Heather writes:

Hi! I’m due on March 6th with our second baby, somehow having lucked out and gotten a girl this time around. Only there is where the luck ended. We have no idea what to name this little girl! I’ve been stuck on the name Elise since my 20w ultrasound, but I cannot for the life of me figure out a good middle name. So now I’m sorta back to the drawing board.

Top 9 names: [no particular order]

1. Elise
2. Isabelle
3. Lisette
4. Violet
5. Genevieve
6. Adelaide
7. Lilliana
8. Rosalind
9. Aurelia

Our last name is three syllables and starts with a ‘K’. Her older brother’s name is Logan Alexander. I think at this point I’m pretty open to a lot of things – I’d really like to see her name be Elise [blank] K, but I’m open to suggestions for other variations since I can’t seem to come up with a solution for the [blank]!

Help!

I’m trying not to get distracted by your great name list: our primary objective here is to find a middle name for Elise. Well, actually, I’m going to go ahead and get distracted, because there are a lot of good middle names in that list.

Some people like the first and middle names to slide together a little, and some people like the names to stay as distinct as possible. The name Elise lends itself to sliding: the emphasis on the second syllable combined with the easy-blending sssssss sound makes the name want to latch on to the next name. If you’re someone who prefers the names to stay as distinct as possible, that might be the snag you’re hitting.

Myself, I like a little slide. A name that slides together in a way I find appealing is Elise Aurelia. I like saying it. Both names have the emphasis on the second syllable, which I think is a nice combination.

Another good slide is Elise Adelaide, which slides together but not as much as Elise Aurelia: the consonants and the non-repeating vowel sounds help to keep things separate. Elise Isabelle is similar.

Elise Lilliana has a lot of L sounds, but I think the way the short I sound breaks up the two long E sounds keeps it from tangling the tongue. Possible problem: the initials, which spell ELK.

I’d lean toward either Aurelia or Lilliana, because I like the 2-4-3 syllable rhythm better than the 2-3-3 syllable rhythm. And I’d choose Aurelia over Lilliana, but only because I prefer not to spell ELK. I’ll put a poll over to the right and we’ll see what everyone else thinks. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results (254 votes total):
Elise Aurelia: 127 votes, 50%
Elise Adelaide: 53 votes, roughly 21%
Elise Isabelle: 24 votes, roughly 9%
Elise Lilliana: 34 votes, roughly 13%
other (leave in comments): 16 votes, roughly 6%

Name update 03-13-2009! Heather writes:

I realized that everytime I went to say something to her, the name “Lilly” kept coming to me. So her first name is Lilly, with a middle of Avelina. I remembered her middle from one of my stints of researching my family tree, its the name of one of my ancestresses from the 11th century France.

Clover writes:

My husband and I are in desperate need of your (and/or your clever readers) help in picking the perfect name for our baby boy who’s due March 2nd!

The trouble is that we have totally different tastes when it comes to boy’s names. I like more traditional(ish) yet not overly popular names (my top list includes Dexter, Sebastian, & Jasper) and he likes names that are…I don’t even know what category they fall into (but his top list includes Cable, Ender & Garson)!

And did I mention that this will be our 5th (& final) child together (the only boy of the bunch!) and that we also each have a daughter from a previous marriage? That’s a lot of names already, and I’d kind of like our son’s name to fit in with his sister’s if at all possible, which seems unlikely with the husband’s list of strangeness..*sigh*

Anyway, hubby’s daughter is the eldest and her name is Dorothea (called Thea), my daughter is next and is named Willa. All the girl names that we’ve come up with together and have totally agreed upon are; Charlotte (called Lottie) Katherine (called Kat) Rebbecca (called Bex) and Elanor (called Ella). Pretty traditional, yes? I don’t know why his taste in boy’s names is so out there, but it’s driving me nuts!

Some other names that I like but hubby isn’t sold on; Davis, Vincent, Edwin, Aleck. More names that he likes; Cage, Dock, Red, Blade (I keep telling him these are THINGS, not NAMES lol).

So you see our trouble? Are there any names that maybe combine out tastes, at least a little bit? We need to find something that we can both live with, even if it’s not exactly to our tastes. I am willing to compromise a bit, but I’d really like to find a name that is an actual NAME and not a THING. We are open to any and all suggestions here, and our last name is Holland so it’s pretty easy to find names that work with it.

Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

Okay, here is my list!

Gable. Close to his choice of Cable, and in fact gable is a noun which may please him, but also it’s a surname name with the name Gabe as a nickname.

Gage. Close to his choice of Cage.

Cade. Close to his choice of Cage.

Carson. Close to his choice of Garson.

Slade. Close to his choice of Blade.

Reed. Close to his choice of Red.

Anders/Anderson. Similar to his choice of Ender.

Mac/Mack. This is similar to current popular choices Jack and Max, but less common. His choice of Dock made me think of it.

Anyone have other suggestions?

Name update 03-14-2009! Clover writes:

Thanks so much for all of the great suggestions everyone! Gable Ender (had to give in to hubby on the middle name lol) Holland was born March 10th @ 8:09pm, a respectable 8lbs 9oz 22inches! The name is never something I would have come up with on my own, but I absoultly love it and it fits him perfectly! Thanks again Swistle!

Taylor writes:

I am due with a baby girl in early March. Our son’s name is William Jack (goes by Will) and I love the flexibility of a cute nickname and more formal given name. Will is named after 3 men in our family. I knew the namesakes would be special, but was unprepared for the significance Will’s name has held for our family! When we discovered it would be a girl this time, I knew I wanted to give her a name that would likewise bless some of the women in our family.

It’s become a bit of a puzzle. Here are her namesakes: My mom, Karen Lee, and my MIL, Leslie Anne. Also a possibility, my grandmother, Rae. My mom’s maiden name (and grandmother’s last name) is Taylor, which is a possible mn, but it is my first name. I’m not interested in naming her after me, and I fear that’s how it would appear.

My husband and I are pretty set on calling her Annie. Another favorite name was Lucy, but Lucy seems very nicknamish to me (not a fan of Lucille, Lucia, Lucinda, etc). So our dilemma now is to build the name around the nickname.

Since “Annie” obviously will be a nod to the MIL, I want to honor my side of the family with the mn.

My husband’s current favorite is Anne Katherine. My husband doesn’t like the name Karen–too dated, so I did some research and discovered Karen is a form of Katherine, and they have the same meaning (pure). I think Anne Katherine is very pretty, but I am not sure about Anne. Some days I think it is sophisticated and elegant and others I wonder if its too plain. Also, I am not sure about the flow of the this name, seems a little choppy or something.

I really like Annabel as well. Annabel Lee and Annabel Rae were early contenders, but I have reservations on each…Annabel Lee is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, definitely on the creepy side. Also you get “Annabelly” if you say it fast. Annabel Rae is iffy since our last name is similar to “Rothschild”… the double R is a mouthful. Annabel Katherine makes for a really long name when paired with “Rothschild”. I like the idea of a 1 syllable mn with Annabel.

Another idea I had was to name her Annabel Kay, using similar logic as Katherine…Kay being a form of Katherine/Karen. I could even spell Kay, “Kae” to try and eke out a nod to my grandmother, Rae. But Kay seems a bit…old- but-not-in-a-cute-way to me. Am I taking this too far??? I feel like I’ve over-thought it, and I am not sure if these roundabout ways of namesaking are too much of a stretch. I hate to announce her name and then have to go in to a 20 minute explanation to her namesakes.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

All right, let’s see. You’re going to call her Annie, so we want a first name that gives you that nickname. And then we want a middle name that honors your mother Karen Lee (or perhaps your grandmother Rae).

Since your mother-in-law gets the first-name slot, but with her middle name, it would be neat if your mother’s middle-name slot used her first name, for balance. Your husband doesn’t like the name Karen, so my first suggestion is Kara. I think it’s beautiful, and it has a more contemporary sound than Karen. I think the flow would be better if you used the first name Anna instead of Anne: Anna Kara Rothschild. One thing that’s nice about this name is that both grandmothers’ names have been modified, and in very similar ways. Also, I like the rhythm of Anna Rothschild better than the rhythm of Anne Rothschild, though of course some will prefer the rhythm the other way.

A second possibility would be to name her Leanna. You could still call her Annie (or Lee), and it blends the two grandmothers’ middle names. Give her the middle name Rae, and little Leanna Rae Rothschild is covering all the name bases.

Anyone else want to help out? What are some more ideas, ideally of the sort that won’t make the namesake think, “This is ‘after me’ HOW?”

Name update! Taylor writes:

Thank you for all the great feedback on my naming dilemma! I appreciated all the creative ideas/combinations as well as the comments that said, “just use the namesakes’ actual names…don’t make it so complicated”. Reading all the feedback helped me identify my favorite first name and how to best honor my mom–by using her actual name and not a variation.

Annabel Karen “Rothschild” was born March 13 at 3:23 am! Annie is beautiful and her name fits her perfectly. Best of all, both Grandmas felt so honored by our choice. (My mom cries every time she tells someone her granddaughter’s name).

Courtney writes:

We are due in early March with our second baby boy and we need help picking a name.

Our two-year-old’s name is Caden James Morales.

There are several names that I really like–and my husband seems to have no strong opinions this time around.

I like Asher, Corbin, Cael, Zane, and Lucas. I am afraid that Lucas seems too traditional after a more contemporary name like Caden–and I am afraid that using another “C” name of Corbin or Cael will lock me into “C” names if we decide to have a third baby. Zane is the only name my husband isn’t really thrilled with, even though I love it. My concern with Asher and Cael is their Hebrew and Gaelic roots…is that strange with our last name?

Any thoughts, suggestions?

My favorite is Lucas. I think I’d go with Lucas Zane Morales, so you can use that name you love that your husband doesn’t like. Caden James Morales and Lucas Zane Morales. Yes!

Let’s see what everyone else thinks with a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see below.]

Poll results (264 votes total):
Asher: 82 votes, roughly 31%
Corbin: 32 votes, roughly 12%
Cael: 14 votes, roughly 5%
Lucas: 136 votes, roughly 52%

Name update 03-26-2009! Courtney writes:

Just wanted to say thanks for all of your help and your readers help for baby names! Our son, Zane Rylan was born on March 4th, 2009. He was 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches long. My husband finally saw the light and now loves the name Zane…and Rylan was a reader’s suggestion that we fell in love with. Thanks again!