{"id":15574,"date":"2021-09-22T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T12:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=15574"},"modified":"2021-09-22T11:46:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T15:46:12","slug":"baby-boy-or-girl-sulka-with-a-b-sibling-to-julia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2021\/09\/22\/baby-boy-or-girl-sulka-with-a-b-sibling-to-julia\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy or Girl Sulka-with-a-B, Sibling to Julia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

So thrilled to have a reason to write a fellow name obsessive, even though I’m in a pickle! I’m 20 weeks pregnant and need a girl’s name just in case. We’re going to be surprised by the gender, like we were with our first daughter Julia Jane. Our boy name is pretty much settled on a family name (Nicholas nn Nico, although feel free to suggest middles, since I don’t know whether to match it to the name or the nickname).<\/p>\n

As you’ve written before, I’m wondering if my “rules” are actually making this more difficult. Here’s what they are:
\n– My grandmother Marjorie always told me the prettiest names have “L”s in them.
\n– I would ideally like it to not end in an “-a” sound again. Is it too much with the -a ending in her last name, especially a second time? -ie and -y endings also help soften that hard K sound.
\n– Could work (or at least be pronounced) in most major languages so she can travel anywhere in the world and feel at home \u2014 particularly to France, where her grandparents live. I grew up abroad and this is important to me.
\n– Classic and feminine, but not overly common.<\/p>\n

Of course, many of our top picks break one or more of these rules.
\n– Everyone, including me, likes Nora. But something sounds funny to me about it with Julia and possibly odd with the last name. Julia and Nora. Nora Sulka-with-a-B. Am I nuts?
\n– I love Chloe, husband does not. (I think French fashion house, he thinks Kardashian.)
\n– We both like Lily but worry it is too common (already used on our own street, for example.)
\n– I like Lucy but it’s associated with a very sweet relative who has suffered much personal tragedy. (However, my mother Charlotte was also named for a tragic relative 60 years ago and look how popular and pretty her name is now!)
\nOther top contenders: Grace, Abby, Wendy, Penny, and Margo<\/p>\n

If anyone can help me, it’s you, Swistle! Baby Sulka-with-a-B will be born in January.<\/p>\n

Warmly,
\nAllison<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Good morning! Let’s start with your grandmother telling you that the prettiest names have L’s in them, which has become part of your naming rules. She was either (1) expressing a personal preference, or (2) flattering you in the manner of a grandmother telling a brown-eyed grandchild that brown eyes are best, or (3) both! But she was not stating an objective fact. I am taking that rule absolutely out of the running.<\/p>\n

I don’t have experience with which names work internationally and\/or in France, so I will just work with the list you have, and hope commenters who have more knowledge about that topic can add more options.<\/p>\n

I agree with you that Nora is a little odd with the surname. I think it’s the pairing of two 2-syllable names ending with -a, but also there is something about the -ra running into the Bul- that my mouth doesn’t like. I don’t think it has to be a deal-breaker if the two of you agree it’s your favorite name, but I do see it. (It doesn’t seem odd to me with the sister name; I wonder if what you’re noticing is that Nora can be a little odd with the word “and.” Try saying just “Julia! Nora! Time for dinner!” or “Nora and Julia” and see if that is any better.) What I might prefer to do is name her Eleanor, which adds an L if you want one, and which I think is nice with Julia and works fine with the surname, and then call her Nora (or Ellie, or Lennie) as a nickname.<\/p>\n

If Chloe is not quite right, I wonder if Cleo would work: same sounds, different order, no Kardashians.<\/p>\n

I don’t see any problem with using the name of a sweet relative who has experienced personal tragedy. If it were the name of a relative who had CAUSED tragedy for others, that would be different—but if she has had sad things happen, but is herself a lovely person, and Lucy is a name you both agree on and like, then I think it should be a strong contender. I think it works well with the sister name, though it does repeat the same L\/U sounds. Another possibility is to name her Lucille, and then use Lucy or Celia as nicknames.<\/p>\n

You wouldn’t want to consider using your mother’s name, would you? It’s so unusual and fun to have a recent family name that’s currently in style, and it’s nice with the sibling name and with the surname. You could call her Lottie.<\/p>\n

Margo feels a little clunky with the surname, but I think that’s the fault of the surname, which makes a lot of first names seem clunky (is it too late to switch to the other parent’s family surname?); and I like that it could be a reminder of your grandmother Marjorie.<\/p>\n

I think Grace is a very nice option.<\/p>\n

I love Abby and Penny, but as nicknames.<\/p>\n

Wendy feels surprising with Julia.<\/p>\n

I said I wasn’t going to add options, but I can’t resist the pretty French names list. Again: these may not meet the international preference, and for all I know these are awkward\/different in French. But:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Eloise! Eloise [S]ulka; Julia and Eloise
\n\u2022 Sophia! Sophia [S]ulka; Julia and Sophia\/Sophie (adds another -a, but with three syllables, which I think works much better than two syllables)
\n\u2022 Sylvie! Sylvie [S]ulka; Julia and Sylvie
\n\u2022 If she is instead born in December: Noelle! Noelle [S]ulka; Julia and Noelle
\n\u2022 Simone! Simone [S]ulka; Julia and Simone
\n\u2022 Estelle! Estelle [S]ulka; Julia and Estelle
\n\u2022 Celeste! Celeste [S]ulka; Julia and Celeste
\n\u2022 Claire! Claire [S]ulka; Julia and Claire<\/p>\n

For your boy name, you asked if you should match the middle to the given name or to the nickname, and I would say DEFINITELY to the given name (though I would double-check to make sure it didn’t create anything BAD with the nickname). It’s not certain the child will continue to use the nickname; and the middle name will be used almost exclusively alongside the full given name: on paperwork, at graduation, etc. Well, unless you think it’s likely you will regularly call him Nico Middlename, in which case the middle name should work with both the given name AND the nickname.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, So thrilled to have a reason to write a fellow name obsessive, even though I’m in a pickle! I’m 20 weeks pregnant and need a girl’s name just in case. We’re going to be surprised by the gender, like we were with our first daughter Julia Jane. Our boy name is pretty much […]<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-43c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574","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=15574"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15578,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574\/revisions\/15578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}