{"id":15245,"date":"2021-02-08T13:36:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T17:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=15245"},"modified":"2021-05-22T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T21:36:36","slug":"baby-boy-weier-brother-to-matilda-mattie-and-genevieve-evie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2021\/02\/08\/baby-boy-weier-brother-to-matilda-mattie-and-genevieve-evie\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Weier, Brother to Matilda (Mattie) and Genevieve (Evie)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first baby boy is due at the end of May and we need help! His sister’s are Matilda “Mattie” August and Genevieve “Evie” Francis last name Weier (sounds like ‘wire’). Our girls’ names have a regal, traditional but uncommon vibe, with a hint of religiosity (names inspired by saints) and we haven’t been able to find the same with a boy’s name. If we were having another girl top candidates were Florence, Josephine, Winnifred, Felicity, Phillippa and Beatrix with the middle name James (we did kind of masculine girl middle names.)<\/p>\n

A couple names we considered and rejected:
\n\u2022 Copper, but we didn’t feel like it had a strong enough meaning being derived from a profession
\n\u2022 Conner, still OK but then husband mentioned something about a lacrosse bro and that was done
\n\u2022 Husband Vetos: Anderson, Malcolm, Reed<\/p>\n

Other thoughts:
\n\u2022 I had a dream we named him Hayes
\n\u2022 Samuel has been on our Boys list for YEARS and now we are finally here and I’m kinda bored of it, plus it’s REALLY common and doesn’t feel special like out girls names
\n\u2022 My favorite name which I still can’t convince husband of is Shepherd. It has great meaning and significance and I just have a feeling about it. But the husband gets a ‘culty’ vibe from it. If you want to write a whole post about why we SHOULD use Shepherd so I can convince him that would be great \ud83d\ude00
\n\u2022 Kind of liking Deacon and Beau lately
\n\u2022 MUST have a nickname! Husband will immediately veto if he thinks there is no good nickname for it.
\n\u2022 Recently husband has been thinking something “Texas-y” since that is where we live. Not super obvious like Austin but a Texas vibe.<\/p>\n

Do your worst, or best :)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think first we should check to see if your boy-name style is in fact regal\/traditional\/uncommon with a hint of religiosity like your girl-name style, or if it’s different. Conner, Hayes, Shepherd, Deacon, Beau, Austin—those seem more contemporary\/modern\/surnamey to me (though some have that hint of religion). It is possible that you’re stuck because you’re trying to get your boy-name style to match your girl-name style, and maybe it doesn’t. One reason I so heartily recommend The Baby Name Wizard<\/a> is that it divides names into categories in a way I find helpfully diagnostic: you can look at each category, and notice how many names you like in each one. It can lead to “Well, I’ll be darned: we like Exotic Traditionals for girls, but Country & Western [or Surnames, or Celtic, or whatever] for boys!” moments.<\/p>\n

Let’s start by working on a list of names that meet at least some of the regal\/traditional\/uncommon\/religious preferences and see what we get (we won’t worry at this point about how names work with the surname and the sibling names, and we won’t yet require nicknames):<\/p>\n

Adrian
\nAidric
\nAlexander
\nAlbert
\nAlfred
\nAlistair
\nAndrew
\nArthur
\nAugustus
\nBartholomew
\nCaspian
\nCharles
\nClaudius
\nConrad
\nDesmond
\nDominic
\nEdmund
\nEdward
\nFelix
\nFinian
\nFrederick
\nGeorge
\nHarold
\nHenry
\nHugo
\nJames
\nJasper
\nJulian
\nJulius
\nLancelot
\nLaurence
\nLeopold
\nLouis
\nMarcus
\nNathaniel
\nNicholas
\nOliver
\nPhilip
\nQuentin
\nRichard
\nSebastian
\nSilas
\nSimon
\nSolomon
\nSterling
\nTheodore
\nVictor
\nWesley
\nWilliam
\nWinston
\nXavier<\/p>\n

When you look through that list, does your heart beat faster? Do you think, “YES, THIS kind of name!!” Or are you thinking, “I dunno. Meh. None of those seem Quite Right”? Let’s look now at an assortment of names trying for more of a modern\/contemporary\/surname\/Texas feel (again, without worrying at this point about surname, sibling names, or nicknames):<\/p>\n

Abbott
\nAmes
\nBarnaby
\nBarrett
\nBeckett
\nBlaise
\nBrecken
\nBroderick
\nBrogan
\nCamden
\nCarson
\nCarter
\nCasey
\nClancy
\nCormac
\nCrawford
\nCrosby
\nCullen
\nDarcy
\nDarby
\nDeclan
\nEllis
\nEverett
\nFletcher
\nFord
\nGage
\nGarland
\nGarrett
\nGrady
\nGriffin
\nHarris
\nHatcher
\nHeath
\nHouston
\nHudson
\nIrving
\nJacoby
\nKeaton
\nKeegan
\nLawson
\nMcKinney
\nMerrick
\nMiller
\nNolan
\nRedford
\nRhett
\nRufus
\nSpencer
\nTanner
\nTeague
\nWells
\nWeston
\nWilder
\nWyatt
\nYates<\/p>\n

Does this list click in any better? Or is it too lacrosse bro?<\/p>\n

Or possibly we want to look at the names that could be said to work on both lists in different ways: Wesley, Sterling, Spencer, Nolan, Frederick, etc. Frederick specifically stands out to me: sounds regal and traditional, fairly uncommon, has good nicknames, good with the surname, good with the sibling names. Matilda, Genevieve, and Frederick; Mattie, Evie, and Freddie\/Fritz.<\/p>\n

I also like Everett: could read as surname\/cowboy or as gentleman\/regal, nickname Rhett if you want it or E._. with the middle name (as long as it doesn’t sound too much like Evie); Matilda, Genevieve, and Everett; Mattie, Evie, and Rhett\/E._.<\/p>\n

Or I like Laurence, which I wonder if enough of us have read Little Woman that it wouldn’t be too difficult to pull off the nickname Teddy for it? Matilda, Genevieve, and Laurence; Mattie, Evie, and Teddy.<\/p>\n

Or if Nicholas is not too common, it’s quite regal\/saint and you could use Cole as Texas-vibe nickname for it. Matilda, Genevieve, and Nicholas; Mattie, Evie, and Cole.<\/p>\n

Broderick sounds similar to the saint name Roderick, and gives you the Texas-vibe nickname Brody. Matilda, Genevieve, and Broderick; Mattie, Evie, and Brody.<\/p>\n

I liked the name Shepard (I’d likely go with that spelling to reduce the occupational association) after reading a book with a great character named Shepherd\/Shep. But I found it harder to imagine on an actual child in an actual classroom. I’d be interested to know what I’d think of it if I encountered it in real life.<\/p>\n

I think Hayes would work great with the sibling names, but with the surname it makes me think of the word haywire.<\/p>\n

I’d like to request that your husband take a step back from his insta-veto on names without nicknames. It’s such a limiting requirement, and there are so many other ways to get nicknames: initials, letting them happen on their own, etc. Also, many of the boy names with good standard nicknames are the more common names. I suggest FIRST coming up with a list of names the two of you can agree on, and THEN seeing what can be done about nicknames.<\/p>\n

Let’s think now about middle names. You gave your daughters masculine middle names; do you have a similar interest in giving your son a feminine middle name? If you want something with a less traditionally masculine feel, and you are in favor of the current administration, the name Robinette would be a fun honor name. If you hadn’t thought ahead to what seems like the messaging of using boy names for girls but not girl names for boys, and now you feel a little stuck but on the other hand don’t want to give him the middle name May or Leigh or Jane, one workaround is to choose a family maiden name (yours, your mother’s, etc.) as his middle name. Or perhaps you can find some unisex names of women in the family tree, or names that were once used for men but are now used mostly for women (Lindsey, Lesley, Allison, Addison) and still have a sort of surnamey\/unisex sound as middles. Is Shepherd’s personal meaning\/significance in any way connected with a woman? If so, that might (1) make a terrific middle name and (2) give you access to the nickname Shep, if the first name doesn’t have a natural nickname. Or perhaps there is a Roberta\/Patricia\/Paula\/Louise\/etc. you’d like to honor by giving him the middle name Robert\/Patrick\/Paul\/Louis after her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

I can’t thank you enough for answering my letter and providing such great advice. You truly helped to un-stick us! We found it incredibly helpful to rethink our “style” of name for baby boy. Reading through the two lists you provided we both connected more with the “vibes” of the second more contemporary name list. Turns out I actually was really gravitating toward surnames but it was just about finding the special one. I also forgot to mention in my initial letter that my husband and I come from large families with lots of first cousins who are very fertile :) so many names that you and your readers suggested, and that we love, have already been claimed. <\/p>\n

With the help of you and your readers we revisited our list with a new outlook and openness. Ultimately we decided on John Rhodes, the first name after my FIL and middle is the maiden name of my Grandmother. While we plan to call little guy Rhodes, husband especially liked all of the nickname options like: Ro, Roey, Rodeo, Roadie, JR, and even Jack.<\/p>\n

Baby Rhodes made his arrival on Wednesday May 19th and we are all home enjoying spending time as a family of 5.<\/p>\n

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

Our first baby boy is due at the end of May and we need help! His sister’s are Matilda “Mattie” August and Genevieve “Evie” Francis last name Weier (sounds like ‘wire’). Our girls’ names have a regal, traditional but uncommon vibe, with a hint of religiosity (names inspired by saints) and we haven’t been able […]<\/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-15245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3XT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15245","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=15245"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15409,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15245\/revisions\/15409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}