{"id":12766,"date":"2017-06-05T11:12:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T15:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=12766"},"modified":"2017-06-05T11:16:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T15:16:34","slug":"baby-girl-or-boy-mcgrew-sibling-to-kenna-landon-riley-and-galen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2017\/06\/05\/baby-girl-or-boy-mcgrew-sibling-to-kenna-landon-riley-and-galen\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl or Boy McGrew, Sibling to Kenna, Landon, Riley, and Galen"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are adding a 5th baby to our brood after an almost 7 year break and we are absolutely stuck on names! We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl so we need ideas for both. I have a list (but I’m not sold on any of the choices), but my husband just throws names around expecting one to “stick” and it’s driving me crazy.<\/p>\n

We have a very Irish last name, McGrew, and the children’s names all have an Irish feel: Kenna Grace, Landon Farrell, Riley Owen, Galen Micah.<\/p>\n

I like that they all have unique initials, but it’s proving very difficult to find another name that fits in.<\/p>\n

For the most part, I do not like popular, common, trendy names for first names (although Landon and Riley are pretty much all three).<\/p>\n

Middle names aren’t so much an issue if we can find a suitable first name. We will probably use a family name (Ann, Lynn, Lee, Daniel).<\/p>\n

My boy list:
\nArcher
\nAvi
\nAlden
\nCalton
\nCalder
\nCarden
\nToren<\/p>\n

I like Archer, but when you put a middle name with it, it sounds like a title instead of a name. Archer Lee makes it sound like archer is Lee’s profession! I love Avi, but my husband does not and the rest are just attempts to find something–neither of us love any of them.<\/p>\n

My girl list:
\nAnnora
\nSeren
\nOrly
\nMaddie
\nDella<\/p>\n

I thought Annora might be the one, but hubby ran with it, posted on social media with a middle name, Anora Mai, and my gut reaction when I saw it was a firm NO and we got some not so positive feedback (mostly because of the spelling of Mai). He likes Mae because it honors both our maternal grandmothers (Margaret and Pearline) and his sister Megan and his paternal grandmother was named Nora. I’m not sure it fits with the siblings names, I’m not sure I like the two names together, and I feel like I’m leaving my paternal grandmother (June) out! With only one girl, we’ve focused more on boys’ names, but we still need a girl’s name.<\/p>\n

Some names he likes, but I do not:
\nConnor
\nFinn
\nThomas
\nall the more common Biblical names<\/p>\n

We also have 4 kids old enough to have an opinion. It’s going to be hard to please everyone.<\/p>\n

Names we cannot use:
\nWillow and Asher (our babies born to Heaven)
\nWesley (older half brother)
\nLeo, Leon, Leonard (would honor someone we don’t wish to honor)<\/p>\n

I hope you can help us!
\nThank you!
\nChrista<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

To start with, I want to mention the spelling Honora instead of Anora\/Annora, just in case that’s the issue. Honora doesn’t quite fit with the style of the sibling names, but nor does it clash, and I don’t know about you but by Child #5 I was dropping preferences left and right in my desperation to find anything that wasn’t ruled out by previous children’s names.<\/p>\n

I also suggest Nora, which I think is better with the sibling names. The name Mai\/Mae doesn’t feel to me as if it honors a Margaret and a Pearline and a Megan; I think I would go instead for something like Nora Margaret or Nora Pearl or Nora June: fewer people honored, but the honorees would know they’d been honored without needing the connection explained. Nora Margaret McGrew; Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Nora.<\/p>\n

Maybe Finley. Finley Margaret, Finley Pearl, Finley June, Finley Ann. Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Finley.<\/p>\n

Or Fiona. Fiona McGrew; Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Fiona.<\/p>\n

I like Emlyn in this sibling group, but I hesitate because the most recent sibling name ends in the same sound. I feel okay using the -ley of Finley after the -ley of Riley, in part because of the name in between them.<\/p>\n

I also like Maren in this group, but again hesitate using it right after Galen. Maybe it’s a non-issue. I can’t decide. Maren McGrew; Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Maren.<\/p>\n

Or maybe Morgan would work better? Morgan McGrew; Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Morgan.<\/p>\n

For a boy, I am having a harder time. All of the names I think of either repeat an initial, or repeat a major part of a sibling’s name, or don’t feel right with the surname. Rowan doesn’t feel too similar to either Riley or Galen to me, but somehow seems too close to the two names together. I like Keegan even though it repeats an initial, but when I started typing out the group it seemed like two Ke- beginnings was a little much. Maybe not, though: I had a late night last night and may be over-sensitive this morning. Graham McGrew feels like it just misses. Malcolm appeals to me, but saying “Malcolm McGrew” felt unpleasant in my mouth. Nolan seemed great until I noticed how similar it was to Galen and Landon. Kellen is too similar to Kenna and Galen. Griffin seems too close to Galen.<\/p>\n

Maybe Kieran? It does repeat an initial, but I like it. Kieran McGrew; Kenna, Landon, Riley, Galen, and Kieran.<\/p>\n

I’m most drawn to Archer and Alden from your list (though I wonder if Alden repeats too many sounds from Landon and Galen). I know what you mean about the name Archer sounding like a title instead of a name: I feel that way about all of the Occupation names. But I’ve noticed that once I know a kid with the name, I lose that feeling: the kid is now Archer, and that’s just how I think of him.<\/p>\n

It’s fun to bring older kids in on the decision, but oh man, it can also be such a pain. I recommend mentioning early and often that everyone is welcome to give opinions and suggestions, but that it’s the parents’ job to choose the name. This is a good opportunity to revisit Family Discussion favorites such as “There is no one solution here that will make everyone equally happy” and “You might not be happy with our choice, but we hope that with time you will come around to it” and “When you are grown-ups, you will get your turn to make these decisions.” We had to do it when naming a cat: what started as a fun family project quickly dissolved into fights and tears, and that was for a CAT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are adding a 5th baby to our brood after an almost 7 year break and we are absolutely stuck on names! We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl so we need ideas for both. I have a list (but I’m not sold on any of the choices), but my husband just […]<\/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":true,"_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-12766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3jU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766","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=12766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12769,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12766\/revisions\/12769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}