{"id":10400,"date":"2014-08-25T07:04:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T11:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=10400"},"modified":"2014-08-25T07:53:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T11:53:03","slug":"baby-boy-kennedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2014\/08\/25\/baby-boy-kennedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Kennedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle!<\/p>\n

Hubby (P) and I are expecting baby #1 in 4 weeks or less and still have not agreed on a boy\u2019s name! Our last name is Kennedy, yep, like JFK. We plan on having 2-4 children.<\/p>\n

Up until a week ago I thought we had a name picked, Henry David, but P isn\u2019t crazy about the name Henry anymore. Henry (or Hank) is my #1 choice, hands down. P likes the idea of having family names somewhere in the name, that\u2019s where the middle name of David came from. P was named after his grandfather and likes the idea of naming our boy after his dad to carry on tradition. I\u2019m not convinced. I am fine with family names for middle names but I just can\u2019t wrap my head around calling our son by my father-in-laws name. P does not want to use David as a middle name because our nephew has the middle name David, after my FIL. P would only be happy with David as a first name. I feel like I\u2019m stuck between a rock and a hard place. We have decided to discuss options other than David. We tend to like more traditional names and nothing too \u201csoft\u201d sounding. Names that can be shortened or have nick-names are fine. Here is a list of first names that we have discussed:<\/p>\n

Henry (Hank) \u2013 my choice, P isn\u2019t crazy about it
\nMickey- P\u2019s choice, I\u2019m not crazy about it
\nCharles
\nColt
\nFinn
\nJack \u2013 we both really like this name, however my brother and sister-in-law told us that when they have kids their little boy will be named Jack- what do you do in this situation? They are not currently pregnant and won\u2019t likely have children for a few years<\/p>\n

Middle Name options:
\nPeter
\nPaul
\nJohn
\nWilliam<\/p>\n

At this point we are both panicking because we just haven\u2019t found \u201cthe name\u201d yet. Do you have any suggestions of names like these? Or any other advice?<\/p>\n

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was relieved to get to this part: “We have decided to discuss options other than David.” Without that sentence, that would have been the aim of my first three paragraphs. It does sound to me as if the name David is out of the running: you are not happy with it as the first name, and your husband is not happy with it as the middle name. Plus, your father-in-law has already been honored, and perhaps it would be nice to honor someone else. The baby has another grandfather: would his first name work, or would that feel just as odd as calling the baby by your father-in-law’s name?<\/p>\n

Let’s also take Henry and Mickey off the list. It is the worst and hardest moment in list-cutting, I think: when one parent’s first choice is somewhere near the bottom of the other person’s list. It helps when there is one such name for each parent, so at least it feels fair, if painful.<\/p>\n

Colt and Finn don’t feel to me as if they meet your general preferences. They also seem a little awkward to me with your surname: Colt Kennedy is so abruptly alliterative, and Finn Kennedy has the repeating double-N. But if you were in love with either choice and were worried about those surname issues, I’d be talking you out of it because neither issue seems like a big enough deal to cross a name off the list. And, because both are a matter of preference, another person could find both issues to be pros rather than cons. The bigger concern to me is whether or not they fit your style, which is hard to tell from the letter but could be something for the two of you to discuss.<\/p>\n

Now that your brother and sister-in-law have announced their intention to use the name Jack, it’s an issue that would need to be addressed. There’s no calling dibs in baby naming, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a good idea to discuss the matter before proceeding. Even if you had already decided for sure on the name Jack before their announcement, I’d suggest at least giving them a warning so that the birth of your baby wouldn’t be associated with a strong disappointment.<\/p>\n

However, in your case, I would take Jack off the list. Telling us your surname, your very first remark was that it was “like JFK.” That’s my very first association with that surname, too. Naming a child Jack Kennedy feels similar to naming a child James Bond: the names Jack\/John and James are so common their associations are vast and dilute—but pair them with those very distinctive surnames, and it’s another story. The associations could be considered highly positive, but strong to the point that I would even suggest avoiding names that SOUND like Jack or John or Jacqueline.<\/p>\n

This leaves Charles. Or rather, Charles is the stand-out, next to which all the other names fell away without protest. It meets your preference for a more traditional name. It’s a solid choice with a great nickname. It’s very similar in style to Henry, the previous finalist. It’s great with the surname. I like it with any of the middle name options, though personally would prefer to avoid John\/Jack even as a middle name. (I might reconsider if the namesake were a particularly wonderful one.)<\/p>\n

I also like all the non-John middle name options as first name options. Paul Kennedy is great. William Kennedy. Peter Kennedy. All terrific. But perhaps as first names they have the same issues as David.<\/p>\n

To add more names to your list, I’d suggest seeing if you can pinpoint your style. A list with Charles, Mickey, and Colt on it is a list I don’t feel confident trying to build on. Charles and Henry are traditional, timeless classics. Colt and Finn are snappy choices; Colt feels modern and cowboyish, while Finn feels Celtic. Mickey is a nickname name, seldom used as a given name in the United States and strongly associated with the Disney mouse. (I also think of the phrase “slipping someone a Mickey<\/a>,” especially when I see the related name Finn.) Jack is a combination: snappy like Colt and Finn, traditional\/timeless like Charles and Henry; nickname name like Mickey.<\/p>\n

Because Jack seems like it covers all the categories of the finalist list, I might look for more names like that. Or I might look for more names like Charles and Henry: traditional choices with good nicknames in the Jack category.<\/p>\n

One exercise I’ve found helpful is to think ahead to future sibling names. If you choose Charles, do you feel like you could still choose Colt? If you choose Colt, do you feel like you could still choose Mickey? Which names on your boy-name list do you like best with the names on your girl-name list? Do any names on your list rule out using other names on your list? (For example, using Finn may rule out using Mickey, or perhaps you don’t want to repeat an initial, or perhaps you don’t want to use a name\/nickname combination for one child and a nickname name for another.)<\/p>\n

Picturing the future sibling group as a whole can also be useful. Imagine your 2-4 children around the table, or watching TV. Imagine them having one set of names, then another; which feels more like Your Family? Do you find you prefer the names to have similar styles, or do you find you prefer an assortment?<\/p>\n

I wonder if you’d like Nicholas with the nickname Cole. It gives you a more traditional first name with a nickname that’s more like Colt.<\/p>\n

Or Clark has the snappy sound of Jack, without the associations.<\/p>\n

More nicknames that come to mind when I think of Jack: Max, Sam, Gus, Dan.<\/p>\n

A few more short options: Grant, Reid, Luke, Dean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle! Hubby (P) and I are expecting baby #1 in 4 weeks or less and still have not agreed on a boy\u2019s name! Our last name is Kennedy, yep, like JFK. We plan on having 2-4 children. Up until a week ago I thought we had a name picked, Henry David, but P isn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-2HK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10400"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10404,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10400\/revisions\/10404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}