{"id":13937,"date":"2019-01-03T09:03:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T13:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=13937"},"modified":"2019-04-25T19:42:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T23:42:42","slug":"baby-girl-rustling-sister-to-benjamin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2019\/01\/03\/baby-girl-rustling-sister-to-benjamin\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Rustling, Sister to Benjamin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there,<\/p>\n

We are expecting our daughter in June 2019. We would like a few options so we can finalize a name only once we meet her. Her brother\u2019s name is Benjamin last name sounds like \u201crustling.\u201d We love classic names. We didn\u2019t find out with our son and had a few names picked for each sex. Oliver was our frontrunner but when he was born we knew it wasn\u2019t a fit and went with Benjamin instead. I don\u2019t want to choose a name with her and have to make a change if it doesn\u2019t seem right.<\/p>\n

Our favorite girls name is Jane and we had Charlotte, a family name, as a second option. Due to some family stories and the popularity, I think I like Charlotte in the middle name spot now. I like the idea of a name sounding timeless in a way that no one will hear the name and know the approximate year they were born. I seem to be stuck with the same girls names that I hear a lot of in my circle (ie Kate, Caroline) and am trying to find something fresh and maybe unexpected while keeping it non-trendy. Thank you!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be quite accurate to say we are all in the same boat on the sea of name trends: there can be significant differences from community to community. But it wouldn’t be quite inaccurate, either. The names that sound fresh to to one set of parents are very likely sounding fresh to many, many other sets of parents as well—which means the freshness doesn’t last long and is a good part of the reason we can guess approximately how old a Kristen is versus approximately how old a Mackenzie is. Adding to the issue, first-time parents might not have had much contact with children, and so might use a name thinking it’s a surprising choice when it’s already much more popular than they’d prefer.<\/p>\n

And whole TYPES of names come in at once, so that you can have a classroom with a Kylie, a Kyle, a Kayla, a Kyler, a Tyler, and a Kyra, or a soccer team with half a dozen Maddys and Addys.<\/p>\n

Well. I think the first step is to come to terms with it as something nearly unavoidable. We are products of our time and culture, and we lean toward the same names. The upside is that our children’s names will sound good and right to their peers. Some people have names that continue to sound surprising, and I rarely envy them: I would not have wanted to be named, say, Hortense, in order to avoid the Kristen\/Jennifer\/Melissa\/Michelle\/Amy pocket of my age group; nor would I have wanted to be one of the very first Mackenzies, startling everyone now by how unexpectedly old I am.<\/p>\n

I do think you’ve got a winning option with the name Jane. It has that fresh feel to it despite being a nice old name; it hasn’t been in the Top 100 since 1965, but it hasn’t gone completely away in the meantime. It could be that the fresh sound we’re hearing is also being heard by many other parents: I see the name is slowly climbing the ranks again, from the 400s to the 200s in the last dozen years. But it’s a slow climb, and probably encouraged by the return of names such as Emma and Charlotte.<\/p>\n

A similar choice is Rose. It’s getting a lot of use as a middle name, but is still surprising as a first name—and the middle-name usage means it’s familiar and well-liked. I don’t think it works well with the surname, but it’s the sort of direction I’m looking in.<\/p>\n

I suggest Margaret. It sounds similar to Charlotte and fits well with the Carolines, and there are so many good nicknames (Greta, Daisy, Maisie, Margo, Meg, Maggie).<\/p>\n

I would love to hear more of the name Cordelia. So many parents say they’re using Charlotte because of Charlotte’s Web, I’m surprised more of us aren’t pulling Cordelia from Anne of Green Gables. And great nicknames: Cora, Corrie, Delia.<\/p>\n

Josephine may be on its way to join Charlotte in popularity, but it’s too soon to say: it’s climbed from the 200s to the 100s in the last decade, but I’ll be interested to see where it is when the Social Security Administration<\/a> releases the new statistics in May. I love it with Benjamin.<\/p>\n

We had the name Elizabeth at the top of our list for several pregnancies, which is one reason I use it as my daughter’s pseudonym, and it has worn well as a pseudonym: I continue to like using it. We should be tripping over Elizabeths left and right: it’s been in the Top 20 since 1964, and my ear is now primed to hear it because I now associate it with one of my kids. And yet at least in our area, it’s not as common as it ought to be. I know of two Elizabeths and one Beth in my children’s schools.<\/p>\n

I get some gentle teasing on this blog for how often I suggest Eliza, but I’m going to go right ahead and do it anyway: less common than Elizabeth but with that good timeless sound. Why isn’t it more common? It’s lovely and fresh! Eliza Charlotte!<\/p>\n

And basically whenever I suggest Eliza I go on to suggest Eloise: the sounds are so similar, one nearly always brings the other to my mind. And then I remember Louise and Louisa, names that continue to sound fresh to me.<\/p>\n

I am enormously charmed by the names Sally and Polly. I am eager to hear them come back.<\/p>\n

More options:<\/p>\n

Anna
\nCecily
\nClara
\nClaudia
\nCora
\nGeorgia
\nHarriet
\nHenrietta
\nJune
\nLydia
\nMinerva
\nSabrina
\nSimone
\nWinifred<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

We just loved so many of these names from your list and readers suggestions… Unfortunately during my pregnancy, we lost 3 grandparents, Joan, Jeanne and Edward Joseph. It felt right deciding without having met her yet. Jane, Joan and Jeanne all stem from the same name meaning: \u201cGod is gracious\u201d and Edward Joseph lends well to one of our favorites that you suggested as a first name option, Josephine. So, our little Jane Josephine will be named for her 3 new guardians she won\u2019t meet in this lifetime but who will hopefully watch over her. <\/p>\n

And our darling Ben can now kiss my belly before he leaves for school and say, \u201cI love you Jane!\u201d <\/p>\n

Erin <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi there, We are expecting our daughter in June 2019. We would like a few options so we can finalize a name only once we meet her. Her brother\u2019s name is Benjamin last name sounds like \u201crustling.\u201d We love classic names. We didn\u2019t find out with our son and had a few names picked for […]<\/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-13937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3CN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937","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=13937"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14138,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937\/revisions\/14138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}