Heather writes:
Throughout our 7 year marriage, my husband and I have had a fairly easy time agreeing and compromising and negotiating on just about everything – until we started trying to name our baby girl. We have discovered that we are world’s apart on girl names – names I like, he hates and vice versa.
After months of debate, reading and re-reading of the Baby Name Wizard book, (which I have recommended now to about 10 different people!) we have finally agreed on the following names as “potentials”. Even getting this many that we both would consider is a huge step.
Now about our family –
We have a 21 month old named Alex Aiden. We like a lot of the suggested sister names from the BNW for Alex, Alexander, Alec, etc.
Our last name is two syllables and starts with E. A lot of names sound sing-songy with it, or they kind of run together.
We are planning on using Elizabeth as a middle name because it’s all over our family tree. The only exception might be if we name her Emily – then we were thinking about using Kate as a middle name.
We are not that concerned about popularity of the name (obviously, since Emily is a contender).
We are totally open to other suggestions.
So here is our hard fought list:
analise
anna
cara
emily
katelyn (kate for short)
lauren
madilyn (maddie for short)
molly
sarahWe’d love some help and an impartial opinion! Thanks!
Good list! Lots to work with!
The only change I suggest is the spelling of Analise: because of the word spelled by the first four letters, I recommend spelling with two Ns instead: Annalise. (My favorite spelling of the name is Anneliese—but that’s also the hardest one to spell, and in fact I had to look it up just now to make sure I had it right.)
Let’s look at each name with your son’s name, and we can also check out the initials of each name (using Elizabeth as the middle name with all choices except Emily, for which you’d use Kate).
Alex and Annalise (AEE)
Alex and Anna (AEE)
Alex and Cara (CEE)
Alex and Emily (EKE)
Alex and Katelyn/Kate (KEE)
Alex and Lauren (LEE)
Alex and Madilyn/Maddie (MEE)
Alex and Molly (MEE)
Alex and Sarah (SEE)
My favorites from the list are Cara Elizabeth and Emily Kate, although I also think it’s super-cute the way Lauren gives use the initials (and potential nickname) LEE. Let’s take a poll [poll closed; see below] to see what the rest of you think!
[Poll results:
Annalise Elizabeth: 16 votes, roughly 10%
Anna Elizabeth: 13 votes, roughly 8%
Cara Elizabeth: 34 votes, roughly 21%
Emily Kate: 24 votes, roughly 15%
Katelyn Elizabeth: 10 votes, roughly 6%
Lauren Elizabeth: 25 votes, roughly 16%
Madilyn Elizabeth: 6 votes, roughly 4%
Molly Elizabeth: 23 votes, roughly 14%
Sarah Elizabeth: 8 votes, roughly 5%]
[Update!
Heather writes:
Just wanted to let you know…
Emily Kate arrived (2 weeks early!) last night [07-15-2008] at 10:43!
Thanks to you and everyone for the comments!
Congratulations!]
I had to vote my daughter’s name, Molly Elizabeth (although we spell it Mollie, which I wouldn’t recommend). I really like Sarah and Emily though!
I love how Lauren Elizabeth sounds!
These are all great name options. I put my vote in for Cara Elizabeth. But I wonder will it be pronounced like Sarah or the word “car” with an “uh”. For some reason I’m doing it like car-uh, and I love that. Although the name Sarah is wonderful too (my name) and a timeless one, in my opinion. I also knew a Karah (sounds like Sarah), and I’ve always like that spelling too.
I like Annalise Kate.
You could call her “Anna”.
I don’t like the vowel sound endings before the Elizabeth, it stymies the flow. This would probably do the same with the E last name.
LOVE Emily Kate, and Alex and Emily go together so well! That said, I like all of the options, except for Cara and Sarah. Alex and Anna is cute, and I totally agree with Swistle that the initials for the name Lauren Elizabeth are wonderful for a built-in nickname. Tough choice!
I voted for Lauren Elizabeth, which is a smooth, feminine name without being fussy (or fuzzy, as I originally typed…). Cara, which I pronouce to rhyme with Sarah, is a little less common.
I did not vote for Katelyn or Madilyn because I’m very tired of both names. Objectively, they’re lovely names. Some of your other choices are less threadbare, however, so I’d say go for those first.
I like Annalise and Anna very much, but I’ve discovered that it would have been easier on us if we hadn’t repeated initals in our family.
At least your hard-won list produced some great candidates!
How about I finish my first paragraph as intended? Cara is a little less common and just as pretty, so that’s my second vote.
I voted for Lauren Elizabeth.
Lauren was the girl name that my youngest brother would have had, had he not been born a..well, brother. LOL. I think it’s classic and feminine and beautiful. And I think it looks lovely with Elizabeth as the middle name (and love the family connection of the middle name Elizabeth).
All the best of luck with your choice! Baby names seem to be tough to agree on for most couples!
I like Molly but with Kate as the middle name.
Isn’t Anneliese (Annalise here) a combination of Anna and Elizabeth? Annalise Elizabeth sounds redundant to me, but Annalise Kate would be nice. I voted for Sarah Elizabeth. I also like Anna Elizabeth and Emily Kate.
I LOVE the sound of Madilyn Elizabeth, it has that beautiful “l” sound that I’m very fond of. You have some tough choices! Good luck!
i love cara elizabeth…and… you could call her cara beth. my name is cari beth and i’ve been called that all my life…even now as an adult, it’s very unique to be called two names and cara beth has a great ring to it!
Oooh you guys are almost making it harder!
mommy daisy: We’ve stumbled over the Cara pronounciation too, so if we use that name we’ll have to decide which way.
shoe addict: I love Molly Kate and hadn’t put that combo together.
Interestingly, husband and I were both surprised to see that Madilyn was doing so poorly in the poll – in our informal survey of friends who saw the list every single person put that as the favorite!
A good friend in VA’s oldest daughter was Lauren Elizabeth. So I know the names go well together.
Alex and Emily sound good together. If you go with Emily I think Katherine flows better instead of Kate when you say all three names.
Sarah Elizabeth is just classic.
Good luck choosing! Whatever you pick it will be great. They’re all good choices. Can’t wait to hear the news :)
Annalise is a combination of Anna and Lise, which comes from the German (and other) spelling and pronunciation of Elisabeth. So Annalise Elisabeth *would* be redundant and Annalise alone would reflect your family name Elizabeth. I like Annalise Kate and think Alex and Annalise go nicely together *if* you want two names beginning with the same letter. I have friends with Alex and Annika.
I love Sarah Elizabeth. I almost named a daughter that and have a granddaughter named Sarah Ellen. I think Emily Kate or Emily Katherine (I prefer the latter) is lovely too. A friend’s daughter is Emily Katherine Elizabeth. Anna Elizabeth is pretty too, but then you’re back to two names beginning with A, which you may want to avoid if you think there might be a third baby someday.
I prefer the classic names on your list — Sarah, Emily, Anna, but I think they’re all fine choices. (However I would spell Katelyn or Madilyn the original ways: Caitlin; Madeleine or Madeline.)
A note from Swistle: I disagree about Anneleise including the family name Elizabeth, or being redundant. People have said similar things about, for example, the name Evan John: that because Evan and John come from similar roots, they are “the same name.” Well…they aren’t, right? I mean, if you have a child named Evan and a child named John, you have not named them the same name.
Same with Anneleise: just because Lise and Elizabeth have something in common doesn’t make them the same name. If you hated the name Elizabeth but had to use it, I suppose you might try getting away with saying that Anneleise included the name Elizabeth—but if my name were Elizabeth and someone said they’d named their daughter Anneleise after me, I’d give them the fish eye.
Annalise Annalise is a redundant name. Annalise Elizabeth is not.
CEE would be a cute nickname too.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of First Names, Annalisa (variant Annalise) is the “Anglicized spelling of the German and Scandinavian compound name Anneliese, a “blend of Anne and Liese, with Liese being a “pet form of Elisabeth.” I wouldn’t use Annalise and Elizabeth together.
I also wouldn’t use Evan John or Caitlin Kathleen or any other two names that are so closely related.
I don’t think there is an absolute “right’ or “wrong’ in this, but just how one perceives names.
Nana- I agree that there is no right and wrong, which is why I wanted to give another opinion on what I read as a strong, unequivocal statement that the names would in fact be redundant. To me, a name that (1) includes the (2) other-language (3) pet form of (4) a different name, is not at all closely-related.
I voted for Anna, such a lovely classic choice that I personally will never tire of no matter how popular it is.
I prefer Anna Katherine, and I think I even have a friend with that name. She always signs her name Anna K., and I think the K is for Katherine but I’m not sure.
Anna Elizabeth is nice too.
The only downside to Anna in your situation is that you now may feel boxed into a corner should you have a third kid, but if you are fairly certain you won’t have any more kids, I don’t think the matching initials are a big deal.
My second choice would be Cara. Cara Elizabeth is lovely.
I voted for Katelyn but actually prefer just using Kate; Kate Elizabeth sounds better to me than Katelyn Elizabeth (too much of a mouthful).
My daughter is Kara Leigh, so I voted for Cara. I think it’s a great name, though my preference for the pronounciation is Care-a, not Car-uh. I knew a “Car-uh” in high school, and it didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
I also think Molly is a great choice.
I voted for Cara. I think it’s simple and feminine and underused and goes well with Alex. I am pronouncing it Care-uh in my head, although I don’t hate Car-uh.
I went to college with an Emma Kate and she always went by that. I always thought it was such a sweet sounding name, she also had a wonderful southern accent to go along with the name.
You’ve got a lot of very pretty, classic names on your list. You really couldn’t go wrong. And I love Elizabeth as a middle name.
Anyway, I voted for Cara. I have a little sister named Kara and I think it is a sweet name. It’s cute on a little girl, but also works on an adult.