{"id":11148,"date":"2015-04-05T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T20:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11148"},"modified":"2015-08-12T15:11:01","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T19:11:01","slug":"baby-girl-rhymes-with-tanley-sister-to-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2015\/04\/05\/baby-girl-rhymes-with-tanley-sister-to-harvest\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Rhymes-with-Tanley, Sister to Harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

I’m writing on behalf of my sister and brother-in-law (with their permission, of course). I’ve been reading your blog for years and know you can help.<\/p>\n

They are expecting their second daughter in July and are struggling to find a name they both like. Their first daughter’s name is Harvest and she often goes by Harvee. Harvest’s name has special meaning to them and they love it because it is very unique. Their last name rhymes with Tanley.<\/p>\n

They would prefer another name that is as uncommon as Harvest. My BIL strongly does not want a name that appears on the Social Security list. They would love another name that starts with H, but it isn’t an absolute. A fun nickname is also important to them and they like words repurposed as names (like Harvest).<\/p>\n

They have only really come up with three possible names, but can’t agree on them.<\/p>\n

Haven – my sister’s favorite and has special meaning to them, but my BIL says it is too common
\nHolland – my BIL’s favorite, but my sister hates the nickname Holly and thinks it would be unavoidable
\nHenley – they both like, but it is too sing-songy with their last name<\/p>\n

Please help, Swistle! My niece needs a name!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

By “the Social Security list,” I will assume your brother-in-law means the Top 1000, rather than the entire list.<\/p>\n

The most fun option to me was finding a repurposed H word, so that’s where I started. In fact, I spent a highly enjoyable 45 minutes or so going through the entire H section of the dictionary with William (14) and Elizabeth (9). I recommend this activity: not only do you create a list of actual candidates, it is surprising how long it continues to be fun\/funny to call out the non-candidates: “Hyperbole!” one of us would say; “Perfect!” another would reply. “Honeybee!” “Hedgehog!” “Helicopter!” “Hydrochloric!” We all ended up in very good moods.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we got in 45 minutes:<\/p>\n

Halcyon; Harvest and Halcyon; Harvee and Hallee
\nHappen; Harvest and Happen; Harvee and Happy (William votes no on this)
\nHarmonic; Harvest and Harmonic; Harvee and Nicki
\nHeliotrope; Harvest and Heliotrope; Harvee and Leo
\nHenna; Harvest and Henna; Harvee and Hennie (would likely be confused with Hannah)
\nHeritage; Harvest and Heritage; Harvee and Harry
\nHeron; Harvest and Heron; Harvee and Harry
\nHickory; Harvest and Hickory; Harvee and Kory
\nHomily; Harvest and Homily; Harvee and Millie
\nHonesty; Harvest and Honesty; Harvee and Nessie
\nHorizon; Harvest and Horizon; Harvee and ?
\nHyacinth; Harvest and Hyacinth; Harvee and Hydie\/Heidi
\nHydrangea; Harvest and Hydrangea; Harvee and Hydie\/Heidi<\/p>\n

My favorites are Heron, Homily, Honesty, and Hyacinth.<\/p>\n

And here are the ones we considered but then decided not to put on the list: Halo<\/strong> is a pretty sound, but the associations with angels and video games seem tough to handle. Harbor<\/strong> seemed good, and can be a synonym for Haven, but it’s probably too similar to Harvest, and I couldn’t think of a good nickname (Harby sounds too much like Harvee and Harpy). Harken<\/strong> had possibility (similar to the name Larkin), but again shares an entire first syllable with Harvest, and the nickname Hark seems harsh (and at our house, would lead to endless jokes: “Hark! It’s time for dinner!” “Hark! I see your shoes!”). Harlequin<\/strong> is pretty, but seems too steeped in meaning\/symbolism; same with Harrow<\/strong>. Harmonica<\/strong> and Harpsichord<\/strong> might be too silly. Harp<\/strong> might be confused with the much more popular Harper, and the nickname seems like it might be the unfortunate Harpy. Hasten<\/strong> shares so many letters with Harvest, and I couldn’t think of a good nickname, and also I found that when I see it as a name I suddenly have trouble pronouncing it (it looks similar to Kristen). Heartily<\/strong> could be pretty, but a little sing-song with the surname; we also liked Hearten<\/strong> and Heartland<\/strong>, but the nickname Heart has an unfortunate crude rhyme. Helix<\/strong> sounds name-like, but also sounds like “he licks.” Holiday<\/strong> seems perfect, but has the nickname Holly.<\/p>\n

The strategy we used today is the same strategy I’d recommend for adding non-H names to their list. The dictionary makes a daunting baby name book, but the H section went surprisingly quickly once we got into it.<\/p>\n

[Edited to add: Trying to go to sleep tonight and thinking about this question, I thought of the name Orchard, nickname Orrie. Or Starling. Or Spring.]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name update!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

My sister and brother-in-law welcomed Haven Elizabeth to the family in June.\u00a0 They took everyone’s comments to heart and we had such a good time going through all of the suggestions the post generated.\u00a0 In the end, they were encouraged that Haven isn’t too common; it became the front runner due to the special meaning for their family.\u00a0 The name fits her perfectly and nothing is sweeter than hearing big sister Harvest talk about Baby Haven.\u00a0 Thanks for all of the help!\u00a0 Attached is a picture.<\/p>\n

Thanks,
\nBrittany<\/p>\n

\"Haven<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, I’m writing on behalf of my sister and brother-in-law (with their permission, of course). I’ve been reading your blog for years and know you can help. They are expecting their second daughter in July and are struggling to find a name they both like. Their first daughter’s name is Harvest and she often […]<\/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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-2TO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148","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=11148"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11536,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148\/revisions\/11536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}