Molly writes:<\/p>\n
My name is Molly and my husbands name is William, but he always goes by Will. Our last name sounds like Sarah, but starts with an M. Our first baby, a little girl, is due in 3 weeks, and we can\u2019t come to a consensus about a name! We are attracted to classic, traditional and feminine names. I tend to shy away from super popular names in this category (like Charlotte), and love names that have a nickname (Rosie for Rose, for example). We plan to have at least one my child, and if this baby were a boy, we likely would have named him Charles (nn. Charlie).<\/p>\n
As of last week, we had narrowed our name choice down to either Eloise Audrey or Jane Audrey. My middle name is Jane, and I have always wanted to name a daughter Jane, nn. Janie. My husband \u201clikes\u201d it, but it\u2019s not his favorite. I have also hesitated, as my sister thinks it\u2019s a bit egotistical to use your name for your child? Is that a common conception? As for Eloise, my husband loves it, and I like it. My concerns include pronunciation (I pronounce it EL-oise, but many others say elo-EEZE\u2026is there a right way?), as well as the trendiness of \u201cEl\u201d names (Ella, Ellie, etc.). I am also a little cautious, as the popularity seems to be rising quite quickly. My husband thinks it is an elegant, versatile name that lends itself to a variety of nicknames. Any other first names come to mind?<\/p>\n
Other first names we like but have ruled out:<\/p>\n
Grace (family member named her daughter this)<\/p>\n
Rose (Rose M. sounds like Rosemary)<\/p>\n
Elizabeth (bad association)<\/p>\n
Audrey (husband doesn\u2019t like it as a first name)<\/p>\n
Charlotte (too trendy, would like to \u201csave\u201d Charles for a boy)<\/p>\n
Elsie (too nick-namey, and we don’t like Elsa or Elspeth, though husband thinks we could use it as nn. for Eloise, while I think it\u2019s a stretch)<\/p>\n
In regard to a middle name, we had planned to use Audrey, as it\u2019s a family name. However, last week, my sweet grandfather died. He has been a large part of my life, and the last time I spoke to him, he joked that I should try and have our daughter on his birthday (3 days after our due date) and name her Roberta after him (Robert, called Bobby). Though I am 100% sure my feisty grandfather was joking, I am now inclined to incorporate his name into our daughter\u2019s, somehow. The problem is this: we don\u2019t like Roberta, and can\u2019t come up with a suitable alternative\/derivative as an honor name to potentially use in the first or middle position. I have toyed with using his last name (Gallivan) as her middle name, but it certainly doesn\u2019t have the same \u201cflow\u201d as Audrey with our current top contenders. Could you or your readers help us out?<\/p>\n
Thanks!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Certainly it’s a long-standing and familiar practice in our society to hand names down from parent to child. It’s much more common to do so with the father’s name, which I find a little annoying considering it’s also so much more common to hand down the father’s surname. Well. In any case, I can tell you that I don’t think it’s egotistical to hand down a name from mother to daughter, especially when it’s a middle name; and in fact I think it’s a very sweet connection. If your sister wants to spin it as egotistical, I’m not sure we can stop her, but I don’t think you should let it stop YOU.<\/p>\n
If Eloise is close but not quite right, I suggest Eliza. Perhaps you and she could share a middle name? Eliza Jane is such a great combination, and gives you other good nicknames such as Ellie Jane and Liza Jane.<\/p>\n