Kristine writes:
Hi! My name is Kristine and my husbands name is Lawrence (everyone calls him Low). A friend just recently told me about you! I was very excited to see if I could get your input. I am currently 39 weeks pregnant (due date is June 13th) with my second child which is a boy. Our first child is a girl. Her name is Elianna Presley Norris and she is 19 months old. Our finalist names for our boy are Malaki, Mak (pronounced Mac) and Kingston. We cant decide if we like Malaki with the nickname Mak or just to go with the name Mak. As far as a middle name we were thinking of doing the other name we didnt choose or we really like Elias or Eliah. If our baby boy was another girl we really liked the names Larue, Penelope and Everlee. We do plan on having more children and most likely all close together.
When I say each combination aloud, I find Kingston Norris a little difficult to say: the -on of Kingston and the No- of Norris either blends or bounces. And Mak Norris seems a little bit like MacNorris and a little bit like Chuck Norris; I also wonder if a short nickname name like Mak would make you feel pressured to do the same for future boys. None of those seem like big/deal-breaker issues.
Still, my first choice would be Malaki (Mak) Norris: I like Malaki best with the surname, with the sibling name, and with the idea of future siblings to name.
I like Elias best of the two nickname options, but both options have a lot of sounds in common with Malaki. My favorite would be Malaki Kingston Norris: in the middle name position, the -on/No- comes up much less often.
Let’s have a poll to see what everyone else thinks!
I voted for Malakai. I think Elias would make a great future brother name, but I don’t care for it as a middle name. The ending of Malakai just kind of smooshes into the start of Elias. It sounds very slurred to me. Malakai Kingston gets my vote for first/middle. I especially like the snappy sound of the repeated K.
I vote for Malaki too. Kingston Norris is a bit difficult to say.
Are you pronouncing Malaki with a long ee sound or a short i? Have you considered a more standard spelling to make it more clear? Malachy (I think) is usually pronounced with the long ee, and Malachi with the short i. I grew up with a non-standard spelling of a popular name, and it wasn’t the end of the world, but I always feel obliged to mention this to parents… though as a Kristine you are probably already familiar with the situation!
I also thought it worth mentioning that to me at first glance Malaki spelled that way reads feminine. I don’t think it’s being given to girls right now, but who knows down the line. I’d tend toward using the biblical (Malachi) or Irish (Malachy) spellings.
Are you considering Eliah or Elias because you would have picked those as a first name if you didn’t have an Elianna already? I like Malaki Elias best.
These are all great names, I can see why you’re having a hard time choosing! I really like Malaki Kingston it’s such a cool name! The other name that jumped to mind, could be a possible brother for Elianna and Malaki, was August. Mak and Gus, love. Good luck, whatever you choose your little boy will have a great name.
Also, have you seen this book?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Norris-Bear-Shared-Catherine-Rayner/dp/1846163099
Obsessed with her picture books. :)
I voted for Malaki and then changed my vote to Kingston because of the spelling issue. Spelled Malachi it would be my top choice.
I don’t mind alternate/creative spellings if there’s some meaningful reason for doing so, but if it’s just your own stylistic preference I would consider using the standard spelling Malachi (or, depending on how you want it pronounced, Malachy) to make things easier for your son. It’s the sound, association, and history of the same itself you’re attracted to, right?
My vote:
1. Malachi Norris
2. Kingston Norris
3. Malaki Norris
Thank you so much ladies! I love all the input and will be taking all of it into consideration. Much appreciation with your detailed explanations! I’ll let you know what we go with!
Much love,
Kristine
I much prefer the traditional spelling of Malachi. If I saw the name Malaki on a class list, I would guess that it was a girl with the name pronounced to rhyme with gal-lackey. And there are a couple of definitions of malaki in the urban dictionary which are not very positive
I agree – I dislike Malaki because it seems made up and cre8tive. However, I do love Malachi! You could still use Mac as a nickname. I voted for Malaki only because I like the sound of the name, but I much prefer Kingston over the spelling Malaki. So I agree with a poster above. My favorite is 1) Malachi, then 2) Kingston, and 3) Malaki last as that spelling.
I think Malachi Kingston is a great name!
I didn’t vote, because I don’t know how the writer is wanting me to pronounce “Malaki”- I’m assuming Mala-KEE because of the odd spelling… I’m guessing the spelling is trying to avoid the name being pronounced as Malachi would be (Mala-K”Eye”). I prefer traditional spellings, but if she is wanting the normal Malachi pronunciation with a pretend spelling I think it would make more sense to use “Malakai.” If she’s wanting the Mala-Kee pronunciation, I think Malachy looks more refined.
I like Mac or Mack, and I think it’s fine with your last name, but I think Mak looks… like the person didn’t know how to spell it. I met a little boy named Mack at the museum a couple years ago and thought it was a great, simple name that you don’t hear often.
I vote for Malachi Kingston. I think Malachi Kingston goes great with Elianna Presley. :) I too prefer the traditional spelling of Malachi with nickname Mac, it just makes more sense to me personally.
“Malaki” seems like a girl’s name to me: if I saw it in print without any other information, I would assume that the person was female and that her name was pronounced “Mah-LACKEY”. I really like the traditional name Malachi, and you could call him Mac or Mal. But I would always assume that Malachi was pronounced “Malak-EYE”, so if that’s not how you want to go, you’d probably be saddling your child with a lifelong uphill battle. (“No, it’s “Mala-KEE”.)
With the prominence of “K” in your top three choices, I wonder if the unusual spelling of Malaki and Mak is intended to honor you, Kristine?
In which case, I meant to add, I am much more at ease with the unusual spelling—though I admit my first inclination is to encourage a traditional spelling as many of the other commenters have.
I wanted to add that if you decide to jettison the Malaki spelling (which I would because it seems very confusing/feminine to me) in favor of Malachi or Malachy, you could still spell the nickname Mak. I do encourage you to consider spelling the full name one of the traditional ways to save him a lot of time as he grows up, and also to cut down on gender/pronunciation confusion.
Please let us know what you end up using! Best wishes.
Aaaand…finally! One more thing. This only applies if you live in a strongly Spanish speaking area, but I am always careful about names that start Mal- because the word “mal” means bad (or ill, poor, evil) in Spanish. I had a childhood friend whose parents changed her name from Mala to Maya because when they moved to Florida and she went to an all-Latino school, Mala was not a good name. I live in an area that is at least half Spanish speaking, and I would avoid Malaki-pronounced-Mal-a-kee because it sounds exactly like mal aqui, which translates as “evil here” in Spanish. Just a thought! If you live somewhere very non-Latino it’s unlikely to be an issue. And of course, Mak is neutral.
I voted for Malaki (nn Mak) although I STRONGLY perfer Malachi nn Mac.
I agree with Kaela chose wich sound you want biblical Malachi with a long “i” sound or irish Malachy with an “ee” sound and stick to the traditional spelling. I prefer Malachi such a great name and could definitely be shortened to Mac/ Mak. Malachi Kingston sounds great! All the best