{"id":11346,"date":"2015-05-18T10:11:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T14:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11346"},"modified":"2016-05-08T12:43:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T16:43:46","slug":"baby-boy-or-girl-steward-sibling-to-zaiden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2015\/05\/18\/baby-boy-or-girl-steward-sibling-to-zaiden\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy or Girl Steward, Sibling to Zaiden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

Thanks so much for reading my question. I have a baby due at the end of the year, and my best friend has a baby due about three months before me. We finally sat down and talked baby names and it turns out we had decided on the same boy name! She knows that she is having a boy and will be naming him Jasper.<\/p>\n

We have a son named Zaiden William Steward. For our next boy named we had decided on Jasper Grey Steward. Our girl name is Maizy Tangerine Steward. (Many people react to Maizy Tangerine with a slow “Oh… that’s interesting.” But we love it and think it’s adorable, so we’re sticking with it.)<\/p>\n

So, obviously I would feel weird about naming my next baby the same name as my friend, even though I know we thought of it independently of each other.<\/p>\n

The other boy names that were list are:<\/p>\n

Thatcher Flynn Steward – My partner likes Thatcher but doesn’t love it, and had previously considered Flynn as a baby name with an ex, so that name is out.<\/p>\n

Kiran Sky Steward – Decided against Kiran because there are no good nicknames and also, it sounds an awful lot like “Karen”.<\/p>\n

So I guess we have a list of boy names we like, for either first or middle names, but really just aren’t finding a name that feels as perfect as Jasper Grey.<\/p>\n

The full list of names we like:<\/p>\n

Thatcher (I love it, partner is kind of meh about it)
\nFlynn (association with an ex)
\nSky
\nGreyson
\nGrey
\nJasper (best friend conflict)
\nLiam (partner has a bad association with this one, no good nickname as it is already a nickname on it’s own. I don’t like Lee or Li for a boy.)
\nLupin (not my favorite, partner loves it. I also don’t like the nickname Lu or Lou for a boy.)
\nJackson
\nJax
\nAvery (no good nickname).<\/p>\n

So we tend to like unusual names that aren’t too crazy (okay, except for the Tangerine part). I think nicknames are somewhat inevitable so I’d like to make sure the most natural nickname is one we like.<\/p>\n

We call our son Zai (pronounced Zay) most of the time and we really like this.<\/p>\n

I guess my question is: do you have any suggestions for the “perfect” boy name – a first and middle name together? I am sad to let go of Jasper Grey, and I think I’d feel a lot better about it if there was something else I loved.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your help!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I notice that both Zaiden\/Zai and Maizy have a long-A sound and a Z sound. If you’re planning more than two children, and so might save Maizy for a future girl even if you have a boy this time, probably we want to avoid adding more A\/Z-sound names to the list. But if you’re planning to stop after two, I might look at A\/Z names in the hopes of finding another boy name you like.<\/p>\n

I might have suggested Hayes, but it doesn’t seem quite right with the surname: I hear “Hey, Steward.”<\/p>\n

Hazen works better with the surname, but has even more sounds in common with Zaiden: the long-A, the Z, AND the -en.<\/p>\n

James has the long-A and Z sounds, but may be too common for your tastes, and with the surname makes me think of James Stewart—not a negative association, but fairly strong.<\/p>\n

Isaac might be a nice fit, similar without being too similar: it has the Z sound but without a Z, and a long-I instead of a long-A. But it’s a different style than Zaiden and Maizy. Same with Isaiah.<\/p>\n

Zavier, maybe, similar in sound to Avery. Zaiden and Zavier are so visually similar, though, and no good nickname.<\/p>\n

Well, you get the idea. But from your list, I don’t get the feeling the Z\/A route is what you’re looking for, so let’s now look at other options:<\/p>\n

Archer
\nBaxter
\nBrogan
\nCallan
\nCorbin
\nCormac
\nDeclan
\nFelix
\nFinn
\nFinian
\nFletcher
\nGriffin
\nHatcher
\nKeaton
\nKeegan
\nLennox
\nMaddox
\nMeyer
\nPaxton
\nTiernan<\/p>\n

(I just reinvented the name Jason. I was looking at Jasper and Jackson, and I thought of Jase\/Jace. Then I thought, “But the ending S-sound blends with the surname; maybe extend Jace to Jacen?”)<\/p>\n

I recommend shifting the focus of your search: instead of trying to find another name as perfect as Jasper Grey, I suggest looking for the name you like best of all the names that are left to choose from. It’s a subtle shift, but may help avoid the discouragement of holding each name up to Jasper Grey and having each name fall short.<\/p>\n

I wonder, though, if you want to reconsider your decision not to use the name. WOULD it be too weird if you and your friend both had sons named Jasper? What if you had met after naming your babies? In that situation, it would likely be a fun connection rather than a weird problem. Since you both know that you chose the name independently, and since you love the name and consider it perfect, could you decide to go with it? In the long run, it may not be as big an issue as it seems now.<\/p>\n

I’m inclined to pursue Grey\/Greyson from your list, or maybe Grady. It lets you keep part of your original choice, and it’s good with Zaiden and a possible future Maizy. Do you mind that Grey rhymes with Zai? I generally don’t mind if nicknames rhyme or cause other minor trouble, even though I DO mind if given names do so.<\/p>\n

I wonder if you might like to use Greyson Jasper. This lets you use Jasper where it won’t seem like duplicating your friend’s choice. Zaiden William and Greyson Jasper; Zai and Grey. It might be a pro or a con that a possible future Maizy would make three children with rhyming first syllables: Zai, Grey, and Mai.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Hi Swistle!<\/p>\n

We were so grateful that you read and posted our letter. We loved reading all of your suggestions, as well as the replies from other readers.<\/p>\n

My letter had stated that we needed a boy name, but that we’d already decided on Maizy Tangerine for a girl. Well, as we got closer and closer to the due date, Maizy Tangerine just didn’t feel right anymore (although we still love it). We completely started over with girl names and considered names like:<\/p>\n

Emmerson Rae
\nWilder Rae
\nElliotte Grace
\nSawyer Grace
\nPiper Anne
\nand many others.<\/p>\n

In the end, our baby turned out to be a little girl and we named her Frankie Mae Wilder Steward. Frankie Mae is her first name and Wilder is her middle name.<\/p>\n

She is the sweetest, cuddliest, happiest baby ever and her name suits her perfectly.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your help, even though we didn’t end up needing a boy name after all! We love reading your posts!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, Thanks so much for reading my question. I have a baby due at the end of the year, and my best friend has a baby due about three months before me. We finally sat down and talked baby names and it turns out we had decided on the same boy name! She knows […]<\/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-11346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-2X0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346","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=11346"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12096,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11346\/revisions\/12096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}