Laura writes:<\/p>\n
I was hoping you could help me! I am expecting my 4th child in January and just found out she is a girl. We have chosen, re-chosen and, scrapped her name completely many times. We have a short German last name that starts with “K” and rhymes with “fish”. We love our girls’ names (Anneliese and Genevieve) and our son is a 5th generation Stephen (after my husband, etc.). After reading your blog, it seems like we have some similar favorites. We are Irish and German.<\/p>\n
Until the ultrasound a week ago, our girl name was Lorelei (with the intention of using the nickname Lila). This is our big issue as our families don’t really seem to be respectful of what we want our child called (Genevieve’s intended nickname is\/was Eve, but family insists on calling her Jenny–My husband and I mostly call her the full name or Eve). We realize that we are likely going to hear this baby called Lori and Lora half the time, so it is kind of putting a huge damper on the name for me (my name is Laura and besides not wanting the baby “named” after me, I am just not a huge fan of those names–probably because of people calling me the wrong name!)<\/p>\n
Anyway, we have considered other options like Madeleine, which I love, but worry it is way too overused. I also like Scarlett, Fiona, and Cecilia, but not much feels quite right. Our families act like Anneliese and Genevieve are weird and exotic (and I know we will get a pained reaction with anything we choose, unless it’s in the top 5! haha) On the plus side, my husband and I are usually on a similar wavelength!<\/p>\n
We are also trying to avoid any J-sounding names because I have long wanted to use the name Jude if we ever have another boy and I don’t know if I’m ready to decide against a 5th just yet (which eliminates Josephine, another one I love).<\/p>\n
Sorry if this was long! I appreciate your help!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Lorelei sounds like the perfect name for her, but I see your point about your families and nicknames: it would be easy to say “Just MAKE them use the nicknames you’ve chosen!!”—but we have to work with the reality we’ve got.<\/p>\n
I wonder if there would still be some hope in this case, with this particular name, because of the confusion with your own. You know your families and I don’t, so picture this and tell me if you see any possibility of it working: “Her name is Lorelei! We’ll be using Lila as her nickname—Lora and Lori would be too confusing with my name.” “What? Oh, I thought you were saying Laura! We’re going with Lila for her nickname: otherwise it’s way too close to my name.” Your irritation with those particular nicknames (I have a similar feeling about the name Kristine) may give you the strength to persevere.<\/p>\n
But if you are shaking your head and thinking that’s never going to fly, let’s turn our attention to the other possibilities. Madeleine does seem so much more common than the other two choices—but if you love it, I think it’s a very nice fit: Anneliese, Genevieve, and Madeleine. How do you feel about the nickname Maddy, though? The families are bound to use it, and with all the Madisons and Madelyns (plus the similar popularity of the nickname Addy), that may tip the name over the popularity edge.<\/p>\n
It is too bad about Josephine, because I think that’s an even better fit. Although maybe the sound of it is too similar to be right after Genevieve anyway: both have the same starting sound and two of the same vowel sounds.<\/p>\n
Another name from my own list (if you don’t mind alliteration with the surname) is Clarissa. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Clarissa.<\/p>\n
Juliette would be pretty, but carries the same J issue as Josephine.<\/p>\n
I love Francesca, though I wonder if the -ca ending would be choppy with the K- surname. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Francesca.<\/p>\n
For awhile my mom’s favorite French name was Lucienne. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Lucienne.<\/p>\n
That makes me think of Vivienne. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Vivienne.<\/p>\n
Winifred is so underused. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Winifred.<\/p>\n
Isadora, too. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Isadora.<\/p>\n
I also love Willemina, and I think the Dutch spelling is easier than the German (Wilhelmina). Anneliese, Genevieve, and Willemina.<\/p>\n
I wanted very badly to use Millicent. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Millicent.<\/p>\n
Maybe Rosalie? Anneliese, Genevieve, and Rosalie.<\/p>\n
Or Emmeline. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Emmeline. Maybe it shares too many sounds with Anneliese.<\/p>\n
Philippa would be pretty. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Philippa.<\/p>\n
I like Philomena, too. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Philomena.<\/p>\n
Or Meredith. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Meredith.<\/p>\n
Eliza looks a little short next to the other two names, but it has the same number of syllables and it’s a name I’ve WEPT over not being able to use. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Eliza.<\/p>\n
I like Cecily even better than Cecilia. Anneliese, Genevieve, and Cecily.<\/p>\n
Oh, or Felicity? Anneliese, Genevieve, and Felicity. That’s my favorite for you if Lorelei is out. Otherwise I still vote for Lorelei, if you think you can stand the irritation of the family\/nickname situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Laura writes: I was hoping you could help me! I am expecting my 4th child in January and just found out she is a girl. We have chosen, re-chosen and, scrapped her name completely many times. We have a short German last name that starts with “K” and rhymes with “fish”. We love our girls’ […]<\/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-8071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-26b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071","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=8071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8072,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions\/8072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}