E. writes:

I’m due with our first baby–a boy–in less than a week. For a first name we’re thinking Liam (or we might make the full name William and just call him Liam), after my grandfather who recently passed away, but we still haven’t decided on a middle name.

We want a name that is somewhat traditional (i.e., not weird), but not too common, because our last name (Thompson) is so common.

My husband likes Strider, Aaron, Carter, Jackson, Philip and Eric. I’m not in love with Strider because I think people will instantly connect it with Lord of the Rings. I like Jackson a lot, but I think the son-son rhyming thing with our last name sounds weird. Do you? I suggested Jameson (pronounced JAY-mih-son) as an alternative because it is similar to Jackson but I thought breaking it into three syllables helped the rhyming thing a little.

Other than Jameson, I like Thatcher, Ethan, Richmond, Camden and Kent. My husband isn’t super keen on any of these names, though he would consider Jameson or Ethan.

Can you help us? We’re pretty much open to all suggestions at this point. :)

If you use the name Liam, my favorites are Liam Carter Thompson (LCT) and Liam Richmond Thompson (LRT). If you use the name William, my favorites are William Carter Thompson (WCT) and William Richmond Thompson (WRT), so it appears I am consistent.

Because I prefer initials not to spell anything, I’d avoid Eric and Ethan (LET/WET).

What do the rest of you think? Which are your favorite combinations? Do you have any other middle name candidates to suggest?

Pick one: William or Charles, in a family where William would be called William or sometimes Will but not Liam, and Charles would be called almost exclusively Charlie. Poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results (333 votes total):
William: 206 votes, roughly 62%
Charles: 127 votes, roughly 38%

Aly writes:

I am due TODAY with a boy. It’s our first, so I have a feeling we have another week or so before he’s here.

The baby’s last name will be Weaver – this is my husband’s last name and I kept my name when we married.

We’ve decided on the first name Austin. It was hard for us to find a name we both liked. Others we liked a lot all seemed to end in “er” which we thought sounded weird with the “er” on Weaver. Examples: Cooper, Walker. Austin is a family name – my maternal grandparent’s last name. They were very important people in my life. We like the significance and the name itself. Plus it has the benefit of not being super common but also not so unique that it’s strange.

Where we’re having trouble is with the middle name.

An obvious choice would be my last name but the three names really don’t sound good together. Plus I’m afraid it sounds too much like three last names.

We’d prefer something with significance but that’s not an absolute requirement.

We live in Hawaii, and for a long time I was pushing for Kai. However, my husband absolutely does not like this name. So it’s out. A lot of other Hawaiian names just sound way TOO Hawaiian – and we’ve only lived here a year, so we both feel like giving a really traditional, Hawaiian sounding middle name would be odd/inappropriate.

My husband suggested Cal, which he likes the sound of – plus we met in college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I’m just not sure…it doesn’t sound too bad but I feel like it’s sort of cheesy/weird to explain to all these people how we chose the middle name. Is it okay? Or kind of weird?

We need help, please! Another name we both like is Jack or Jackson (and it’s my husband’s grandfather’s name), but it doesn’t sound great as Austin Jackson Weaver. Or does it??

I really want to feel confident with a decision before we go into the delivery room! I would be SO appreciative of any help you and your readers can provide.

THANK YOU!!!

P.S. other grandparent’s/great-grandparents names include Samuel, Richard, Olin, Ron, Jack

I like Austin Jack Weaver, which takes away the repeated-ending problem of Austin Jackson. I also like Austin Samuel Weaver, and I like Austin Richard Weaver. Any of those would make excellent names. Let’s have a poll over to the right and see if we can get results before the baby arrives! [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results (250 votes total):
Austin Jack: 96 votes, roughly 38%
Austin Samuel: 103 votes, roughly 41%
Austin Richard: 8 votes, roughly 3%
Austin Cal: 43 votes, roughly 17%

(I’m out of town but didn’t want to fall too behind on the May baby names. Here’s one for you to work on while I’m gone.)

M. writes:

we are expecting a our third baby, a baby boy, and cant decide on a name. i loved the name jillian, and had her named long before she was born (her grandma jill and middle name faye), meredith was our number 1 pic (and middle name elizabeth after her aunt lizze whom she shares a brithday), and now i am at a loss for a boys name.
i love traditional names and 2 or more sylables, but not too common. my husband is a second william, which i like but dont know if that is too common or what i would call him (grandpa is bill and daddy is will/willie) other family names i like are thompson, may not go with the girls or my hubbys middle name is jaros (jair us) but may be too different.
i like matthew, benjamin, names like that, and an open to new ideas especially if we did william as the middle name. thanks for ANY help!!!! i would love to call him by name BEFORE he is born :)

(I’m out of town but didn’t want to fall too behind on the May baby names. Here’s one for you to work on while I’m gone.)

Becky writes:

I am due on May 24th, but will be induced on May 22nd if necessary due to gestational diabetes – so I have a definite end date.
We don’t know the gender of the baby – so we’re looking for both boy and girl names.

For a girl:
I found the name Cora on your site and immediately fell in love with it. I think it’s a nice match for Lily in that both are sort of old-fashioned, yet modernly “sassy” and both are nature names. I like short names, while my husband really wants a longer name alternative for future use. So our first daughter is Lillian, but we call her Lily. We’d like a similar name for Cora and are currently thinking maybe Coraline or Coralie. Or course the Tim Burton movie version of the Neil Gamon Coraline graphic novel was slightly annoying, but I’m thinking it wont’ be a major issue for the name. Any thoughts on a good long version for Cora? We’re also open to other girl suggestions that go nicely with Lily. Oh and for the middle name – my husband is Chinese and his parents give the children a Chinese name. So Lily’s full name is Lillian Man-Ching Wong and a second girl would be Cora (?) Man- Wong.

For a boy:
We’ve had a harder time finding a boy’s name. I’ve pretty much come up with three that I’m okay with and told my husband he could pick. But I’d love to hear you and your readers opinions on it as well. The middle name issue is more complicated here because I really want to use Daniel – my maternal grandfather’s name. I was very close to him and he passed away when I was only 10 or so. However, my husband’s parents would still give a Chinese name, so we’d have two middle names- Daniel and a Chinese name. OK so these are the current top three:

Jackson Daniel Wong –> my husband LOVES the name Jackson. My concerns here are that 1) it seems to be pretty common these days and 2) I worry slightly about the whiskey association with Daniel as the middle name. Had Lily been a boy, she’d probably be named Jackson.

Quinten Daniel Wong –> I love the nickname Quin and it turns out that Quinten was my paternal grandfather’s middle name (I had no clue!) So I like the double family tie-in here.

Zachary Daniel Wong –> I think this would be my favorite, but my mother has a cousin Zack who is not very well-regarded in the family. I keep vacillating between disliking the “bad” association and liking the chance to reinvent the name. I also think Lily and Zack sound super cute together.

I also wonder if the 2 middle names are too much. If I give up the Daniel thing then Jackson has no more issues with whiskey…..

And my “I should be packing but can’t resist” short reply:

Some long versions for Cora: Cordelia, Corinne, Corinna.

A Zack-like name that isn’t Zack: Isaac.

Would you want to use Daniel as the first name, maybe?

(I’m out of town but didn’t want to fall too behind on the May baby names. Here’s one for you to work on while I’m gone.)

Stefanie writes:

I am due with my third child in May. We have two boys, James Anthony (7) and Samuel Arthur (3). We call the youngest Sam exclusively, and his older brother goes by James. Both boys are named after family members (my father and husband in James’ case and my grandfather in Sam’s case). We do not know whether this baby is a boy or a girl, so we are casting about for two names.

If the baby is a girl, we are almost certain we want to name her Margaret, after my late mother. I suspect we would call her Maggie, since Margaret seems like a lovely name for an adult but maybe a bit grown up for someone with pigtails. As to middle name, I am leaning toward Quinn, but I would happily take suggestions. If it helps, other names I’ve loved in the past are Olivia, Aniston, and Peyton. I would love to name a daughter Peyton Margaret, but as our last name starts with an S, the initials are a major dealbreaker. She’d have every right to hate me as a teenager. My husband has a (horrifying) preference for unisex names for girls. If it were up to him he would name a daughter Charlie, Alex, or Sam. All fine names, but not really to my taste. When I asked if there were any more feminine names that he liked he suggested Roxy. Clearly, we do not see eye to eye on this one. But, he has acknowledged that my desire to honor my mother trumps his lousy different taste in names, so don’t feel too constrained by his love of unisex names.

If the baby is a boy we are up a creek. We would like to use another family name, probably in the middle name slot. Our options are George or Joseph. But we are really struggling to find a first name that we love and can agree on. Thus far we’ve come up with William (we’d likely call him Will), Jackson (we’d call him Jack), or Benjamin. We also like Elliott but neither of us thinks it works all that well with James and Sam. So we are really open to suggestions.

Our last name starts with an S and is two syllables. It ends in a long eee sound.

This is the most trouble we’ve had selecting a name, and it’s made worse by the fact that we steadfastly refuse to discuss possible names with friends and family. We discussed names when I was pregnant with James and it never ended well. Help? :)

Michelle writes:

We are due with are third baby in May and are having some trouble with the name. We don’t know what sex we are having so that adds to the trouble. Our last name is Klassen which eliminates some names but isn’t our problem. My problem is that name I really want to use for a girl is Kamryn Charlotte (Charlotte is my grandma’s name). The problem is that my SIL who miscarried her twins in November was going to use Kamryn as one of the babies names. She actually never named them and Kamryn was her second girl name because her first one is after her grandma. Anyway I now feel that I can’t use that name even though I really love it.

The girls names we have come up with are Dakota,Kennedy,Charlize(can’t use Charlotte for the second name). I like these names but don’t really love them. I also love the names Kayte and Keira but my friends just had these as their little girls names. I have a thing for a “K” in the name because my other two children are named Mikayla and Jake. I don’t think that there has to be a “K’ its just something I was working with. I guess what I am asking is, is there a name out there that has the same feel as Kamryn but isn’t Kamryn and which works with Charlotte as the middle name.

My other dilemma is the boys name. We have had Carter(I don’t like Carter with a K) on our name list since our first child was born but it never has made it to being used. The other name we have is Parker which I like but don’t love. We would like to use Harvey as the middle name since both of our dads first names is Harvey. I am sure you have other names that work with Harvey and possible contain a “k” in them. If there are names that would work that don’t have a “K” in them let me know.

I guess my dilemma is that I don’t LOVE the names I have I just like and I really would like to LOVE the name we choose.

Let’s start with the Kamryn issue: a name similar in feel to Kamryn, ideally with a K in it, that works with siblings Mikayla and Jake and also with Charlotte as a middle name. It’s a little tricky, because some of the names I might suggest sound similar to your surname. Kaitlyn Klassen. Keelin Klassen. Kassidy Klassen. Kacey Klassen. Other good options might be too similar to the name Mikayla. Mikayla and McKenna. Mikayla and Mackenzie. Mikayla and Kiley. Mikayla and Keeley. Mikayla and Kaylin.

My suggestion is Skylar. Skylar Klassen. Skylar Charlotte Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Skylar.

My second suggestion is Brooklyn. Brooklyn Klassen. Brooklyn Charlotte Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Brooklyn.

My third suggestion is Kinley. Kinley Klassen. Kinley Charlotte Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Kinley.

On to boy names. Same issue: some of the names might be too similar to your surname, but I’ll list them anyway.

Keegan Klassen. Keegan Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Keegan.
Kyler Klassen. Kyler Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Kyler.
Alek Klassen. Alek Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Alek.
Zackary Klassen. Zackary Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Zackary.
Nickolas Klassen. Nickolas Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake and Nickolas.
Walker Klassen. Walker Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Walker.
Luke Klassen. Luke Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Luke.
Erik Klassen. Erik Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Erik.
Derek Klassen. Derek Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Derek.
Beckett Klassen. Beckett Harvey Klassen. Mikayla, Jake, and Beckett.

I’m supposed to be packing for a trip, but Social Security just released their 2008 name list. We will talk about this more later, but here are the top ten for 2008:

Boys:
Jacob
Michael
Ethan
Joshua
Daniel
Alexander
Anthony
William
Christopher
Matthew

Girls:
Emma
Isabella
Emily
Madison
Ava
Olivia
Sophia
Abigail
Elizabeth
Chloe

G. writes:

Before we had any kids, the husband and I had agreed on a all-baby-names-start-with-the-same-first-letter schtick. And I liked the idea even though it’s the same first letter as HIS name, and I’d be the odd-woman out. But the reason I was fine with it was because I LOVE weird baby names (always have – way before it was THE bandwagon to jump on. Seriously, I wanted to name my kid “Darkly Noon” after a Brendan Fraser movie.) I love weird baby names because I always loved having a weird name myself. And the husband’s first name starts with perhaps the weirdest letter available, so I thought that would be cute, to have this gaggle of weird-first-letter-named kids running around. This would be made even weirder because we’re also only using ethnic names – my husband’s ethnicity and not mine, so I’ll be left out of everything. It’d be like having kids names Jose, Javier, and Julietta whose dad is name Juan and the mom is Molly.

So I was fine with it, but then everyone had to chime in. And people are resoundingly
anti-everyone’s-first-name-starts-the-same-except-the-mother. And now I’m feeling a little self-conscious about it, and my husband’s all “I thought we agreed already?” We still have a long list of names we both LOVE, but I’m starting to waiver a bit on this issue. Or am I? Maybe I need to tell everyone else that can go and name their own babies, thankyouverymuch. I’m asking for your – and your readers – HONEST opinion. Be brutal – I can take it! Really! How terrible is it when all the family shares the same first initial except the mom?

Oooh, brutality is fun! Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]

It does seem a little sad for you to be so left out. But I think this is one of those areas where there is APPARENT symbolism (which is what bothers people) with no ACTUAL symbolism. I am assuming from the way you phrased your question that your husband is not using you as a Disposable Breeder to create His Family, but in fact the two of you are in this together and both like the idea of matching-initial names, in which case you should go with your plan and roll your eyes at everyone else.

I wonder if there is a way to reduce the Apparent Symbolism? One idea would be to give each child a middle name that starts with your initial and is in your name’s style. I wouldn’t suggest this in many situations (because it’s very challenging and also may result in names with Inner Clash), but it sounds like this is the kind of challenge you’d not only be up to but also enjoy.

Poll results (327 votes total) for “Be brutal: How terrible is it when all the family shares the same first initial except the mom?”

Wicked terrible: 54 votes, roughly 17%
Kind of terrible: 76 votes, roughly 23%
Just a tidge terrible: 55 votes, roughly 17%
Meh, it doesn’t MEAN anything: 129 votes, roughly 39%
Not terrible, it’s awesome: 13 votes, roughly 4%

A. writes:

Hi-I need some serious help with my daughters middle name. I am due May16th-or sooner!-and can’t decide. With my last daughter it took us a year and a half to pick her middle name (Charlotte Michelle-Charlotte is after my grandmother and Michelle is what my 9year old son picked out). We’ve chosen Josephine as the first name. I would like to honor my other grandmother in the middle name but it just seems like too much, or the rythm is off or something. Her name is Catherine and she goes by Kay. I thought about Josephine Kay-but then it sounds like an initial and not an actual name. So I’m thinking of adding a second middle. Josephine Catherine ___ Etch….ry or Josephine ____ Catherine Etch….ry. I don’t want it to sound too stuffy or formal, or too frilly and it would be nice to use something that has an interesting meaning. Help, I’ve looked through the name book 500 times and am numb! Any suggestions would be so helpful.

I think Josephine Catherine is wonderful. There is slight visual confusion (because the ine/ine endings appear to rhyme but don’t), but nothing that would be deal-breaking for me considering the family connection. You may be able to make the rhythm more to your liking by adjusting how carefully you pronounce the name Catherine: it can be three syllables (CATH-er-rin) or two (CATH-rin).

I think Josephine Kay is also wonderful. I know what you mean about Kay/K., but again, I think the family connection makes it worth it.

I think either one would be a good choice. Let’s have a poll over to the right [poll closed; see results below], and also take further suggestions in the comments section.

Poll results (234 votes total):
Josephine Catherine: 97 votes, roughly 41%
Josephine Kay: 137 votes, roughly 59%