Jenny writes:

We’re running out of time! I’m now 37 weeks and we haven’t chosen names.

For our first child we found out we were having a boy, and therefore didn’t even pick a girl’s name. We decided on Charles (“Charlie”) Benjamin. We decided on the name just a week before he was born. We liked it because we have two separate people named Charles (one Charlie and one Chuck) who have played a significant role in our lives. Benjamin is my husband’s name. So, there were a number of reasons to choose this name besides that they sound good together and we like both the given and nickname.

For baby #2 we did not find out the gender and are now faced with the task of choosing both a boy and girl name and matching it to Charles/Charlie. For a girl, I was pretty set on Meredith. It sounds classy and familiar, but not too common (and goes well with Charlie). We are completely open for middle names. Lately, we have really liked Hazel (our children are almost sure to have blue eyes; is that a strange thing to cross my mind?). Again, completely open on middle names. I also like Abigail (but too common) and Margot, and my husband likes Miriam and Catherine. Right now our top girl choices are Meredith and Hazel.

For a boy’s name, we’re leaning toward Harrison James. I wasn’t sure about the surname as a first name, but it helps to know we aren’t the only ones who like the name (but again, not too common). James is a family name. My husband would prefer it be a first name, but it’s a little too blah for me. Plus, I don’t like “Jimmy”. We don’t really care for the nickname “Harry” (mostly because of “hairy”), but Harry is also a family name. So, we’re wondering what other nickname could be used for Harrison. Possibly “Hank”? Other names we like include Edward/Edwin/Edmund, Peter, Philip.

Our last name is pronounced GUHN-dail, so most of these names should fit just fine.

We need some other name ideas that fit with our son’s name. Please help us put this decision to rest soon!

My favorite of your girl name choices is Meredith, for all the reasons you mention. I started to try “one parent’s favorite” first name choices in the middle name slot, but Abigail rhymes with your surname, and Catherine repeats the TH sound from Meredith, and Miriam and Margot both add another M sound, and none of them seem quite right. Well, maybe your other first-name choice would work? Meredith Hazel Guhndail? Hm, I like the sound of that. It works the other way, too, I think: Hazel Meredith Guhndail.

For boys, I like the name Harrison but agree that the nickname issue is tricky. I wonder what Harrison Ford’s friends and family call him? Hank would be a legitimate choice: it’s traditionally a nickname for Henry, and Harrison comes from Henry by way of Harry (well, or by way of Harry’s son). You could also use Hal, another nickname of Harry. Or you could use Harris.

Another nickname for James is Jamie, if you like that better than Jim/Jimmy. James Harrison Guhndail is nice, and I like how Charlie and Jamie go together. Or you could make the name James longer and go for Jameson, with the same nickname option Jamie.

I’ll put two polls over to the right, one for girl name options and one for boy name options. [Polls closed; see below.]

Poll results, girl names (239 votes total):
Meredith: 174 votes, roughly 73%
Hazel: 65 votes, roughly 27%

Poll results, boy names (235 votes total):
Harrison: 108 votes, roughly 46%
James: 65 votes, roughly 28%
Edward: 12 votes, roughly 5%
Edwin: 5 votes, roughly 2%
Edmund: 16 votes, roughly 7%
Peter: 17 votes, roughly 7%
Philip: 12 votes, roughly 5%

Name update 02-21-2009! Jenny writes: “Meredith Jane was born on 2/16/09. Thank you for the input; the name is perfect for her!”

Bren writes:

I am in desperate need of some baby naming advice. Our baby boy is due in early February and he doesn’t have a name yet. His big sisters are named Rose and Tess. I LOVED their names during the pregnancies and I love them even more today. I am just not loving any one particular name this time around. Why are boy names so difficult? Our last name is 2-syllable, ending in “-er”. That pretty much eliminates all first names ending in “-er” as it sounds too rhymy.

Names that I have on my list: Blake, Cole, Eli, Miles, Milo, Quinn, Clark, Elliott

Names that my husband likes: Elijah, William, Drew

Names we like but can’t use: Henry, Wesley (Wes rhymes with Tess (that would be weird, right?))

2-year-old big sis suggests: Elmo

I usually prefer shorter names, but longer names can appeal to me if I don’t have to exert a lot of effort to say it. My husband likes biblical names. I generally don’t. I would prefer to avoid the “-en, -on, -an” ending that just about every little boy I know has. No “R” or “T” first initial. Of course, if the perfect name is found then these rules can just go out the window.

You wouldn’t want to consider the name John, would you? I’ve sung the name’s praises before, but I can always be counted on to sing another chorus. In my experience, it’s a surprisingly satisfying name: it seems boring during the consideration process, but over the months and years it is more and more pleasing to say. It FEELS common, and yet hardly any children are using the name: many of the boys named John go by Jack, or by some other name to distinguish them from the Sr., Jr., etc. they’re named for. The spelling “Jon” gives it a cooler, more up-to-date look, I think, though it’s more likely to be mistaken for a short form of Jonathan. I think it’s terrific with the sibling names: Rose, Tess, and John. It’s a name that is definitely Biblical, and yet certainly not the sole possession of the Biblical realm.

If John is out of the running, it seems like Eli is your perfect compromise name; perhaps you’d prefer the long form Elias over your husband’s suggestion of Elijah. If that’s giving you a “meh” feeling, here are some other shorties (I used a heavy hand with Biblical-but-not-ONLY-Biblical) to consider:

Abe; Rose, Tess, and Abe
Adam; Rose, Tess, and Adam
Ian; Rose, Tess, and Ian
James; Rose, Tess, and James
Jude; Rose, Tess, and Jude
Joel; Rose, Tess, and Joel
Karl; Rose, Tess, and Karl
Liam; Rose, Tess, and Liam
Luke; Rose, Tess, and Luke
Paul; Rose, Tess, and Paul

Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see below.]

Poll results (301 votes total):
John: 36 votes, roughly 12%
Eli: 69 votes, roughly 23%
Abe: 14 votes, roughly 5%
Adam: 12 votes, roughly 4%
Ian: 18 votes, roughly 6%
James: 23 votes, roughly 8%
Jude: 43 votes, roughly 14%
Joel: 7 votes, roughly 2%
Karl: 2 votes, roughly 1%
Liam: 24 votes, roughly 8%
Luke: 40 votes, roughly 13%
Paul: 13 votes, roughly 4%

Name update: Eli!

Arwen writes:

My husband and I have a Boy Name Issue.

When I was pregnant with our daughter who is now two, we didn’t find out her sex before she was born. We also found ourselves completely unable to agree on a single boy name we both liked. I was in labor and we were still trying to think of a name! We would have been in such big trouble if our daughter had been a boy instead!

Fortunately she is a girl, and her name is Camilla Claire. Camilla is a name I’ve always loved, which was pushed to the top of our list when my husband’s grandmother, who was called Camilla, died two months before our girl was born. Our last name is pronounced MOE-zhur and I love the whole combination of our daughter’s name. Two years later I’m still very happy with it.

But now I am 38 weeks pregnant with baby #2. We’ve got a list of girl names and we’ll be fine if this baby is a girl, but if it’s a boy, we’re back to square one.

The problem is, I have two naming priorities that seem to be at odds with one another.

1) It’s important to me that sibling names fit with each other. I don’t care so much about them *sounding* good together, as much as being in the same general category. My mom calls this the “Bailey and Alessandra” problem – if you name one of your kids a gender-neutral modern name like Bailey, you can’t give a sibling an ultra-feminine romantic name like Alessandra. It’s just… wrong.

Since we’ve gone the strong-gendered, slightly-old-fashioned route with Camilla’s name, I’d like to stick with that as a general theme. But I don’t care, like I said, about the names sounding good together. For instance, if the name Lillian were a name we liked, we’d use it even though “Camilla and Lillian” sounds a little weird because of all the “ill”. We’re hoping to have a lot of kids, so I’m considering the sibling-names-are-like-a-poem a lost cause from the outset.

2) Unfortunately, a lot of the names that I think of as being in the same general category as Camilla are getting really popular. William, for instance (although William itself is not a favorite of mine.) And it’s important to me that all our children’s names be relatively unpopular. My name, Arwen, is incredibly unusual and I’ve always loved having an unusual name. I’m the oldest of six and four of my siblings have names as unusual as mine, but I also have a brother named Brandon. My parents didn’t realize the name was popular when they used it, but poor Brandon has always complained about being different in his own family, just because he has a name that people have heard before. I really want to avoid a situation like this with any of our children. It’s why we decided not to go the really-unusual route with our kids’ names, even though there were a couple we liked, because there were ONLY a couple we liked and I wanted to avoid a situation like my parents inadvertently created. So it’s a priority for us that our kids’ names not be in the top 300 or so – in my ideal, the reaction people would have to all our kids’ names is the reaction they have to Camilla – they’ve heard the name before, but don’t usually know anyone who shares it. (Not that I care so much about what other people think about the name, I’m just giving my definition of the level of popularity we’re going for.)

Now, you can see the dilemma, right? It seems like ALL of the names I think of as classic boys’ names are in the top 300. Daniel, Christopher, James, William. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, for that matter. If you look at the same general popularity level as Camilla’s name (#822 in 2006, the year she was born, although that’s a little misleading because Camila and Camille were more popular) you get boy names like Prince and Jaron, Alden and Adonis. Perfectly fine names all, but not exactly the classics we’re going for.

So what I’m hoping is that you can help me find some names that are classic-ish and not too common that we could use for a boy. They don’t have to be names your grandfather would have been named, as long as they sound like names your grandfather could have been named. I know there must be something out there, and if anyone knows how to find it, you do!

We’re not worried about middle names – we are not picky about middle names and will have no trouble finding a harmonious match once we’ve got the first name sorted out. The name should sound good with our last name, though, which leaves out names with long Os and names that end in -er. Otherwise, the sky’s the limit!

I KNOW, RIGHT?? It’s a terrible problem, and one of the reasons boy names are such a challenge. Well, let’s see if we can find something anyway. I’m doing this the manual way: I’m going to the Social Security baby names website, calling up the Top 1000 names for 2007, starting at 300 and working toward 1000. As I looked at each name, I screened it:

1) Is it a name that’s familiar to me? If yes, move to second screening test; if no, reject.

2) Does it sound like it could have been a few generations back in my family tree? If yes, move to third screening test; if no, reject.

3) Is it a name I LIKE, or a name I think I’m READY to like? If yes, add to list; if no, reject.

So you can see that if each of the readers of this blog went through the same process, we’d all wind up with very different lists: a small tweak of the family tree or a small tweak in geographical region or a small tweak in naming tastes, and suddenly we have a radically different list. But onward! Here’s my list:

Saul, #309
Silas, #346
Albert, #371
Russell, #408
Franklin, #470
Warren, #514
Gideon, #528
Frederick, #531
Alfred, #742
Conrad, #815
Karl, #862 (the spelling Carl is #450; combined, they’d be about #368)

My favorite is Karl, which sounds great with MOE-zhur and with Camilla. I also like Franklin MOE-zhur and Frederick MOE-zhur; Camilla and Franklin, Camilla and Frederick.

I’ll put a poll over to the right to see what everyone else thinks. [Poll closed; see below.]

Edit: Okay, so while I was laboring over this post, Arwen was laboring over a LABOR: she had the baby and named him Blaise Alexander, and holy bersneezes but I need to CATCH UP with the BACKLOG so that I am not GIVING ADVICE while people are GIVING BIRTH. Let’s keep the voting going anyway, even though it won’t apply to Baby Blaise: future babies may benefit from their parents knowing what the popular opinion is of these names.

Poll results (234 votes total):
Saul: 11 votes, roughly 5%
Silas: 54 votes, roughly 23%
Albert: 3 votes, roughly 1%
Russell: 15 votes, roughly 6%
Franklin: 33 votes, roughly 14%
Warren: 17 votes, roughly 7%
Gideon: 29 votes, roughly 12%
Frederick: 42 votes, roughly 18%
Alfred: 3 votes, roughly 1%
Conrad: 16 votes, roughly 7%
Karl: 11 votes, roughly 5%

Charlotte writes:

I’m due in late January and need a name! We decided to wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. We’re looking for a name that is easily to spell and pronounce but not too popular, something a bit old-fashioned, and something that sounds sophisticated. We love the way our daughter’s name sounds – Rose Ophelia Winston – and want to match that with our next child’s name.

For girls, my two favorites are Hazel and Lilac; his two favorites are Cora and Pearl. We’re also considering Margot and Gabrielle. I’d like something longer and very feminine for the middle name. We’ve been tossing around ideas like Adelaide, Isadora, and Marguerite, and we’d love some suggestions! For combos, we currently have Hazel Isadora and Pearl Marguerite on our list, but we’re looking for more.

For boys, we like Clark, Isaac, Dexter, and Conrad. I really like Edward, but we’re only considering it as a middle name – the initials EW aren’t exactly desirable. We’re also thinking of Rex as a middle name. It was my husband’s favorite for a boy, but I’m not crazy about it, and Rose and Rex are too close, anyways. For middle names, we’re looking for something long (3 – 4 syllables) and strong sounding. We’ve been discussing Oliver, Nathaniel, Alexander, and Benjamin, but we’re open to suggestions.

Thank you! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

There are so many good names here, it’s hard to know where to start. …Wait, no it isn’t: I’ll start with Cora. One of the great sadnesses of my childbearing years is that my surname doesn’t work with the name Cora. With your surname, it’s terrific: Cora Winston. I WANT THAT NAME. And it is so perfect with Rose: Rose and Cora. Not at all matchy, but totally coordinated. Cora! I like Cora.

Cora Gabriella Winston (CGW)
Cora Francesca Winston (CFW)
Cora Valentina Winston (CVW)
Cora Josephine Winston (CJW)
Cora Felicity Winston (CFW)
Cora Philomena Winston (CPW)

Of your boy choices, my favorites are Clark and Isaac—but with your surname, my favorite is Isaac. Isaac Winston. Rose and Isaac. Very, very nice. I like it with three of your middle name choices and with two of your other first name choices, and I’ll add a few more possibilities.

Isaac Edward Winston (IEW)
Isaac Nathaniel Winston (INW)
Isaac Alexander Winston (IAW)
Isaac Dexter Winston (IDW)
Isaac Conrad Winston (ICW)
Isaac Augustus Winston (IAW)
Isaac Edmund Winston (IEW)
Isaac Theodore Winston (ITW)

I’ll put two polls (one for girl names, one for boy names) over to the right with all the first name choices, so everyone else can pick favorites. [Polls closed; see below for results.]

Poll results:

Girl names (251 votes total):
Hazel: 34 votes, roughly 14%
Lilac: 4 votes, roughly 2%
Cora: 137 votes, roughly 55%
Pearl: 15 votes, roughly 6%
Margot: 44 votes, roughly 18%
Gabrielle: 17 votes, roughly 7%

Boy names (238 votes total):
Clark: 43 votes, roughly 18%
Isaac: 128 votes, roughly 54%
Dexter: 32 votes, roughly 13%
Conrad: 35 votes, roughly 15%

Name update 01-30-2009! Charlotte writes:

Cora Genevieve Winston made her grand debut on January 23, 2009 at 9:26 AM! I am completely crazy in love with her! :) She is so tiny and beautiful. Thank you so much for all the help with her name. We’ve been getting so many compliments on it. Rose has been cooing “Co-Wah” and “Coco”. Our second choice was Cora Gabrielle. Once again, thank you!

Angie writes:

Our second child, sex unknown, will be joining our family at the end of the month. Big sister is Nora Grace and she just turned two. We are pretty settled on a boy’s name, either Henry Isaac or Charles (Charlie) Isaac, but are having some serious trouble coming up with a middle name for a daughter.

We had originally picked out Penelope Jane if this child is a girl, however due to a brand new addition to the family, I am thinking that Penelope (possible nn Nell) is too close to our new niece Elle and have decided to move on. My husband thinks I am crazy, he may be right, but he’s humoring me. We have really liked the name Ruth (Ruthie) through this whole pregnancy so we were more than comfortable returning to it. The problem I’m having is with the middle name. We originally decided on Ruth Allison. Then I convinced my husband to agree to Ruth Emilia. I think I am leaning towards a more contemporary name to balance out Ruth. The latest one I like (as of this morning) is Ruth Harper. Selling Harper to the hubs will be a long shot.

Do you think you and your readers could please, please help us come up with a perfect middle name for a baby girl named Ruth? Also, our last name starts with a D (it kind of sounds like “drizzle”) so any names starting with I or O are out.

Out of curiosity, am I really crazy for thinking Penelope is too “close” to Elle Marie? Of those I have asked, the consensus is split.

Oh, fun. Let’s definitely have a poll about the Penelope/Elle question. In my opinion, it’s not too close, even if you were 100% sure you would use the nickname Nell. I suppose I wouldn’t name two sisters Elle and Penelope, but cousins should be okay. …Though if they get along, they’ll probably like it and go around calling themselves “Elle and Nell! Elle and Nell! Elle and Nell! Elle and Nell!…” until you wish you’d gone with Ruth.

So let’s discuss Ruth. Any middle name starting with a vowel is going to give you word-initials: RAD, RED, RID, ROD, or RUD. Okay, fine, RUD is not a word, but the other four are.

Different people have different preferences when it comes to the rhythm of a name. For a 1-syllable first name and a 2-syllable surname, I like a 4-syllable middle name with the emphasis on the second syllable (picky much?): Ruth Penelope Drizzle (RPD). Ruth Felicity Drizzle (RFD). Ruth Elizabeth Drizzle (RED). Ruth Amelia Drizzle (RAD) or Ruth Emelia Drizzle (RED). Ruth Cordelia Drizzle (RCD). Ruth Victoria Drizzle (RVD). Ruth Cecelia Drizzle (RCD). Like that.

I also like the sound of 2-syllable middle names with the emphasis on the second syllable: Ruth Nicole Drizzle (RND). Ruth Louise Drizzle (RLD). Ruth Noelle Drizzle (RND). Ruth Simone Drizzle (RSD). Ruth Marie Drizzle (RMD). Like that.

And I also like the sound of 3-syllable middle names with the emphasis on the second syllable: Ruth Clarissa Drizzle (RCD). Ruth Delaney Drizzle (RDD). Ruth Geneva Drizzle (RGD). Ruth Jacinta Drizzle (RJD). Ruth Matilda Drizzle (RMD). Ruth Mckenna Drizzle (RMD).

This is too many options for a reasonable poll, so I’ll put the “Is Penelope too close to Elle?” poll over to the right [poll closed; see below], and we can put middle name suggestions/votes for Ruth in the comments section.

Poll results (271 votes total) for “Is Penelope too close to Elle for cousins?”:
Yes: 44 votes, roughly 16%
No: 227 votes, roughly 84%

Name update 01-31-2009! Angie writes:

I just wanted to thank you and your readers for all of your great suggestions and helping us with our baby girl names! I did decide to put Penelope back in the hat thanks to your poll and comments, and we decided to wait to see the baby to make up our minds. After all of that, on January 23 at 1:37pm I delivered a 8lb 11 oz baby BOY and we named him Henry Isaac. He is the sweetest thing ever and we and so blessed to welcome him to our family.

Thanks again!
Angie

J. writes:

I am due at the very beginning of January with my second baby, and we don’t know the gender. We have one son whose name is Declan Christopher James (the two middle names are for a specific reason, but not one we need to repeat with this baby). Our last name is F.o.l.e.y., thus rendering most names that end with -y, -ie, and especially -lie too cutsey or sing-songy for our tastes. If you couldn’t tell from our son’s name or our last name, we’re Irish, but a lot of the Irish names we like (ex. Aiobheann) are terribly difficult to spell or pronounce in English, so we’re willing to branch out, unless someone has any suggestions.

At this point, I think we’ve whittled our list down to either Eleanor Megan or Margot Anne for a girl, and Elliot Somers, Miles Thomas, and Winston Somers for a boy. All of the middle names are family names, so we’re set on using those, but we’re open to suggestions for first names. My husband also likes Miles for a boy, and I like Adrian and Julian (neither one of us has managed to sell the other on any of those, but we also haven’t eliminated them), and we both like Maura for a girl.

We’d love additional suggestions, as well as opinions on the names we’ve already listed.

Thanks!

I really, really like your choices. If you twisted my arm and forced me to choose, I’d choose Eleanor Megan for a girl and Elliot Somers for a boy, but I don’t think you can go wrong no matter what you choose. I’m going to make two polls, one for the girl names and one for the boy names. Polls are over to the right [polls closed; see below]—let’s vote! And hurry: baby is due at the very beginning of January, and ACK! we are a week into it.

Poll results, girl names (232 votes total):
Eleanor Megan: 136 votes, roughly 59%
Margot Anne: 96 votes, roughly 41%

Poll results, boy names (231 votes total):
Elliot Somers: 99 votes, roughly 43%
Miles Thomas: 105 votes, roughly 45%
Winston Somers: 27 votes, roughly 12%

Name update 01-17-2009! J. writes:

We finally had a baby girl yesterday, January 16 (I guess she just needed extra time to get those sweet chubby rolls!), and we decided to name her Eleanor Megan. Thanks so much for the votes!