Kristin writes:<\/p>\n
I am pregnant with twin boys and in my 36th week. I had a pre-term labor scare a few weeks ago and have been on bed rest ever since, so these boys could arrive at any moment. The one thing left on our to-do list is to come up with names.<\/p>\n
We have an older daughter whose name we absolutely love, Lila. Lila is classic, elegant, easy to say and spell, old fashioned, yet contemporary and it suits her to a tee. Grace is her middle name – it’s a family name that was coincidentally present on both my husband\u2019s and my side of the family. So it was a no brainer that our daughter would take that as her middle name. Our last name sounds like Squelch but with a “W”. Therefore, we want boys names that aren\u2019t too harsh sounding. My husband\u2019s name is Evan and mine is Kristin.<\/p>\n
Requirements are that the first name be two or more syllables, doesn\u2019t start with W and isn\u2019t be in the top 100 names. I also don\u2019t want matchy, rhymey names or names that start with the same letter for our twin boys. Unfortunately, we can\u2019t seem to agree on any names and neither of us loves the options we\u2019ve come up with either. We feel like we\u2019ll never love any boy\u2019s names as much as we love Lila\u2019s.<\/p>\n
My first name ideas: Bryson, Everett, Bennett, Emmett, Emerson, Avery and Grayson<\/p>\n
My middle name ideas: Owen, Miles and Alexander<\/p>\n
My husband\u2019s first and middle name ideas: Miles, Max, Jason and Earl<\/p>\n
My husband like Miles and Max as first names. But Max paired with our last name sounds like a single first name. Also, I don\u2019t like the M and M theme or the fact that they are monosyllabic. I\u2019d like a better flow with our last name. I really like Everett Miles but the fact that my husband wants to use Miles as a first name and Everett is so close to my husband\u2019s name Evan, makes me question it. \u201cHi, I\u2019m Evan and this is my son Everett.\u201d Sounds odd, right? My husband doesn\u2019t like Bennett because he worries about him being nicknamed Benny. But I love the meaning \u2013 blessed. Emerson reminds him of the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Does anybody have that association these days? He also dislikes Owen but I like that it is a variation of the name Evan. So, in essence, it’s a tribute to my husband. He has also mentioned Jason which is his first name and his father\u2019s name. I don\u2019t love the name but I\u2019m willing to consider it probably more as a middle name because I\u2019d like to stick with classic old timey names as a theme for our kids and don’t really think it goes with Lila. Another one of his suggestions is Earl, his father\u2019s middle name. Certainly better as a middle name than first but kind of old sounding. Any ideas for us?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I will start by suggesting that your goal not be to find names you love as much as Lila’s name. The name Lila has already become synonymous with your much-loved daughter; any new names are unlikely to measure up until they’ve had time to become your sons. It’s also possible that boy names you love as much as Lila’s name don’t exist—and yet you would nevertheless need to choose names. So instead, I suggest the more attainable goal of finding your favorite two boy names.<\/p>\n
And in fact, I might start by finding ONE favorite boy name. An exercise that can be useful when naming twins (especially if you don’t want any twin-name gimmick) is to pretend you are expecting just one baby boy, and find a name for him; then pretend it is some time later and you are expecting another single baby boy, and find a name for HIM. <\/p>\n
Looking at your lists, the pairing that stands out to me is Miles and Everett. Like the name Lila, both are old-fashioned yet contemporary names. They’re coordinated but not matchy in any way. You’ve got Miles down as a one-syllable name, but I say it with two syllables: my-yuls. Evan and Everett seem too similar for brothers, but not for a father\/son; I think the mild connection is nice, and that the frequency of it seeming strange in an introduction is likely to be very low. I do wonder if Lila and Miles are too similar, though; they do share a lot of sounds.<\/p>\n
If Everett continues to seem too close to your husband’s name, and if Miles doesn’t seem too close to Lila, my next choice is Miles and Bennett. I think as long as your son doesn’t himself choose to go by Benny later on, you can avoid the nickname. <\/p>\n
My concern with Emerson isn’t the band but the usage: currently it’s used more often for girls. The name Avery, too, is currently used much more often for girls. If you use either name, I suggest using both: Emerson and Avery are very compatible names. I’d use them with boyish middle names, for clarity; perhaps Emerson Miles and Avery Bennett, or Emerson Earl and Avery Jason if you’d like to use the family names. Lila, Emerson, and Avery.<\/p>\n
I see a lot of -ett and -son on your list, so I think I’d explore that for more possibilities. I’ll avoid very common names, but I’m ignoring the arbitrary Top-100 cut-off: since some of the names on your list are Top 100, I’ll assume you mean “not very common” (i.e., not Mason) as opposed to “#101 is fine, but #100 is not.”<\/p>\n
Elliot is one of my own favorites, though maybe it’s too much L with a sister Lila. I might pair it with Oliver, and then perhaps the L sound is unifying rather than duplicating: Lila, Elliot, and Oliver.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps I’d pair it with Simon, so that one boy shares the L sound and the other shares the long-I: Lila, Elliot, and Simon.<\/p>\n
Garrett is another possibility. Perhaps we could pair one -ett name and one -son name! Garrett and Harrison. Garrett and Anderson. Garrett and Davison. Or replace Garrett with Beckett—there was a character named Lyla Garrity on the television show Friday Night Lights; I’m not sure how many people would think of it with a Lila and a Garrett. Anderson and Beckett for Baby A and Baby B, if you like a leeeeeetle twin-name gimmick. Or Beckett and Harrison, or Beckett and Davison, or Beckett and Thompson.<\/p>\n
I love the name Henry with Lila. Henry works well with Simon, Oliver, Everett, Emmett, Elliot, Miles, Grady, Isaac, Frederick—lots of names. <\/p>\n