp
I like Owen the best
I feel kind of silly but it makes my heart sing to think of you choosing an M name for your third and last child. An M name would tuck him nicely between his sisters’ beautiful names alphabetically. Max, Marcus, and Martin are all great picks that I think fit with your style.
I like Ryan Luke or Ryan Cole for you, which are ALMOST anagrams of Lucy and Nora.
From your list I like Owen Reid the most.
Good luck with your expanding family.
What about Toby?
Toby Jett
Toby Clay
Toby Moss
Or Eric?
Eric Sage
Eric Wade
Eric Chad
Leon, Ivan, Emil, Abel????
Good luck!