{"id":16075,"date":"2022-11-16T12:13:14","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T16:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=16075"},"modified":"2022-11-18T14:42:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T18:42:32","slug":"baby-boy-sounds-like-clementine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2022\/11\/16\/baby-boy-sounds-like-clementine\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Sounds-Like-Clementine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, a coworker just told me about your site this morning and I’m desperate for help naming our first baby. This is the first baby for both of us, a boy.<\/p>\n

My partner and I have gone through all our family names and even used an app to try and match on a name we both like. We’re pretty open, but avoiding names that are more common like Mike or John. The baby will be mixed. He’ll probably have a Chinese middle name (also TBD), and the surname sounds like Clementine, it starts with a C.<\/p>\n

Some names I like are Henry, Owen, Coen. My partner likes Arthur, Bruno and Bruce. Could these be more opposite?<\/p>\n

Appreciate any help from your readers, thank you!
\nLiz & Nico<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ooo, I think it’s going to be fun to see if any of the names we come up with are ones that overlapped on the app!<\/p>\n

I am going to start by directing you to a post we did awhile back on the name Cohen<\/a>. Re-reading it now, ten years later, I am wincing a little at my own take at that time, which I’d summarize as “I guess some people have a problem with it so I guess I’d steer clear, unless you feel like using it in which case go ahead.” At this point I would say my reaction to hearing the name in the wild is a strong flinch, plus “Eep, I wonder if the parents knew??,” and I would advise against using the name. I would suggest alternatives such as Rowan, Bowen, Ian, Jonah, Nolan, Cole, etc., as well as Owen already on your list.<\/p>\n

While Michael and John have been very popular names over the decades\/centuries, the name Henry is more common for current babies, and the name Owen is right in the same range: according to the Social Security Administration<\/a>, the name Michael was the #17 most popular boy name in the U.S. in 2021 (though this is coming off a streak of being a Top 10 name from 1943 until 2016, which gives it a certain generational saturation); the name John was #27 (but Top 10 from 1900 when the online records begin, staying there until 1986); Henry was #9; and Owen was #22. For comparison: Arthur was #155, Bruno was #664, Bruce was #535.<\/p>\n

Before we start looking for names that bridge that gap: one of the things I like to aim for in a name is BALANCE. If the surname will come from one parent’s family, and the middle name will come from the other parent’s family, then I think it’s nice if the parent who got the middle name can get a little more say in the first name; if the surname AND the middle name BOTH come from one parent, then I think the other parent should get significantly more say in the first name. Sometimes it doesn’t end up making sense to do it this way, but I like to START from that position—rather than, for example, thinking of one parent’s family surname as the default and not as a HUGE SIGNIFICANT THING.<\/p>\n

Another thing to consider: future sibling names. It’s hard enough to name one baby, let alone an unknown number of potential future babies—but thinking ahead to possible sibling names now can help in two ways: first, by helping to clarify your joint naming style; and second, by helping you to avoid accidentally choosing a name that will rule out another name later, or a name that doesn’t go with any of the other names you like. Do you have favorite girl names that would be ruled out by any of your boy-name options? for example, do you love Henrietta, Rowan, Juno, Lucy? would you prefer to avoid repeating an initial? When the two of you look at your lists, can you form little imaginary sibling groups with the names? are there some names that don’t seem to fit in any grouping? are there other names you find you keep going for because they seem to work so well with everything else you like?<\/p>\n

Now let’s see if we can find more names to consider in the Henry\/Owen\/Arthur\/Bruno\/Bruce range:<\/p>\n

Alistair
\nArchie
\nBennett
\nCaleb
\nCalvin
\nClark
\nDavis
\nDesmond
\nDouglas
\nEdmund
\nElliot
\nEmmett
\nEverett
\nEzra
\nGeorge
\nGideon
\nGrant
\nHarris
\nHugo
\nIan
\nIsaac
\nJasper
\nLeo
\nLouis
\nMilo
\nNolan
\nReid
\nRussell
\nSimon
\nStanley
\nWarren
\nWesley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, a coworker just told me about your site this morning and I’m desperate for help naming our first baby. This is the first baby for both of us, a boy. My partner and I have gone through all our family names and even used an app to try and match on a name […]<\/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-16075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-4bh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16075","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=16075"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16085,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16075\/revisions\/16085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}