{"id":16479,"date":"2024-01-17T13:41:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T17:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=16479"},"modified":"2024-04-30T07:01:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T11:01:00","slug":"baby-boy-molina-maplepines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2024\/01\/17\/baby-boy-molina-maplepines\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Molina Maplepines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Swistle!<\/p>\n

I am sure you hear this all the time, but as someone obsessed with names for years I never thought I would be in the position of not being able to figure out a name! But here we, most very definitely, are.<\/p>\n

My husband and I are expecting our first baby, a boy, in early April. Getting pregnant was difficult, and we hope to have another baby or two but definitely no guarantee. We are a bilingual Spanish\/English family, and baby will have two last names. Both last names start with M, and sound something like Molina Maplepines (except the second last name is actually Portuguese and looks more like a name like Guimaraes, but Maplepines has the same sound and flow). I know you normally don’t weigh in on non-English names, but we live in the Midwest US and baby will spend so much of his time in an English environment that that is my greatest concern. Plus all the names we are considering are familiar to exclusive English-speakers.<\/p>\n

If the baby had been a girl we only had Alma and Liana on our list, two favorites of mine that my husband seemed to be okay with as well.<\/p>\n

Our preferences: my husband prefers biblical, old fashioned Spanish names. I like somewhat more international, more timely (or trendy), short names (given the really long last names). I would also prefer to avoid M names, alliteration is cute, but alliteration x3 is a lot (I think? Or no?).<\/p>\n

My husband’s list (short version, also suggested names like Roberto and Ezequiel):
\nMateo
\nAbram
\nTomas
\nDiego<\/p>\n

My list:
\nFelix
\nGael
\nTiago<\/p>\n

Possible compromise names:
\nEmilio
\nElias<\/p>\n

Essentially neither of us seems willing to go with the other’s names. I find Abram and Tomas too old fashioned, Mateo too popular plus the M issue (and a newborn cousin named Matias), Diego is okay. My husband doesn’t like Felix because of Felix the Cat, Tiago because it sounds like “te hago” in Spanish, and Gael he just doesn’t love (and does make the fair point that it has some of the greatest potential to be mispronounced).<\/p>\n

Emilio feels long to me, and we actually both probably like Emiliano more, but 5 syllables is just so much (the last names are each 3 syllables). We also have Amelias on both sides of our family, and I worry that Emilio is too close. We could possibly call him Milo or Lio if it ends up being confusing, but we both prefer names without nicknames.<\/p>\n

As for Elias my husband strongly prefers the Spanish pronunciation (eh-LEE-as vs ee-LIE-as), I am okay with either\/both. Elias was the name of my husband’s grandfather, which in some ways is sweet (my husband was close to him before he passed away unfortunately very young) but also we are not considering ANY family names otherwise for any other boy in the future or a girl. I don’t love using one family name from my husband’s side and never using another family name, but there are none I want to use either.<\/p>\n

Help! Please! Either with opinions on the name options we have, or other suggestions, or sage wisdom on choosing a name in general. My mother-in-law, who generally is a sweet and helpful person, constantly asks if we have chosen a name and the pressure is rising (just today she said we “need” to have picked a name by our baby shower, to which I said I made no promises!)<\/p>\n

Thank you!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

For STARTERS, we (and by “we” I mean “your husband”) are going to lovingly inform your sweet and helpful mother-in-law that the name will not be chosen in time for the baby shower. Maybe it WILL be chosen by then! But let’s all assume it won’t be, and\/or that you would prefer to time the baby-name announcement differently. Maybe you were not even planning to share the name until after the baby was born, which would be a pretty normal plan! Maybe you don’t feel like locking down the name for SURE-sure until it is time to fill out the birth certificate, which is ALSO a pretty normal plan!<\/p>\n

No doubt she is thinking of people who want to personalize gifts with the baby’s name, and that is delightful, but those people will need to make other plans, as they would need to do for MANY baby showers at which the name has not yet been chosen\/announced and\/or the sex of the baby is not known\/announced. They can give you a wrapped letter at the shower, telling you what they will be giving you after the baby is born\/named; they can give you an unpersonalized version of something and add the personalization later; they can give you something different at the shower and give you the personalized item as a baby gift after the baby is born; they can scrap their entire plan for a personalized gift and do something else; etc. They have options that do not involve you rushing to commit to a name before you need to \/ are ready to.<\/p>\n

Now that we have made ourselves a little breathing room, let’s look at the options. I was about to stand here and tell you that the name Mateo wasn’t particularly popular, and then I checked the Social Security Administration<\/a> and I see it was #11 in 2022. I did the same thing awhile back with the name Luna: “What? It’s not THAT popular. …Oh.” This is why it is a good idea to use a good shake of salt when hearing baby-name opinions from grandparents-to-be: they tend to be OUT OF THE LOOP, baby-name-wise.<\/p>\n

Because you’d like to have more children, I’ll mention my usual caution about making sure the name you choose this time doesn’t rule out other names on your list. Would Abram or Emilio rule out Alma for you? Would Elias rule out Liana for you? That sort of thing.<\/p>\n

I was all set to champion Elias until I saw that your husband wants to pronounce it eh-LEE-as. This feels like an endless uphill struggle. The mispronunciations may be relentless. I am imagining if I wanted Robert’s name pronounced ro-BEAR, or Henry’s name pronounced on-REE, and immediately I feel exhausted. Plus, I agree with your reasoning about family names, particularly about family-name inequality.<\/p>\n

I do think your husband should try to get over Felix the cat. That’s a reference that’s barely relevant to my generation (I’m vaguely culturally aware of the cartoon from 60-100 years ago depending on incarnation, but I’ve never seen it), let alone to current parents and children. And the name Felix is increasingly in use, which will increasingly dilute the association. Old people may remark on it, the way they will remark on any name they haven’t yet realized is current (“Mateo? Now THAT’S an unusual name!”), and they can be ignored until they’ve had a chance to adjust.<\/p>\n

Though here I am one paragraph later, uncertain about Diego because of the TV shows Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go. To be fair, those shows were recent enough to have been watched at the time of broadcast by children who are still children today, and the DVDs are still regularly checked out at the library where I work.<\/p>\n

I would encourage you to toss out “length” as a preference, if possible. One of my children has a name that is so long it gave me serious doubt (twelve syllables), and it is absolutely a non-issue. No one even says neutral things such as “Wow, that’s a lot of name!” Nothing. Not a peep. No one cares. And even if they HAD said “Wow, that’s a lot of name!,” it would have been the smallest of small deals. “Yes,” I would have said, smiling, and likely the conversation would have ended right there. The other person would not have gone home to their family that night saying “Let me tell you about the LONG NAME I encountered today!” (And if they had–because I actually DO report interesting name encounters to my family–THAT TOO would be the smallest of small deals.) Choose the name you love and REJOICE in its glorious longness! …Though if you prefer to avoid nicknames, that does seem like a reason to avoid a five-syllable name.<\/p>\n

I have two names from the lists I’d like to champion:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Felix. Shortish, and easy to spell and pronounce. Felix Molina Maplepines. Felix and Liana; Felix and Alma.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    Tomas. I think that you would get the occasional person trying to pronounce it like Thomas, but that it would be more typical for people to get it right: the spelling is a huge clue\/reminder. There is a Stefan in my children’s school, and people might try STEFF-fun and stef-FAHN, but they don’t generally try STEVE-ven. Tomas Molina Maplepines. Tomas and Liana; Tomas and Alma.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

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

    \nThank you, all, for all your contributions and suggestions! I read your response, Swistle, and every comment many times. So many great suggestions, many of which would have been contenders if they weren’t taken by close family or friends (Luca! Andres! Rafael! Oscar!). <\/p>\n

    In the end Eli@s Abr@m joined us on April 8th, although technically he wasn’t named until the next day. The turning point with the name Eli@s was my husband realizing that while he was more familiar with the Spanish pronunciation he didn’t actually mind the English pronunciation, and was fine with using either. We also discussed how his own name is pronounced differently in English and Spanish, and how he has always used the standard pronunciation in each language and never minded. Diego and Emilio\/Emiliano did remain options until the last minute, and while I do think Eli@s could have been an Emilio I am content with our choice. So far we normally use the Spanish pronunciation even when we are speaking English at home, but out and about (at the doctor’s office and places like that) we use the English pronunciation. We will see how things develop, but I am sure they will work out. <\/p>\n

    Thank you all so much!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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