{"id":16407,"date":"2023-10-28T15:14:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T19:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=16407"},"modified":"2023-10-29T21:59:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T01:59:58","slug":"baby-boy-myers-brother-to-audrey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2023\/10\/28\/baby-boy-myers-brother-to-audrey\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Myers, Brother to Audrey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

We are expecting a boy 11\/11. My husband and I have opposite tastes in names, and I’m beginning to feel anxiety that we won’t be able to compromise (I feel there’s only so much compromise you can do for a child’s name).<\/p>\n

I enjoy unusual, uncommon names and he prefers timeless, common names. I also prefer nickname-proof names.<\/p>\n

We (Nicole & Justin) share a daughter named Audrey, and we frequently hear people call her Aubrey. I would like to avoid name confusion for our son.<\/p>\n

Our last name is Myers, and I’m confident we’re using James (family name) as the middle.<\/p>\n

The only two names my husband would even consider were Blake and Noah from my list (though he didn’t love either). I don’t like the initials for Blake… My daughter’s favorite is Noah, and I think Noah James is cute, but Noah is so popular… So popular, in fact, my coworker just named his son Noah and announced the name after his birth. I’m not friends with him, but I feel really weird about it because we share a mutual friend.<\/p>\n

Names I loved that my husband hates:<\/p>\n

Milo
\nKade
\nRhys
\nOwen
\nGrayson
\nEvan
\nCyrus<\/p>\n

My husband suggested only family names:
\nJames (now the middle name as a compromise)
\nJohn
\nJacob
\nDaniel<\/p>\n

I would love to know your take. My husband says a coworker doesn’t matter, only family does. But I’m no longer excited about Noah. I would love to find a name with a similar vibe (soft, two-syllable, not many nicknames, but not too far out there).<\/p>\n

Thank you!!
\nOne Anxious Mama<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I liked “there’s only so much compromise you can do for a child’s name” so much, I put it in the spreadsheet to remind me to do this one for sure. I have three questions, no four questions, to start with:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Which parent’s family surname is being used for the children?<\/li>\n
  2. Which side of the family is the name James from?<\/li>\n
  3. Does your daughter have any family names, and if so, from which side of the family?<\/li>\n
  4. Which parent had more say \/ which parent compromised more in naming your daughter?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When we’re talking about compromise–and we do need to talk about compromise–I think it is best to start by assembling all the compromises that have already been made. Let’s say, for example, that you are using your husband’s family’s surname for the children. And that James, which has already been put in the middle name position as a compromise by you, is also a family name from your husband’s side. And that your husband hated all the names on your list for your daughter, and you liked the name Audrey well enough from his list. Or let’s say the kids have been given your family surname; and James is your beloved brother’s name and the only reason you didn’t want to use his name is that it’s kind of boring but your husband’s love of the name changed your mind; and let’s say you were the one who put the name Audrey on the list and your husband eventually came around to it, and it’s a family name from your side of the family, and also her middle name matches yours. It’s nice to get a baseline established, before further compromises are made.<\/p>\n

    Audrey is a timeless name, and fairly common: #67 in 2022, according to the Social Security Administration<\/a>. Let’s see if we can come up with some names that go well with Audrey, and could conceivably fit both parents’ styles, while not being on either list so far. I think we’re probably looking for Hip Biblical and Less-Common Traditional, maybe some Old Hollywood. For now I won’t avoid names with nicknames, or names that don’t go well with James as a middle name (in case that changes as part of the ongoing compromising):<\/p>\n

    Abel\/Able
    \nAidric (too close to Audrey?)
    \nAlistair
    \nCalvin
    \nClark
    \nConrad
    \nDavis
    \nDesmond
    \nEdmund
    \nElliot
    \nEverett
    \nEzra
    \nFranklin
    \nFrederick
    \nGabriel
    \nGeorge
    \nGideon
    \nGrant
    \nHarris
    \nHugo
    \nIan
    \nIsaac
    \nJoel
    \nJulian
    \nLouis
    \nMalcolm
    \nNathaniel
    \nNicholas (he could be named for his mother!)
    \nNolan
    \nReid
    \nRussell
    \nSaul
    \nSilas
    \nSimon
    \nStanley
    \nTimothy
    \nWarren
    \nWesley
    \nWilson<\/p>\n

    My top choice for meeting preferences is Nolan: similar to Noah, but significantly less common, while not being too uncommon (#65 in 2022); soft, two syllables, no real nicknames, not too out-there; traditional (it’s in the Social Security rankings when they begin in 1900) but fresher than some of the usual traditional choices; good with the surname and with the sibling name. Nolan Myers; Nolan James Myers; Audrey and Nolan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear Swistle, We are expecting a boy 11\/11. My husband and I have opposite tastes in names, and I’m beginning to feel anxiety that we won’t be able to compromise (I feel there’s only so much compromise you can do for a child’s name). I enjoy unusual, uncommon names and he prefers timeless, common 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-4gD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407","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=16407"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16411,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407\/revisions\/16411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}