Hello!
Our second daughter is due in April and we’re having trouble with names. Our first girl, Eva Grace, didn’t have a name until she was born, and I’d rather not repeat that! I’d really like another name that contains a “v” or starts with “E” and my favorite is Violet; my husband isn’t sold. We’ve also tossed around Eden, but it sounds a little strange with our last name. I prefer classic, feminine names—nothing too dated or androgynous. Any suggestions for us?
Thanks in advance (and happy new year!),
Adria Dillon
Some names that include a V:
Ivy
Maeve
Minerva
Olive
Olivia
Savannah
Silvia/Sylvia
Silvie/Sylvie
Vanessa
Vera
Veronica
Victoria
Vivian/Vivienne (a little rhymey with the surname)
Some names that start with E:
Edie
Eleanor
Elena
Eliza
Elodie
Eloise
Elsa
Elsbeth/Elspeth
Emeline
Esme
Estelle
Esther
I left some names on the list even though they might be too similar to Eva, because you’re looking for some similarity and I’m not sure how similar you’d like to go. If you wanted Very Similar, Eva and Ivy would give you that: both three letters, both two syllables, both with a V in the middle surrounded by two vowels. It’s interesting how much differentness the names retain, considering all their similarities: pairings such as Eva and Elena or Eva and Olivia are in some ways more similar than Eva and Ivy, despite their different syllable/letter counts.
One thing I like about Eva and Eliza is that they both get an interesting letter in their names: V for Eva and Z for Eliza. But the matching E___a may be too similar.
For a middle name, I love the idea of finding something that goes nicely with Grace. I don’t think there’s any reason middle names NEED to coordinate, but sometimes it’s fun. With Grace, I like pleasingly familiar virtue names such as Faith, Hope, and Joy; and also pleasingly short sweet vintage names such as Jane, Jean, Kay, May, and Rose. Eva Grace and Ivy Joy. Eva Grace and Eliza Rose. Eva Grace and Eloise Jane. Eva Grace and Esther May. Eva Grace and Sylvia Hope.
Name update:
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful suggestions! My husband finally came around…Violet Anne is nearly 3 months old now! Her sister continues to be less than impressed. :)
My favorite of Swistle’s suggestion is a two syllable first name starting with E, followed by a one syllable middle name. Esther May. I also like Esther Joy and Esther Hope. My next favorite is Eliza, followed by Ivy.
The Long shot of a very old-fashioned name: Vivica or Viveca.
So sad that your husband isn’t on board with Violet–it’s so perfect with Eva! I’m personally not a fan of Eden with Eva…it goes a little too hard into the book of Genesis bible story, much more than just general biblical names.
From the other suggestions I love Sylvia, Olivia, and Estelle. Sylvia was a contender if our current pregnancy had been a girl, and Olivia is classic with the cute nickname “Livvy.” I love the double L in Estelle and how it mimics your last name without being rhyming.
For middle names I agree that something short and sweet would sound nice and parallel Eva’s middle name.
What about Genevieve ;)? Olivia is very common but goes well with Eva. Other ideas are Verity or Emilia. Are you planning on having more children? If so, you might want to consider future names at the same time ie do you want all E names?
It’s probably a bit too rhymey with your last name, but for some reason I really like Ella as a sibling for Eva:
Eva & Ella
Ella Dillon
Ella Jane Dillon?
Or maybe Ella Rose Dillon?
Ella Marie? Ella May? Ella Faith?
And as for a ‘v’ name, I would also suggest Livia. It could be a good alternative for Olivia (still a top 10 name in terms of popularity), and it goes nicely with both Eva and your last name:
Eva & Livia
Livia Dillon
Livia Jane, Livia Rose or Livia Joy would sound nice too.
Oh, I really like Maeve with Eva.
If you are struggling to find something you both agree on, I wonder if it might be helpful to drop the E or V requirement? Perhaps opening up the search to include names that are similar to Eva in other ways would make it easier to find something you both like.
Names with 3 letters: Ada, Ida, Amy, Ann, Bea, Zoe. I especially like that Zoe as an unusual letter (Z) to coordinate with the V of Eva.
Names ending in A: Cora, Nora, Bella, Lydia, Anna, Clara,
I would never have come up with it on my own but how amazing is Veronica Hope? I love it!
I met a baby Veronica recently and it made me look at the name with fresh eyes. A cute nickname would be Vee.
The V names are a little hard. It feels like such a prominent part of Eva that it’s hard for a second name to not sound very similar (and most of the names contain all of the letters of Eva). I think Olive is my favorite.
I wonder if you would like Emily? Or maybe Opal, which doesn’t have an E or a V, but would sound lovely with Eva.
My grandfather’s two sisters were Aunty Eva and Aunty Ivy. Its got the stamp of cross-generational approval.
Genevieve or Guinevere
I recently came across the virtue name Mercy and I LOVE it. It would skew the name towards the unusual side, so you’d want a more familiar first name to go with it if you wanted to maintain as much balance as you could with Eva Grace…which is kind of a pity, because I think Elsbeth/Elspeth is an AMAZING suggestion, and so beautiful and underused. Esme and Elodie, too. Oh, and Vida/Vita. Ooooh, and if your family heritage has any Spanish, Esperanza is incredibly lovely, and has an E, a Z, AND a virtue! And I’ve always thought Clara is so lovely with Eva, and you have matching rhythm and endings there.
Maybe:
Elizabeth Mercy
Elle Mercy
Emmeline Mercy
Estelle / Estella / Estrella Mercy (that last one gets a little unusual)
Victoria Mercy (“mercy in victory” seems nice–who doesn’t want to win and be nice about it?)
Vivian Mercy
Clara Mercy
Clara Joy
Clara Blythe
Clara Hope
Clara Justice
Clara Catherine
Elsbeth Joy
Elspeth Joy
Esme Joy
Elodie Joy
Eugenie Joy
Esperanza Ann
Valentine Jane (Ender’s Game?!)
Vida Eleanor
Vita Rosalie
Other amazing virtue names that I came across on Nameberry just now (although I think they might be interpreting the category loosely) are Amity, Bliss (I know an 8-year-old Bliss and it’s surprisingly wearable and completely lovely), Clarity, Cornelia, Harmony, Haven, Hero, Glory, and Verity (there’s a V!).
Have you considered Verity, Venus, or Veda? I really like Verity with Eva.
For e names, with Eva,I prefer one that doesn’t start with the long e sound. Thinking outside the box, do you like Edwina or Eloise?
Violet and Ivy are both wonderful with Eva, and tick the classic and feminine checkboxes.
I’m here to promote Nev / Neve (pronounced like the actress’ name) since it’s in my favorite name stash and fits some of the requirements. *waves tiny flag*
If it doesn’t feel like a whole name, a longer middle name could balance it out – for instance, per the above commenters’ suggestions:
Nev Mercy Dillon
Nev Glory Dillon
Guinevere is also sort of awesome? And Nev is a possible nickname if you don’t want to roll with Guin / Gwyn / Gwen / Vera
Violet is nice with Eva. Maybe your husband will come around. I also like Ivy, Maeve, Sylvia, Vera, & Vivian from Swistle’s V list.
I love Ivy the best. Ivy Joy is my favorite.
If not Ivy, I really like Vera (though I find it a little too similar to Eva) and Verity.
Also, what about Zoe? I like the matching-ness of the 3 letters, the unusual letter V/Z, 2 syllables, the EE syllable, and the root meaning (life); and furthermore I like that they are different enough not to be confusing for practical purposes.
I would shy away from names that end in a eve or eva sound as my tongue would get tied. But you still have a whole world of possibilities.
I know it sounds a little dated but you might like Emily with Eva. Quite different sounds but fairly good together.
It doesn’t fit your criteria but I think Bella, Mia, Hazel or Zoe would fit so well with Eva and your last name. I really love Bella! Eva Grace and Bella Rose.
Sylvie Hope! Love it. If you’d consider a longer name then I like Lavinia. I’ve seen Navy on this blog. Eva and Navy seem jarring and yet similar at the same time.
My favorite suggestion so far is Sylvie. I was coming to suggest Sylvie Joy.