Christie writes:
Dear Swistle,
I am in desperate need of your help. My third child is due at the end of September. We are not finding out the gender and I think that is part of the naming issue. Sibling names are Lance Martin and Genevieve Karina. Last name is Welch, pronounced like the grape juice.Our naming rules:
1. I don’t want anything in the top 100. I know you don’t see this as an issue but my first name is Christie and I hated going by Christie P during elementary school.
2. I don’t like “made up” names. I prefer not as popular names but ones that people will know how to pronounce and have more of a classic sound.
3. I’m indifferent on nicknames. We call Lance and Genevieve by their full names.For middle names we use family names. If the baby is a boy it will be Bradford or Christopher. If the baby is a girl I would like to use some variation of Anne. My current favorite is Analee or Annelise. For several reasons we will not use any of these as a first name.
Here is our list of possibilities but I don’t love any of them and some break our rules.
Girl-Scarlett, Kinley, Bianca, Colette, Lydia
Boy-Griffin, Donovan, Maxwell, Preston, HarrisonI am hoping you can give me feedback on these as well as new options. I’m finding it difficult to find a name that fits with the other two. I want to hear a name and just love it like I did with the other two but so far I have exhausted the internet and don’t love anything!
Thank you!
Bianca stands out to me from your girl-name list. Unusual, lovely, and a great sister name with Genevieve. My inclination would be to stop right there. Kinley feels too modern/surnamey with Genevieve; Scarlett too feels like a very different style than the other names, and I don’t like the way it runs together with the surname to make a twelch sound. A few more possibilities to consider:
Cecily Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Cecily
Clarissa Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Clarissa
Claudia Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Claudia
Cordelia Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Cordelia
Elena Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Elena
Eliza Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Eliza
Eloise Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Eloise
Francesca Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Francesca
Emmeline Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Emmeline
Philippa Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Philippa
Sabrina Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Sabrina
Simone Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Simone
For her middle name, I would steer you away from Analee: those first four letters followed by the -ly sound seem like a poor combination. Doubling the N or using the double name Anna Lee would help considerably, though I’d prefer to avoid the whole issue and use a different version of Anne.
On your boy-name list, I’d cross off Maxwell for the echoed “well” sound with the surname. Harrison is my favorite, but it feels quite long as a brother name for Lance. I think I would go for something similar but a little shorter, such as Harris or Davis—though I’m not crazy about the way a soft -s at the end of the first name leads to a swelchy sound with the surname. Here are some more possibilities to consider:
Dane Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Dane
Dean Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Dean
Edmund Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Edmund
Emmett Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Emmett
Everett Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Everett
Hugo Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Hugo
Keane Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Keane
Keaton Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Keaton
Milo Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Milo
Reid Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Reid
Ruben Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Ruben
Simon Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Simon
Tobin Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Tobin
Turner Welch; Lance, Genevieve, and Turner
With the siblings, I like Bianca & Scarlett from your girl list and Griffin & Donovan from the boy list. I do hear the running together with the surname problem with Scarlett, though.
How about Aurelia, Celia, Claudia, Elaine, Lucy, or Morgan for a girl?
And Arthur, Cedric, Declan, Evan, Fisher, Gavin, Owen, or Percival for a boy?
I didn’t check if any of those were top 100, some probably are. Also some of those repeat initials, which some people like to avoid.
I don’t know why, but the name Felicity just seems like it would be a perfect fit! Lance, Genevieve and Felicity Welch. Love that! If it is a boy, I like Swistle’s suggestion of Harris or Davis.
Felicity would be lovely! Lance Martin, Genevieve Karina and Felicity Annelise Welch
Bianca is great with Lance and Genevieve, but I think the ending A would make any version of Anna kind of strange as a middle? Not bad, just would force a pause so that they don’t blend together… Would be pretty with Colette, though – Bianca Colette Welch
With Lance as a brother, another strong single syllable name might be a good match – Reid, Grant, Cole, Drew, Heath, Blake? Maybe with Preston as the middle to keep the two syllable rhythm of Martin.
Since you have Colette on your girl’s list, I think I like Cole the best: Lance Martin, Genevieve Karina and Cole Preston Welch
Best of luck to you!
About Bianca’s final A with an A middle: I see/hear nothing wrong with Bianca Ann Welch, but if you’re really worried, there’s always Nan(cy).
(I’m rooting for Bianca if it’s a girl!)
Use Bianca! It is a beautiful name that works well with both Lance and Genevieve. Bonus that it is basically nickname proof.
I’m lukewarm about your boy name options. The name that came immediately to mind for you was Magnus. Lance and Magnus. They both are strong names. They are both nickname proof. I don’t have the “swelchy” problem with Magnus Welch, but maybe that’s just me.
Another option – Roland. Roland Bradford Welch. Lance and Roland. rWb. RBW. I like it.
Hmm. The more I think about this – Lance and Genevieve give me a subtle Knights of the Round Table feeling. Perhaps you could consider some Arthurian characters. Hector. Percival. Tristan. Of course, there is also Arthur.
I agree Kinley is too trendy/surname-y/unisex with the sibset.
I find Bianca to be TOO unusual and Scarlett to be too .. “showy” of a name. I would also want to avoid repeating first initials, so Lydia would be out for me, leaving Colette.
I think the length of Colette matches well with Genevieve and coordinates nicely in style with Lance, so that is a nice combination for baby #3.
I also liked the suggestion of Felicity above and will add Adelaide. Adelaide Ann would work nicely imo.
For the boys, again I would eliminate Griffin due to repeating G initials. I agree Maxwell Wells is too much repetition and Harrison is too long. My favorite between Donovan and Preston is definitely Donovan with the sibset. It has the old time, stately vibe that I get from the other two.
I would have suggested Harris instead of Harrison, as Swistle did. I also like Hugh. Lance, Genevieve, and Hugh.
Hth!
Boys: Neil, Peter (in the 200s in the U.S.), Marcus/Mark, Callum. Hugh or Arthur would also be great.
Girls: Celeste, Celine, Linnea, Louisa, Naomi, Natalia, Marina.
Best of luck!
Girl-Scarlett, Kinley, Bianca, Colette, Lydia
To my ears, all of these sound harsh next to Lance and Genevieve. I think is the hard c, t, k, b, and d while the c in Lance is soft as is the g Genevieve.
Instead of Scarlett or Colette, what about Susette or Savannah,? Or Charlotte? Or Celeste?
Instead of Kinley or Lydia, what about Linnea or Ainsley?
Instead of Bianca, what about Beverly?
Boy-Griffin, Donovan, Maxwell, Preston, Harrison
I like most of these names but they don’t sound like the names of a brother to a Lance
Have you considered Gordon, Hugh, Heath,
Drew, Adam, Milo, Arlo or Ethan?
I love Neil as one of the other posters suggested and I really like Dean and Percy for you from other posters.
I would avoid Arthur, only because while you have Lance and Genevieve it does subtly remind me of Lancelot and Guinevere and adding Arthur could seem strange enough for you to be answering questions about it all day (this is from a Sarah whose husband is Abraham…)
For girls, I love Simone and Bianca. I would add Miriam and Imogene. I love all four of these for you…
From your list, I like Bianca & Colette best for girls. Kinley seems way too modern/surnamey and Lydia seems a little plain I think. I’ll suggest Isolde, Cassandra, Scarlett, Melisande, & Elodie. I’ll also second the suggestion of Cordelia and eliminating Analee as it is too similar to anally. Perhaps Anabel instead?
Of your boy names, I love Griffin & Donovan. Maxwell & Preston seem way to popular. Harrison is not quite right, it feels a little too similar to all the other “son” names currently popular. Maybe just Harris instead? I’ll suggest Gareth, Brennan, Declan, Rhys & Vaughan. I also really like the suggestion of Reid.
I’m also getting an Arthurian feel! For a boy, how about Archer or Arlo, which are similar to Arthur? For a girl, maybe Marisol or Maribel (inspired by the somewhat related Robin Hood)? Good luck!
I agree with PMV about a subtle, slant King Arthur vibe. And I like it! To keep it slant/modern, I suggest Gareth Christopher for a boy and Malory Anne for a girl.
I noticed this too, and then I realized it was because Genevieve reminds me of Guinevere, and Lance made me think of Lancelot. I would steer clear of Arthur for that reason. I was personally drawn to Tobin from Swistle’s list for boys. I think Tobin Christopher is just perfect. I love the name Bianca Annelise (I agree with Swistle, please don’t use Analee. All I see/hear is anal!) From the suggested list I think Cecily Anne would be adorable.
I notice both Lance and Genevieve end the same.
How about these for a girl?
Beatrice
Josephine
Adele
Vivienne
Arielle
Boy?
Reese
Dayne
Ellis
Holden
Graham
Boys: Arthur, Gavin, Percivial
Girls: Elaine(I also like Bianca)
I like the name Annelise as the variant of Ann
One way you could straddle or bridge the names Lance and Genevieve would be to use a 2-syllable name for this baby.
For a girl, I really like Colette. No nicknames, elegant, rarely used. I also like Scarlett, and would suggest Bridget as well. When I say these names with Welch they sound distinct and don’t readily smoosh into Twelch. Lots of your boy names end in “n” which creates variety in the endings: would you consider Tamsin or Suzanne for a girl? Or Simone, as Swistle suggested?
For a boy, I love her suggestion of Simon. And even though it does repeat the “G” of Genevieve, I also really like your idea of Griffin. If you’ve managed to keep Genevieve from being shortened to Gen, I think you also could keep Griffin from drifting to Fin. And I really like Ruben–two syllables, and ends in “n”, which sounds so good with Welch. Tobin would work, too, but good luck keeping that from going to Toby–just too tempting.
Good luck!
Oh–I wanted to add that Annabet is a rarely heard variant of Ann. This idea wouldn’t work well if you chose a first name that ended in “t”, though.
I agree with the previous poster who advised steering away from anything with a hard consonant. It jars next to the softness of Lance and Genevieve.
Below are some names that take inspiration from (though are not literally in most cases) Arthurian and/or Shakespearean characters, which is the feel I get from your first two choices.
Girls
Ondine
Florence
Celia
Constance
Lavinia
Boys
Lorenzo
Benedict
Julian
Joseph
I also like Lydia from your list. I think an L name compliments this set and bridges the divide between the monosyllable Lance and three syllables of Genevieve. I don’t personally care about repeating an initial.
Love the suggestion of Felicity. I adore Bianca. Would also add Maxine since you like Maxwell. I also like Simone, Adele, and Ainsley for a girl.
For boys, I like Garret, Wyatt, Judah, Robinson, and all the names you’re considering especially Harrison.
Love the suggestions of Cole, Simon, Bianca and Colette.
More suggestions:
Anton
Emile
Jules
Thane
Eric
Willem
Dale
Asa
Rex
Clementine
Flora
Daphne
Matilda
Lucille
Rosamund
Antoinette
Marion
Winifred
Good luck!
So many great suggestions already! I’ll add:
Rory (Rory Christopher Welch sounds fantastic)
Helena (pronounced huh-LAY-na or HELL-en-ah)
Elise
Or Lila for a girl! Lila Anneliese Welch?
My friend just named her daughter Bianca and I love it! It’s not unusual yet uncommon and makes you smile at the thought of it. However, I personally am not a fan of Bianca Ann Welch. For a boy, I suggest Hollis Bradford Welch.
Lance, Genevieve and Hollis
Scarlett is a lovely name, but really climbing in popularity- I have a few friends with Scarletts. It also sounds similar to Charlotte, which would not require her to go as Scarlett W. but could lead to confusion nonetheless. Personally it wouldn’t stop me from using it (my firstborn is Grace, a name I chose in high school and all my friends made fun of me, and now she will forever be Grace P. which irritates me, but didn’t dissuade me), but it sounds like that is an issue for you so I thought I’d at least toss that out.
How about
Allen
Clark
Clifford
Good luck!