Author Archives: Swistle

Baby Naming Emergency!: Baby Boy Snow

I emailed Nichole today asking, “Is it too late? Have you already had him?,” and she emailed back:

Ha! Your timing is so funny…. I had “him” yesterday and “he” is still NAMELESS!!!!! Any suggestions? :) Our current list includes Andrew, Reid, and Benjamin but DH and I can’t agree on anything. We’d love some help!! We leave the hospital tomorrow and would like to have a name by then but we’re not required to have one until Sat. Thanks!

So I haven’t FINISHED-finished this post, it’s still in draft form and I haven’t double-checked all the names to make sure they fit the requirements, but I’m going to post it right away because I want us to help name this baby as soon as possible!

Nichole writes:

We are in desperate need of naming help for our second son. It has been a tough pregnancy and I’ve been on bedrest since week 17 – now at week 36 we have finally hit our goal and are allowing ourselves to begin naming our son. I could go into labor at any time and since we didn’t feel comfortable discussing names until we knew for sure this pregnancy would turn out ok, we are just now realizing we can’t agree on ANY names!!! Our first son is named Parker and our last name is Snow. We do not want a first name beginning with P (my husband’s name starts w/ a P and that is confusing enough for some people!), and since “Snow” actually means something, we don’t want a first name that has meaning too (example: Tanner) or anything that is cutesy or sounds like a sentence (example: Landon Snow!) We also do not want a first name that ends in S as we feel it is too “hissy” (example: ThomasSnow, JamesSnow). No names ending in an “o” sound – it just sounds silly w/ our last name (example: Milo Snow, Leo Snow). No traditionally boys names that girls are taking over (Elliott, Morgan) or too-trendy names (Cayden/Jayden/Hayden/Aiden). My thought is we need a first name with at least 2 syllables since our last name is so short and kind of harsh… but maybe I’m wrong? Would love to hear your thoughts! Last restriction is my own weird one: I would prefer a non “er” ending name as I feel having a Parker and an Archer or Asher is too similar in structure. I am soooo picky with names and am driving my husband CRAZY!!! I’m not into creative spellings or “unique” names, but on the other hand my husband will not go for anything too common (John, Matthew, Ryan, etc). The ONLY 2 names we are considering is Andrew (my fave, but too common for my husband), and Barrett (his first pick, I’m not crazy about it). I am so worried that I will have this baby and we won’t have picked out a name in time!! To sum it up – no “er,” no “P,” no “s ending,” no “o ending,” no names the girls are taking, no too-trendy, probably two syllables, and something uncommon but not weird. Thank you all so much in advance!!

I’ll use this as an opportunity to push an unusual and underused name: Karl. Karl Snow. Parker and Karl. That’s my favorite.

If the more Z-like S-sound of Charles doesn’t bother you as much with Snow, or if you didn’t mind going straight to Charlie without using Charles, I’d suggest Charlie. Charlie Snow, Parker and Charlie. Jazz fans may think of Charlie Parker; most people will just think the names go perfectly together and not know quite why.

If Andrew is too common for your husband, maybe Anderson? Anderson Snow, Parker and Anderson.

And I know you say not Elliot, but OH I love Elliot, and it’s so dashing with your surname: Elliot Snow, Parker and Elliot. I know some girls are using it, but I think it’s still Boy.

Or if not Elliot, maybe Everett? I don’t think the girls have gotten to that one yet. Everett Snow, Parker and Everett.

Some other possibilities:

Adrian Snow; Parker and Adrian
Brady Snow; Parker and Brady
Brenden Snow; Parker and Brenden
Evan Snow; Parker and Evan
Gabriel Snow; Parker and Gabriel
Gavin Snow; Parker and Gavin
Henry Snow; Parker and Henry
Keegan Snow; Parker and Keegan
Kyle Snow; Parker and Kyle
Larson Snow; Parker and Larson
Marshall Snow; Parker and Marshall
Mason Snow; Parker and Mason
Ridley Snow; Parker and Ridley
Ruben Snow; Parker and Ruben
Wesley Snow; Parker and Wesley
Wilson Snow; Parker and Wilson

P.S. Karl! Karl Snow! Baby Karl! Parker and his little brother Karl!

Baby Naming Issue: Two Middle Names and a Hyphenated Surname

27 Replies

Bridie writes:

We are due in just a few weeks and wondered what you thought about giving a child multiple middle names when the last name is hyphenated and both of the middle and the first name are longish. Basically, if we included the names we’d like to, we’ll end up with a little girl with a 16 syllable name! We are absolutely committed to our first name (Penelope) and the first second name (Alexandra) is a tribute both to my beloved and deeply missed BIL who died this year and to my husbands father, so we’d like to keep it, too. The wild card is the second middle name: Magnolia. This, we both loved and had originally wanted for a first name, but friends and family deemed it to weird… So. Our baby’s full name would be Penelope Alexandra Magnolia Cotter-Taylor. Is that too long? Too over the top? What do you think?

As long as we’re clear that this is purely a matter of opinion, I’d say that name is too much. It’s long enough to start being a little bit funny. I think if I were you I would save Magnolia for a possible later daughter—perhaps as a middle name, or perhaps you’ll decide you want to use it as a first name after all: I think it’s a great first name, and a good sister name for Penelope.

I think we ought to put this question to the vote—there’s a poll over to the right.

Baby Naming Issue: Dutch Names

21 Replies

Erika writes:

Hi, my name is Erika and my husband’s name is Kirk. We are having our first child, due in January.

My husband does not want any repeats of names from his family or mine, save for the middle names. Turns out his family boy names are all traditional and rather ho-hum, like Ed, John, Paul. He would like the middle name to be Lydia or Marie after his grandmothers if we have a girl. I am of Dutch heritage and would like to preserve some of this heritage in the name of our kids if possible. One girl’s Dutch name I like is Marika. My maiden name is VanStralen. However, I do like Biblical names, as well. Our last name is Bode, pronounced Bodee with a long “o”. I would also not like a name that is in the top 20 currently.

Thank you for taking the time…we would love suggestions!

Does your husband mind looking farther back in the family trees, or is it just current family he doesn’t want to repeat? If he wouldn’t mind some long-gone family names, I suggest looking in your own Dutch family tree for ideas. Or, if your husband would prefer, you can look in mine.

In my own Dutch family tree, there’s Derk for a boy, which my family would all be more tempted to use (he’s our Crossed The Sea ancestor) if it didn’t rhyme with jerk. Perhaps this is not as big a risk as we think, considering the popularity of Cooper-rhymes-with-pooper. In your family, the bigger problem is that Derk rhymes with Kirk.

There’s also Hendrik, which is like a combination of Henry and Eric, and in fact you could call him Henry for short. In fact, I wish I’d thought of this when naming my own children, since both Henry and Eric were on our finalist list, and since we have not only Hendriks but Hendrikas (one of whom was our other Crossed The Sea ancestor) in our family tree.

I have many ancestors named Willem, which is a good way to get the nickname Will without going into the Top 20 (William was #8 in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration).

Ooo, and here’s a Gerrit! Again, a name we’re familiar with (Garrett) but with a Dutch spelling that reflects your heritage. We would have considered this name if the Gerrit in my husband’s own Dutch family tree hadn’t been such a jerk.

For girl names I see a lot of women named Hanna, which has a top-20 equivalent in the biblical name Hannah (#17 in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration), but I still think it’s worth considering: a good Dutch name that’s nevertheless familiar. (I seem to be ignoring your requirements one by one, first the family names and now the Top 20.) Hanna Marie Bode.

I also have Willemina, which I think is a more U.S.-palatable spelling for Wilhelmina. I like this name anyway and would consider it for a future daughter, and it’s enhanced by its excellent nickname possibilities: Willa and Mina would both be contemporary yet unusual choices. Willemina Marie Bode.

Here’s Cornelia, with the cute nicknames Cory or Neely or Lia, rather than, say, Corny. Cornelia Marie Bode.

Some other English-friendly Dutch girl names:
Anna (Anna is also biblical)
Anneke
Janna
Johanna (Joanna is also biblical)

Some other English-friendly Dutch boy names:
Arend
Pieter
Schuyler

Not everyone likes to do this (I remember a comment on a another post that claimed that if the spelling of an Italian name were altered by even one letter, it wasn’t an Italian name anymore—perhaps people in Italy never use alternate spellings), but in our Dutch-origins family, we’ve translated Dutch names into English. For example, Dutch names starting with J are pronounced in Dutch as if they start with the English letter Y: Janna is more like Yonna. But because our family now speaks English, we translate it into English and pronounce it Janna, like Anna with a J. (Another translation option would be to spell it Yonna.)

We’ve also translated the boy’s name Jan, which is the Dutch cognate of the name John and is pronounced Yon, by spelling it Jon and pronouncing it John. In our opinion this is a good compromise between on one hand wanting to honor our Dutch heritage, and on the other hand speaking English and living in the United States (where Jan is a girl’s name pronounced to rhyme with van). Every family would have to figure out their own opinion on what’s okay to change and what’s not.

Name update! Erika writes:

Just wanted to let you know in January 18th we had a baby boy! Thank you for your comments and suggestions on your blog. It was so fun to read it and see everyone’s responses. We’ve named him Tyler Van Bode. My husband was fussier about the first name and didn’t want Van as the first name so I gave it up for his middle name.

Baby Girl or Boy, Sibling to Lily Beth

13 Replies

Katie writes:

I need help with some name suggestions. My husband and I are expecting baby #2 on January 8 and have not found out the sex. We have a 3 year old girl, Lily Beth. We did not find out the sex with her either. Lily was the only girl name we could agree on and Beth is my mom and I’s middle name. Our boy name choice was Jackson Dean, but that is not an option this time around (too many Jacks around now). Will Gregory was also an option, but not so this time around. So, we’re starting at square one with Baby #2’s name.

We seem to have middle names picked out already though. If it’s a girl, the middle name will be Lane (my mother-in-law’s maiden name) and if it’s a boy it’ll be Dean (my father-in-law and husband’s middle name). Our last name is pretty standard and most names flow well with it. We tend to like kind of old-fashioned names. Some options on our list include:

Girls:
Evelyn “Evie” (I have a friend with a daughter named Evangeline who they call Evie. I’m not sure what the etiquette is on that. Would we be copying? They’d be 3 years apart in age)
Lucy (We don’t necessarily want a Lily and Lucy though. Also, Lucy Lane is a lot of L’s.)
Chloe
Gracie

Boys:
Everett
Grant (my dad’s cousin’s name is Grant and I’m not sure if it would be weird to use his name. We’re not particularly close and we wouldn’t be naming the baby after him, per say)

So far, we just haven’t found anything that we absolutely love or that we can agree on. Most of the options listed above are names I like. My husband hasn’t contributed a lot to the lists, just vetoes what I come up with. Ha!

Thanks for any help and advice!

I think an Evelyn-Evie born three years after a Evangeline-Evie is fine. I know some people are more sensitive on this issue than others, though, so if you think your friend might mind you could feel her out by mentioning that you’re considering the name. Evelyn Lane is both pretty and strong, and is my first choice from your list.

I agree with you that Lily and Lucy is not an ideal sibling pair. Chloe and Gracie both work well with Lily, although any name that ends in an “ee” or even an “ah” sound will run together with Lane, making it sound like Elaine. That’s not really a problem since we rarely say the first and middle names together (and since Elaine is a perfectly nice name), but it’s the sort of thing I’d want to have thought of beforehand in case it WAS a problem. Gracie Lane, for example, sounds the same as Grace Elaine. Lucy Lane could sound like Loose Elaine.

Eleanor is similar to Evelyn, and you could pick between Ellie and Nora as nicknames. Eleanor Lane.

I wonder if you’d like the name Georgia? It’s one of my own favorites. Georgia Lane. (A little too much like George Elaine?)

Or Esther. I think this name is so underused. Esther Lane.

Another of my favorites in the old-fashioned section is Clara. Clara Lane. (It sounds the same as Claire Elaine, but again, I think it’s a minor issue.)

Beatrix goes exceptionally well with Lily, I think. Beatrix Lane.

I was going to try to coerce you into using the name Millicent, but then I realized that would give you a Lily and a Milly.

My first choice of your boy names is Everett. Everett Dean is terrific.

I think it’s fine to use Grant even though it’s your father’s cousin’s name. It may be a little awkward, yes, but the awkwardness will quickly pass. Grant Dean, though, seems choppy.

I also think you should reconsider Will Gregory—that’s a very good name. Or Dean Gregory? Or Dean Jackson. Lily and Dean is wonderful.

I like Milo with Lily. Milo Dean.

Or Isaac? Isaac Dean.

Name update! Katie writes:

Hi, Swistle! Thanks for posting my question and offering some suggestions. I enjoyed reading them and the comments, even if it ended up being after the fact. We had a baby boy on December 21! His name is Henry Dean and he was 6 lbs. 11 oz. Had he been a girl, the name would’ve been Maggie Lane.

Baby Boy, Brother to Magnus Joseph

14 Replies

(I have a number of questions in my inbox I’m not going to get to in time, so I’ll post them for anyone who would like to work on them.)

B. writes:

We’re expecting our second little boy in January. Our last name is two syllables and starts with D and ends with a short “a” sound. Our son is Magnus Joseph. Magnus was originally kind of a joke between my husband and me but ended up becoming his name… and we love it! It’s a good strong Scandinavian boy name, and we’d like to give the second boy a strong name as well. So far we are mostly decided on Gunnar for the first name but cannot decide upon a middle name. A biblical/traditional/old fashioned middle name that sounds good with Gunnar, doesn’t leave him with weird initials (e.g. G.O.D.), and has a nice rhythm. I like Martin/Martyn and Maxwell and Alexander (though Gunnar Alexander could be a little too much “er”). I like the sound of single syllable names such as James or Jones, but I’m not sure I like either of those enough to use them. My husband is thinking about using Joseph for this baby’s middle name, but I’d like to come up with some other options to offer him. We just can’t decide on a middle name!

Any middle name suggestions?

Baby Girl Seagrave

19 Replies

(I have a number of questions in my inbox I’m not going to get to in time, so I’ll post them for anyone who would like to work on them.)

Corinne writes:

Help! We are expecting our second daughter in January 2010 and we have no clue what to name her!

My first daughter is Sadie Helen Seagrave and she is 3 ½ now. Helen is after my grandmother, and Sadie is from a Beatles song :o) I had Sadie’s name picked before I even got married. I was hoping for a boy so it would be easy (Charles IV with a nickname of Casey) but no luck. I definitely want it to sound good with Sadie, but not too similar (I love Sydney and Cassidy… but Sadie said “the baby needs her own name, she can’t be the same as me!”)

It would be nice to do “Jane” as the middle name (after my husband’s mother) but it’s not critical.

Some of the names I like are:

* Calleigh
* Taylor
* Cameron
* Kendra
* Hayden

These are names I like, but my husband doesn’t:

* Aubrey
* Chloe
* Delilah
* Paige
* Jocelynn

Baby Girl Spencer

18 Replies

(I have a number of questions in my inbox I’m not going to get to in time, so I’ll post them for anyone who would like to work on them.)

Beth writes:

We are having our 2nd girl January 5th. With the first one, we had NO issues with name.. With this one, we can’t agree for anything! Our first child is 3 1/2 and her name is Isabella Geraldine (Geraldine after her great grandma who passed away). We call her Isabella, not fond of Bella, Izy, etc. We’re not fond of nicknames.

My favorite name is Sayde Grace followed closely by McKinley Grace. I’m partial to Grace for a middle name, so they’d both have “G” middle names. I like Sayde because my grandma was Vadie. My husband just says to name her Vadie but that would be a little too odd for me.

My husband changes weekly; Scarlett, Regan, Madeline (long I) and Claire are the latest.

The only name we both kinda like is Ava but it’s a little to short for me with Isabella and I think I’m thrown by the “A” in both like if I say “Isabella and Ava” that’s a lot of A sounds.

Our last name is Spencer.

Also on our list were:
Anna Kate
Addison
Marleigh
Gracelyn

Any thoughts or new suggestions? :-)

Baby Girl Shore

16 Replies

(I have a number of questions in my inbox I’m not going to get to in time, so I’ll post them for anyone who would like to work on them.)

Catherine writes:

I’m due with a baby girl on January 4 and we’re still stuck on a name! Our first two children were easy to name – Delilah Caroline (4) and Benjamin Jacob “Ben” (2). This time around, we’ve used our favorite names and don’t want to use a “runner-up” from a previous pregnancy. (We want to love our second daughter’s name just as much as we love Delilah and Benjamin!) We have a few rules:

1. No word names. Our last name is Shore, so anything like Daisy Shore or Georgia Shore sounds like a beach.
2. No one syllable names – they sound choppy with Shore. I’m willing to bend this one if we fall in love with a great one syllable middle name, but we would like to avoid this if possible.
3. Nothing starting with a D or a B. We’d like each child to have their own initial.

Here’s our current list:

Adeline
Noelle
Olivia
Jacqueline
Isabel

We’re not 100% sold on any of these. Popularity isn’t a big issue, but I’d like the name to “fit” with Delilah and Ben. I’d love to hear some suggestions, as well as opinions and comments on our current list. Thanks, Swistle!

Name update 01-05-2010! Catherine writes:

Adeline Olivia Shore arrived on January 2, 2010! We reconsidered our original list and fell in love with the name Adeline again. It fits her perfectly and we’re happy to have found a great name for her.

Baby Naming Issue: Esme or Eliza?

14 Replies

Britt writes:

I’m hoping you can help me. My husband and I are adopting and so are in the process of weeding through my 300 names-long list to find the perfect fit for our new little one. We seem to be doing fine with boys, but are having more trouble with girl names. We have a short list to choose from – all classic but slightly less-used names. Here’s the problem: we’re thinking ahead and trying to plan which names we would use in combination with each other for future children. Both Esme and Eliza are at the very top of our list, but we would not want to use both because they seem very “matchy”. The only factor that might help us decide which to use is the popularity of each. Right now Eliza is at #328 and Esme has not broken into the top 1000. However, I have been seeing Esme more and more and am worried that it will become the next Emma. (Not to mention the Twilight series and its impact on the name!) So, with all your experience with names (and maybe with the help of your readers) maybe you can help us figure out the future popularity of these names? We appreciate your help and love your blog!

I am pretty sure it was The Baby Name Wizard that brought to my attention the way an unusual name can FEEL more common than it is. That is, if you hear the name Maverick two times in a year it seems like it must be WILDLY POPULAR, but you can hear the name Jacob twenty times without hardly noticing. A less-common name can make more of an IMPRESSION, and so a name like Maverick, which was #511 in 2008 (source: Social Security Administration), might get tiresome on the ears sooner than the #1 most popular name in the United States, just because it is more noticeable.

(This can also work the other way, incidentally: a name can feel all boring and used up when actually no one is using it anymore and it’s less common than the “unusual” names.)

My guess—and I hesitate even to guess—is that Esme won’t get as popular as Emma, but I think there is the possibility of it being more noticeable than the more familiar Eliza (which I would have guessed was more common than it is) and therefore SEEMING more common. And there is the danger that a generation of teenagers is going to grow up and start using the names they’ve “always loved,” and that some of those names will be from the Twilight craze.

I’d choose Eliza, and it’s because Eliza seems so much more stable to me: Esme seems more likely to make a sudden startling move. I also prefer the easier spelling/pronunciation of Eliza. But my main reason for choosing it is that it would go better with other names I like, so it’s not a fair comparison.

What do the rest of you think about the futures of the names Eliza and Esme?

Naming Issue: Names for Grandmothers

73 Replies

Rachel writes:

Hi Swistle! I was wondering if you would be kind enough to address Grandparent names on your baby name blog. My mom has just at three months to decide what she would like her first granddaughter to call her and she is having a tough time coming up with the perfect Grandmother name! She is quite picky and does not want to use any name that starts with Grand____, Nana, or Me-maw. Her first name is Robin and recently someone suggested Birdie, which is super cute, but not something my mom would use, if she doesn’t even like Grandma! A few names she has considered but has not fallen in love with are Maymay, (surprisingly) Grandmommy, and Nonna. I am wondering what your readers call their grandmothers, to give her more options to think about!

Thanks!

Oh, fun question! I called both my grandmothers “Grandma” (with surname if necessary to differentiate) but many of my friends called their grandmothers “Memere” (pronounced MEM-may).

While looking up how to spell Memere (I still don’t know where to put the accents, or how to do the one that goes from up left to down right), I found a link to The Name Nerds‘s post on this same topic.

What did all of you call your grandmothers?