{"id":13919,"date":"2018-12-20T11:28:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T15:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=13919"},"modified":"2019-03-03T17:01:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T21:01:47","slug":"baby-boy-or-girl-markword-sibling-to-amel-m0rnng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2018\/12\/20\/baby-boy-or-girl-markword-sibling-to-amel-m0rnng\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy or Girl Markword, Sibling to Amel!@ M0rn!ng"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Swistle!<\/p>\n

It’s been 8 years since I last wrote to you, but we are (finally) expecting again! Here’s the post about my daughter, who is almost 8 and the joy of my life:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2010\/11\/21\/baby-naming-issue-someone-else-has-the-same-name\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I can’t tell you how helpful you and the commenters were. I treasure those words.<\/p>\n

We are currently expecting another baby, sex unknown, due in late February, and feeling very ambivalent about names. Maybe because we struggled for so long (5+ years of infertility, less than 1% chance of having children on our own) or because I’m subconsciously trying to protect myself, or in denial about finally being pregnant, I just don’t seem to be able to get excited about naming. We aren’t finding out the sex, because after lots of medical intervention (IVF), control, and knowing all the stats and info about my reproductive abilities, I just wanted to give this baby some privacy and let there be a tiny bit of mystery about this pregnancy. I mean, we have photos of it when it’s literally a blastocyst. I want to have a delivery room surprise, and although my husband and daughter want to find out the sex, we haven’t so far.<\/p>\n

Our last name sounds like “Mark-word”. Our older daughter, as noted in link above, is named Amel!@ M0rn!ng. Sometimes we call her M!illy. Here’s our short list:<\/p>\n

For a boy, Jake, after my dad (who paid for our IVF cycle, and has 3 daughters, bless him). I like that it’s not complicated, given our long last name. Not sure if he would have a middle name, as my dad does not. We are considering Heywood (another honor name) as the middle name, but “Jake Heywood” seems borderline too cowboy, even for living in the midwest as we do. We’re pretty much decided on the first name but open to feedback on that, and the middle name situation.<\/p>\n

For a girl, a short list:
\nSylvia (husband doesn’t love, but I have liked it for years. I like that we would have 2 A initials – me and my older daughter – and 2 S initials – the baby and my husband)
\nEleanor (classic, and an honor name, but not inspiring me)
\nOlympia (rad, but is it too much? I like the -ia suffix with Amelia, feels tidy)
\nHarriet (or Harriett)<\/p>\n

middle name contenders (all honor names): Summer, Louise, Molly<\/p>\n

I am open to thoughts on these names, or new ideas. I don’t care for gender neutral names like Harper, Parker, etc (although, as a teacher, know many lovely children with these names – just not my personal taste).<\/p>\n

Also, I’ve been dreaming about names for years and now that I get my chance I’m not that into it! What on earth? Has anyone else had this situation?<\/p>\n

Thank you for you excellent work! And good luck with your move.<\/p>\n

Anna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

My absolute favorite option would be for you to repeat what you did with your first child’s name: a relatively familiar first name, and then a surprising middle name. I don’t feel strongly about it if the baby is a boy, but I feel fairly strongly about it if the baby is a girl.<\/p>\n

I think Jake Heywood Markword is great for a boy: a little tongue-tangling to say the whole thing (the repeating D and K and W sounds, and the similarity of -word\/-wood), but you’d hardly ever say the whole name, and I think honor names are well worth it—particularly if you’re considering an alternative of not giving him a middle name at all. It doesn’t seem too cowboy to me—just enough to give it that smack of rugged coolness.<\/p>\n

For a girl, I’d want to look for something approximately as familiar as Amelia: it doesn’t have to be Top Ten, but I’d look for something with that same feeling. Eleanor would be perfect if you loved it more. Sylvia seems good too, though it is quite a bit less common than Amelia; it helps that it is a familiar name even though it is not currently in high usage. Harriet is a name I like very much, but for some reason not with this particular sister name and surname. Olympia is indeed rad, but soooo much less common\/familiar: it’s not even in the Top 1000. For comparison, in 2018 there were 11,800 new baby girls named Amelia, and only 62 new baby girls named Olympia. It isn’t that sibling names must coordinate in popularity or style, but from Amelia to Olympia is a startling leap. Still, the matching rhythms and matching -ia endings do help bring them together.<\/p>\n

Hm, I seem to be demolishing your list. No, wait: I am in favor of both Eleanor and Sylvia. I particularly like Sylvia if we can bring your husband around to it, since you like it much more than you like the name Eleanor, and you like the A and S initial pairings and the matched -ia endings. Another name that would fit these preferences is Sophia. Amelia and Sophia. More candidates that have either S- or -ia and seem to me that they’d work well in familiarity\/style:<\/p>\n

Julia
\nLydia
\nOlivia
\nSabrina
\nSadie
\nStella<\/p>\n

More candidates:<\/p>\n

Charlotte (not sure about repeating -ar- sound with surname)
\nClara
\nClarissa
\nCora
\nElise
\nEvelyn
\nGrace
\nJane
\nJosephine
\nLillian (potential for Milly and Lily)
\nLucy
\nNatalie
\nNoelle
\nNora
\nRose
\nVictoria<\/p>\n

But then! How oh how will you ever repeat the triumph that is Amelia’s middle name? I remember when you sent that update, how the middle name was such a pleasing surprise! Do you think it’s repeatable? How did you come up with M0rn!ng, and can you go back and do the same thing again? And I am very much looking forward to the comments section on this one. Let’s experiment a little in the meantime:<\/p>\n

Charlotte Liberty
\nCora Sunrise
\nEleanor Spring
\nEvelyn Story
\nJane Olympia
\nJosephine Marigold
\nJulia Clover
\nLillian Valentine
\nLydia Wish
\nNatalie Magic
\nNora Sunshine
\nOlivia Brighten
\nSabrina Glory
\nSadie Amethyst
\nSophia Hyacinth
\nSylvia Clarity
\nVictoria Starling<\/p>\n

I do think Summer would work, too. It is not as surprising as M0rn!ng, but it is a pleasingly similar word name. Perhaps if the first name ends up being quite a bit less common than the name Amelia, the more-familiar middle name Summer would help balance things; plus, I do love honor names. Ooo, maybe something like Amel!@ M0rn!ng and Sylvia Summer, or Amel!@ M0rn!ng and Sabrina Summer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi again!<\/p>\n

First of all, thank you a million for answering my question, and thank you to all the sweet, sweet commenters. It has helped SO MUCH getting all the positive feedback.<\/p>\n

I had to email you back and tell you how we came up with our older daughter’s middle name, because I think it changes the trajectory of the naming process (ok, maybe that’s an overstatement. But it will help clarify I think). M0rn!ng is actually my husband’s great-grandmother’s name. She died when he was a young adult, and they were quite close. So when his dad, Amel!@’s grandfather, was a little toddler, they all lived together, and when he woke up every morning he would stand at the top of the stairs and yell “Morning!” (as in, good morning) because he couldn’t get down the stairs by himself in his footie pajamas, and she was always the one who would come carry him down. So he thought her name was morning, because every time he called, there she was. My husband didn’t realize that wasn’t her actual name til he was like 18 or something!<\/p>\n

SO. Morning is an honor\/family name (which, as you can see, we are big on – my husband and I both have honor names ourselves). Our Amel!@ M0rn!ng was actually born at 5:26 pm :) I don’t think I would have used such a…”free spirited” name, but the fact that it’s a family name and feels balanced with the more traditional first name makes it feel right. I’m actually loving the comments on the recent post, as I feel like we’ve tapped into a very specific naming niche.<\/p>\n

Anyways. Thanks again. You are the best!<\/p>\n

Anna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Hi Swistle!
\nHere\u2019s Amel!@ M0rn!ng with her new sister, Sylvia Summer!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We picked Sylvia because we loved it and thought it went well with all of our names, and Summer is the middle name of my best friend since second grade, who attended Sylvia\u2019s birth as my doula and has just been all around amazing support during our infertility journey (and before). Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas!!
\nLots of love, Anna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello Swistle! It’s been 8 years since I last wrote to you, but we are (finally) expecting again! Here’s the post about my daughter, who is almost 8 and the joy of my life: https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2010\/11\/21\/baby-naming-issue-someone-else-has-the-same-name\/ I can’t tell you how helpful you and the commenters were. I treasure those words. We are currently expecting another […]<\/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-13919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3Cv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919","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=13919"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14042,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions\/14042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}