{"id":11767,"date":"2015-12-04T11:38:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T15:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11767"},"modified":"2015-12-04T11:43:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T15:43:58","slug":"baby-girl-sister-to-harriet-and-hugo-consuelo-or-margaret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2015\/12\/04\/baby-girl-sister-to-harriet-and-hugo-consuelo-or-margaret\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl, Sister to Harriet and Hugo: Consuelo or Margaret?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

We are pregnant with our third child\u2014a girl!\u2014in April 2016 and we need your help. Our first two children\u2019s names are Harriet Paloma (\u201cHattie\u201d), and Hugo Campion. Our last name is the season in which one usually finds snow.<\/p>\n

We love both of our kids\u2019 names. Both first names are family names. They feel vintage and are fairly rare. Their middle names feel (to my ears) more modern and have religious significance (\u201cPaloma,\u201d meaning \u201cdove\u201d which stands both for peace and for the Holy Spirit, \u201cCampion,\u201d after St. Edmund Campion). We decided that we would not bind ourselves to the established pattern of naming for the third child (Fusty Family Name + Modern Religious)\u2014there are only so many names in the family tree! This relaxing of the \u201crules\u201d has allowed us to greatly expand our list. But ironically, this hasn\u2019t seemed to help us come to a decision.<\/p>\n

Boys are easier and if this baby had been male he would have been either Magnus or Lewis.<\/p>\n

But girls are another story. Out of the HUNDREDS of names on our list only two seem to be names we could see our child carrying. Well that is okay, in theory. The baby only needs one name after all. But this is the problem: one of these names is highly, highly unusual and perhaps culturally inappropriate. The other is\u2026perhaps\u2026.boring.<\/p>\n

So as of now we are stuck between:<\/p>\n

Consuelo, nicknamed \u201cCoco\u201d<\/p>\n

And<\/p>\n

Margaret.<\/p>\n

In my angst regarding both of these names I am beginning to realize that being a name nerd doesn\u2019t always help you name actual humans. First because your name \u201cnormal\u201d is not everyone else\u2019s \u201cnormal\u201d: while I might swoon over a sib-set including Otis, Errol, and Olympia (for real!), the other mommies in the pediatrician\u2019s office might roll their eyes. Secondly, the name nerd overthinks names. It is the definition of a name nerd. And overthinking ruins baby-naming.<\/p>\n

Consuelo. I have always been fascinated by the French and Spanish-language tradition of naming children after the Virgin Mary, but using her many titles or apparition locations. English is pretty limited when it comes to honor names for the Blessed Mother. We have Mary, Marie, and some more unusual, but related, variants such as Mae, Mamie, Maren, Molly. But nothing compared with the range and diversity of the French\/Spanish naming tradition: Lourdes, Carmel, Soledad, Guadalupe, Luz, Amparo, Araceli, Socorro, Belen, Pilar, Delores. And on and on! My daughter\u2019s godmother is Monserrat after Our Lady of Monserrat (love!!).<\/p>\n

I have loved Consuelo for a long time. The elegant Consuelo Vanderbilt (picture below) carried the name well with an Anglo surname and the nickname \u201cCoco\u201d makes the name more accessible for a little girl. The name\u2019s meaning\u2014\u201cSolace\u201d\u2014is so beautiful and important to me.<\/p>\n

\"Consuelo<\/p>\n

However. I worry. I worry. I worry. Is Consuelo TOO unusual? Will the name be a blessing or a burden to my daughter? But the unusualness\/obscurity doesn\u2019t usually bother me. In fact, it is usually an added attraction when I consider a name. What really worries me about \u201cConsuelo\u201d is that it would be somehow culturally presumptuous, or offensive to choose a name that comes from a different language tradition. We have no Spanish-language knowledge or heritage.<\/p>\n

I constantly justify myself. \u201cIf Cosima, Bohdi, and Freya are being discussed and used, then Consuelo is no different, no less foreign to many American namers,\u201d I say. But still I worry.<\/p>\n

So what do you think about Consuelo?<\/p>\n

Next is Margaret. I am surprised that I like Margaret as much as I do. It is much more popular than names I typically like and much more\u2026standard. Margaret seems to me traditional, but more than traditional\u2014predictable. A name that won\u2019t shock the grandparents but won\u2019t really excite them either. So I can\u2019t believe it\u2014but I love Margaret. Love it! I love how it sounds. I love it\u2019s meaning. And even more than this, it just FEELS like our kid. Hattie, Hugo and Margaret.<\/p>\n

So what do you think? Is Margaret too popular? Is it too\u2026boring?<\/p>\n

AND beyond these names we remain open to suggestions! \u2013though I feel like I have considered EVERY possible name in existence! Other names that we love and have discarded for one reason or another:<\/p>\n

Jemima (absolute favorite made impossible by racial issues in the US)
\nMabel (love in theory but something doesn\u2019t sound right when I say it)
\nPeregrine (yes, for a girl. They boys aren\u2019t using it anyway! But husband feels that it sounds \u201chard\u201d)
\nMartha (I love this but husband not so much)
\nHazel (too popular, too similar to previous children)
\nMarina (husband vetoed: too girly)<\/p>\n

Any suggestions? Helpful advice?<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nSarah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

For me, the startle factor of “Harriet, Hugo, and Consuelo” is high. Quite high. “Harriet, Hugo, and Margaret,” on the other hand, has a high delight factor.<\/p>\n

As you say, certain names from other countries have become or are becoming mainstream in our country, and so why should Consuelo be any different? I think it’s because Consuelo hasn’t done that yet: only 28 new baby girls were given the name in 2014, in the entire United States. It’s still a shock, and particularly since you’ve started with completely mainstream names for your first two children: rare\/unusual, but very familiar.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the name Consuelo WILL become more common in the future, particularly with that appealing -o ending, and SOMEONE has to start the ball rolling. If this were your first child, I might say go ahead, or at least say I didn’t see why it would necessarily have to be ruled out. But Harriet, Hugo, and Consuelo is a sticking point for me: the startle factor goes beyond what I personally would want to deal with. I do also worry about the cultural aspect of it, though I don’t have enough experience with the subject to advise, only to join in your anxiety.<\/p>\n

Another, smaller issue is that Coco doesn’t strike me as an instinctive nickname for Consuelo, in sound or in style. It isn’t that you couldn’t force it, but I do think you’d need some effort behind it.<\/p>\n

However, I think the name Consuelo would make a perfect middle name. I think of the middle name position as the ideal place for names that have great meaning\/significance for us but also have too high a startle factor or any other similar issue. Margaret Consuelo is a pretty kick-butt name, and coordinates beautifully with Harriet Paloma and Hugo Campion. Paloma (peace) and Consuelo (solace) are particularly well-matched.<\/p>\n

I don’t find the name Margaret boring at all, but of course that is a subjective issue and everyone will feel differently about it. It doesn’t feel particularly common to me, either: I only know one child named Margaret, and it was fresh and surprising to hear her name when I met her. But of course that will vary by location: other areas may be simply RIFE with Margarets. Certainly it is more common than the name Harriet: there were 1,933 new baby girls named Margaret in 2014, and only 127 new baby girls named Harriet.<\/p>\n

I would like to zero in on Delores from your list of examples of the range of the Spanish\/French naming traditions. It seems to me it’s everything you’re looking for, without the downsides of the name Consuelo, and it works beautifully with the vintage\/fusty\/rare style you were going for with the name Harriet. It’s currently very rare in the United States (only 15 new baby girls given the name in 2014—even rarer than Consuelo), but because it HAS been used in the U.S., it feels familiar, as Harriet does. It also has great nickname potential: I know a little girl who sometimes goes by Del or Delly, and it’s adorable.<\/p>\n

Or could I persuade you to use one of my own favorites, Millicent? I think it goes very well with Harriet, and has the wonderful nickname Milly\/Millie. Hattie and Millie!<\/p>\n

Or Winifred. Or Louisa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle, We are pregnant with our third child\u2014a girl!\u2014in April 2016 and we need your help. Our first two children\u2019s names are Harriet Paloma (\u201cHattie\u201d), and Hugo Campion. Our last name is the season in which one usually finds snow. We love both of our kids\u2019 names. Both first names are family names. They […]<\/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-11767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-33N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767","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=11767"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11772,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767\/revisions\/11772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}