{"id":11936,"date":"2016-03-09T12:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T16:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11936"},"modified":"2016-06-11T20:23:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-12T00:23:12","slug":"baby-girl-more-anne-sister-to-grady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2016\/03\/09\/baby-girl-more-anne-sister-to-grady\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Moreanne, Sister to Grady"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Hillary, my husband is Shawn, our son is a 4-year-old Tiny Dictator named Grady, and we\u2019re expecting Lady Baby in May. Our last name (I gave up my maiden name) sounds like more-ANNE but is consistently pronounced incorrectly as MORE-an (this is important later). This will be our last child.<\/p>\n

Grady\u2019s full name is Grady Shawn more-ANNE. Shawn\u2019s family has a longstanding tradition of giving the first son his father\u2019s name as his middle name and while I don\u2019t love the tradition, I felt less strongly about breaking the tradition than Shawn felt about keeping the tradition. Grady\u2019s first name was a name I had come across and didn\u2019t initially love. Shawn loved it from day one and it came down to Grady or Max (the name I felt most bonded to). In the end, I was able to get on board with Grady because I found significance (Willie Nelson\u2019s guitar player\u2019s name is Grady, my dad introduced us to Willie Nelson music when we were kids and some of my favourite memories are of us ripping down the highway on the way to the lake singing \u201cOn the Road Again\u201d) and I have no regrets. Grady is Grady and it\u2019s made me a little more relaxed on this name search because I realize that in most cases, there isn\u2019t going to be one magical, perfect name out there; the little person makes the name perfect. With that being said, I feel like I should get a bit more of a say in this baby\u2019s name as Grady\u2019s first was influenced by Shawn\u2019s love for the name, his middle name is Shawn\u2019s name, and the kids\u2019 last name is Shawn\u2019s surname.<\/p>\n

There is not much overlap in our naming preferences. I\u2019m drawn to old-timey, sweet and sassy names while Shawn\u2019s suggestions have included names I think of as being very 80s or 90s (Jillian, Kennedy, etc.) or just totally out there in Sci-Fi Fantasy world.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve managed to pull together a short list of possibilities and I thought we had a definite frontrunner, until my husband met a woman with the same name last week and she ruined it for him. Our list (in no particular order because I\u2019m still holding out hope that my husband will forget about the awful woman and fall in love with my frontrunner and I don\u2019t want to sway your opinion with my strong preference):
\nScarlet
\nHolly
\nMabel
\nEdith
\nBelle
\nEvelyn
\nCora (my grandma\u2019s name, I love it, Shawn is quite fond of it, it sounds terrible with our last name especially when you consider how people frequently mispronounce it).<\/p>\n

I love but my husband has vetoed:
\nRuby
\nViolet
\nClover
\nBeatrice
\nBirdie
\nMarigold
\nGeorgia
\nMargaret
\nOlive
\nStella (we wasted this on the dog who I know will not be around forever, and in fact now lives with my mother-in-law, but it seems to upset Grady to think of his baby sister as Stella so we haven\u2019t spent too much time considering it)
\nGreta (love this name but it feels too similar to Grady)
\nGrace (ditto)<\/p>\n

My husband loves but I have vetoed:
\nMany Game of Thrones names
\nPenelope (I like the style but I had only read the name, not heard it, until I was a teenager so it will always be pronounced \u201cPeen-uh-lope\u201d to me.)
\nLuna
\nAnnika
\nAstrid (Michael Scott and the Office have ruined this name for me forever)<\/p>\n

Grady insists his sister\u2019s name be one of the following:
\nLight Bolt
\nBeautiful Cake
\nGinger
\nRosie<\/p>\n

Obviously he is not getting a true vote but I\u2019m willing to include him in the process because it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n

I have many naming preferences but I wouldn\u2019t call any of them deal breakers:
\n– 2-syllable name followed by 1-syllable middle
\n– No hard G names
\n– Not easily nickname-able
\n– Alliteration does not bother me (I think it may actually appeal to me) but I don\u2019t love rhyme-y names
\n– No top 100 names (for reference, we live in British Columbia, Canada http:\/\/www.vs.gov.bc.ca\/babynames\/baby2014.html)
\n– I\u2019d prefer to stay away from A names (there will be 7 cousins all born in the space of 5 years and so far 3 are A names and 2 are unnamed)
\n– I love quirky middle names<\/p>\n

My questions :<\/p>\n

What other first names would you suggest based on our list of possibilities? I feel like there\u2019s a name I\u2019m missing. I love my frontrunner but I\u2019m willing to accept that there\u2019s a better name out there, I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s currently on our list.<\/p>\n

What quirky, one-syllable name would you suggest with our list of possibilities? Maybe having a fun and quirky middle name decided would cement the first name choice for me. My current favourite middle name is Bloom but this will be a hard sell for Shawn. Further complicating the middle name decision is Grady\u2019s honour name. Shawn wants to choose a middle name from my family so the lady baby has an honour name too, which I understand but don\u2019t feel beholden to. My mom\u2019s middle name is Ruth; my mom is lovely and worthy of honour name status; Ruth is 1-syllable which checks my box\u2026but it feels like we\u2019re just throwing it in there because it fits. Is a fun, quirky, and meaningful middle name as significant as a family name?<\/p>\n

Thank you for any advice, suggestions, comments you and\/or your lovely commenters can provide!<\/p>\n

Hillary<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I would love, love, love to see your first name as this baby’s middle name. Obviously this will depend on many factors. But I would love it, and so I am putting in my vote for that if it works out.<\/p>\n

I’d take the family-name-versus-fun-and-quirky-name decision on a name-by-name basis. That is, if you choose a first name that has some quirk appeal, a lovely family name such as Ruth (or Hillary!) might seem like the better choice; whereas if you choose a first name that is on the solid\/traditional side, a quirky middle name can make the entire name more delightful (Margaret Marigold, for example).<\/p>\n

I think too that Ginger and Rosie might make great middle names, depending on the first name.<\/p>\n

I’m so sad that Cora doesn’t go well with the surname. It makes me want to redo your family surname situation: your husband and Grady can have HIS surname, you and Cora can have YOURS. Well. It doesn’t have the bonus of being an honor name, but Cora makes me think of Clara. Clara Hillary Moreanne, Clara Ginger Moreanne, Clara Rosie Moreanne.<\/p>\n

I think also Cora could be added to the middle name list: it bothers me so much less if a middle name has issues combined with the surname.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping the commenters can come up with some good quirky one-syllable middle names. I find I have two mostly-non-overlapping categories: one-syllable names, and quirky names. For sassy\/one-syllable, I like names such as Jo, Jean, Jane, Sue, Lou, Eve, Mae, Kay. For quirky, I like names such as Marigold, Clover, Primrose, Penelope, Clarity, Valentine, Emerald, Hermione.\u00a0 In the overlap: Fern, Jude, Spring, Bee.<\/p>\n

If I were looking at your list of finalists and considering them with your surname and with the sibling name and with your preferences (I don’t know why I said “If I were,” since that’s precisely what I AM IN FACT doing), I would put them in this order, from strongest to weakest candidate:<\/p>\n

Mabel
\nHolly
\nEdith
\nScarlet
\nEvelyn
\nBelle
\nCora<\/p>\n

Some of those in the middle (Edith, Scarlet), I kept rearranging, so this list isn’t solid—but at first pass Evelyn and Belle feel too common, Cora feels like it’s out because of the surname, and Mabel and Holly would be my own top two for you, with Mabel taking a strong lead.<\/p>\n

You wouldn’t want to consider Maxine, would you? Sassy as a hat, and it ties into your first choice of Max from last time. Maxine Hillary Moreanne. Maxine Rosie Moreanne. Maxine Cora Moreanne.<\/p>\n

I find I am drawn to Mabel Maxine Moreanne or Mabel Margaret Moreanne. They give me a happy feeling. Sassy without being lightweight, alliterative without being silly, and a fun and distinctive monogram. Grady and Mabel. You know what, I just feel like I want to call it: the baby’s name is Mabel. I won’t push, but Mabel. MABEL. I also like Mabel Ginger, Mabel Grace, Mabel Jo, Mabel Louise, Mabel Sue.<\/p>\n

I wonder if you’d like Polly instead of Holly. Polly Moreanne; Grady and Polly.<\/p>\n

Or Ivy. Ivy Moreanne; Grady and Ivy.<\/p>\n

Marigold and Edith make me think of Meredith. Meredith Moreanne; Grady and Meredith.<\/p>\n

I would like to see more of the name Esther. Esther Moreanne; Grady and Esther.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for your help (and the help of your readers!)<\/p>\n

Our baby naming situation changed slightly after I wrote to you, in that the name Evelyn became the only name Shawn could see our daughter having (in the same way that Mabel was the only name I could picture giving to her). We ended up in this frustrating cycle of trying to have a baby name discussion and only suggesting our top name, over and over. Finally, in a fit of “What Would Swistle Do?” desperation, we both decided to forfeit our top names. Evelyn and Mabel were off the table. Initially I was a little disappointed to lose Mabel but I ended up being surprised by how not devastating it was to give up my favourite name.<\/p>\n

Before tackling the Baby Name Wizard again (which seemed like a daunting task at a million weeks pregnant), we decided to seriously consider every name (apart from Evelyn and Mabel) on our “maybe” list. I kept coming back to the name Penelope. My reasons for not liking it (having pronounced it “Peen-uh-lope” as a child, feeling like “Penelope” could be my baby but “Penny” definitely wasn’t, wanting to avoid easily nickname-able names) become non-issues when I discovered that Poppy is a nickname for Penelope. Poppy is a name I love but hadn’t included on my maybe list because it seemed a bit too whimsical as a first name. I could picture a baby Poppy but not a brain surgeon Poppy. Penelope became the perfect solution. I’ve got my baby Poppy and she can chose to use Penelope in the future if she wants (and she may chose to use Penny but that’s fine too – I have nothing against the name Penny, I just couldn’t picture my baby being Penny). And since Poppy is already a nickname for Penelope, we avoid the issue of people giving her a nickname (it turns out I don’t dislike nicknames in general, what I dislike is other people giving my kids nicknames).<\/p>\n

As for the middle name, I tried to make an honour name work but it felt forced. I didn’t want to use Hillary as a middle name (I like middle names that are short and snappy). I considered using my middle name (Dawn) or part of my maiden name (West) or even Eve as a play on my middle name. But in the end, we used Bloom. It checks off a lot of my middle name preferences (short, one-syllable, quirky) and it’s a noun that holds a lot of meaning for me. It’s an honour name without honouring a specific person and if in the future she asks why her brother is named after their dad and her middle name is just a weird word, I have a heart story to tell her that will hopefully satisfy her curiosity (or maybe she won’t care – who knows?).<\/p>\n

So, without further ado, please let me introduce Penelope Bloom.<\/p>\n

\"image2\"<\/p>\n

Thank you again for your help!
\nHillary<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle, I\u2019m Hillary, my husband is Shawn, our son is a 4-year-old Tiny Dictator named Grady, and we\u2019re expecting Lady Baby in May. Our last name (I gave up my maiden name) sounds like more-ANNE but is consistently pronounced incorrectly as MORE-an (this is important later). This will be our last child. Grady\u2019s full […]<\/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-11936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-36w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11936","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=11936"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12162,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11936\/revisions\/12162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}