Anne writes:<\/p>\n
Hi Swistle! I’m due on 5\/6 with a girl but have been having crazy pre-term contractions scares so am thinking it’s going to be any day now…we thought we were settled on a name but I’m having last minute doubts and am hoping your readers can help!<\/p>\n
Our first daughter is Cora Elizabeth, chosen because we just loved the first name and the middle name is a family one on my side passed down for many, many generations. That part was easy. And of course the “problem” is I love her name so much, I’m having a hard time finding another one I’m equally as in love with this time around.<\/p>\n
Our last name is a very Irish, 2-syllable McG____ name. It’s pretty easy to work with, I’ve found, but I don’t want anything that sounds like a pub name or a heroine in a song you’d sing at such a pub when you’ve had one too many pints. Hence Molly McG____ is out, even thought I love the name Molly.<\/p>\n
Our #1 contender right now is Greta. I adore it and feel like it fits well with Cora, and I’m half German so that part feels nice to honor.<\/p>\n
Other options:
Ellen (always liked)
Mary (another family name)
Quinn (new contender I really like – hubby is lukewarm on it at best)
Margaret – but call her Greta. This is my husband’s first choice but I have issues with naming her something just to know we’re going to use a nickname. Plus it feels REALLY long compared to the rest of our 4-letter names!<\/p>\nIn general, I don’t like names that have easy nicknames.<\/p>\n
Middle name is TBD, but likely using my husband’s name (Ryan) since I’m pretty certain I’m not doing this pregnancy thing again and thus a boy is out of the question for us down the line. Our other option was Ramsey, to honor a family friend who passed away years ago. <\/p>\n
Would love to know people’s opinions on using Greta versus any of our other options, or even throwing new ones in the mix!!<\/p>\n
Thanks!!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I’m the same as you about nicknames: Paul and I both really like the name Charlie but not Charles, and we didn’t want to name the child a nickname OR name him a name we didn’t like, so we were stuck and we crossed it off our list. For some reason, though, I feel differently about names that have classically been nicknamed, such as Elizabeth and Margaret. Although it’s possible to name a girl Margaret and call her Margaret (and I love that option too), I feel just as happy if it’s “Margaret, and we’ll be calling her Maggie.” Inconsistent? Well, there it is!<\/p>\n
But! Margaret McG___ is hard for me to say with all those repeating sounds. I think Greta is better (though I wish the Gr sound didn’t repeat). It doesn’t give me the “Charlie” feeling—I think of it as a stand-alone name as well as a nickname.<\/p>\n
And I also really like the sound of Mary Ryan McG___. Sassy and Irishy without being over-the-top. And Molly is a nickname for Mary, in case you want that option without putting it on the birth certificate.<\/p>\n
A name I heard recently on a little girl and FLIPPED for is Elsa Jane. Elsa is similar to Ellen, it’s German like Greta, and I think it’s great with your surname and with the name Cora. My eyes had never lingered on the name Elsa as I went through my baby name books, but as soon as I heard it with Jane and on a real little girl, it became a favorite. Elsa Jane! Adorable.<\/p>\n
Update 05-20-2010!<\/span> Anne writes:<\/p>\n
What fun to read everyone’s suggestions! I spent most of my time in labor staring at a whiteboard in the delivery room with “Margaret Mary” and “Greta Ryan” both written on it, and in the end she came out and we instantly said “that’s a Greta!” So Greta Ryan is here, born May 4th. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anne writes: Hi Swistle! I’m due on 5\/6 with a girl but have been having crazy pre-term contractions scares so am thinking it’s going to be any day now…we thought we were settled on a name but I’m having last minute doubts and am hoping your readers can help! Our first daughter is Cora Elizabeth, […]<\/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-6778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1Lk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778","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=6778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}