L. writes:<\/p>\n
We are ready for baby number 5, our second daughter, in a few weeks. Her older sibling names are all traditional: Daniel, Amelia (Mia), Samuel (Sam), William. Our last name is Mikle (rhymes with nickle). We really like easy traditional names, but with all of the darling girl options, plus the added\u00a0pressure of naming our LAST child we are feeling rather stuck. We have a middle name which will be Rae after my Grandmother, but our \u201cperfect\u201d first name still eludes us. Our top names are: Madeleine (pronounced \u201cLine\u201d not \u201cLyn\u201d), Isla, Tabitha, Harper, and Emeline. Madeleine (Ellie as a nickname), would be our top pick, but I am concerned the spelling with the extra \u201ce\u201d and the pronunciation issue will be tedious for her. I also adore Tabitha, but\u00a0only seem to get a lukewarm response from\u00a0mu hubby on this name.\u00a0We have also\u00a0loved, but ruled out Louisa, Beatrice, Adele, and Annabelle for various family conflict\u00a0reasons. Advice????<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I notice that all four of the baby’s siblings have a strong L sound in their name, tying in with the L sound in your surname. I think that since this is your final child, I would make it a goal (not a trumps-all goal, but a preference) to find a strong L sound for her as well.<\/p>\n
Three of the four names also contain an M sound to tie into the surname, and Daniel has an N sound which is very close to that. This makes Madeleine seem like a great choice: both an L sound and an M sound. I do think you’d find it challenging to get Ellie used as a nickname; Maddy is used so commonly. And we discovered when we briefly had a cat named Madeline that the spelling\/pronunciation issues are surprisingly constant: everyone seems to know there are two options, so it was “Madda lin, line?” anytime anyone saw her name. If that’s the name you love best, however, the good news is that everyone seems to know already that it’s an issue—so it’ll probably be similar to all of us who have to specify a K instead of a C, an -en instead of an -in, two L’s instead of one, etc.<\/p>\n
Emeline is another good option for the L and the M, but I think it’s much too close to Amelia. And Isla, Tabitha, and Harper don’t have the easy traditional feeling you’d prefer. Let’s see if we can find some more options.<\/p>\n
If Louisa is out, perhaps Eloise is also out. If not, I like that it introduces a new consonant sound to the group, while still including an L sound. And if you like the nickname Ellie, I think you could get it here. Eloise Mikle.<\/p>\n
Eliza is another possibility, and one of my own favorites. Again, the L sound to tie the name in with the others, but a new consonant sound to lessen confusion. And I think it’s particularly nice with the sibling group: Daniel, Amelia, Samuel, William, and Eliza. It sounds like a family right out of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book!<\/p>\n
Or Eleanor, which would be another way to get Ellie. (Or you could go with Nora.) <\/p>\n
Or Elizabeth, which would give her even more nickname options.<\/p>\n
I also suggest Lucy. It fits well in style with the sibling names, and putting the L sound first may help keep the names from sounding too similar. I also considered suggesting Lillian, but I think that might go overboard on the L.<\/p>\n
Or Laura, speaking of Laura Ingalls Wilder. <\/p>\n
Annabelle makes me think of Abigail. Mia and Abby are cute sister nicknames.<\/p>\n
Or Hannah. No L sound—but that’s just ME who’s looking for an L sound! Hannah Mikle. Daniel, Amelia, Samuel, William, and Hannah. Very nice.<\/p>\n
Isla makes me think of Lila. Again, maybe a little overboard on the L—but maybe not. Lila Mikle sounds nice to me; I think it might be the L’s AND short-I of Lillian that made it seem like too much.<\/p>\n
I think Clara would go beautifully with the sibling set. Clara Mikle.<\/p>\n
Or Charlotte. Daniel, Amelia, Samuel, William, and Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
L. writes: We are ready for baby number 5, our second daughter, in a few weeks. Her older sibling names are all traditional: Daniel, Amelia (Mia), Samuel (Sam), William. Our last name is Mikle (rhymes with nickle). We really like easy traditional names, but with all of the darling girl options, plus the added\u00a0pressure of […]<\/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-6081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1A5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081","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=6081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}