Ashley writes:<\/p>\n
I am due with baby #2 at the end of August and my husband and I are having a really hard time agreeing on a name. Our son was born 6 weeks early, and it’s looking like this baby will come early too, so we are running out of time! We know we are having a girl, and we like names that start with the letter R. Our 2 yr. old son’s name is Riley, and it took FOREVER to agree on his name. As in, we sat in the hospital staring at him for awhile before I finally gave in and let my husband pick Riley. I really liked Landon or Camden, but he wouldn’t go for either of those. Naturally, since I pretty much let him decide on our son’s name, I feel that I should get to name this baby. At the same time, I still harbor a little bitterness about not being *IN LOVE* with the name Riley, and I’d hate to have him feel that way about our daughter’s name. I would really like for us BOTH to love the name we choose. Anyway, I’m finding that there aren’t a lot of girl’s names that start with the letter R. We’d like something a little different, but not weird. We don’t like Rachel, Renee, Robin, Rose, etc. I was in love with the name Reagan, but he hates it, particularly the association with former President Ronald Reagan. We both like the name River, but are unsure since it’s mostly a “boys” name. He wants to spell it differently (ex. Ryver, Riever) but I think this is a horrible idea. I think we should stick to spelling it the way it’s meant to be spelled. I’m also having a hard time deciding on a middle name. We want it to be a family name, and have narrowed it down to Margaret (both of our deceased grandmothers), Michelle (my sister, and we are very close), or Lavergne (his deceased grandfather). So what do you think about River for a girl? And what about the middle name? We are totally open to new suggestions for a first name, but are not really flexible on the middle names, aside from the ones I’ve listed. Baby’s last name is Schott, pronounced Shot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I think of River as a boy’s name—and yet, there is no reason at all it shouldn’t be a girl’s name, and in fact if anything I think it works BETTER as a girl name. If you use it, I’m with you about the spelling: if nothing else because Ryver and Riever look like they’d be pronounced RY-ver and REE-ver, but also because it seems wise to limit the Unusual Situations to one per child. If you have to explain that it’s a girl name AND that it’s spelled differently AND that it’s pronounced differently than it’s spelled, I think you’re going to lose your minds.<\/p>\n
If you use River, I like River Lavergne best. River Michelle is my next favorite. Margaret gives some seriousness to the name but may be too startling a style change.<\/p>\n
Some more R possibilities:<\/p>\n
Rainey<\/span>. Perhaps too sing-songy with Riley, which is too bad because it has a similar flavor to the name River while being more distinctly feminine. I think it works fine with any of the middle names, though again my top two would be Lavergne and Michelle.<\/p>\n
Raphaela<\/span>. Oh my goodness do I like this name. It’s so pretty, but like many girl versions of boy names it has BACKBONE. I like it best with Lavergne: Raphaela Lavergne Schott.<\/p>\n
Raven<\/span>. Similar in style to River, but used more often for girls. I like it with either Lavergne or Michelle.<\/p>\n
Reese<\/span>. Androgynous, but Reese Witherspoon makes me think of this as the feminine spelling. Riley and Reese is a nice sibling set. I like Reese Margaret.<\/p>\n