Baby Girl Ellis0n, Sister to Eli and Ezra: A Middle Name Question

Hi Swistle,
You helped me name my firstborn many moons ago, and he and his little brother are about to have a little sister! My wife and I are a bit stumped on names though, not least because girls names seem full of endless possibilities after naming two boys.

I’m a big fan of the Favorite First Name + Family Middle Name equation, and to that end, Baby Girl’s middle name will either be Wells (my wife’s maiden name) or Parker (to honor my brother). We have a definite preference for Wells except that we can’t decide if it sounds weird next to Ellis0n. Too many L’s?

We like old-fashioned names that aren’t too popular. We can’t use Wells as a first name because my wife’s sister already used it for her eldest. Both of my older children’s names start with E (Eli and Ezra), and we’d like something in that same vein, but my wife would like to avoid another E name because she feels it was a “thing” my ex and I did (it was more of a coincidence, but I get it). Our last name, Ellis0n, is a little tricky to work with because it’s vowel-heavy and L-heavy, and so are lots of beautiful names we love, like Eleanor, Millie, Lucille, Amelia.

Our current favorites:
Juniper nn June
Maeve
Anne/Annie (call her Annie Wells?)
Lucille nn Lucy (too much with Ellis0n?)
Louise nn Lou
Margaret nn Mae
Susanna nn Sosie or Sunny
Nora
Sylvie
Cora

Other suggestions? Is Wells as a middle a terrible idea?

Thank you!
Jenny

 

My opinion about middle names is that the sound/flow matters MUCH LESS than with first names, and ESPECIALLY if we’re talking about using an important honor name: Important Honor Name VASTLY outranks “the sound of the names said together, which they pretty much never will be.” In this case, the honor name is your wife’s maiden name, which in my own personal ranking system outranks ALL OTHER POSSIBLE HONOR NAMES. Yes, use it! If it merged to make some sort of terrible word with the surname, that would be a different situation, but “maybe too many L sounds” is not in this category.

I do think that once you have two L’s and a short-E in the middle name and two more L’s and another short-E in the surname, it would be a good idea to avoid adding even more L’s and short-E’s with the first name. …Well, unless you want to really lean into it, which I think is an option. Eleanor Wells Ellis0n just says “You know what, L’s and short-E’s is what we liked,” and that has its own kind of magic. I see what your wife means about the initial E, but on the other hand I like the way the matching initials tie all the kids together—but obviously I think we should defer to her feelings on the subject.

I am completely charmed by the idea of naming her Anne and calling her Annie Wells. I realize this brings back into discussion the issue with how it sounds with the surname but I am TOO CHARMED AND I DON’T CARE

Margaret is one of my own personal favorite names, and I perish from how good it sounds with Wells Ellis0n. Margaret Ellis0n! Margaret Wells Ellis0n! I want that name for myself!

I am very drawn to the name Louise as well. I like the way it faintly echoes the L in Eli and the Z-sound of Ezra. It does lean into the sound repetition by also echoing the Z-sound of Wells and the L-sounds of Wells and Ellis0n, but I really do think there is a point where an overload of certain sounds crosses from Too Much into Distinctive/Cool. If I think “Would I want to be named Louise Wells Ellis0n?,” I think “YES.” I don’t think “But it’s so many L sounds.”

Really, all I’m doing at this point is going through the names on your list one by one and praising them, because I think they’re all good choices. Susanna! Cora! Sylvie! The only one I don’t feel like devoting a paragraph to is Juniper: it feels to me like it strikes a radically different note than the other names on your list, and also your sons’ names. I wonder if it might be an outlier for your usual style.

 

 

 

Name update:

Dear Swistle,
Much to our surprise, our baby girl arrived two months early on March 12th—so we just went with all our favorites at once. Susannah June Wells Ellis0n (“Sosie”) is happy and healthy and finally home with her big brothers. Thanks for all the naming help!
Cheers,
Jenny

18 thoughts on “Baby Girl Ellis0n, Sister to Eli and Ezra: A Middle Name Question

  1. Reagan

    My favorite for you is Anne (Annie) Wells. I like that it sticks to the initial vowels theme without being another E.E. name. I also love the nickname Annie Wells. (in fact, I would probably use Annie on the birth certificate as she can always go by Ann or Wells if she wants to sound more distinguished in the future.)

    The other names on your list are fine but they don’t hold a candle to how much I like Annie Wells (E)llison.

    Reply
  2. Elisabeth

    Susanna was on our short list, so obviously I love that :)

    What about Lucinda instead of Lucille? Lucy is still an option and Lucinda Ellison has less of the “L” issue.

    Reply
  3. Jaime

    There isn’t a bad option on your list. 😍 The only one I’d alter is Lucille to either Lucinda or just Lucy to decrease the L factor.

    I think my top choices would be Annie or Susannah (love Sosie or Susie) or Margaret (Mae, Maisie or Meg are all swoonworthy). And def use Wells in the middle.

    Reply
  4. KitBee

    I originally thought, “Annie Ellis0n sounds great!” Then I thought, “It actually sounds a little familiar….” And then I realized there’s a character named Annie Edison on the TV show “Community.” Probably a non-issue, since the show hasn’t been on the air for a few years, and in any case it’s not a bad association. But I thought I’d mention it in case you’re very sensitive to that sort of thing!

    Reply
    1. a

      I had the same thought about Margaret Wells. She’s a character in the TV series Harlots. I don’t think that’s a problem at all, especially with Wells as a middle name, but I thought it worth mentioning just in case.

      I really enjoy both the Anne & Margaret combos.

      Reply
  5. Jd

    Margaret Ellison is a movie producer (mostly women driven films) and daughter of Larry Ellison. I think this is a plus for the name because a minor celebrity will help with internet anonymity since they come first in search results.
    I love Annie Wells though!

    Reply
  6. Erin Beth

    I also really love Anne nn Annie Wells for you! I quite like how Anne flow with Wells and the surname. Margaret, Susanna (could also be nn Annie Wells), Cora, and Nora are also great. Since you have so many strong options, I would probably choose a first name without another “l” in it.

    Reply
  7. Susan

    You’ve come up with a number of really appealing and attractive possibilities, but for some reason Annie Wells just leaps out as an exceptional name. In my opinion, that’s the one! Fabulous!

    Reply
  8. Genevieve

    So many great names on your list!

    My one suggestion is to add Lucia (Lou-see-ah) as another option to get the nn Lucy. Lucinda also works, but Lucille Wells Ellis0n is where I’d personally find there to be too many Ls.

    With Wells, I love Lucy/Lucia/Lucinda, Susanna, Margaret, Nora, Sylvie. And they all sound great (full name and your nns) with Eli and Ezra.

    Reply
  9. JMV

    I was initially drawn to Anne. Here’s my concern after saying it aloud a few times. Does Anne El!ison start to smush into an “Anal” sound? Anal Son? Is it just because I’m saying it together repeatedly? Annie avoids that issue but doesn’t sound as buttoned up as the others on your list.

    I love all of the names you are considering. Louise is my favorite with the big brothers and the fantastic middle name. Good luck!

    Reply
    1. Maree

      FWIW I dont hear it with me accent. If anything (and not really) it might stretch to sounding similar to analysis, which is not a negative association.

      Reply
  10. StephLove

    I’m on the Wells for the middle name train. I like Anne and Louise best for the first name, with Susannah as a close second. I like Cora, Nora, Maeve, and Margaret, too. I agree with Swistle that Juniper sounds like an outlier but how about just June?

    Reply
  11. Diana

    I’d just like to share an observation regarding repeated letters/sounds. We’ve devoted a lot of time to discussing and focusing on the ‘l’ sound, but the repeated ‘s’ of Susanna, Sylvie, Louise, Lucille (or Lucinda or Lucy, as suggested above!), Wells and Ellison sounds FANTASTIC to my ear! I really like Sylvie Wells Ellison, and I think it’s because of the assonance of the echoed ‘s’ sound. Just wanted to put it out there :) you have such beautiful options and I know your daughter will end up with a gorgeous name.

    Reply
  12. Anna

    Sounds like you and I have the exact same naming style :) My older daughter is Annie and my younger is Nora and if we have a third, she’ll be Maeve! Go with Annie!! I love Annie Wells and as the mom of an annie, I have to say I have never regretted her name – classic, familiar, can be formal or cute, timeless, but still very uncommon nowadays! We’ve actually never met another Annie my daughter’s age. Go for it!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.