Maggie writes:

My sister introduced me to your blog a few months ago, and I am hooked! And now I need to ask you for your help. I’m 25 weeks pregnant with a precious little baby boy (due in early July), and the husband and I cannot agree on a name for him. My name is Maggie, hubs is Kevin, and our last name is Pearce. We have a two year-old daughter named Molly Rose, and #2 may or may not be our last child. We’re thrilled to be adding a boy to our clan…….except that we CANNOT figure out his name!

We were actually kind of surprised to “see blue” on the ultrasound, and maybe part of the reason is because we had already compiled a list of girls’ names that we both loved. In case it helps at all, they were Heidi, Charlotte, Alice and Claire. But when it comes to boys’ names, the hubby and I have very different tastes.

My current favorite is Weston, nn Wes. Husband’s response: “is that even a real name?” Close seconds are Gavin, Connor and Austin. I also love the name Parker, but something about Parker Pearce sounds silly to me.

Husband likes more traditional names, and strongly prefers that whatever name we choose be two syllables so that it flows nicely with our one-syllable last name. He brings up Andrew a lot. I’m turned off by it only because it seems kind of ordinary to me. That being said, we are planning to use a traditional, honor middle name–either David or Francis. So I’d rather have something a little more modern (but not too popular!) for his first name.

When we first discussed baby names about five years ago, we both really liked the name Ryan. It’s still in the running, but I think we both find it slightly boring having had it on our list for so long. And more importantly, I’ve seen it pop up recently as a girls’ name. We’re both really not into gender-neutral names, so that’s a definite strike against using Ryan.

Choosing Molly’s name was so simple – we both loved it as soon as we heard it, and while we pretended to consider other names, we were pretty much dead-set on using Molly from the start. Rose is an honor name, and so are both of ours, so we’d like to continue with that tradition.

Since we had that “a-ha!” moment with Molly’s name, I was hoping the same thing would happen for this baby boy. Am I being too unreasonable? Should we just go with a name that we can both live with, but one of us is not overly excited about? We’re completely open to any advice and/or new ideas that you can add to our list, and I promise to share what name we pick when he makes his big entrance into this world!

Thank you!!!!

 
If your husband’s tastes are more traditional, I wonder if he’d like Wesley instead of Weston?

To do this in reverse to your husband’s choice of Andrew, I think Anderson is super sharp. Or there’s Drewan/Druan, which is like a perfect combination of Ryan and Andrew, but is probably too modern/invented to appeal to your husband.

The Baby Name Wizard has Turner as a suggestion if Parker is not quite right, and it’s much better with your surname. Turner Pearce; Molly and Turner.

I know what you mean about a name getting kind of boring after spending so long on the list. You might still want to use Ryan, and it’s nice to have a “This would be fine” name available as back-up—or maybe we can find something that is similar but will feel fresher to you:

Adrian
Camden
Grady
Henry
Ian
Isaac
Kyle
Liam
Nathan
Nolan
Owen
Ronan
Rylan
Simon
Tyler
Wyatt

With Molly, I especially like Henry, Ian, Isaac, and Simon. I also like Molly and Liam, and can’t decide if the repeating “lee” sound is too much, or if it ties the two names together.

Name update! Maggie writes:

Our beautiful baby boy arrived June 30th at 8lbs 6oz, and we named him……..Ryan Garry! In the end, we decided that “Ryan” really was THE name for our little man, and we have to thank you and the many people who commented on our post for helping us to realize that. And to add an element of surprise, we used my dad’s first name for Ryan’s middle name. He was thrilled! Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and input…it helped tremendously!

Ryan’s picture is attached!

April writes:

After struggling to conceive, my husband and I have been blessed with a pregnancy. We are due October 1st. DH doesn’t want to know the sex of the baby, and I don’t have strong feelings about needing to know, so we’re preparing two sets of names. The names need to fit in with several family traditions. We’ve decided to use his last name (Moore), but my family of origin traditions for first and middle names.

Traditions

1. In my family, the middle name Oliver is a tradition for the first born male in a generation (it’s my brother’s middle name, my grandfather’s middle name, my great-grandfather’s middle name etc.). Since I am the first sibling to have a child in my family, I’d like to use Oliver in the middle for a boy.

2. The second tradition in my immediate family is to have the initials spell out an additional name. For instance, my initials spell AMY. I loved growing up with a “secret” extra name and want my child to have the same gift. Also, I think my parents would be thrilled if I carried on the pattern they started with my siblings and me.

My husband and I have had no trouble coming up with girl names to fit this pattern. Currently, our favorites are Genevieve Elise (GEM) and Penelope Alice (PAM). We wouldn’t turn down more suggestions at this point, since we have a ways to go yet, but we need much more help with a boy’s name. Other first names for girls that we like but that don’t fit the initials pattern include Celeste, Lydia, and Cecilia.

The boy’s name is giving us more trouble since there are two traditions restricting our choices. Basically, with Oliver in the middle, the most reasonable option is to find a first name starting with T to get to TOM. If we don’t use Oliver, we are considering Simon Arthur (SAM), although I’d probably rather break with the initials tradition than the Oliver tradition, so maybe we’ll just reserve that for a second boy, if we are blessed enough to have one.

Here are a list of boy T names we have come up with and all of the crazy reasons we have for not liking any of them:

Theodore – We love this name. Sadly it rhymes with Moore.

Toby – Reminds us both of a dim-witted character on a television show that we both watch.

Truman – Husband says he won’t name child after president who bombed Hiroshima.

Terrance – The nickname Terry drives me nuts. I suggested Ren to the husband as an alternate nickname idea, and he hates the idea.

Timothy – Makes me think of Tiny Tim or Timothy Titmouse — which both seem annoying to me.

Titus – Husband says it has the word ass in it, so it’s out.

Troy – We both like this name. However, we’re living in upstate NY right now and to our neighbors this is a city that they don’t like.

Thomas – Way to common with the last name Moore. Also the same name as that of famous people from the past. My father-in-law has a super common first name and when combined with his last name, it’s a huge hassle with identification (incorrect bills, court orders etc).

Tristan – Love the meaning behind the name, but for some reason it sounds a bit prissy or nerdy to us and our child is likely to be a nerd, so we don’t want to make it to hard for him.

Travis – Nothing actually wrong with the name itself, but it’s the name of a professor I had in college that I disliked.

Trevor – I like it, but Trevor Oliver sounds awkward to me with the double r ending.

Thaddeus – It’s okay, but for some reason it just always sounds like it being said wrong to me. Also, Thad Moore sounds similar to the name of a summer camp that I used to go to and that’s just strange to me.

Trent – Reminds me of the politician Trent Lott, which is not positive for us. Also, the Council of Trent, which just seems odd.

I keep feeling like the perfect T name is out there, but since I’m already a name nerd, I’m starting to lose hope in the idea that there is a T name I haven’t thought of yet. Perhaps I already know the perfect T name, but I just need someone to help me see it in a different light? Swistle, you always give great advice — want to give it a shot?

 
Another possibility is to go for the initials DOM. Or, if it’s okay to use more than one middle name, you could do COLM or NORM. But I agree with you about going for TOM if possible: it practically cries out to be used here.

When I was expecting Henry, Matt Lauer and his wife had a baby boy and named him Thijs, pronounced Tice. I have Dutch ancestry and so does Paul, and I also immediately loved the sound of the name, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to use that name in the United States. My conclusion was that I didn’t think the spelling was possible to use here without a lot more hassle than I was willing to take on, and I didn’t want to Americanize the spelling.

It seems like a good possibility here: it’s like Titus without the…tu. Tyce Oliver Moore. Both Ty and Tyson are familiar enough to pull Tyce with them. The flow isn’t perfect, but with two traditions to satisfy, something else may have to give.

For that reason I also think Trevor could be reconsidered. Trevor Oliver does have a little repeated-endings issue, but will you be saying the names together often? Or, wait. Actually, “Trever Moore” makes me think of what the raven kept quothing.

Thatcher would be cute, though. Thatcher Oliver Moore.

Or would Trevin work? Trevin Oliver Moore.

I also want to revisit Theodore, since you both love it. I’ve been saying Moore more like “boor” or “moor” than like “-dore” or “more,” but the rhyming issue leads me to believe I may saying it wrong. (After all, I rhyme the words “door” and “poor” with “more,” so Moore could be the same.) Plus, if you’d mentioned Theodore without mentioning the issue with the endings, I would have pointed it out even pronouncing it like moor. And after saying Theodore, I’m more likely to pronounce Moore to rhyme with it. So it IS an issue, but maybe it’s not a deal-breaker. Or you could go with the stand-alone name Theo, but I think that might lead people to put it with Moore as if it were Theodore: “Theomoore.” Well, maybe it IS out, but I’m reluctant to let it go.

Would the name Tobin still make you think of the dim character Toby? Tobin Oliver Moore.

Your husband’s objection to Truman sounds like it isn’t up for discussion, but I feel like discussing it anyway. Using a name doesn’t mean it has to be “after” everyone else who had the name—and certainly not after a PARTICULAR previous owner of the name. President Truman is perhaps most people’s primary association with the name, but if people said “Oh, after President Truman?,” there is room for saying “No.” Well, fine, I see the reasoning and I guess it’s off the list. It’s just such a great T-name, and it’s great with your surname, and I think of it as a surname name rather than a tribute name—but I understand how it is when an association takes over a name. In fact, I think part of my woe here is that I didn’t previous associate Truman with Hiroshima, and now I do.

If the main problem with Thomas is that it’s too common, you could use Thomason or Thompson. Thomason Oliver Moore; Thompson Oliver Moore. I think I prefer Thompson. But in talking about it with my mother, she brought up the point that having a name with the nickname Tom might take away the entire point of having a secret initials name.

Thaddeus/Thad makes me think of Todd. Todd Oliver Moore. Does that sound just as much like the camp name?

Teagan is used more often for girls than boys, which is too bad because it might fit the bill perfectly. Teagan Oliver Moore.

The Baby Name Wizard also lists Teague for boys, and that’s not being used for girls at all. Teague Oliver Moore.

Oh, or Tiernan! Tiernan Oliver Moore.

It’s rare in the United States, but Timon is one of my favorites of the T names so far. It sounds like Simon, without any Simple/Says issues. I’d expected it to get more common when everyone was searching for ways to get to the nickname Ty, but it didn’t. Timon Oliver Moore. [Never mind: I see from the comments section that I was wrong about the pronunciation.] [Second edit: Well, or maybe I’m not wrong. HowJSay says it to rhyme with Simon. Pronounce Names shows several pronunciations, starting with the one that rhymes with Simon. Timon’s Thoughts says one pronunciation is to rhyme with Simon. The Bible Workshop says it rhymes with Simon. The Shakespeare Glossary says it rhymes with Simon. Babynamespedia has it rhyming with Simon. The Baby Name Wizard says it rhymes with Simon. So I’m putting it back on my list.]

Name update! April writes:

I am proud to announce the birth of Alice Younglove Moore.

My baby girl was born on September 21st, so we did not have to worry about boy names in the end. However, after discussing your decide first names first policy we decided not to do initials spelling a second name for our daughter either. Instead, we opted to make a family connection to my side with her middle name as my maiden name. Also, her initials AYM are an anagram of my initials AMY.

Thank you for your advice! We’ll keep it in our back pocket if we ever decide to have another. :)

I’m attaching a picture of our perfect little one to this email.

Kimberly writes:

Help! I’m literally losing sleep over a possible baby girl name. We do not know the sex of our third and final child, which will be here in less than 5 weeks! Our twins are 21 months old. Their names are Clayton Joseph and Chloe Grace. Our last name is Carlos. If we have a boy, his name will be Jackson James. I’d like to use Faith as the middle name if it’s a girl, but that’s not an absolute must. Since Clayton and Chloe are older names, I’d like to stick with that theme. Names we’ve considered, but I just can’t seem to commit to are:

Macie Layne (husband loves)
Ashby Faith (we both love, but not sure about the rest of the world!)
Olivia (beautiful, but so popular)
Sadie (very common dog name!)
Violet (I like, husband isn’t a huge fan of)
Harper (I like, husband says it isn’t feminine enough)
Ella
Avery

Please advise…I’m desperate and feeling so unprepared!!

 
I think the rest of the world would likely be fine with Ashby: it’s similar to the well-liked name Ashley but with a fresher sound, and surname names are currently in style. My main hesitation is the vast difference in popularity between the names Chloe and Ashby: according to the Social Security Administration, Chloe was #9 in 2010, but Ashby hasn’t been in the Top 1000 since 1907—and that was as a boy’s name. In 2010, there were 11,656 new baby girls named Chloe (and another 6,771 named Khloe/Kloey/Cloe/Cloey/etc, bringing the ranking from #9 to more like #3), and only 27 baby girls named Ashby.

Another hesitation is that Chloe is completely feminine in the U.S.—-but Ashby is unisex, used in 2010 for 18 boys.

Here’s why neither of these hesitations make me feel like you shouldn’t use the name: because neither of them FEEL true. Because of Ashley, the name Ashby seems more common and feminine than it is. Also, because the name Clayton falls somewhere between Chloe and Ashby (it was #252 for boys in 2010), it isn’t as jarring a feeling as it might be if you had Jacob, Emma, and Ashby—and even THEN, the “Ash” part makes it fit for me. AND you both love it, and I think there are few explanations more suitable for explaining away hesitations.

I do find Ashby a little difficult to say, however. The transition from -sh- to -by requires a mouth adjustment I guess I don’t usually have to make, and I find it sometimes means I say the ending with more of a P sound than a B sound: Ashpy rather than Ashby. Would you like the name Shelby instead? Shelby Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Shelby; Chloe Grace and Shelby Faith.

I have a slight preference for the spelling Macey over the spelling Macie, but I can’t put a finger on WHY. It would also give her a different ending than Chloe’s, which could be a plus or a minus.

If you love the name Olivia, I encourage you to use it. Its popularity is very close Chloe’s when alternate spellings are taken into account, and it really is a beautiful name. Olivia Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Olivia; Chloe Grace and Olivia Faith.

I think Sadie is well-established enough as a human name to be safe to use: it doesn’t fall into the “But that’s a DOG’S name!” category. But I understand if it rules out the name for you: once I’d met two dogs named Bijou, it made it hard for me to think of it as a possible baby girl name. Sadie is a traditional nickname for Sarah, so one possibility would be to use the name Sarah, and then try Sadie as a nickname; then if it DID bother you, you could drop Sadie and use Sarah or Sally instead.

Sadie makes me think of Laney, which can be a stand-alone or a nickname for another name; my favorite long form is Elena. Elena Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Elena; Chloe Grace and Elena Faith. I’m not sure if the repeating “ay” sounds of Clayton and Elena are too similar or if they tie the sibling group together nicely.

Delaney is another long form that would work. Delaney Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Delaney; Chloe Grace and Delaney Faith. Again the issue with the repeating “ay” sounds.

Avery is quite unisex, and I’m not sure that goes as well with the very feminine Chloe. But I don’t think it’s deal-breakingly unisex, especially since although the usage of Chloe is all-girl, the name itself is not particularly frilly.

Ava is more girly and not at all unisex. It’s also more common than Avery, but not a lot more common: #5 to Avery’s #23—and with alternate spellings such as Averie/Averi/Avarie added in, Avery is in the top 10. Ava Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Ava; Chloe Grace and Ava Faith.

I was about to suggest Harlow(e) to make Harper more feminine, and then realized that Harlow Carlos is not the best fit! If you like the -per ending, there’s also Juniper and Piper.

Ella is nice with Chloe, both in femininity and in popularity (it was #13 last year, and is even more common than that because of all the girls using it as a nickname for Elizabeth and Eleanor and so on). This is one of my favorites for you. Ella Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Ella; Chloe Grace and Ella Faith.

Stella would also be nice. Stella Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Stella; Chloe Grace and Stella Faith.

If you wanted to continue the Cl-sound theme, Claudia would work. Claudia Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Claudia; Chloe Grace and Claudia Faith. But I don’t think there’s any need to do so: the first two children being twins makes it even easier than usual to break the pattern for a third.

Georgia came suddenly to my mind when I was re-reading the letter. Georgia Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Georgia; Chloe Grace and Georgia Faith.

Or Molly. Molly Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Molly; Chloe Grace and Molly Faith.

Or Audrey. Audrey Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Audrey; Chloe Grace and Audrey Faith.

Oh, or Aubrey, since it’s more similar to Ashby. Aubrey Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Aubrey; Chloe Grace and Aubrey Faith. I really like that.

Ashby and Olivia make me think of Libby, which can be used as a stand-alone name or as a nickname for Elizabeth.

Your mention of Violet made me think of Charlotte. I like the way she’d have a Ch- start to her name like her sister, without having to repeat the Cl- sound. But do Charlotte and Carlos share too many sounds? Charlotte Carlos; Clayton, Chloe, and Charlotte; Chloe Grace and Charlotte Faith.

Name update! Kimberly writes:

Our sweet little boy is here! We were both surprised to hear the words, “it’s a boy” because we both thought it was a girl. Easton James was born on April 3rd and is just perfect! We love his name, which was inspired by the country music singer, Easton Corbin. His name literally changed days before his arrival. I was so happy my husband agreed to it. His twin siblings, Clayton and Chloe are adjusting well to their new brother! Thanks for your help!!

A. writes:

My husband and I are expecting our firstborn Oct 2 2012 and while we already have a boy name picked out, we think we have a girl name picked out but cannot come up with a good middle name. We are 99% sure that if we have a girl, we will name her Ellery and call her “Elle” at times. We like the middle name Gray because we both love that color and thought that a middle name ending in the long “A” sound would flow the best. However, several people have told us that Gray sounds too gloomy to go with Ellery. We can’t use Mae as that is our niece’s middle name is Mae and we don’t like Rae. We would like a shorter middle name because our last name is Montgomery. My twin sister’s name is Skye and while I like that for a middle name, my husband doesn’t want to have any part of the name named after someone we know or are related to. Can you please suggest middle names to go with Ellery Montgomery?!

P.S., if our baby is a boy, we will name him Stellan Ford Montgomery as Ford is my maiden name.

Thank you!

 
I can see how the name Grey/Gray could sound gloomy, but it doesn’t ring that way for me. I think more of handsome grey business suits, sweet grey mares, pretty grey skies (which I like, but I know not everyone does), unusual/attractive grey eyes, dove grey gloves, and the fashionable wall color. And I think “We both love that color” is enough to reassure anyone who might wonder about gloominess. My mind immediately turns to the fun of finding pretty grey things for her nursery and wardrobe, and to maybe sometimes using the nickname Ella Grey.

My own personal preference is for the spelling Grey. For me it evokes all those more positive feelings about the word, while Gray makes me think of Gary.

I also think the sound of Ellery Grey is wonderful. My only hesitation is that Ellery Grey Montgomery has a lot of ery/rey endings for one name.

If you like the color aspect of Grey/Gray, you could go with Blue or Rose or Jade. Blue would give you a sneaky secret wink to Skye. So would Grey, for that matter, but Blue is a more positive-sounding wink—which is odd, now that I think of it, since “blue” is a synonym for sad. Well, there it is, though: blue skies mean cheeriness and grey skies don’t.

I think it would be fine to re-use a niece’s middle name if you love it, and could even be a sweet tie between the girls. But if you’d rather not or you suspect it wouldn’t fly with your niece’s parents, and if Rae is out, there’s also the vintage charm of Faye and Kay. Day would also be cute: Ellery Day. Or Ellery Eve is pretty, or Ellery Joy. Or Ellery June/Jane/Jean/Joan/Jo. Or Ellery Paige/Sage/Raine/Laine/Faith.

I think I like a 2-syllable middle name even better, rhythm-wise, especially if the emphasis is on the first syllable: Ellery LA-la Montgomery instead of Ellery la Montgomery. Other two-syllable examples: Ellery Eva, Ellery Iris, Ellery Nina, Ellery Hannah, Ellery Briar, Ellery Violet, Ellery Meadow.

Would you like Ellery Sterling Montgomery, or is that too much? Sterling evokes some of the same feelings as Grey for me, but with less potential perceived gloominess. On the other hand, that’s three names in a row with -er-, and Sterling’s traditional use for boys may tip the boyishness of Ellery further than you’d like. Ellery Silver Montgomery tones down the name a bit, but still has the -er- issue.

I hesitate to call a 99% favorite into question, but I think part of the challenge here is that Ellery and Montgomery have matching -ery endings and almost rhyme. As with all repeating name-sounds, this can be a positive or a negative: it can tie the name together pleasingly, or it can give it a stuttery or singsongy sound.

A name like Elena would eliminate the rhyminess while still leaving you with Elle. Elena Montgomery.

Or for something a little lacier, Eliana Montgomery.

Or for something a little less lacy, Ellis Montgomery. I’d go very feminine with the middle name, then; I probably wouldn’t use Grey. I like Joy or Jane: Ellis Joy Montgomery; Ellis Jane Montgomery.

Even less lacy: Ellison Montgomery. Again, I’d use a distinctively feminine middle name.

Or Elsa Montgomery. Very similar to Ella, but much less common.

I’m not sure Eliza would be your style, but it’s my style so it springs to my mind. Eliza Montgomery. That’s a name I’d like to have myself.

Reading over your letter again, I notice Stellan is your boy-name pick. Is this a name you would still like to use if you have a girl now and a boy later, or is it a matter of first-come-first-serve for the -ella- sound? If you’d like to use it later, that might affect which girl names I’d suggest: Elena and Stellan seem fine for sibling names, but Ella and Stellan would not work as well.

And since this is your first child, I’ll include a link to a more general post: Baby naming advice for first-time parents.

Name update! A. writes:

Just writing to update you that our daughter was born weighing 7 lbs 3 ounces, 19 inches long! The night before we found out the gender we had changed the boy’s name from Stellan to Lawson and at that point were up in the air about a girls name even though we were 99% sure beforehand that we would name her Ellery. We had received some mixed feedback about her name so we had been looking for other options and were considering the name Ayla. As soon as we found out we were having a girl we walked out of the sonogram knowing her name would absolutely be Ellery! We took your suggestion and spelled the middle name Grey vs Gray. Thanks for the help, we’ll be coming back when it’s time for our second child!! P.S. I still enjoy reading your blog and have referred several friends who are expecting!

Here’s a picture of our sweet Ellery and her beautiful lips!

Nikki writes:

I love reading your blog and hope that you could be of assistance in naming our new little girl due in early April 2012.

We have a beautiful 22 month old boy named Joseph Edward – called Jed. I am Nikki (actually named Nicole) and Hubby is Joey (Joseph III… our son is a fourth!) Last name starts with an M and sounds like Marley. We are planning to have more children after this girl as well.

We had a horrible time choosing our sons name as I am a bit more out of the box on naming boys and my husband is more traditional. Our son was born at 35 weeks and we knew that he would be the 4th but did not decide on Jed until he was almost 3 days old! I really loved the idea of calling him Ford to play on the fourth or even Ward as a nickname from Edward… in the end Jed fits him perfectly and I am so glad that we chose it! I love that his nn is unique yet he has a classic name too if he ever wants to go by that when he gets older.

We are very excited about having a girl and I really want to get her name settled on early so we aren’t at the hospital unsure of what to call her! We both love the name Sloane but 2 friends have just used that name for their little girl. We both gravitate towards the more masculine sounding names for girls. We also really loved Hayes but I worry that it is too masculine and also not sure how I feel about it for when she gets older. That had me thinking of names that we might use to get Hayes as a nn and thought of Hazel. It doesn’t seem to jump out at me as the one though. This led me to Quinn which I love but can’t seem to get a middle name that works with it as I feel it needs a longer middle name. What do you think about the names we have on our list (really just Quinn and Hazel) and also any suggestions for names that are similar to them or Sloane that we might have missed?

Thanks so much for your help!

and

Well here we are at 33 and a half weeks and still nameless! I am starting to get really nervous as my son came at 35 weeks! Please help and I promise for an update from the hospital bed!

We do now have a top 5 list that we review nightly and are trying to slowly get down to our little girls name. So here it is in the order of our preferences… We are both happy using the middle name of Quinn with most of these names but open on that too!

1. Seraphina (nickname Phina) – like that it feels classic but still unique. Is it becoming trendy? Do people think of the Afflecks every time they hear this?

2. Fiona (nn Fia) – love the meaning and have never met anyone with this name! Will we be setting our daughter up for the Shrek teasing?

3. Karalina (nn Lina) – we like the Kara leena pronunciation? Would you pronounce this way?

4. Lilyana (n Lana) – love the name since I am due at Easter time. Not a fan of the Lily nn with our last name. Think that could be avoided?

5. Sophia (nn Phia) -love the name hate the popularity. Think that this will be a deal breaker.

We really want a unique name that is also not going to feel dated or weird with a fun nickname like our son has. Are we missing a name that fits this?

Thanks so much!

 
1. Seraphina. I immediately think of the Afflecks, but I think that will change with time as the name becomes more widely-used and the associations therefore become more diluted. I think of it more as the Afflecks making the name usable. But the celebrity connection can definitely give a name a “trendy” feel, even if the name isn’t very common.

2. Fiona. I’ve seen Shrek, and I’ve heard the connection mentioned periodically when the name is mentioned in a post, but it’s not one that comes to my own mind. I don’t know if children would tease about it or not. I’m hoping someone here has an elementary-school-aged Fiona and can report.

3. Karalina. I’m glad I pronounced it in my mind before reading the rest of the section, so that I can report that I first pronounced it with a LEE sound. If I encountered it out in the world, I would probably ask if it were LEE or LIE. Two similar possibilities: Karenna, Linnea.

4. Lilyana. I’m not sure if Lily could be avoided. Certainly this is a good generation for avoiding a nickname, and maybe if you set up the Lana thing early on? But Lana is not a natural nickname for Lilyana, and Lily is, so you may meet with resistance. Spelling it Lilliana could help a little: Lilyana visually suggests the nickname Lily. But if popularity bothers you, I suggest crossing this one off the list: the spellings and variations (Lilliana, Lilianna, Lilyanna, Liliana, plus all the Lillians and Lilys) add up to a very popular name. Would you consider going straight for Lana? That’s a name in its own right, and significantly less common.

5. Sophia. I think you can cross this off the list if popularity bothers you. It also seems like Joseph and Sophia might have too many sounds in common. (Even closer: I’d nearly suggested Josephina because of its similarity to Seraphina and Sophia, before remembering that your Jed is actually Joseph, as is your husband. Oops.)

A name that kept coming to my mind as I read the possibilities was Philomena. It has sounds in common with every name on your list, it’s not in any current danger of trendiness, and it’s unusual without being weird.

Another possibility is Willemina/Wilhelmina. I prefer the first spelling: it’s the one from my own Dutch family tree, but I also think it fits better with current styles and is easier to spell. This gives you the nickname Willa as well as Mina.

Both Philomena and Willemina also bring us around to the more boyish sound you were looking for in your first letter: Phil and Will/Wills are other possible nicknames.

A name similar to Sloane is Lane. Lane Marley; Jed and Lane. She’d also have the nickname Laney if she wanted something more feminine.

Or another idea would be to give your daughter a traditional name and unusual nickname, to coordinate with your son’s name and also to help avoid datedness and trendiness. Elizabeth, for example, with the nickname Beck. Joseph and Elizabeth; Jed and Beck.

Or I wish I could suggest Margaret with the nickname Daisy, but that probably won’t work with your surname.

If you decide to go back to Quinn as the first name, we did a Middle Name Challenge for that awhile back.

Name update! Nikki writes:

We are so very excited to announce that our beautiful daughter, Fiona Quinn was born on 3/29 weighing in at 6lbs 13 oz and nearly 2 weeks early. Thanks so very much for all of the feedback and comments! They really helped us to choose the perfect name!

Grace writes:

Here is our dilemma. When we had our daughter three years ago, we didn’t know if she was going to be a boy or a girl. We had our list of boy names and our list of girl names. I abandoned names left and right because of their popularity- including Isabella which was once top of our list but was nearly number 1 that year. We were named her a few minutes after her birth. Somehow, we have never regretted this momentary decision and feel her name fits her. Her name is Aura Rose (Rose was fixed from the beginning because of my husband’s love of roses, maybe not my first choice since everyone’s middle name is Rose, but he really does have a deep love of roses). I like that few people have ever heard the name Aura and everywhere we go, people comment how lovely her name is. We also like that it means “wind,” “breath,” or “goddess of wind.” We think that fits her too.

So, we are expecting again and need a new girl name and boy name. We had loved “Luca” for a boy in my pregnancy with her and have long held it as a possible name for her future sibling. We even thought- we could make that name work for a boy or a girl! However, a friend recently named her son that and I just don’t want to anymore. She is a very course person and the name (for them) is all about the strong Italian sound, which I never even noted before (I’m part Italian but we’re not really about being traditional or having our kid sound manly). I’m turned off mostly because I learned (somehow for the first time?) that it means “man from Lucania.” Our name doesn’t have to mean anything particularly profound, but it would be nice if it meant something.

We would really love something that is short and succinct to match “Aura.” We liked Luca because it was the same length and had the “a” sound at the end. Are there any similar names? I can’t really search for “4 letters with an a sound at the end” on most of the baby name engines I have found. We aren’t totally stuck on the names matching to that degree but it would be nice if they had some fluidity together.

 
In the United States, most names that end in an A-sound are girl names. The main exception to this rule is biblical names, and now that most biblical names have gone mainstream (that is, they can still be used as expressions of religious affiliation, but they’re no longer assumed to do so), that’s the direction I’d steer you to start. Some four-letters-with-an-A-sound-at-the-end possibilities:

Ezra
Joah
Noah

Joah would be the least common of those: according to the Social Security Administration, in 2010 the name Noah was #7, the name Ezra was #243, and the name Joah was not in the top 1000 at all (nor was the name Aura). I think you might run into more trouble with Joah than with Aura, however, since aura is a familiar word even though it’s an uncommon name, while most people won’t have heard of Joah in any context. It meets my preference for an unusual name, however, which is that it has a quick and easy help for both spelling and pronouncing: “It’s like Noah, but with a J instead of an N.”

Or if we expand the search beyond four letters and an A-ending, Jonah and Judah and Elijah and Micah would be more familiar than Joah, and Eli and Elias and Milo and Silas and Jonas and Levi and Asher and Leo and Abel have a gentle sound without ending in an a/ah.

Since Aura is a noun and supernatural/deity name, another possible route would be to find another noun or supernatural/deity name for this child. Those are harder to find for boys, but some possibilities are:

Able
Ares (probably too similar to Aura)
Arrow (probably too similar to Aura)
Atlas
Hart
Heath (which I think carries some of the romantic sound of Aura)
Forest
Jupiter
Justice
Merit
River

A name from my friend Mairzy’s list is Sterling. I think that might work very well: Sterling Kenny; Aura and Sterling. It was #754 in 2010, and according to my dictionary it means thoroughly excellent, noble, worthy, honorable. Furthermore, I think it works well for a boy or for a girl: for a boy I think it sounds gentlemanly and courteous and British; for a girl I think it has a fresh modern sound that might go very nicely with Aura.

Or Nico is similar to Luca.

I think it’s unsurprising for a family to have a different naming style for boys than for girls, but in general I’m in favor of coordinating sister names, or brother names, to avoid implying different expectations for each child: sisters named Aura and Margaret, for example, might feel as if one is expected to be a free spirit and the other is expected to be sensible and traditional. Some possible sister names for Aura:

Briar
Calla
Carys
Clarity
Cleo
Echo
Eden
Fable
Freya (another goddess name)
Haven
Ione
Isis (goddess)
Junia
Juno (goddess)
Lyric
Morning
Raine
Sage
Silver
Skye
Talia
True
Wren

Or if you want four letters ending in an A-sound, there are lots of options but many of them don’t seem like good style fits (Anna, for example, or Sara, or Nina), or might be too similar (Aria or Nora). Some that might fit better:

Deja
Gaia (goddess)
Hera (goddess)
Isla
Jada
Leda
Luna (goddess)
Lyra
Maya (goddess)
Sela
Thea
Zara

I’m not sure about the names ending in -ra. They might be too similar to Aura. I left them in, though, because I couldn’t decide.

I haven’t spent much time on name meanings: it’s a long list to look up, especially since I like to look at several sources to see if there’s consensus. But if you narrow it down first to the ones you’d consider using if the meanings were okay, that will cut down the task considerably.

I also suggest looking up the goddess names (I probably missed a few on the list, too) to make sure they’re goddesses whose stories are acceptable to you; some of those deities got up to quite a bit of trouble.

Name update! Grace writes:

We ended up naming our second daughter Shyla Hope. Shyla means “daughter of the mountain” and is one of the incarnations of the Hindu Goddess Parvati. So, it’s a goddess name that refers to another element in nature. We thought it went well with Aura for that reason. It’s more popular than Aura but not hugely popular or rising fast. Rose was important in meaning/symbolism to my husband and the same is true of Hope for me. She didn’t have a name until the day after her birth and several of the names from you and your readers were on our short list. Thank you for your help!

I think Aura and Shyla/ Aura Rose and Shyla Hope flow well together but others might find them too close in style/sound. I think we are all happy with it which is a miracle since we didn’t feel sure about names on our short list up through the end.

I really do appreciate the time you spent helping us!

Jennifer writes:

My husband and I are expecting a baby boy February 24th. Our last name starts with an L and rhymes with Vogue. Our first son’s name is Rhett Ezekiel, we chose his name within a week or two of finding out his gender. This second guy is giving us a little more trouble!

I like more unusual names, but my husband is much more traditional. I prefer names that are longer than one syllable since we have a one syllable last name. I don’t mind nicknames. He does not like nicknames and prefers shorter names. Obviously, I am not dead set, because our first son has a one syllable name. I made up for it with a long middle name. I do NOT want a name that is used as a girl’s name.

His father passed away last year, so my husband would like us to use either his first name David, or his middle name Warren somewhere in the name. I have agreed. I’m not overly fond of the name David, but will use it as a middle name (especially if the name we choose ends in the letter N). I would prefer our son to have his own first name (our first son does and so do all of the nieces and nephews on both sides). However, I am willing to use the name Warren as a first name if we don’t find something we both love. If we use Warren, his name will be Warren Elias.

Names that I like, but hubby doesn’t:

Elias (this would be my name of choice)
Thatcher (was the name I liked for the first baby)
Oliver
Ezra

Names he likes, but I don’t:
Walter
Henry
George
Harry

Names we both like (really, the entire list is about 10 deep)
Tyson
Owen (seems so popular to me as does Tyson)
Sawyer (starting to be used as a girl’s name)
Coleman
Conrad
Roy
Oakley
Wilson (but we might as well use Warren, they are so close)

We are leaning towards Conrad, Coleman, or Warren. I think that I am preferring Coleman, but then will have to use David as a middle name, and I would rather use Warren, but not sure I like the two N endings. I think he is preferring Warren at the moment, but he has gone back and forth on Warren.

Can you help?!?

Thank you!

Name update! Jennifer writes:

Thanks all! Eli Warren was born today 9 lbs .09 oz 21.75″

Danielle writes:

I am currently at 31 weeks and 3 days into my pregnancy with our 4th child. After 13 weeks of bed rest, we are hoping Baby Girl “_alone” will stay put 6 more weeks, making her grand appearance in late March (due April 16th). We are having an extremely difficult time deciding on a name for this sweet girl due to an unexpected journey to becoming a family.

We lost our first daughter, Finley Grace, in April of 2007 when I was 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Then, we lost our second daughter, Caroline Grace, in February of 2008 when I was 24 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Words cannot describe how blessed we felt to successfully welcome our precious boy, Crosby Fox, into this world in December of 2008. What a miracle he is!

I love everything about Crosby, including his name. Crosby is my grandmother’s maiden name and Fox is my mother’s-in-law maiden name. I thought of it as a boy’s name when we were pregnant with Finley. It was the only name I ever really considered using during my 18+ weeks of bed rest with him. Now that we have had the privilege of loving him for 3 years, we love his name more than ever and think it fits him perfectly.

Caroline (my mother is Carolyn) was always my first choice for a daughter, yet, we did not use it with our firstborn. Caught off guard and with little time to process what happened, we used Finley paired with Grace for her name. Finley was a name I liked but didn’t care for it with Caroline. We used Grace, not only because of it’s meaning, but also because it fit with most names we had considered. While we knew we would name our second daughter Caroline as soon as we learned her gender, we did not decide on Grace as her middle name until she was born and passed away. It seemed fitting to give Caroline the same middle name as her big sister.

Herein lies the dilemma. Maybe I have set the bar to high in naming this baby girl but I want to love her name as much as I do her brother’s. I would also like to honor her big sisters in some way if we can find a name we both love. Grace, Gracen, Graycen, and Gracie are beautiful names. I am having a hard time deciding if it is her name. Should I worry it could be hard for her to carry her sisters’ name as she grows to understand the circumstances surrounding their short lives? Would she feel hurt if her name did not include them in some way? Just a few of the questions with no sure answers that I have running through my mind to further complicate the situation!

Here are some of the names we have considered:

Jane Claire (Claire is the middle name of my MIL, SIL, and husband’s grandmother; would probably be a double name but love it on it’s own)

Gracie Jane (probably a double name)

Gracie Blue (not because of Beyonce, but because my son refers to her as “Blueberry”)

Lucy Grace (my MIL is Lucy, might be hard having 2 Lucys…)

Vivienne (Vivie)

Evelyn (Evie)

Amelia

Celia

Layla (family name)

Although it is by no means a must, I like double names and could easily pair Grace with most of the options listed above. I also love Jane and think it could work for a middle name as well. I find myself stuck in a rut with this handful of names and would feel the need to explore more options.

These are names we like but can’t use because of close family and friends:

Margaret
Cora
Charlotte
Harper
Milly

In thinking of a sibling set, I am not totally sure about using another name with an “ie” or “y” sound. I really love the flow of Crosby and Jane Claire but feel bad that it does not “honor” the girls in any way.

We are so torn over Baby Girl “_alone’s” name. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 
This is a difficult issue, and one in which I think it might be a helpful exercise for us to think of the situation from two angles: one in which there are four children in the sibling group, and one in which there are two.

Thinking of the sibling group as having four members, I don’t think she would feel hurt that her name didn’t include her sisters’ names. I think the stickier issue is whether, symbolically-speaking, she might have trouble with the opposite. Your son’s name doesn’t honor his sisters; if now your daughter’s name does, it may convey the feeling that she is a replacement for them, or that her life must compensate for their loss. If they had lived, she would not be named after them, and this seems to me an important point: using them as namesakes emphasizes their deaths. Using The Baby Name Wizard‘s “Would I want this name myself?” test, I answer no: I would not want to explain that I was named for sisters who died before I was born. I would want to choose a different way to honor them.

However: your first two daughters both have the middle name Grace, and if you were writing asking about that, I would certainly recommend continuing that with a third: I think it’s a sweet idea to have sisters or mothers/daughters sharing a middle name. This may give you the honoring/namesake effect you’d like, while including your third daughter in the sibling group with her sisters just as it would have if her two sisters were still alive—and without needing to use her name to memorialize them. And if I imagine being the third daughter, I think I would like sharing that name with them, and perhaps continuing the tradition later on for a daughter of my own.

Thinking now of the group of two siblings, I see that Crosby Fox has two honor names. If you were writing to me and you mentioned only him, I would suggest going a similar route for for his sister—though I would also assure you that many people use honor names for a firstborn and not for later siblings, and so it would be fine not to.

I think Lucy would fit the situation beautifully, if you did want to use an honor name. One of my children has the same name as his grandfather, and it has never caused more than a flicker of momentary confusion: very few people need to refer to both by their first names, and it’s rare that the name is used in a context where it could mean either one. Crosby Fox and Lucy Grace: both honor names, and they work well in both the sibling group of two and the sibling group of four.

Claire is another family option on your list. Because Claire Grace is a little choppy (though I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker), and because you like Cora but can’t use it, I suggest Clara. Crosby Fox and Clara Grace. Or there’s Clarissa: Crosby Fox and Clarissa Grace. But changing the name does diminish the family-name tie, so these are more “If you like Claire/Cora, maybe you’d like…” suggestions rather than “Use a family name” suggestions.

Or Layla works beautifully just as it is: Crosby Fox and Layla Grace.

Or you could use Jane Claire (which sounds like it’s your current favorite, and I love it too) as the first name, and perhaps having Grace as the middle name would alleviate the feeling that it should be an honor name. It seems a little choppy to have three 1-syllable names in a row, but I think other considerations easily trump that one. And now that I think of it, the first name would be two syllables, not one: it would be more as if it were Janeclaire Grace _alone.

Looking at your list, the name Violet comes to mind. Crosby Fox and Violet Grace.

Another is Genevieve, with the nicknames Gigi (from the first/middle initials) or Evie. Crosby Fox and Genevieve Grace.

Lucy and Celia make me think of Cecily. Crosby Fox and Cecily Grace.

Your description of how blessed/privileged you feel to have Crosby made me think of the name Felicity, which means happiness and luck. Crosby Fox and Felicity Grace.

Name update!  Danielle writes:

There were so many factors I was trying to weigh before I could confidently decide on a name for our third daughter. It was not until I was admitted and in labor that we finally made our decision!

I am thrilled to announce Jane Claire _alone was born on April 2, 2012 at 1:03 pm.  She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.  She is absolutely perfect and completely healthy.  Crosby Fox is maddly in LOVE with his baby sister!  I was amazed that I was able to carry her for 38 whole weeks!!  What a blessing!  And to make the story even sweeter, we brought her home on her oldest sister’s (Finley Grace) birthday!!  We literally came full circle.  It gives me chill bumps to think of it even today…

I appreciated each and every comment our story received.  It was extremely helpful to hear from those who had lost siblings.  It gave us new insight as to how our daughter may/may not feel regarding carrying on her sisters’ name, “Grace”. The comments also helped release any guilt I may have had for deciding not to carry on the name “Grace”.  I feel confident had we chosen to use the name “Grace”, our daughter would know she was in no way seen as a replacement for her sisters.  Finley and Caroline are a part of our family that we never want to forget.  We talk of them often.  Their foot prints are framed on our mantle and their shadow boxes hang on the wall.  Our conversations aren’t morbid or sad. We just want Crosby and Jane Claire to know about their sisters and how their brief lives impacted so many.  Ultimately, we chose to use “Jane Claire” because no other names seemed like “her” name.  Every other name we considered just didn’t feel right!

EllaJune writes:

So my husband and I, we need HELP. Like a lot of help.
My name is the somewhat absurd EllaJune. husband is Omar. Our kids have my surname (Thorpe) with his (Isaacs) as the second middle (and we refer to our family as the Isaacs/Thorpe family).
We have kids: after years and years of IVF etc I finally got pregnant. We were thrilled. Then we found out we were having triplets and we were excited AND SCARED. we didn’t have a name planned except that we thought we’d give any kids middle names after our favorite kids books (i am a children’s librarian and Omar teaches elementary school language arts). So when the dr started referring to our trips as Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C, we let our general obsessive tendencies…take over, and ended up with three beautiful daughters named Ayelet Minerva, Bellamy Scout, and Carys Eloise. we LOVE THEIR NAMES. for me and I think for Omar, they still give me a little thrill to say.
anyway, now we are expecting a BOY CHILD in March, which used to seem very far away and now seems very very close. this is definitely our last child and we were not expecting to have another baby–obviously, but WHATEVER BODY–and we are going to be, erm, FIXED so that there are no more babies. But we are thrilled to be getting this one. We just dont know what the heck to name him! We love having our ABC girls (they are four now!) and so we are VERY tempted to use a D name for this baby. But will he feel left out if we dont, or if we do, will he feel like an afterthought? Is this is a stupid trend? We dont need to give him a name that is a D AND has a Y but…what do we do?
our middle name ideas are:
Milo
Max
Charles Wallce *maybe our favorite, but this would give the poor kid FIVE NAMES)
Huck
Ferdinand

Some random boys names that we like, to give you a sense of our style (such as it is)
Nolan
Henry
Jasper
Declan
Mattias
George

Oh. we’d PREFER to have his name have a different number of letters than any of the girls names (6, 7, 5). Um, or ours, if possible (4,8). Do you see how we are SUCH A GOOD MATCH, my crazy obsessive husband and my crazy obsessive self?

Ugh. Soon a baby will be here, and we will be forced to go with Ayelet’s suggestion of Little Dude. Little Dude Isaacs Thorpe. LD!

THANK YOU.

 
I like the idea of using D for his initial, but I suspect it will not be a big deal to him either way. Spin will handle most of it: you can either spin it as inclusion or as specialness.

The different-number-of-letters preference is a challenge that may limit your options too severely. If he can’t have 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 letters in his name, then we are limited to names with 3 or fewer letters, or names with 9 or more letters. Neither are common. I suggest considering the adults separate from the children (as you are already doing with the initials), so that 4 and 8 can also be possibilities.

D names that meet the number-of-letters preference (if the adults’ names are removed from consideration):

Dane
Dash
Dashiell
Davidson
Dax
Dean
Del
Dennison
Devereaux
Dex
Dion
Donnelly
Drew

Names from that list that meet the requirements if the parents’ names are included: Dex, Del, Dax, Devereaux. More D-names with 9+ letters: Demetrius, Dionysius, Diederick, Desiderio.

But I recommend abandoning the letter-count preference altogether, since it’s so unnoticeable. People are likely to notice the A-B-C-D idea all the time, but I would bet five dollars that no one will ever say “Hey, all of you in this family have a different number of letters in your names!” Patterns and sameness are much more noticeable than a lack of patterns/sameness.

In which case it seems like Declan from your list would be great. Declan Thorpe; Ayelet, Bellamy, Carys, and Declan. I like it with Milo: Declan Milo Isaacs Thorpe. If it calms the letter-related impulses, note that now each child (and in fact each member of the entire family) has an average of six letters, and that you have begun and ended with 6-letter names. Darian/Derian/Darien and Darwin and Deacon and Denver would also work for this.

Another possibility is to count total letters: Ayelet Minerva has 13 letters, Bellamy Scout has 12 letters, and Carys Eloise has 11 letters. Would it satisfy if child #4 had a total of 10 letters? Again, Declan Milo fits the bill. Or Dane Jasper would work, or Davis Henry, and so on.

Oh, wait, I’ve been forgetting that the middle names on the list are chosen for their literary ties, so I can’t go all willy-nilly by putting first-name options in the middle-name slot. So then I’d stick with Milo or Max or Huck (or Finn), and find a 6- or 7-letter first name. Or if you like Tom Sawyer as well as Huck Finn, Sawyer would make a good 6-letter middle name to go with any of the 4-letter first names.

Name update! EllaJune writes:

dear Swistle, thank you so much for all of your help and your commenters were so great too! we thought a lot about everything you guys said and finally decided that a Z name was the best- A-Z SO CUTE. also our christmas card next year will say from A-Z and it will be adorable.
anyway, the middle name was definitely the hardest. we thought about lots of the suggestions that we use just charles but that seemed too diffuse for us, with no real relationshop to the book character we loved. but tehn we happened to be watching a rerun of veronica mars, where the moral center of the show is wallace, and the rest as they say is history.
So we are thrilled to introduce:
Zachariah Wallace Isaacs Thorpe
Because that is such a long name for such a tiny baby we are calling him Zac mostly, or sometimes, and wait for it you will die of cuteness-Zac Waldo. we love it.
Thank you!

Sarah writes:

We are due with a baby girl in early July. She is our fourth child and second daughter- our other three kids’ names are Adelay Isabelle, Elias Marek and Jameson Beckett Isaac. Our last name rhymes with “Dover.” For first names we tend to like longer, three syllable names, kind of old fashioned or elegant but not REALLY out-there old fashioned (i.e. I like Meredith but would probably not consider anything like Gertrude or Winifred) with a cute, more commonly known nickname (our kids commonly go by Addy, Eli and Jamie.) For middle names we don’t have any real pattern- Isabelle was a family name I loved, Marek was a German/Polish name my husband adored but which we had nixed as a first name because of the possible “Mary” nickname, and Beckett was just a name we both really liked and had considered as a first name. Isaac had special meaning to me and I wanted to use it as well.)

I’d prefer a name that starts with a consonant, to even things out a bit, and would prefer not to use the other kids’ first initials, but these are just preferences, not deal breakers.

Something else I thought of today is that I’d really like her name to express a certain meaning- this baby was very much unexpected, and despite my having a lot of issues which make me prone to miscarriage, she somehow stuck with us! We feel like she’s a special gift, a special surprise to our family, and I’d really love it if the meaning of her name could express that in some way.

Lastly, here are a few of the names we’ve tossed around so far, to give you an idea of our style:

Bellamy
Cambria
Calista
Evelyn or Everly
Marlayna
Felicity
Magnolia

A couple of middle name ideas we’ve (I’ve!) come up with are:

Annelise (or just Elise)
Brielle
Bronwen
Isla
Jane
Tansy

We’d love suggestions, or ideas of how to pair up the existing names on our list! Thank you so much!

It’s funny how challenging it is to find a baby name when there are already three named babies! I keep thinking of The Perfect Name and then “Oh…wait…no, that won’t work.”

I feel like PUSHING you to use Felicity: the consonant/non-repeating initial is good; and the nicknames Fliss, Flip, and Lissie are available if not quite as commonly known as Addy, Eli, and Jamie; but what really sells the name is the meaning, which is “happy and lucky.” So perfect for a special surprise gift baby. Felicity Jane seems like a natural choice, or Felicity Brielle and Felicity Elise would work well.

I also checked Baby Names Made Easy: The Complete Reverse Dictionary of Baby Names, and found more candidates (though double-check meanings in several other dictionaries, since these can vary considerably from book to book):

Beatrix (Bee, Trixie): bringer of joy
Marnina (Marnie, Nina): rejoice
Theodora (Thea, Dorrie): God’s gift

(I would also have included Isadora, which seems like a very good fit except for the vowel initial, and also means “gift”—but it means specifically “gift from the goddess Isis.” The “thea/theo” names are a less specific god.)

Another option would be to put the meaning name in the middle name slot, which opens up more options that I didn’t include in the first list because they don’t fit as well with the other children’s names and/or with other preferences:

Adia: gift
Dorothea/Dorothy: God’s gift
Felice: happy, fortunate
Halla: surprise gift
Jesse: gift
Joy: er, joy
Kay: joy
Lacey: happy
Thea: God’s gift

If the name Felicity ends up being a no-go, I then move to pushing the name Magnolia. It’s been on my own list, and I think it has HUGE potential for being a very pleasing name. So many people want girl names that are long with nickname choices, but then they’re tired of Alexandra and Samantha and Cassandra and Elizabeth. Well, then, Magnolia needs to STEP UP. Maggie! Nola! Lia! It fits particularly well in this sibling group, I think, since Addy and Maggie are both very familiar nicknames, but Adelay and Magnolia are much less familiar. And we have the consonant/non-repeating initial M! I’d pair it with a happy/lucky/gift middle name; maybe Magnolia Joy, or Magnolia Felice.

If Magnolia is a little too unusual, I suggest Margaret. Greta, Meg, Maggie, Daisy! So many nickname choices!

Because of Cambria on your list, I suggest Camilla. Darling nicknames, either Cami or Milly. If Prince Charles’s wife is a negative association (I think of her as someone who has shown dignity and grace under very embarrassing circumstances—but the embarrassing circumstances do come to mind), I recommend Camellia. It’s a flower name like Magnolia, and its similarity to the more popular Amelia makes me wonder why it’s not being used as a less common alternative. I like Camellia Joy.

Camellia makes me think of Romilly. Ooo, I like that for this sibling group. I gather some pronounce it RO-milly (like the Ro in Rose) and some pronounce it RAH-milly (like the Ro in Ross); if I used the former, I would probably use the nickname Romy; for the latter, I’d use the nickname Milly.

Or Rosalie would be very nice. Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Rosalie; Addie, Eli, Jamie, and Rosie. I like Rosalie Joy, or Rosalie Jane.

I love Meredith, which since you mention liking it but it’s not in your list, I’m guessing is not a candidate. But I love that name, and the nickname Merrie is so cute and happy. Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Merrie: all very different sounds.

Charlotte might work beautifully. Charlie and Lottie are both possible nicknames; I’d probably choose Lottie, not only because I prefer it, but because it makes it clearer which members of the sibling group are boys and which are girls. Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Lottie. I like Charlotte Felice, Charlotte Jane, Charlotte Kay, Charlotte Brielle, or Charlotte Elise.

Cordelia is a name I’ve seen cropping up here and there. Old-fashioned but not TOO old-fashioned, and several good nicknames: Corrie, Delia (plus the more casual Deels).

Or Liviana. It’s similar to the much more popular Olivia and Lilliana, so I’m surprised it isn’t used more. Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Livvie/Livvy.

It seems like we heard a lot about the name Vivienne for awhile, and then almost nothing recently. That’s another one that has some sounds in common with Olivia. Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Vivienne; Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Vivvie/Vivvy/Vivi.

Penelope is on my own “sad not to use it” list. Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Penelope; Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Penny/Nellie/Poppy.

Clarissa is another of my pet favorites, and quite similar in sound to Felicity. Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Clarissa; Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Clary. (I’m not sure I would have thought of Clary as a natural nickname, but then it’s been in TWO novels I’ve recently read, so I must just not have encountered it before.)

Emmeline repeats the E initial, which is too bad because I think Addy and Emmy make a very cute sister pair.

Or would you like Karenna? Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Karenna; Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Kari. Though I probably wouldn’t nickname it because I like the full version so well. Maybe another nickname, a non-name-based one, would occur naturally.

I knew a girl named Linnea (linn-NAY-ah) in school, and I thought it was such a pretty name. Adelay, Elias, Jameson, and Linnea; Addy, Eli, Jamie, and Linnie.

Name update! Sarah writes:

Our beautiful fourth child and second daughter, Taliana Joy, was born July sixth.  We had finally landed on two names, Talia and Annika, and I liked both a lot but wasn’t having that “aha” moment with either of them, so we kept looking.  One night as we flipped through a name book for the dozenth time, my husband Jim suddenly had a stroke of genius and tried to combine the two names.  He came up with Taliana, which we then found in the name book in the list of variations under the “Talia” entry.  We ended up using Joy as her middle name partly as a nod to my excellent doctor whose own middle name is Joy and partly because its meaning is exactly what I wanted in her name, and turns out nothing said it better than the word itself! Thank you everyone for all your input.  Tali thanks you too.