{"id":14373,"date":"2019-10-08T07:32:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T11:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=14373"},"modified":"2019-12-05T07:15:51","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T11:15:51","slug":"middle-name-challenge-frye-_____-tommy-with-a-d-brother-to-josephine-and-alice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2019\/10\/08\/middle-name-challenge-frye-_____-tommy-with-a-d-brother-to-josephine-and-alice\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle Name Challenge: Frye _____ Tommy-with-a-D, Brother to Josephine and Alice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Swistle,<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading your site for years, but never expected to need to send in a question. As a life-long name lover, feeling stumped on a name is new to me.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s our quandary: a middle name for baby boy Frye, last name sounds like Tommy with a D. Baby is due at the end of November, on Thanksgiving. He will be our third and last baby. Big sisters are Josephine Louise (4 years old), usually called Jo, and Alice Lane (2 years old), called Alice and Al. Mom and dad are Lindsay and Gage.<\/p>\n

Our naming style is classic and old fashioned, easy to pronounce and recognizable, preferably not absurdly popular (Alice is more common than we usually like). We\u2019re not big on biblical names. We don\u2019t typically use family names. Dad prefers more unusual names than Mom. Big sister Jo nicknamed the baby French Fry, which is how we got the idea to use Frye.<\/p>\n

Other favorites on the list that don\u2019t sound quite right as the middle:
\nCalvin
\nSimon
\nGriffin
\nFelix
\nOscar
\nBasil
\nRowan
\nAlexander<\/p>\n

Names inspired by or related to nature are a plus. Names with literary significance are a plus as well. Our girls have literary inspired names (Josephine for Little Women and Alice for Alice in Wonderland) and it makes my book loving, English major heart happy.<\/p>\n

Thank you for considering our question!<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nLindsay<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first thing I notice is that the name Frye with your surname forms the word “Fried.” When I pretend to be calling on the phone and I say the first and last names together, neither first name nor last is clear to me.<\/p>\n

The second thing I notice is that the name Frye is an outlier for your reported style of classic, old-fashioned, recognizable. Frye as a name is not in current usage in the United States, and I’m not finding indications that it ever has been. I’m familiar with it only from the character Fry in the cartoon Futurama—and in that case, it’s his surname. The Social Security Administration<\/a>, which makes available for public viewing any name that was used for at least five babies of either sex in a particular year, does not have the name Frye in its database for 2018. Nor for 2017. Nor for 2016. Nor for 2015. Nor for 2010, 2005, 2000, 1995, 1990, 1985, 1980, 1975, 1970, 1965, 1960, 1955, 1950, 1945, 1940, 1935, 1930, 1925, 1920, 1915, 1910, 1905, 1900, 1895, or 1890, and that’s where I run out of records to check. You would be choosing to use as a name something that is not currently used as a name in the United States, which is an absolutely fine thing to do, but not if what you want is a classic, old-fashioned, easy, recognizable name.<\/p>\n

If you’re consciously choosing to break with your usual style, and ready to accept without irritation all the repeating\/spelling\/explaining that comes with choosing something very unfamiliar, then you have my full support and all the assistance I can give; and anyway you have said that you are looking for help with the middle name, not with the first. But I would like to suggest the possibility of using Frye as the middle name, where it can be an adorable story without being a hassle. Calvin Frye [T]ommy, for example. (Though that would give the potential for Al and Cal in the family, which I don’t mind with nicknames but I know some prefer to avoid. Fine, how about Simon Frye [T]ommy as the example.)<\/p>\n

When I do a middle name challenge, I start by saying the first and last names aloud, again and again, to see if a RHYTHM for the middle name stands out to me. “Frye…[T]ommy, Frye…[T]ommy, Frye…[T]ommy,” etc. After awhile I might start feeling a “da DA da da” or “DA da” or “da da da” or whatever, filling in the gap. If nothing stands out particularly rhythm-wise, I switch to just trying a whole bunch of names to see what seems good: I will just take a baby name book and skim through it fast, trying every single combination until I get a feel for it. “Frye Aaron [T]ommy, Frye Art [T]ommy, Frye Abbott [T]ommy, Frye Abe [T]ommy…” and so on. I would jot down anything that seemed to sound right; and, after awhile, I sometimes find a certain sound begins to stand out to me: maybe I notice I like two-syllable names, or maybe I notice I want a strong consonant, or maybe I notice I’d prefer to avoid strong consonants, or whatever.<\/p>\n

I also keep a sharp eye on initials: I prefer for initials not to spell anything, though I’m willing to bend if the name is worth it. For F_D, I’d prefer to avoid names starting in A, E, K, T, U, W. But for most of those, it’s not a deal-breaker for a name I really want to use, just something I want to take into consideration before making the final decision.<\/p>\n

I don’t think the sound of first-name-into-middle-name is anywhere near as important as first-name-into-last-name, since in most cases it’s rare for the middle name to be said aloud. But I do take it into account somewhat.<\/p>\n

I find one-syllable first names in general more difficult to find middle names for, as you might be picking up on from all this general information that fails to give any actual suggestions. The thing is, it’s so subjective. So if I were you, I would be starting in the A section of the name book and just going through the whole thing. Do it over multiple sessions so your brain doesn’t get tired and start skimming.<\/p>\n

How did you choose your daughters’ middle names? If literary names are a plus, it seems like that would be a very good place to start if you haven’t already: favorite authors, favorite characters in literature.<\/p>\n

From your list, Alexander is my favorite. I don’t love the initials, but they’re pretty harmless; it’s not as if we’re talking about Alexander Simon Smith. Frye Alexander [T]ommy is a nice rhythm. More possibilities:<\/p>\n

Frye Alcott [T]ommy
\nFrye Augustus [T]ommy
\nFrye Benjamin [T]ommy
\nFrye Beckett [T]ommy
\nFrye Bennett [T]ommy
\nFrye Charles [T]ommy
\nFrye Christopher [T]ommy
\nFrye Eliot [T]ommy
\nFrye Emerson [T]ommy
\nFrye Ezekiel [T]ommy
\nFrye Finnegan [T]ommy
\nFrye Harrison [T]ommy
\nFrye Jasper [T]ommy
\nFrye Jeremiah [T]ommy
\nFrye Henry [T]ommy
\nFrye Gideon [T]ommy
\nFrye Jonathan [T]ommy
\nFrye Lawrence [T]ommy
\nFrye Lewis [T]ommy
\nFrye Malachi [T]ommy
\nFrye Matthew [T]ommy
\nFrye Nathaniel [T]ommy
\nFrye Oliver [T]ommy
\nFrye Sawyer [T]ommy
\nFrye Sebastian [T]ommy
\nFrye Sullivan [T]ommy
\nFrye Theodore [T]ommy
\nFrye Truman [T]ommy
\nFrye Whitman [T]ommy<\/p>\n

With an extremely unusual first name, I’d personally lean more toward the familiar middle names: Benjamin, Henry, Jonathan, Lewis, Matthew, etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\nHi Swistle!<\/p>\n

Just wanted to update everyone on our final name choice. Baby arrived a day before Thanksgiving and we didn\u2019t make a final decision on his name until he was 5 days old. Josephine Louise and Alice Lane are over the moon about their baby brother Frye Marshall. We considered the reservations about Frye from you and your readers, and we strongly considered changing the first name in the weeks leading up to his birth. Once he was born, we just knew that he was a Frye after all. Our two year old greeting him with \u201cHi Frye!\u201d On repeat when she met him for the first time reaffirmed our choice. <\/p>\n

The middle name was a challenge. Even after he was born, nothing sounded quite right. My dad suggested my maiden name, Marshall, and my husband later said that he thought it was the right choice. We\u2019re not usually ones to use family names, but nothing else was sounding right, and it does hold a lot of meaning. It sounds good, it has a nice flow, its balanced. It\u2019s a name that I\u2019ve always loved. I gave it up for my married name because it was so important to my husband, but I miss it. Plus, it\u2019s a cool name and more in line with our usual naming style. If he decides that Frye is too out there for him, he\u2019ll have a more traditional middle name that he can go by. Our Josephine decided just the week before last that she is no longer Jo, she is now Josie. So we\u2019re all about the options here. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve included a picture of the very excited big sisters holding baby brother. <\/p>\n

Thank you for all of the help!<\/p>\n

Lindsay<\/p>\n

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

Hello Swistle, I\u2019ve been reading your site for years, but never expected to need to send in a question. As a life-long name lover, feeling stumped on a name is new to me. So here\u2019s our quandary: a middle name for baby boy Frye, last name sounds like Tommy with a D. Baby is due […]<\/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-14373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3JP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14373","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=14373"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14455,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14373\/revisions\/14455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}