{"id":11818,"date":"2016-01-02T07:16:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T11:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11818"},"modified":"2016-01-02T09:06:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T13:06:17","slug":"baby-naming-issue-older-sibling-wants-one-name-parents-want-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2016\/01\/02\/baby-naming-issue-older-sibling-wants-one-name-parents-want-another\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Naming Issue: Older Sibling Wants One Name, Parents Want Another"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle!<\/p>\n

I’ve enjoyed reading your blog since discovering it early this
\npregnancy, and I could really use your help on our current baby name
\nsituation. Baby boy is due in February, and we thought we had decided
\non the name Wesley Oliver. (Oliver was my grandfather’s middle name.)
\nOur first son, now 2 1\/2 years old, is Henry Owen. Last name for the
\nboys is my name and husband’s name combined, no hyphen — H@ffman
\nBl@dgett.<\/p>\n

I still really like the name Wesley, but it just doesn’t feel like
\nWesley is this baby’s name. And I can’t get the name Arlo out of my
\nmind. My husband originally did not like Arlo, but lately he’s been
\nopen to it, so I think it’s likely that we could agree on it. I love
\nthat it’s short and sweet (especially with the long last name), and I
\ncan imagine it being a great name as a child and an adult. And I
\nthink that Arlo sounds great with Henry, perhaps in a way that Wesley
\ndoes not?<\/p>\n

One potential problem is that my son loves the name Wesley. Every
\ntime we ask if he likes another name, he replies, very
\nmatter-of-factly, “No, Henry likes Wes-wee.” We had been talking for
\nawhile as though that were baby’s name, and it seems he’s very
\nattached to it. Of course, we’re not going to let our 2 year old name
\nthe baby, but I at least want to be respectful of his opinion.
\n(Especially since there will undoubtedly be big emotions around having
\na new brother, even without any naming complications.)<\/p>\n

I also wonder about the middle name — does Arlo Oliver flow together
\na little too much? I think I like it, but I can see how the two names
\ncould be too similar with the “LO” ending and the “OL” beginning. I’d
\nlike to stick with Oliver as a middle name if we could.<\/p>\n

We both also really like the name Liam, but we’re concerned with how
\npopular it has become. That’s not a deal-breaker, but it is a
\nconcern. Other names we’ve considered include Elliot and Noah.
\n(We’ve never had a very long list.)<\/p>\n

With Henry, I just KNEW his name was Henry months before his birth.
\nAnd it’s really the perfect name for him. I feel a little lost
\nwithout the certainty that I felt last time — it seems my baby name
\nintuition has dulled in these intervening sleep-deprived years. :)<\/p>\n

I would really appreciate your thoughts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

Hi again, Swistle.<\/p>\n

I wrote to you a few days ago asking for help with our baby naming
\ndilemmas. I just had to write to share an amusing
\nupdate with you.<\/p>\n

My son Henry — who loves the name Wesley, and who I’m concerned about
\ndisappointing should we choose another name — decided this morning
\nthat his stuffed woolly mammoth’s name is “Wesley.” I wonder — does
\nthis mean we’re off the hook, so to speak, for considering how much he
\nlikes the name when deciding on his baby brother’s name? We certainly
\ncan’t have two Wesleys in the house, can we? :)<\/p>\n

Selena<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

My intention was to answer this with a paragraph or two about how I can identify with wanting to use the name the 2-year-old wants, because it is beyond cute when a sibling takes an interest in the new baby; but that in my own experience (Robert wanted to name William “Plum,” and was very serious and intense about it), the 2-year-old won’t remember any of this and it’s safe to go with the name you want—perhaps using his choice as a special nickname.<\/p>\n

But the turn things have taken is so excellent, I now want to post this as an idea for other parents facing the same situation: in this case it was accidental, but I wish I’d thought of it when Rob wanted to use the name Plum. Some children will not be diverted and will still insist that no, the name is for the new baby; but others may very well fall for it.<\/p>\n

I think both Wesley and Arlo work nicely with the name Henry. I think Arlo Oliver works just fine: I see what you mean about the -lo and Ol-, but I agree that other considerations outrank that one. (Or perhaps your grandfather’s first name would be a better fit?) Do you find you call Henry “Henry Owen”? Some families do use first and middle names together, but many use the middle name only for paperwork.<\/p>\n

Liam and Arlo make me wonder if you’d like Leo or Milo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog since discovering it early this pregnancy, and I could really use your help on our current baby name situation. Baby boy is due in February, and we thought we had decided on the name Wesley Oliver. (Oliver was my grandfather’s middle name.) Our first son, now 2 1\/2 […]<\/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-11818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-34C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818","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=11818"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11822,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818\/revisions\/11822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}