E. writes:
Our first baby is due in four weeks and we’re still mulling over a name for her.
Our surname sounds very similar to “Hudson” with one letter off.
We have a few girls’ names we really like but are trying to find the right combination. We tend towards classic, not-too-common names.
First names we like:
Louise (my husband and I met in New Orleans, Louisiana; we’d use the nickname Lou), Beatrice (love the nickname Bea/Bee), Eleanor (Ella), Julia
Middle names we like:
Victoria (my husband’s mother’s name), Rose (my grandmother’s maiden name), Louise.
My husband really likes the combination of Eleanor Louise – but I’m concerned that Ellie/Ella are too popular and that it’s too many L sounds in the name. He also likes the name Katherine, but my concern is that a well-known Kate Hudson exists in the world already.
I like Beatrice Louise or Louise Victoria – but wondering if the expression “geez Louise” is an obstacle and if “Lou Hudson” is too masculine?
One other consideration is that our dog is named Lucy so yelling Louise/Lucy could get confusing.
Thanks for the help!
I think “Geez Louise” is fine; I don’t think many people say it anymore, and I find it appealing rather than off-putting. I can picture using it with the child, when I want to scold her but very lightly: “Geez Louise, your ROOM!”
I don’t think I’d worry about Lou Hudson being too masculine: if she doesn’t like that, she won’t use the nickname, or she’ll use Lou-lou/Lulu instead. And if she does like it, she might REALLY like it: there are a lot of people specifically looking for feminine names with boyish nicknames (Samantha/Sam, Charlotte/Charlie, etc.).
Eleanor Louise sounds great to me—not too many L sounds.
The Kate Hudson connection would bother me too. I think Katherine would work great as a middle name, though. Eleanor Katherine is very pretty, or Julia Katherine.
The dog-name confusion, if it turns out to be an issue, will not be…er, permanent. And you might find you use a different tone of voice with the dog than with your child, and/or that it is funny and cute the way the dog always comes trotting over when you call Louise to dinner, and/or that you enjoy saying “Lucy and Louise, let’s go on a walk!”
Looking over the firsts and middles, I’m hardly even inclined to make any combinations: it feels like a “can’t go wrong” pair of lists. I like all the ones you mentioned (Eleanor Louise, Beatrice Louise, Louise Victoria), and also:
Beatrice Rose
Beatrice Victoria
Eleanor Katherine
If I were forced to choose, I think my top choice would be Louise Victoria. I lean toward the name Louise if you want something less common, since both Eleanor and Julia are enjoying popularity right now; I also love the name for itself, and I like its connection to you and your husband. I also like Beatrice: I have Beatrix on my own list, and a large part of it is how much I would love calling her Bee and purchasing bee things.
I feel very drawn to Eleanor Katherine and Eleanor Louise. My only concern with those is the way Eleanor and Ella are moving so quickly up the popularity charts. I’m not concerned about the current popularity of the name Eleanor (it was at #135 in 2012, which is still quite uncommon), but if popularity is one of your main preferences I would be nervous about steering you toward it in case it continued its upward path. And Ella was #12 in 2012—nearly Top 10.
One option that combines Ella and Louise is Eloise. I like Eloise Katherine, or Eloise Victoria.
Would others like to pair up some combinations? Here are the first names:
Louise
Beatrice
Eleanor
Julia
And here are the middles:
Victoria
Rose
Louise
(and I added Katherine)
I like all the names and pretty much all the combinations but I favor Louise for its sentimental connection to you.
I would like to suggest Louisa as a first name. It’s not very popular and pairs nicely with your middle name options.
Louisa Rose
Louisa Beatrice
Louisa Victoria
I cannot tell you how much I love Beatrice/ beatrix Rose Hudson. Bee and Rose together= extremely cute.
I love all your choices. Have you thought about Louisa as an option? When I say it, it turns the Z-ish end of Louise (LOO-ize) into a sort of dancing S sound (Loo-EE-sa). It’s almost musical.
If you don’t like the matching A’s of Louisa Victoria, you could go French with Louisa Victoire
Louisa Katherine
Louisa Rose
I think my favorite is Louisa Beatrice.
I messed up the phonetics on Louise–it’s not emphasizing the first syllable, it’s pretty even.
Anyway, all are beautiful choices, and I can’t wait to hear what you choose!
I actually tend to say Louise as loo-EEZE, definitely stressing the second syllable. I was going to suggest Louisa too, though, for the exact “dancing” sounding reason as you did! Louisa Hudson? Gorgeous.
Me too! I wanted to skip reading the post and jump right to the comments and enthusiastically yell “Louisa!” I like Louisa so much and it seems to have the exact same connection to Louisiana if not more, since it ends in ‘A’ just as Louisiana does. I also know a girl named Louisiana if that makes a difference to you! It can work as a first name just as well as Georgia, Virginia, etc.
My first thought about Eleanor was to use a different nickname. Something a little less popular than Ella. Nell or Nora perhaps?
My favorite combinations from your list are probably Beatrice Rose & then Louise Victoria. I also like Katherine with Beatrice & Louise, if you are willing to consider it as a middle.
I love Nell and Nora. Ellie is cute and fun but I feel like its going to be the ‘jessica’ or ‘jennifer’ of my kids generation with people using it for so many names. Nora just seems so cute and classy!
I think Victoria Rose is pretty, maybe it’s because my bestie cousin is Rose, but I do think it works in syllabication
I have a niece named Bea (pronounced like the letter B). Its a standalone first name, not a nickname. It is such a sweet name and suits her perfectly. I do like it as a nickname for Beatrice as well. If you are leaning towards Louise for this baby, Beatrice would be a great choice for a sister. Love the nicknames “Lou” and “Bee” together :)
Lots of great choices. My favourite from your list is Beatrice, since that was on my list and I didn’t get to use it.
I haven’t met any little Louises or Beatrices locally. I do know an Eleanor though, who went by Elle for awhile. Nora seems to be getting popular as a name/nickname locally too.
If you are at all concerned with popularity, Eleanor and Julia are both out. Beatrice/Bea is a name I hear a lot, and its not too popular yet but its gaining. Because all of this, and the New Orleans thing, I lean towards Louise for you!
I love both Louise Katherine and Louise Victoria! Louise Rose Hudson doesn’t strike a chord with me, but there is nothing wrong with it.
I too was going to suggest Louisa…Louisa Bea Hudson…Love!
My grandmother’s name is Eleanor Louise Harmen which is the exact name you are thinking with a similar last name. She is 83 and I live with her so I just asked her how she likes her name and she said she likes it. She said that it has never given her any problems. She also never felt it was too many L sounds. I asked her if she ever had any nickname and she said sometimes Ella but that was it.
I like all your name options, but my personal favorite is Beatrice Louise.
I love Nora as a nickname for Eleanor.
I also prefer Louisa or Eloise over Louise, both feel more modern to me. I have a Lucia nn Lulu & think it sounds so cute!
Louisa Beatrice FTW!
I personally wouldn’t go for Louise with a dog named Lucy, but it would be great in the middle name slot.
I think just about any combination you choose would be great. My favourites are Eleanor Louise and Victoria Rose (if Victoria were a first name option).
The only combination I’d probably stay away from is Eleanor Rose. Ella is a common first name and Rose is a very common middle name at the moment. I know of two Ella Rose’s, so if you are trying to avoid trendy, that is the combination to avoid.
Good luck and congratulations.
Julia Louise is my favorite nn Jules from your choices. I also like Julia Katherine.
Katherine Louise is very pretty, Maybe you could call her Kat, Kit, Katie-Lou, or Kitty instead? What about the variations Katrina or Katya nn Rina or Kat?
If you are worried about the popularity of Ella, with regards to Eleanor, what about the nn Nell.
Ellen with the nn Nell is cute too. Ellen Victoria or Ellen Louisa are lovely.
Good Luck!
This summer, I almost wrote to Swistle with our own crisis of baby name drama. Louise and Beatrice were both on our list. In the end, our sweet girl became Louise, nn Lulu or Lu. Lots of people tell us it’s lovely/cute, some people have told us it’s a “grandma” name, but I have to say that each time someone says her name aloud I have a silent swoon. It is her perfect name.
So of course I vote for Louise!
I really like all of these names, especially as siblings. But I feel like I would save Louise or Julia for sisters to Beatrice or Eleanor. Weird I guess, but I find them fresher and more unexpected after one of the slightly more unusual choices, probably because people usually seem to get more daring as they have more children. For example:
Beatrice, Julia and Eleanor
Eleanor and Louise
I also slightly prefer the sound of Louisa for the same reason as Brigid, above (however the dog thing would bother me).
I like all combinations of Beatrice and Eleanor with the nicknames, but these are standouts:
Beatrice Louisa
Eleanor Victoria (the repeating ‘or’ is very pretty)
I like Julia best:
Julia Louise
Julia Beatrice
Julia Rose
Julia Katherine
Julia Kate
I do think it would be weird to have a Lucy and a Louise.
I already commented above, but Louisa is my favorite. It does seem fresher than Louise. I am still stuck envisioning an older lady named Louise that I knew as a child, and I can’t get past it ; )
Otherwise, I love all your names. I have such a soft spot for Julia. I only personally know one Julia, and she is 7. And I “know” another toddler Julia from one of the blogs I read. Only 2 Julias, considering it’s ranked #65!
You really cannot go wrong with these names.
I like your husband’s favorite, Eleanor Louise, but it wouldn’t be my favorite combo because I’d want the Louise in the first name spot. Which one you would like to have in the NAME spot? Eleanor, Beatrice, and Louise/a are on our short list; I know three Eleanor’s, one Beatrice, and zero Louise. People seem to use such different nicknames for Eleanor, so it seems more rare. The Eleanor’s we know go by Nora, Nori, and Eleanor.
Here are my favorite combos:
– Beatrice Louise. (Bea)
– Louise Victoria. (Lou, Lulu)
– Beatrice Rose. (Bea)
– Eleanor Louise. (Ellie Lou)
Oh, and I think the dog issue is a non-issue.
Oh! Last night I was reading Bring Back Beatrice! (a cool baby name book, btw) and I was reading about the name Nola and her description. Did you know she’s a nick name for New Orleans, L.A.? N.O.L.A. = Nola! I was so excited andI immediately thought of you. It’s a beautiful name and one you may not have considered to honor where you met!
Dang it! Someone beat me to Nola! That’s assuming you don’t still live in louisiana. Too predictable if you did (this is coming from someone who grew up near New Orleans).