{"id":15369,"date":"2021-04-23T11:25:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T15:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=15369"},"modified":"2021-09-06T20:39:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T00:39:16","slug":"baby-girl-brown-sister-to-frederick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2021\/04\/23\/baby-girl-brown-sister-to-frederick\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Brown, Sister to Frederick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading your blog for years and my husband and I finally feel the need for some advice for naming our baby girl, due at the end of July. She will most likely be our last baby. After looking through name lists for years I’m definitely getting name-fatigue and am worried we’re overlooking something.<\/p>\n

Our son is named Frederick Miles, nicknamed Freddie and sometimes Fred. We like traditional familiar names with nickname potential and aren\u2019t too popular: both my husband and I have very common first names with a very common last name. Frederick really hits that sweet spot for us and we were hoping for another name with similar history and current use. We both love that we haven’t met other little boys with his name. For middles we prefer not to use honor names, just something that we like that flows with the first name.<\/p>\n

We do have a few rules and preferences No repeated first initials M, R, or F – this is a non-negotiable for my husband. Nothing too Biblical\/religious. I like strong sounding, non-frilly (warrior-queen) girls’ names that don\u2019t end in \u2018a.\u2019 Most of the little girls I know have an \u2018a\u2019 sound at the end of their name and I prefer something more tailored – but it is not so much a rule as a preference. Also, nothing that sounds like a play on words with our last name, word names, color names, although my husband thinks that\u2019s cute. He tends to like more feminine, whimsical names for girls. There are a few names we both like. If Freddie had been a girl he would have been Winifred, but obviously we can\u2019t use it now which is heartbreaking. We have almost agreed on Harriet Faye, nn. Hattie which I like but don\u2019t know if I love. My husband liked the name Harriet first and I\u2019ve come around to it – plus it checks every rule and preference box.<\/p>\n

Names I like:
\nGertrude (I know it’s controversial but I LOVE everything about it. Nn. Gert\/Gertie, Tru\/Trudy or Rudy! This one has been hard to get over.)
\nMargaret (M-name; a little too common but I have loved it for years, so many nickname options!)
\nBeatrix\/Beatrice (Bea, Bebe, Trixie)
\nPrudence (Prue, too religious sounding for my husband)
\nKatherine (Kit; not quite rare enough)<\/p>\n

Names my husband likes:
\nViolet (Vi, Vivi)
\nCordelia
\nPomeline (Pom-Pom, way too cutesy for me)
\nHelen (nn. Nell, Nellie)
\nJuniper (Junie)
\nPenelope (Penny)<\/p>\n

Names we both like\/our short list:
\nHarriet (does Hattie sound too similar to Freddie?)
\nJosephine (concerned it’s getting too popular; nn. Josie)
\nClementine (two pronunciations; don’t know if we love Clem\/Clemmie)
\nWilhelmina (husband loves, but I’m concerned it’s a mouthful and hard to spell; nn. Willa, Billie, Minnie)
\nGeorgia (nn. Georgie; too southern for us? Is Freddie and Georgie too Harry Potter??)
\nOlive (nn. Ollie or Liv; getting more popular and Olive Brown breaks the rules – but we both still really like it)
\nAnnie (we love this but would only use a longer form and can’t find the perfect one)
\nJuno (Junie; style outlier for us)<\/p>\n

Should we stick with Harriet or are there other names we should consider?<\/p>\n

Thanks for your help!
\nRachel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think Frederick and Harriet is a HEART-EYES sibling set. I think Hattie is not at all too similar to Freddie.<\/p>\n

I wish I could suggest Millicent, but it breaks the repeated-initial rule. I love it with your surname; I love it with the sibling name. Nickname Millie.<\/p>\n

I wish I could suggest Florence, but it breaks the repeated-initial rule. I just love it, and I think it has that tailored sound you like.<\/p>\n

Another nickname option for Clementine is Minnie. Visually it wouldn’t have occurred to me, but verbally it works. I think as long as you want the Oh My Darling pronunciation, you won’t have many pronunciation issues; if you want the -teen sound at the end, you will probably have to accept a certain level of pronunciation-correction as part of the package deal of the name.<\/p>\n

I wonder if you’d like Imogen. Nicknames Immy or Midge or Genny.<\/p>\n

I had Wilhelmina on my own list, but Paul and I both come from predominantly Dutch families, so we were considering the Dutch variation Willemina, a spelling I prefer anyway: it’s the “hel” part of Wilhelmina that just feels like Too Much to me, spelling- and pronunciation-wise.<\/p>\n

Georgia doesn’t feel too southern to me. The state certainly is in the news a whole lot right now; I don’t think that would stop me from using the name, but it might give me pause. Freddie and Georgie wouldn’t have made me think of Harry Potter, but we need to ask the people who read those books again and again, because there are a lot of people in that category, and they’re all reading those books again and again to their kids. But also, I don’t mind as much when the issues are with nicknames: if the Fred and George association turns out to be (1) a constant issue and (2) unpleasant for them, they have other name options that avoid it.<\/p>\n

A name in a similar category as Georgia for me is Augusta. It ends in -a, but more in a Georgia\/Wilhelmina sort of way. Nickname Gus or Gussie.<\/p>\n

Looking at Margaret and Gertrude, I wondered if you’d like Gretchen.<\/p>\n

Looking at Gertrude and Prudence and Juniper and Juno, I wonder if you’d like Judith. It’s a bit cutting-edge, because it’s not quite time for it to come back, but I think it would surprise people in a good way. There’s the usual nickname Judy, or there’s also Jude.<\/p>\n

I love Cordelia from your husband’s list. I encountered a real-life Delia and the name struck me very positively. I like how Frederick and Cordelia sound together: all those matching consonant sounds, assembled so differently.<\/p>\n

I love Beatrix from your list. I would think the whimsy of the alliteration with your surname might please your husband.<\/p>\n

Penelope and Josephine make me think of Philippa. I like the way it gives you sibling-name alliteration without actually repeating an initial: Frederick and Philippa, Freddie and Pippa.<\/p>\n

Penelope and Josephine and Wilhelmina make me think of Philomena, but I like that less than Philippa, mostly because I am still reeling from the cuteness of Freddie and Pippa.<\/p>\n

I have been going back and forth about whether I should suggest Persephone. Frederick and Persephone; Freddie and Persy. Definitely there would be spelling\/pronunciation issues, but perhaps worth it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for our name update! There was so much great feedback from you post and all the comments that inspired Mike and me to revise our finalist list. We ended up with 4 names that we couldn\u2019t decide from and went to the hospital hoping one would stand out once we met our baby girl. The names were Harriet, Beatrix, Wilhelmina and Josephine. Mike had loved Harriet the most from the beginning and when I spent the first few minutes with her, I knew she was our Hattie. We went with Harriet Faye and it has all of the qualities we wanted in a name: strong and traditional, familiar but uncommon, and just a bit nerdy. We love it so much now on our 3-week-old and wanted to thank you, Swistle, and all the commenters here for the positive feedback that helped to reinforce our choice. <\/p>\n

Warmly,
\nRachel<\/p>\n

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

Hi Swistle, I\u2019ve been reading your blog for years and my husband and I finally feel the need for some advice for naming our baby girl, due at the end of July. She will most likely be our last baby. After looking through name lists for years I’m definitely getting name-fatigue and am worried we’re […]<\/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-15369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3ZT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369","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=15369"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15551,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369\/revisions\/15551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}