{"id":15706,"date":"2022-01-17T16:19:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T20:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=15706"},"modified":"2022-03-17T12:43:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T16:43:48","slug":"baby-girl-w00let-sister-to-eleanor-ellie-and-zachary-zach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2022\/01\/17\/baby-girl-w00let-sister-to-eleanor-ellie-and-zachary-zach\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl W00let, Sister to Eleanor\/Ellie and Zachary\/Zach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been an avid reader of your blog despite easily deciding on the names of our first two children. We\u2019re pregnant with a surprise third- a girl due late February.<\/p>\n

Both our first two children have two middle names- Eleanor Lucy F\u00e9y (nn Ellie) and Zachary Harold Logan (nn Zach). Their full names and nicknames are used interchangeably in our house. The middle names are honor names. Our surname is W00let (with two L\u2019s and two T\u2019s).<\/p>\n

Sibsets are very important to me, hence lots of dilemmas with naming this third baby. We don\u2019t have a lot of honor names left to choose from due to using up four already! Does this baby need two middle names like her siblings? And lastly does it need to have multiple syllables and a nickname like her siblings?<\/p>\n

Top contender for a first name that meets the above criteria is Alexandra, nickname Alex. The other name we love is Maeve but it doesn\u2019t really have a nickname (I hate Maevy\/ie). Other names on our list include Chloe, Sophia, Sloane and Blair.<\/p>\n

For a second name we think Toni as my deceased dad was Anthony, called Tony. We like Grace as a third name but it has no family ties and not sure if we\u2019re using it just to have three names.<\/p>\n

Any wisdom or advice you can share would be appreciated.<\/p>\n

Thanks
\nVictoria (Tori)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everyone will have their own answers to these questions, and mine are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 she DOES need to have two middle names like her siblings,
\n\u2022 it would be NICE (though not necessary) for her name to have a nickname, and
\n\u2022 it is NOT necessary for her name to have multiple syllables<\/p>\n

I would not have thought to call a Maeve “Maevy.” I suggest the nickname Mae. Eleanor, Zachary, and Maeve; Ellie, Zach, and Mae. A friend’s child has the nickname Mae-Mae, which I would not have thought of (or thought to choose ahead of time, as they did), but with time it seems completely natural. Everybody calls her Mae-Mae. I had to pause to remember her actual given name. Or would you like Maisy? It’s so similar to Maevy that I wouldn’t think you would—but I don’t like Maevy either, and I very much like Maisy, so maybe!<\/p>\n

Another possibility for a nickname for Maeve is to see if it combines well with any of the middle names. And only you know if your family is like this, but in my family we have a tendency to take names like that and lengthen them with completely unrelated endings: a Maeve would be called Maeve-Ann, Maeva-Louise, Maeva-Maria, Maeve-abelle, etc.<\/p>\n

The name Alexandra isn’t sitting right with me. I think part of it is that it doesn’t seem like the same era as Eleanor, while also seeming too similar to it in sound: similar beginnings Ele- and Ale-; both with an -an- in the middle. And potentially nicknames Ellie and Allie (I don’t fret much about similar nicknames, but I would generally prefer to avoid them).<\/p>\n

None of the other names on the list are grabbing my attention. For a sister to an Eleanor I’d be looking for something a little more current than Chloe and Sophia, a little less preppy than Sloane and Blair. But Chloe is the only one that feels surprising to me with Eleanor. Sophia seems fine style-wise. Sloane and Blair tip Eleanor more to the trim\/tailored kind of elegant, rather than to the vintage\/Austen kind.<\/p>\n

For a second middle name, I suggest your name: ______ Toni Victoria W00let. Or I think it could be sweet to repeat one of her sister’s middle names, so that they match: ______ Toni F\u00e9y W00let. Or I think any name with a story works well: a name you wished was yours when you were a child; a place name; a friend’s name; the name of a writer or poet or scientist or politician. Or something to indicate the happiness of a surprise bonus baby: Joy, Felicity\/Felice\/Felicia, Beatrix\/Beatrice. Or Valentine, if she’s born in February. Or, I’m not usually very into name meanings, but I happened to notice that the name Tressa means “third.” That doesn’t seem fun enough to use if you don’t also like the name—but if you DO like the name, it’s at least a little fun! I’d prefer one of the joy\/luck names, though, story-wise.<\/p>\n

Let’s look for more first-name options.<\/p>\n

Jane. This comes to mind because of the Austen novels, and also because it is not entirely unsimilar to Maeve and Sloane. Do you like the nickname Janie? Eleanor, Zachary, and Jane; Ellie, Zach, and Janie.<\/p>\n

Lydia. Also Austen. Nickname Lyddie\/Liddy. Eleanor, Zachary, and Lydia; Ellie, Zach, and Lyddie.<\/p>\n

Margaret. Still Austen. Nicknames are abundant: Maggie, Meg, Daisy, Greta. Eleanor, Zachary, and Margaret; Ellie, Zach, and Maggie\/Meg\/Daisy\/Greta. I’m not sure about the repeated -t ending with the surname.<\/p>\n

Josephine. A veer from Austen to Alcott. Eleanor, Zachary, and Josephine; Ellie, Zach, and Josie\/Posey.<\/p>\n

Louisa. While we’re on Alcott. Eleanor, Zachary, and Louisa; Ellie, Zach, and Lulu.<\/p>\n

Rose. (Posey made me think of it.) Eleanor, Zachary, and Rose; Ellie, Zach, and Rosie.<\/p>\n

Georgia. Eleanor, Zachary, and Georgia; Ellie, Zach, and Georgie.<\/p>\n

Florence. Eleanor, Zachary, and Florence; Ellie, Zach, and Flora. (Possibility of Nora and Flora if Eleanor changes her nickname later on.)<\/p>\n

Cordelia. Eleanor, Zachary, and Cordelia; Ellie, Zach, and Delia.<\/p>\n

Vivian. Eleanor, Zachary, and Vivian; Ellie, Zach, and Vivi.<\/p>\n

Meredith. This has some of the tailored sound of Sloane\/Blair, but increases the femininity to put it closer in style to Eleanor. Eleanor, Zachary, and Meredith; Ellie, Zach, and Merrie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Hi Swistle<\/p>\n

Thank you for answering my questions so thoughtfully.<\/p>\n

Maeve Antonia Grace was born a few weeks ago. <\/p>\n

The answer that we didn\u2019t need a multiple syllable first name was enough to confirm that it was ok to use the name we love. Lots of readers suggested Antonia and we felt the longer first middle name definitely complemented two short other names. <\/p>\n

Her nickname is currently \u2018baby Maeve\u2019 and we are ok with seeing how her nickname evolves organically. <\/p>\n

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

Hi Swistle I\u2019ve been an avid reader of your blog despite easily deciding on the names of our first two children. We\u2019re pregnant with a surprise third- a girl due late February. Both our first two children have two middle names- Eleanor Lucy F\u00e9y (nn Ellie) and Zachary Harold Logan (nn Zach). Their full names […]<\/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-15706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-45k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706","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=15706"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15809,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706\/revisions\/15809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}