Emily writes:<\/p>\n
First let me apologize for this, my second request for your help.\u00a0 But we are three weeks away and really starting to panic. Your expertise could really help!<\/p>\n
We have lists and lists of names that we have dutifully voted on together (in a far more civilized process than I ever would have imagined), only to get down to 5-10 choices that we cannot commit to.<\/p>\n
This baby boy will our second child and definitely the last.\u00a0 His older brother is named Abbot James (middle name and initials honoring my several men on my side of the family).\u00a0 My husband’s name is Seth, last name sounds like Macon with a B\u00a0 (the boys have his last name). My name is Emily (I kept my maiden name for a variety of reasons).<\/p>\n
Our rules (okay maybe just mine):<\/p>\n
1. Simple, yet unique names that are generally familiar to the general public.\u00a0 Word and surnames in this category are great!
\n2. Nothing in the top 100, but preferably nothing in the top 1000
\n3. Must go with middle name Michael (honor name for husband’s dad)
\n4. Must not conflict with last name that is a breakfast food and could already lead to some measure of playground ridicule
\n5. Should sound good with Abbot, but this is not a deal breaker
\n6. We also like nature and virtue names<\/p>\nIf we had a girl, we were probably going to name her Delphine (my family is French) or some flower\/British sounding name.<\/p>\n
Our list so far:<\/p>\n
Townsend (I love this name, husband thinks it is too pretentious)
\nLark (Too girly? We may use this as a second middle name)
\nAubin
\nAuden (don’t love having kids with two A names though)
\nThaddeus (probably out because we can’t think of a cool nickname…hate Thad and Tad)
\nFairfax
\nPryor
\nBright
\nBarrett (husband lives in fear of child being called Barry)
\nBishop
\nGideon<\/p>\nNone of these is a slam dunk for either of us, which only leads us to keep searching for a new name (vicious cycle). Time is growing short (been fighting early labor signs for a month now) and we know we need to commit to something, but can’t bring ourselves to hone in on one of these names.<\/p>\n
Can you help us break the cycle or even suggest a new name that gets us out of the rut? Thanks so much for considering our plight!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I’m trying each name on the list with your surname, and I’m afraid I’m running into issues left and right: there’s something about combining a very unusual first name with a whimsical surname that leads to comic results. Fairfax _acon. Pryor _acon. Bright _acon! Oh dear!<\/p>\n
Bishop is probably the worst of the list with a brother named Abbot. Bishop _acon is already an amusing name, but Abbot and Bishop is a little like naming them Sailor and Fisher, or Forest and Ranger, or Harper and Piper: the theme makes the effect even more comical.<\/p>\n
Lark definitely seems too feminine to me; in the United States, it is currently used only for girls and never for boys. And with the surname, I can’t imagine it.<\/p>\n
The only possible name on the list is Gideon. (Thaddeus would also be an option, but not if you hate the nicknames.) In your shoes, I’d be ready to just go with that: you’re having so much trouble, and if this is the only name that (1) you both like and that (2) doesn’t result in an amusing combination, I think it’s a winner. It’s good with the brother name and it’s good with the surname, and you’re running out of time.<\/p>\n
I looked around for more suggestions, but I didn’t find anything that seemed better than Gideon while also meeting the other preferences. Maybe Desmond. I’d certainly avoid B sounds, church-related names, word names (Sterling, Forest, Abel), and whimsical names. I might also avoid names ending in the same -on\/-en\/-in sound as the surname.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Name update!<\/strong> Emily writes:<\/p>\n
We are pleased to announce (belatedly) the birth of our son Townsend Michael, or Townie to his friends and family.<\/p>\n
Thanks to you and your readers for helping break our love-hate cycle with the names on our list!\u00a0 In the end, it came down to Barrett and Townsend.\u00a0 I was prepared to do battle for Barrett and convince my husband that nobody would call him Barry unless we did, but then I gave Townsend a second look.<\/p>\n
I love the funny and sweet nicknames it allows for, and the endless number of songs we can sing with the word “town” in them provide lots of amusement at diaper changing time.\u00a0 Townie was a biggish baby at birth, but is growing into a strapping young infant (100% in weight, height, and head size), so our 3-year-old laughs hysterically when we refer to Townsend as “Tiny Town” or when he cries and we sing “I’ve got those little Town blues”.<\/p>\n
It’s all good stuff.\u00a0 Thanks again for the help you have given us and to so others many seeking advice!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emily writes: First let me apologize for this, my second request for your help.\u00a0 But we are three weeks away and really starting to panic. Your expertise could really help! We have lists and lists of names that we have dutifully voted on together (in a far more civilized process than I ever would have […]<\/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-6026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1zc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026","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=6026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7379,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026\/revisions\/7379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}