Jen writes:
My husband and I are preparing for the arrival of our second baby (a girl!) any day now. For years we have talked about baby names, and we always thought we would name a daughter June Margo after our beloved grandmothers.
However, we’ve also both fallen in love with the name Amelia Anne as well.
This past week I happened to mention in passing to my sister that we were thinking of Amelia and she revealed that she and her husband have been “saving” that name for the past 7 years for their “someday” daughter (she has 4 boys and is pregnant with #5…as of yet they don’t know the gender).
This seemed to cinch the deal for me that our baby would be June Margo. But, the more I think about it, the more worried I get. My name is Jennifer. Everyone I know calls me Jen, and my husband calls me Jenny. I have a sinking feeling that once baby girl arrives I will instantly regret my decision to give her a name so similar to mine. I’m starting to envision the confusion between our names only one vowel sound away from each other. On the other hand, we have always wanted to avoid “popular” names and Amelia seems to climb the charts every year.
SO, here is the dilemma, should I approach my sister and hope she’ll compromise on her long saved name, or am I being paranoid about similar vowel sounds?
Do you think Jen/June/Jenny/Junie will be confusing?
Baby girl has a big brother named Ezra, and our last name begins with a W and rhymes with Farnsworth.
Can you help me untangle this mess and set my mind at ease??Thanks!
June seems distinct from Jen to me, and Junie distinct from Jenny. I can certainly hear the similar sounds, and I think there could be an occasional mis-hearing/mis-saying of one name or the other, but not at a level that would affect the happiness of your lives. I just yelled out both names in an empty house as if summoning for dinner, and I think they’d actually sound quite different: the vowel sound really projects.
You’d like to avoid popular names, and both Amelia and June are rising in popularity—but Amelia is at #23, while June is in the 400s. Furthermore, I think Ezra and June make a great sibling combination, while the combination of Ezra and Amelia draws attention to the matching -a endings.
You have a name you’ve loved for years, a name that honors two beloved grandmothers—and you’re considering switching to a recently-added choice that would cause your sister distress whether or not she has a girl, as well as knocking both honorees out of place. I’m opposed to dibs on names, but this is a situation where I can’t see the good in switching to the one name your sister wants. If you no longer want to use June, there is still time to change it, but I wouldn’t change to Amelia. Perhaps if you have another daughter later on, and by then your sister is done having children, the name could be reconsidered.
You could switch to Margo June: that would be lovely, and would completely eliminate the Jen/June issue, as well as keeping both grandmother names.
Or you could switch to Anne Margo, or Margo Anne.
Or you could change to a name similar to Amelia, one that still leaves room for your sister to use Amelia. “Similar” is a pretty loose term, but here are a few I might consider:
Abigail Anne (AAW)
Adelaide Anne (AAW)
Agatha Anne (AAW)
Aubrey Anne (AAW)
Aurora Anne (AAW)
Cecilia Anne (rhymes, but that seems fun for cousins) (CAW)
Celia Anne (CAW)
Clara Anne (CAW)
Cordelia Anne (CAW)
Dahlia Anne (DAW)
Delia Anne (DAW)
Eliza Anne (probably too close to Ezra) (EAW)
Elodie Anne (EAW)
Emerald Anne (EAW)
Emery Anne (EAW)
Emmeline Anne (EAW)
Evelyn Anne (EAW)
Everly Anne (EAW)
Felicity Anne (FAW)
Georgia Anne (GAW)
Harriet Anne (HAW)
Hazel Anne (HAW)
Julia Anne (JAW)
Louisa Anne (LAW)
Lydia Anne (LAW)
Magnolia Anne (MAW)
Matilda Anne (MAW)
Olivia Anne (OAW)
Penelope Anne (PAW)
Sabrina Anne (SAW)
Sylvia Anne (SAW)
Veronica Anne (VAW)
Virginia Anne (VAW)
Or maybe it is the alliteration of Amelia Anne you like, and you could find other similar pairings. Julia Jane, for example, or Margo May.
Amelia would be out for me. I think June Margo is fabulous and has a great family connection. Jenny/Junie are different enough (Gem and Jen for instance are too close imo, if you care about such a thing) . I would just trust your initial decision and go for the name you love!
As a side note- I think Junia is also gorgeous :)
Margo June sounds so pretty and works really well with Ezra! It continues to honor your grandmothers and the order can be easily explained, since you worry that June and Jen sound too similar =)
Margo June is FABULOUS! Ezra and Margo. Oh, that is just perfect. Both older names, which is on-trend, but neither of which seem to be very popular. What a perfect pairing!
Plus, with Margo June she has the nickname “MJ” to fall back on if she ever chooses to.
I love the name June Margo for a little girl and think you should go for it! It works great with Ezra (vintage but not old-fashioned), honors two relatives, and avoids potential family turmoil. You could always wait until after you meet her to decide for sure, but it sounds like you already have the perfect name.
I agree with the other posters so far and think June Margo is great. I actually like Margo June even better, but either way I think is lovely. It isn’t nearly as popular as Amelia and it has special meaning for you. I can understand your apprehension with Jen and June, but I think it is different with a parent/child than with siblings. If Jen and June were sisters I could see there being some possible mix ups, but I don’t see it being a huge issue for a parent and child.
I agree that you should let Amelia go. I live June Margo and Margo June. June does not sound too similar to Jen to me.
Good luck!
I’m generally opposed to dibs on names, too. But since it’s your own sister and given the situation, that there’s a chance they could actually use the name in a couple months, I personally wouldn’t want to “take” the name from her without VERY good reason. (Also, if they end up with another boy and can’t use it, it may sting even worse to have you use it…)
And, honestly, I love June Margo much more than Amelia Anne, so it’s just not worth doing that to your sister. It’s not as popular as Amelia, it is lovely with Ezra–stylistically similar but distinct sounds–and is just beautiful and classy in general, and has that wonderful honor name connection to both sides of the family. (I love having an honor name as a fn, and wish my mn was, too!) Not that Amelia Anne is bad, but June Margo just seems perfect.
I don’t think the Jen/June thing is an issue–this is from someone who is generally opposed to name confusion, and absolutely vetoed Byron as an option because my husband’s name is Brian! (Byron is a family name, and the DH is a little stubborn about seeing why it wouldn’t work.)
But, I agree with everyone else who says that if you still think Jen and June are too close, Margo June is also a lovely alternative. Margo and Ezra are ADORABLE together. Actually, I may like that even more than June Margo. (I had Margo/Margot on my list for a while, so I’m biased…but there’s something slightly vintage quirky about Margo that fits with Ezra, to my ear.)
Please update us all on what you decide! But I really hope you stick with June Margo or Margo June.
June Margo.
1. It’s your long-standing favourite.
2. It’s full of family significance (and not to close to Jennifer/Jenny — it actually makes a nice connection!)
3. Do not steal your sister’s name, especially after she has told you about it.
4. June is more unusual than Amelia & has many versatile nicknames (Junie, Juno, Juju)
5. June is great with Ezra.
Margo June would be pretty as well.
What about Emilienne for Amelia Anne? Amelie, Amalia, Emiliana, Amabel?
I’m going to give an opinion from someone in your sister’s position if you do decide to “name-nap” Amelia. I am in no way the sort of person who thinks that I can hoard names and prevent others from using them. But I had a name picked out for a girl with my husband for eight years. It was talked about on occasion at family gatherings, acknowledged fully as our future daughter’s name. Well, not too long ago some relatives decided they loved it. And they used it despite having made official a perfectly lovely family name for months prior. They just changed their minds at the last minute after we told them our girl name. So now there is a baby in our family with “our” daughter’s name. And even though she’s not here yet, even though she may never happen, it is so weird having a little family member running around with that name NOT our daughter.
If you use Amelia be prepared for some majorly hurt feelings. Because I wasn’t pregnant at the time I didn’t feel like I could make much of a fuss in my situation, but your sister has been holding onto that name for years and she may well get to use it now. As others have pointed out, you have a beautiful (I think far superior) alternative, and if your sister ends up having another boy you can ask her nicely if she would mind you using Amelia in the future. Since you both thought of it independently that would be perfectly acceptable. But June Margo is what you should name this baby. Honestly, it would be pretty low to use Amelia. And while forbidden fruit tastes best, I think your sister’s disappointment will ruin the name for you in the long run.
Sorry if this came across as touchy, I just feel pretty strongly about taking a family member’s name. If she had a long list of daughter names of which Amelia was one I would change my tune in a heartbeat, but since Amelia is their absolute top pick I would avoid it.
June Margo is gorgeous, chock full of meaning and all around perfect with Ezra in my opinion. I don’t find the similarity between Jen and June to be an issue, in fact it might be a nice mother-daughter tie in.
I have a daughter named June, so I’m biased but I’d go with your original choice. It’s a long-standing favorite and has meaning for you. Or as many have suggested, you could reverse the order if the Jen/June thing bothers you. And I agree no-one owns a name just because she’s hoping to use it, but pregnant with a child of unknown gender after 4 boys… I’d let her have it, or at least have the chance at it.
Add me to the list of people who genuinely prefer June Margo (or Margo June, which is also lovely) to Amelia Anne. There’s nothing wrong with Amelia Anne, but it pales in comparison to June Margo for me. I don’t think the Jen/June problem will be an issue. I’m a Susan with a 13 year old Susanna, which is far closer, but honestly not more than an occasional minor inconvenience.
I’m a Tara and my oldest daughter is Teresa and people mix the names up all the time. They don’t even sound similar, but the fact that they are both T’s gets people a lot. It doesn’t really bother me too much, but if you think it would annoy you, I would switch to Margo June and avoid the Jen/June confusion.
June Margo is beautiful! Stick with it! I too see/hear Jen and June as distinct. If you are still worried, I love the suggestion of Margo June! Amelia is definitely gaining more and more popularity, so if you want to avoid this, stick with June Margo!
June Margo is a SUPERB name. There’s nothing wrong with Amelia Anne—I quite like it, and Anne’s very much a favorite—but June Margo is something you’ve loved for a long while, that honors important people, and that works wonderfully with the surname and your son’s name. Margo June is good too, but I love June as a first.
What about Anne Amelia? You still may want to check with your sister, but Anne Amelia (for me) preserves the lovely double-A, has a great flow, and would allow her cousin to be Amelia ____ with no problem.
It also begs the question of how much you want an Amelia. Even if your sister never has her girl, it’d probably still dismay and hurt her to see another Amelia. In theory I’m fine with cousins sharing names. In practice, I’d probably not want MY kid to share a first name. And, is using Amelia Anne enough to risk never getting to use June Margo?
The Jen/June thing doesn’t bother me at all. I’ll say that I prefer the names June and Margo to Amelia which has seemingly skyrocketed in popularity. Five years ago my cousin named his daughter Amelia and I remember thinking how spunky and fresh it sounded. Since then, two friends named their daughters Ameila (2 and 1 year olds) and another friend named his daughter Emilia (4 mos.) Don’t get me wrong – I continue to think that Amelia is a beautiful name and it may just be where I am (PA/NJ/NY), but it’s definitely more popular than I would prefer. It seems like there are Amelias and Olivias everywhere around here.
Anyway, either way you’ll have a lovely name but I really love love love June Margo and Margo June and the double whammy honoring is pretty great too.
My SIL is Anna and although claims to dislike her name, named her daughter Hannah! While Hannah is just a tot, I think it’s going to create lots of confusion down the road. I think June is lovely. Fresh and cute. Stick to your planned name.
I think June Margo is fine, I don’t see a huge problem with June/Jen or Jennie/Junie. However, I love Margo June, I think it just has a nicer flow. Is switching them up as Swistle suggested an option? I also thought maybe you could do something like Juniper Margo, with June as a nickname. I think it sounds great with Ezra & it offers another option for when people want to make it extra clear who they are talking to.
Amelia Anne is fine, but even without your sister calling “dibs” I’d encourage you to go with June Margo or Margo June. I like them both better, and I think they make better sister names for Ezra.
Along with everyone else, I completely love June Margo. Classic names, not overly common, but the combination of June with Margo adds so much fun and spunk. Totally love. If you sister ends up not having a girl, perhaps you can use Amelia Anne if you end up having another little girl and will save upsetting your sister (even though I don’t believe in name saving).
There have been some other nice names listed above as well… Love Margo as a first name, Adelaide, Emmaline. What about Juliet/Juliette. It’s similar to June. Juliette Margo. Juliette and Ezra. Cute.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Your dilemma: “Should I approach my sister and hope she’ll compromise on her long saved name, or am I being paranoid about similar vowel sounds?”
Why you shouldn’t need to approach your sister: You mentioned it to your sister already, and she confided that she and her husband have wanted to use that name for SEVEN years. What more could she possibly add to that? It’s likely that at some point in this pregnancy(and in every pregnancy over the last seven years) she and her husband have probably thought of the baby as “baby Amelia.” It would be one thing if this was her first baby and this was just one of several names they were considering. But this is baby #5, and since they’ve been saving the name, it’s likely that they’ve chosen their sons’ names with a future Amelia in mind, which may have meant eliminating names they otherwise would have liked. You also are trying to avoid popular names, and Amelia is definitely already popular, and will probably keep climbing.
And I think you’re being slightly paranoid about similar vowel sounds. U and E is one of the more dissimilar vowel pairings. Especially since it’s a name that you love with a lot of family meaning behind it. Whatever you name your daughter, she’ll respond to your name, her father’s name, and her brother’s name, simply because that’s what happens in families. But as long as you aren’t getting each other’s bills when she’s an adult, you’re in the clear.
Also, both Margo and June work better stylistically with Ezra than Amelia does. And using Margo June would completely eliminate all Jen/June concerns that you have(and from a Kayleigh among many -aylees, to a Jen among Jennifers, I can see why it would be important to you).
WDYT of Juniper Margo?
I also LOVE Margo Juniper (my sister’s middle name is Margo – it’s such a fun name!)
I agree that Amelia isn’t really right for you.
I find Amelia and Ezra a bit tongue-twistery to say together, but Ezra and June sound great together.
Margo June or June Margo…either is superb!
In my opinion, June and Margo in either order are the best choice – they’re more unique, a better sibling to Ezra, and avoid hurting your sister. I generally agree with no ‘dibs’; I gave up a front runner girl name because it was my sister in law’s favorite, who was due a month after me. But, our boy name has been “the” name for years and I would be heartbroken if someone in our immediate family used it before we were done having children. I also second guessed my daughter’s name throughout my pregnancy,, but I think that’s natural (it’s a big deal!) and you should stick with the name you’ve loved versus a new fling.
I agree with everyone else. Use June Margo, or if you really are too concerned about the name (which I do not think is an issue), use Margo June.
Ditto!
Amelia seems common at this point, but June Margo is FABULOUS! And like others, I like Margo June even better! Best wishes to you and your growing family!
Adding to the votes for June Margo here! I think it should be fine especially because in your nuclear family, only one person will be addressing you by name (everyone else’ll be saying “Mom”), and you stated that your husband calls you Jenny. June vs. Jenny are easily distinguishable. Plus, think of all the adorable nicknames you can use to further distinguish your names–June Bug, Juniper etc.
If you like the sound of Amelia but want something different, what about Aurelia or Anneliese?
Don’t you love sisters? I have three, I get it. While I highly doubt your sister will have a girl after that many boys, a long awaited daughter probably means the world to her and so would the name. Being a sister sucks sometimes, but as much as I want to say “do what you want” I think naming your daughter Amelia wouldn’t be a great idea. Its not something you can take back or apologize for, and your daughter will be a constant reminder to your sister of a name “nap”. I think June Margo is great! Flipping it to Margo June, personally I really love. Good luck!
I think June Margo is such a great name! Previous posters have said all of the good reasons to go with June and not Amelia.
Regarding the June/Jen confusion – I get where you are coming from. I love the name June, but ruled it out because our last name starts with Jen–.
On the flip side, my name is a longer version of my father’s and rhymes with my mother’s name. The similar sounds probably caused confusion but it was minor and forgettable (I cannot recall a single instance of our similar sounding names causing an issue).
I don’t think you should use Amelia given your sister’s feelings but the June/Jen thing would give me pause too. For some reason June made me think of Iris.
I absolutely adore Margo June!! That is a truly fabulous combination, and I love the flow and rhythm of it. Not to mention, it’s a double honor name! To me, June as a first name is rather plain, and Margo is so lovely. It would be great!
Before I even read the story, as soon I read the headline I thought, “Oh June is so PERFECT with Ezra!”
June is so sweet, and much more quirky and distinctive than Amelia, and June Margo is very classy.
To me Jen and June sound completely different, I guess it depends on your accent (I’m not from the US). I do hope you decide to go with June though.
I hope you pick June Margo or Margo June. June and Ezra sound much better together than Amelia and Ezra. Plus, Amelia seems like a passing fancy for you– and it is your sister’s favorite name! I don’t usually believe in “dibs” on names, but the nuance of this makes it clear that you would be in the wrong to pick Amelia. Your sister would be hurt if you used the name right before she might finally have the chance to, after four lost opportunities. Even if she has a fifth boy, it will (as Swistle points out) hurt to see an Amelia that is not her Amelia running around.
Besides all that, June Margo is the superior name with your surname and son’s name. The choice seems clear to me.
Junie and Jenny are different enough that the similarity wouldn’t bother me.
My two cents…I love June…I also have always loved Amelia…In this case with Ezra…I would pick June. I can see the siblings in my head and they are adorable.
I keep coming back to nieces, but I’m a Jennifer/Jenny and my darling niece June doesn’t SEEM like she has a similar name to me. I know they are phonetically similar but it just doesn’t seem that way.
You posted a little while ago so may have chosen & had the baby! In case it’s not too late, I’d like to weigh in with my love for the name June! – & Margo! June Margo and Margo June are both perfect names, with both sass & grace!