Rusti writes:
I’m 37 weeks pregnant with our first child (due in 21 days!! YIKES!) and the gender is unknown (well – to me! my husband and sister know, but they’ve both been threatened that if I find out – there will be consequences!!) :) Anyway – we have narrowed down our boy name choices to two boy names – with variations on each middle name, although the girl name list keeps changing… and I was hoping for some outside help :)
Our last name is Sidel (long “i” sound – like “sigh-dell”) if that helps!
The names my husband and I both like are as follows:
BOY
- Clay Allen (his choice)
- Clay Adam (my choice)
- Cole Allen (his choice)
- Cole Thomas (my choice)
GIRL
- Jemma Jean (we would call her JJ)
- Emma Grace (only girl name that was on BOTH our lists, but is a little more popular than we like)
- Addison Jean
- Alex/Alyx Jean
- Allie/Ally Jean
Other names we like for a girl but haven’t made it to the short list for one reason or another include:
Maggie (my favorite!)
Summer (his favorite, not for me)
Bailey (both like it – but a girl with the initials of BJ??? not sure on that)
Abigail/Abby
Olivia, Aubrey & Mara (he hates all three)
Hailey, Katy, Amy, Jessie (his picks, not for me)
Anna (his pick – I prefer Annalise – he hates it though)Other boy names we liked (to get a better idea of our tastes)
Me – Grady, Owen, Grayson
Hubs – Kyle, Casey, Austin, Mason, ParkerA little background on the family names which have us debating still… Jean is both my mom & sister’s middle name, as well as my husband’s deceased grandmother’s – it’s not his favorite, but he’s compromising with me :) Clay is my mother-in-law’s maiden name, we lost her last September to cancer, and I thought it was a nice way to honor her… Allen is my husband’s middle name – and he often goes by “Al” (which is also his father & grandfather’s – hubby is a III, but if it’s a boy, we’re not having a fourth) Adam is my deceased cousin’s name, and was actually a front-runner for first name on hubby’s original list… Thomas is the most passed-down middle name on my father’s side – although not his middle name, it was my grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s – as well as several cousins’…
So… that’s what we’re dealing with – I hope y’all can help us!! We’d even be happy to get it down to two each to take to the hospital in the next few weeks!! :) Thanks in advance!!! Oh, and sorry it’s sooooo long!!! :)
All right, we’re going to use two separate polls here, one for girl names and one for boy names! Form two lines, please, and vote one time in each poll! [Polls closed; see below.]
Girl name poll results (289 votes total):
Jemma Jean: 70 votes, roughly 24%
Emma Grace: 93 votes, roughly 32%
Addison Jean: 78 votes, roughly 27%
Alex/Alyx Jean: 14 votes, roughly 5%
Allie/Ally Jean: 34 votes, roughly 12%
Boy name poll results (277 votes total):
Clay Allen: 46 votes, roughly 17%
Clay Adam: 47 votes, roughly 17%
Cole Allen: 37 votes, roughly 13%
Cole Thomas: 147, roughly 53%
Name update 01-22-2009! Rusti writes:
Our sweet Emma Grace was born on January 6th and we couldn’t be happier with her! I want to thank you & all your readers for their help! Hubs still loved Jemma, but after watching me go through delivery, when I said “babe, we aren’t naming her Jemma” he said “what do you want?” and we agreed that Emma Grace was perfect!
Wow! Some great name choices.
My issue with “Clay Allen” or “Clay Adam” is that I automatically have “Clay Aiken” pop into my head. Personally, that’s not an association I enjoy. BUT… I do appreciate and understand the family connections to the names, and it’s not like you’re going to call the child by first name – middle name all the time, so it won’t REALLY be an issue. But I just wanted to point that out.
I really love the name Cole… so I’m voting Cole Allen (but Cole Thomas is equally a good name… so… tough choice).
For girls, if you both like Emma Grace, I say go for it! I think Emma is just such a beautiful, classic name. Even if it IS popular everywhere, that just means it’s a lovely name and that a) people will always pronounce it correctly and b) people will always spell it correctly. NOT a bad thing! “Emma Grace” is lovely together. I’m a Stephanie, so I’m familiar with having a billion people my age have my name; it’s not really such a bad thing (even if I have complained now and then, it truly is nice having a regular, well-known name with a normal spelling).
My other girl choice for you is Addison Jean. Love the name Addison very much.
I think you’ve come up with great options! Maybe when you see the little one, the right name from your lists will just stick out for you and suit the baby well.
I love the idea of using family names, and Jean for a girl and Clay for a boy both seem like nice tributes. However, the alliteration in Jemma Jean makes it sound a bit too cutesy for me (I keep thinking “jelly bean,” too, for some reason), and the “-ay” sound in Clay is a bit too repetitive with “A” middle names. Rearranging things a bit, how about Emma Jean and Clay Thomas?
Best of luck!
Way to go on using family names! I love that :)
Sadly, one name I am going to suggest does not incorporate your family names:
Gemma Grace, nn Gigi
I also think that the name Adeline Jean, nn Addie is very sweet for you!
All of the boys names are great. I too think of Clay Aiken, sorry. Hence Cole Thomas gets my vote.
Good luck!
I agree with other posters about the association with Clay Aiken. I really like the name of Adam Clay or Thomas Clay/Thomas Allen.
I think my top selection would be John Allen though. Jean is the french version of John, so it would be honoring the mother in law. Other options/varients would be Sean or Shawn.
The poster said that they were concerned about the popularity of Emma, otherwise I would agree with Addison. Because of this I LOVE LOVE LOVE Brooke’s suggestion of Adeline Jean. SO cute.
Ok I’m going Emma Grace partly because it’s a name we had picked if one of our boys was a girl. Boys names have me a little more undecided but I think anything with Clay A— is out. Cole Allen is much better.
For boys, I would go with Emma Grace or Adeline Jean – both are adorable, although I’m a bit tired of seeing so many Emmas, to be honest.
I had such a hard time deciding on a boys name! Cole Thomas is great. The flow, the sound, the aesthetics… such a wonderful name. But, I can see that honoring family is important to you and the connection to Thomas is a distant one, so I nixed my vote for Cole Thomas.
Clay Allen is great. I didn’t get the Clay Aiken thing at first, so I wouldn’t worry about it. I like Allen (especially this spelling), so this was nice to see. You should note, however, that Clay Allen Sidel is awful L heavy. If that doesn’t bother you, then go ahead and use it. Another small issue is that both Clay and Allen are from your DH’s side. Would your family be upset about this? Consider this.
Clay Adam is so wonderful because it honors two family members from both sides, flows nicely, and avoids the L overload Clay Allen gets. I voted for this!
Cole Allen is great, but again, very L heavy.
So… final votes: Clay Adam and Adeline Jean.
I voted for Clay Adam but my first thought was Clay Aiken. If it were me, I would do Adam Clay or Thomas Clay or Clay Thomas.
For the girls, at first I really didn’t like Jemma Jean but the more I said it, the more I liked it so I voted for that one. But I really think you should go with Emma Grace. It isn’t the equivalent of picking a popular name back in the day…because people try not to pick popular names anymore.
When I saw Clay, I didn’t think Aiken but Walker, the singer who always seemed like such a good guy. Also, I love honoring family that way. Plus, I don’t know if it’s true where you live, but Cole is rapidly gaining popularity here. Thus, my vote is for Clay Adam, Adam over Allen just because I’ve always liked the name Adam.
I shy away from Emma, lovely as the name is, because of its current popularity. Addison also seems trendy to me. I like JJ, but something about Jemma Jean turns me off. I really like Allie. I think it flows nicely with your last name.
Oooohhhh, I LOVE Clay Thomas for a boy. Gets both sides of the family.
For a girl, I like Ally Jean, again, gets both sides of the family.
If you really love Emma, I vote for Emma Jean :)
I voted for Allie Jean because it’s just so cute. There aren’t many Jeans out there anymore – I wanted it for my DD’s middle name (after my Grandma) but DH put his foot down. It’s an adorable middle name though, and not as popular as Jane is right now, but the same feel.
Honestly, in five years I doubt anybody will remember Clay Aiken, and it doesn’t matter anyway because the midddle name is used so rarely in day-to-day conversation. I think Clay Allen Sidel is a wonderful, dynamic boy-boy-boy name that he will love. I also like Jemma Jean with the nickname JJ.
Luv for boys: Owen Thomas and Cole Thomas – both unique and strong boy names but not too “out there”. Luv for girls: Jemma Jean (kinda cutesy) but as she grows older- Jemma Sidell sounds very elegant. Mara Jean and Aubrey Jean. Both have a classic ring to them but more original than Emma. Good luck.
I love both Clay and Cole, but I voted for Cole because I think I would absolutely use it if my last name didn’t start with an L.
I also saw the Clay Aiken thing right away, so if you use Clay I would use the middle name Thomas.
I get the sense that you don’t love Allen but like the idea of it. So I hope you have a girl and name her Allie Jean (which is a great name), which covers off the Allen tribute and will free you up if you have a boy in the future.
For the boy, Cole Thomas is my favorite, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest switching the two to Thomas Cole. I think sometimes certain names get relegated to the middle name spot in families but can be brought to life if moved into the first name position.
Since you like both Addison and Allie, I’m going to suggest Allison Jean with the nickname Allie. I think in time you will find this option will sit so much better than Addison (trendy) or Allie as a full name (IMO Allie is cute but needs a formal backup for the future resume).
May I suggest Alexis Jean. Then you could go with either Allie or Alex as a nickname and she would still have a grownup name when she grows up.