Hi Swistle!
We’re expecting our 2nd child this spring. Our last name is one syllable And rhymes with Bowl.
I prefer traditional, timeless names whereas my husband tends to prefer uncommon names. I have a very uncommon name and his name is common, funny how that works.
Jonathan, Benjamin, James and Henry are some names I like for a boy. All of which my husband vetoed for a more trendy name. Our sons name was our compromise, we call him Cam. We did not find out his gender until the birth and his name totally suits him. We ended up using a traditional family name for his middle name which I love and often call him by.Now we are expecting our 2nd, a girl, and I am hung up on names again. I really like Catherine/Kathryn and we’d call her Kate for short (spelling TBD), but it’s so abrupt with our last name. I don’t love the nickname Kat or Cat and lastly I fear Cam and Kate are too similar. We also thought about Elizabeth and Audrey for a bit, but are now leaning toward Sadie. I also like Abigail, but I fear it’s too common.
I don’t want her to have an unusual name or one that is too cutesy/she can’t grow up with, but I also don’t want a name where she is 1 of 3 or 5 in her class.
Middle name will be Genevieve which is a family name. I’d like to have a 3rd baby, but we’re not making that decision until after we have 2.
Please help, thank you!
I think if the name Cam has not seemed too abrupt with the surname, Kate would also be fine—especially since it would just be a nickname. I think Catherine/Kathryn is a great name for a lifetime, but I do think it would be wise to allow for the possibility that she might choose to go by Kat/Cat.
Is Cam’s full given name Cam, or do you call him Cam as a nickname for a longer name? If his given name is Cam, then I think Sadie works very well as a sibling name. If, however, he has a longer given name and goes by Cam as a nickname, I think my preference would be to do the same for a sister name. Sadie can be a nickname for Sarah, if that appeals, or for Mercedes (though Mercedes doesn’t seem compatible with your style).
I think Elizabeth and Audrey are also great, and that Genevieve goes nicely with all. I don’t think you can go wrong here. At this point you may want to just let the list simmer and see which names rise to the top with time.
And I wouldn’t worry too much about popularity. Even if you were to give her the very most popular girl name in the United States, she would be unlikely to be one of 3 or 5 in her class. The current queen, according to the Social Security Administration, is Olivia, with 1.01% of new baby girls given that name in 2019 (the 2020 data will likely be released in May). That’s approximately 1 in 100 girls, and let’s say a typical classroom has 15 girls, that would be about 1 Olivia per 6-7 classrooms—so you can see that we’re not going to get 5 or even 3 Olivias in a single classroom except by the most bizarre and unavoidable fluke. I grew up when the name Jennifer was in its prime, given to over 4% of new baby girls (FOUR TIMES as common as the current most common name), and I don’t remember ever even once having 5 Jennifers in the same classroom; I’m not sure I can remember ever having 3 in the same classroom, but perhaps. Definitely 2 Jennifers at times, but not every time.
The name Abigail is given to just under half a percent of new baby girls: approximately 1 in every 200 new baby girls. Picturing again a classroom with roughly 15 girls in it, that would be about 1 Abigail per 13-14 classrooms. Again, there are always going to be little anomalies (two Junipers and zero Harpers in the same grade, when both parents chose Juniper to avoid the popularity of Harper; three Josephs-called-Joey in one classroom one year), but in general I don’t think you’ll have a huge problem with duplicates, whichever name you choose.
Name update:
Thank you so much for your help! We went with another one all together and named her Leah Genevieve. Timeless yet relatively common. Thanks again!
I definitely shied away from very popular names when thinking of names for my kid. As an example, how many Matthews do you know? Even if they didn’t have three others in their class (which I did, from K-8, even though it wasn’t even the #1 name, it was #3—we also had two Chrises two Andrews, and, for a time, three Mikes), as adults they have to be known by something other than Matt or you never know who’s who. My husband is a Matt, my best friend’s boss is a Matt, her BIL is a Matt, her former advisor for whom she does occasional work is a Matt, and my other friend’s husband is a Matt, who thankfully goes by his last name. My husband works with multiple Matts and in one case they couldn’t even go by last initial because that was ALSO the same. I have a fairly uncommon name (it was in the top 1000 names for my birth year but dropped past 3000 now) and it was sometimes a challenge growing up, but with the internet it feels way less uncommon and burdensome, but still special. I think uncommon is great, unless by uncommon you mean “spelled in a non-traditional way no one will ever get right,” which…I can’t recommend.
This is a great point, though I’m about to use it the opposite way you intended: we do need to keep in mind not just the popularity of the name but the DURATION of that popularity—and whether it’s fairly persistent, or whether it cycles in and out. The name Matthew has been in the Top 100 since 1956, the Top 50 since 1963, and was in the Top 10 from 1972 until 2008. (In 1984, the name was given to 2.65% of new baby boys—that’s over 2.5 times more popular than today’s most popular boy name.) This is going to mean a LOT of Matthews over multiple generations.
However, name usage has changed considerably, and most current names can’t be compared to names such as Matthew: most aren’t used at anywhere near the high usage level OR duration of Matthew (which, if by any chance you grew up in a Christian community, were even higher than the already quite high levels of the general public). The name Emma was one of the biggest smash hits of recent memory, and is also a nice old traditional name—but do we know as many Emmas, over as many generations, as we know Matthews? The name Noah is currently very common, and is an ancient name—but do we all have numerous co-workers, uncles, brothers-in-law, and friends named Noah? Even William: very common right now, and absolutely a familiar traditional classic! But did we all grow up with, like, a TON of Williams, the way we grew up with so many Matthews? I knew one William in my entire age group, and I considered his name pretty dusty at the time.
It can be tricky to compare the popularity of #1 names now (usage maxing out at about 1%) to the #1 names of the past (4-6%), but it’s even more challenging to get a grasp on the considerable effects of the other differences. A few of the Matthew-like names are still hanging around (Elizabeth could be considered one, I’d say, though its larger number of nickname possibilities protect it somewhat; and James and Michael are still with us), but most of the names don’t behave that way, and don’t need to be worried about in that way. There is no current name (not even Matthew!) that is like Matthew in the way you’re describing/remembering.
I’m a Jennifer (I go by Jenny) and I DID have FIVE variations on Jennifer/Jenny/Jenni/Jennie on my freshman hall in college.
And I still named my son Matthew, lol.
I’m a Jennifer with a Matthew (6) & a Noah (10) 😂. The only other Noah in my son’s grade is female spelled Noa. No other Matthew’s so far, but 4 Jennifer moms in one class of 16 (two of us share a last initial) and we spanned 14yrs. In college there were 6 Jennifer’s in one of my 40 person classes.
I like all the names you’re thinking of. And if you agree on Genevieve, maybe make it the first name and the person whose family it isn’t can pick the middle?
Looking at the top girls’ names of the century https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/decades/century.html and thinking about classic names that I don’t associate with a particular decade but also aren’t in the top 100 now, how about these? I put their current ranking next to them since some of them might feel common to your husband but he might be surprised how few current babies have these names!
Mary: 126
Sara/Sarah: 163/81
Margaret: 127
Helen: 429
Ann/Anne: 569/981
Julie/Julia: 631/99
Theresa/Teresa: not in top 1000/831
I think from these my favorite are Margaret (if your son is named Cameron I think it’s a great pairing…plus Maggie and Cam? That’s cute!), Helen, and T[h]eresa. Definitely classic names that are familiar to most people, but unusual in that few babies in recent years have gotten these names, but not really associated in my mind with a particular era, sounds good with a one-syllable last name, and works with Cam as a sibling set. And I don’t think they lock you in to any sort of naming pattern if you do have #3 eventually!
If you love Kate – and it can sound not clunky with the surname – how about Caitlin/Kaitlyn? That would steer people away from Kat as a nickname, plus probably satisfy hubby’s preference of trendier and you get the classic nickname?
I love Sadie. I know one who is in her 70s, so I’ve never considered it too cutesy at all. And it sounds like you’re not needing a formal name plus nickname. However, if you are considering, aside from Sarah how about Isadora?
I’m totally wondering how you got to Cam! That would steer me into different suggestions, depending on whether he’s a Cameron or Camden or Campbell or something else…
Good luck!
Having a teenager I conclude that all Catherine adjacent names are currently nicknamed Cat in the way that all Elizabeths in my mum’s generation were Liz but in mine they were all Beth. Kate was the new Kathy but now it is all about Cat. I don’t think parental preferences change that once kids are past about age ten.
That bears true in my midwestern social circle. Kathy is 60, Kate is 30-60, Kat is under 25. Lot of just-Katherines too. We call our toddler C/Katherine Wren, or Birdie.
I have 2 kids. Over the years, across various classrooms, we’ve run into maybe half the top 10 names. I don’t know any Charlottes or Mias though. One year our 55 kid daycare had 3 girls named Stella. This year, the first grader’s classroom has two Hugos and two Santiagos.
My favorite out of the parents’ list is Audrey. It’s a good balance between traditional and trendy. It has always been around, but it’s not an absolute classic like Catherine or Elizabeth. And it’s not a top 10 name like Abigail.
Audrey Genevieve (Bowl)
Cam and Audrey
Or maybe Aubrey: it allows for the nickname Abby, like Abigail, while beeing much less popular.
Cam and Abby sound like siblings!
I don’t think the gap between Abigail and Audrey or Aubrey is all that large. In 2019, Abigail was given to only half a percent of baby girls, while Aubrey and Audrey were given 1/4% of the time each. That works out to be roughly 2 Abigails, 1 Aubrey, and 1 Audrey in my son’s entire elementary school (There’s roughly 400 kids there) There’s also a Darlene.
Just a personal note on popularity, names can vary so much by region/community/school as well. There is the feature to look up by state on the ssa website which helps. My personal story: my name is Molly and it was the 86th most popular name my birth year, so far from top ten. I obviously didn’t know this data as a child and I thought my name was insanely popular because there were 2 other Mollys in my grade in my small school. I always had to go by Molly T and it drove me insane! When I became interesting in name data as an adult, I was shocked to see that Molly really wasn’t that popular of a name, it was just that I went to a Catholic school with lots of Irish people. I don’t really have a point here- just that popularity can sometimes be a crap shoot!
My vote is for Kathryn Genevieve or Audrey Genevieve from your list. Sadie is also nice.
A few additional suggestions (I’d suggest avoiding another C name):
Lauren
Margaret, nn Greta, Maisie, Meg
Annabel, nn Annie
Eleanor, nn Ellie
Phoebe
Juliet/Julia, nn Jules
Ruby
I think Anna would be the perfect name for you. Anna and Cam sounds like a darling set.
Anna Genevieve sounds so elegant.
Anna Catherine also sounds so pretty.
I think Kate and Cam sounds a bit matchy. Catherine and Cam is a bit of a tongue twister. But Anna and Cam sounds delightful.
Anna is a timeless name, but not used much. While there might be several Emmas, she will likely be the only Anna in her class, on her sports teams, etc.
I agree that Anna is a great name and only know one.
Commenting to say that i say the names the other way around – older child first, so it would be Cam and Anna which I find tricky and Cam and Catherine which I don’t.
Is that Universal? I thought about families I know and I say all of their kids in order when I list the kids from oldest down?? Could you do it the other way for the sake of sib-set harmony?
Cam seems particularly tricky out loud because of the similarity to and (Cam and…)
I love Catherine/Katherine for you! It’s one of my all time favorite names and I think that it’s not too popular and certainly not trendy, but also not unique in any way. I also love Audrey and Elizabeth. I too am a fan of Kate/Cate, but not Kat/Cat. I really think you can’t go wrong. Congrats on your new babe!
Also curious what Cam is short for.
All the names on your list are great! I like Audrey best but they’re all lovely choices.
Another reason to not worry about trends in naming is you risk picking something you like less and still ending up with dupes in your community.
For example my son is Francisco nn Frankie (after his grandpa) – not a common name right now at all – but we have a girl Frankie in same grade, and in our wider group of friends we know 3 kids named Frances/Francis, a Franklin and a Frank! I love the coincidence (and a lot of these are kids of college friends who live in other cities), but never would have ever guessed we would end up part of a big naming cluster.