Ashley writes:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been reading your blog daily for over a year now, well before I was even pregnant, and I\u2019m a huge fan! Since I\u2019m one of those people that have been naming my future children since I was 8, I\u2019m surprised and frustrated that we are having so much trouble. I am currently 33 weeks, due in mid September. We do not know the gender, which has been quite the fete after requiring an amnio and several ultrasounds. With everyone around us (doctors, techs, etc.) knowing the gender, Ive gotten the vibe it\u2019s a boy. My husband however, is convinced it\u2019s a girl. One of us is going to be very surprised! <\/p>\n
Anyways, here is some background on us. My name is Ashley<\/span> Bray, husband is James Anderson and our last name is Tune (spelled differently). <\/p>\n
We are pretty set on the boys name, James Wiley and he will go by Wiley. My father in law is James Russell, my husband is James Anderson, so we like the idea of keeping with this tradition. However, both my husband and FIL go by Jim, and it gets really confusing at times, so we want him to go by his middle name. I love that Wiley is unique, but a name most people have heard of before. Possible future brother name is Drake (my maiden name). <\/p>\n
Now for the real problem, finding a girls name we both like. My style is last names at first and\/or androgynous. I don\u2019t like anything too girly\/frilly or overly popular. My husband on the other hand seems to be stuck in the 70\u2019s and 80\u2019s with his naming style. <\/p>\n
We would like to use the middle name Bray (my middle name and grandmother\u2019s maiden name) as long as it works well with the first name we decide on. <\/p>\n
My list of faves that hubby has vetoed:
Campbell (soup association)
Rowan (because he has a rowing machine…crazy, I know!)
Finley (his neighbor growing up’s last name)
Leighton
Arden <\/p>\nHis list:
Nicole-nickname Nix
Allison
Jessica <\/p>\nNames we agree on:
Ellis
Lowen\/Lowan (rhymes with Owen)
Nix <\/p>\nHowever, I have issues with each of these names. Is Ellis too close to all the Elle, Ella and Ellie\u2019s out there? Does Lowen\/Lowan seem like a made up name? And Nix is ok, but I would want a better full name. Nicole is too old school, I don\u2019t care for Nicolette and Nixon has a negative association. Can you think of any other names Nix could be short for? <\/p>\n
I would greatly appreciate any other name ideas you and your readers have for us. <\/p>\n
Thanks! <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Ha, yes, your husband definitely has ’70s\/’80s style going on there. I don’t know why this is a problem for so many men! Maybe they are less likely to be around little kids, or less likely to think about baby names? I swear that when Paul and I were naming babies he just thought, “Hm, who did I go to high school with?” and made his list from that!<\/p>\n
Sometimes it helps to find names similar to the ones someone likes, but more current—just to sort of eeeeease them into it. Instead of Nicole: Nola, Nora, Nadia, Victoria, Annika, Colette, Logan. Instead of Allison: Addison, Adelyn, Emerson, Ellison. Instead of Jessica: Annika, Gemma, Veronica, Danica, Genevieve, Josephine. <\/p>\n
But after seeing his reasons for vetoing other names (you can’t use Rowan because he…has a rowing machine?), I’m not sure that will help. It may need to be a swift firm explanation: “No, honey, those are the mom names now. Here, take a look at the current Social Security list.”<\/p>\n
Would he like any names similar to the names on your list? Brinley instead of Finley? Payton instead of Leighton? Arwen or Garnet instead of Arden? <\/p>\n
Ellis has almost certainly come into style because of other popular El- names. It’s much less common, but may still have a “group” feel to it. Ellery and Ellison are other possibilities; Ellison is particularly awesome because of how similar-yet-different it is to your husband’s idea of Allison. If you wanted to avoid the El- grouping, you could consider Hollis.<\/p>\n
Lowen ought to be a gorgeous, distinctive choice, but Lindsay Lohan has ruined it for me. She and her struggles will, one hopes, not dominate the name for ever—but sometimes celebrities go on for decades, continuing to be well known mainly for their various issues. It would worry me—and yet the more I say Lowen, the more I want to find a way for you to use it. My mom came upon the name Elowen awhile back, and I wonder if that would fit the bill: no Lohan association, the El- of Ellis, the -owen of Rowan, and even some of the sounds of Nicole and Allison. <\/p>\n
Because I’ve never encountered Nix as a name or nickname, my only association is with the word nix, as in to veto or say no to. Well, and also some Nixon, of course, and some rock star association because of Stevie Nicks and Nikki Sixx. I think it would sound cute (more like how Nicki sounded to our parents: sassy but sweet) once I knew a little girl with the name, but I agree with you that it should be a nickname. You could use it as a nickname for Lennox, which I think meets your other preferences: not too girly, and it’s a surname name. Lennox Tune, nickname Nix.<\/p>\n
It’s perhaps a stretch, but Nix could also be short for Annika or Danica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ashley writes: I\u2019ve been reading your blog daily for over a year now, well before I was even pregnant, and I\u2019m a huge fan! Since I\u2019m one of those people that have been naming my future children since I was 8, I\u2019m surprised and frustrated that we are having so much trouble. I am currently […]<\/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-6122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1AK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122","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=6122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}