S. writes:
I am due with my third child in January. I have 2 girls, Norah Rae and Lucy Mae. Norah came from my grandma, Eleanor and grandpa, Ray. Lucy is named after a great-grandmother on my husband’s side. Lucy’s birthday is May 1st so my husband really wanted her middle name to be Mae. I am not a fan of rhyming middle names – but oh well. Anyway, we are having a hard time coming up with names we both agree on. This time around we don’t want to do a family name so we have a lot of options. For a girl, I like older names, Daphne, Ruby, Daisy. My husband really likes Isabel or Izzy for short. I am not a huge fan of nicknames. He also like Campbell. I prefer names that are 6 letters or less and no more than 2 syllables (we have a longer, uncommon last name).
For a boy, my husband really likes Maddox, but I don’t want people to shorten it to Mad and I have a brother Max, so we wouldn’t go with that. I really like Rex – I don’t think my husband is sold on that one. I also like Brady. We like solid boys names, but not necessarily traditional boys names.
Also, we don’t care for names that end in en, on, or an (because it would rhyme with our last name).
I certainly want a name that goes well with Norah and Lucy. Help!
Girl names first! A few of the ones in my list break either the 6-letter or the 2-syllable rule, but I left them in because I liked them anyway, or because I felt like they SEEMED shorter than they were.
Norah, Lucy, and Audra
Norah, Lucy, and Claire
Norah, Lucy, and Eliza
Norah, Lucy, and Georgia
Norah, Lucy, and Hazel
Norah, Lucy, and Julia
Norah, Lucy, and Molly
Norah, Lucy, and Pearl
Norah, Lucy, and Rose
Norah, Lucy, and Violet
Now boy names. These were harder. For one thing, a lot of the good, solid-but-not-necessarily traditional names end in the -en sound. But how about your husband’s girl-name idea Campbell? I know it’s longer than you’d like, but it’s a good, solid boy name that goes nicely with your girl names: Norah, Lucy, and Campbell.
Because Maddox and Brady are both surname names, and because I think surname names have that “solid but not necessarily traditional” sound, I went through the Last Names First section of The Baby Name Wizard to find a few other possibilities:
Norah, Lucy, and Archer
Norah, Lucy, and Asher
Norah, Lucy, and Baxter
Norah, Lucy, and Campbell
Norah, Lucy, and Carter
Norah, Lucy, and Grady
Norah, Lucy, and Grant
Norah, Lucy, and Jared
Let’s do TWO polls over to the right, one for the girl names and one for the boy names. [Polls closed; see below for results.]
Poll results, girl names (273 votes total):
Audra: 23 votes, roughly 8%
Claire: 99 votes, roughly 36%
Eliza: 19 votes, roughly 7%
Georgia: 23 votes, roughly 8%
Hazel: 26 votes, roughly 10%
Julia: 5 votes, roughly 2%
Molly: 23 votes, roughly 8%
Pearl: 16 votes, roughly 6%
Rose: 21 votes, roughly 8%
Violet: 18 votes, roughly 7%
Poll results, boy names (248 votes total):
Archer: 31 votes, roughly 13%
Asher: 32 votes, roughly 13%
Baxter: 15 votes, roughly 6%
Campbell: 48 votes, roughly 19%
Carter: 39 votes, roughly 16%
Grady: 20 votes, roughly 8%
Grant: 51 votes, roughly 21%
Jared: 12 votes, roughly 5%
So I’m thinking to myself, “Alright Frazzled, you just left your third comment on the last name post, don’t be the first to comment now.” But I’m so excited about your tastes, S.
I love Norah and Lucy. And I’m just thrilled to see someone else who likes Rex, which happens to be on my list. Would your husband consider Rex as a middle name? I think it would make a smashing middle name.
For the girls names I was torn between Georgia and Molly, but voted for Molly because it seemed to fit your criteria better.
For the boys, my absolute favorite is Grant and that was my vote, but I’m not sure it flows well with my middle name suggestions, Rex. Campbell Rex has the best rhythm I think, but Grant Rex isn’t terrible.
Good luck.
I love Molly, but I like the rhythm of Claire better with Nora and Lucy (both awesome names). Nora, Lucy, and Claire.
Boys names are harder. What about Jake? I love that name. Short and to the point. Nora, Lucy, and Jake. Miles is also a good one. Nora, Lucy, and Miles.
Good luck!
Even though it’s not on your poll Ruby is my hands down fave.
Ruby!!
Ruby would get my vote too! :)
How about Felix for a boy? I am a fan of X in a name (daughter’s middle name is Beatrix, and I can’t help but say it aloud just for fun) and Maddox/Rex certainly have it too. Norah, Lucy and Felix.
Or Theo. Norah, Lucy and Theo.
Going with the “vintage” names for girls, I was going to recommend Mariam, but that may be too close to rhyming with your last name. What about Mariel instead?
I have a harder time seeing the last name style names for the boys going with the vintage girls names, but I also wanted to suggest Grayson.
For boys I really like Miles, Theo, Jake/Jacob and Grant. I like Rex, but it sounds like a pet name to me and reminds me of the T-rex dinosaur.
Claire has my vote all the way for a girl! I like that it has a different beginning and ending sound than Lucy or Nora, but still “goes” so well. The names Ruby, Violet, Rose, etc are pretty too, but neither of the other girls has a name that’s a word and for some reason they stand out to me as a differnet style than Nora and Lucy.
I just love Georgia!
Rose is the hands-down favorite for me. :) I love Ruby as well, but Ruby and Lucy are a little too close for my tastes. Maybe you can incorporate your husband’s favorite, Isabel, as the middle name? I think that sounds great. For boys, I like Archer and Asher, both with the middle name Rex. (BTW, Rex is too cute!) Asher fits better with Norah and Lucy, so let’s go with that.
So! We have Norah Rae, Lucy Mae, and Rose Isabel or Asher Rex. Nice! :)
A good name for you might be Iris, nn Izzy.
Boys:
Reid
Blake
Adam
Cormac
Good luck,
Brooke
What about Audrey?
Um. Swistle, my lovely? Her daughter’s name is spelled “Norah” with an H on the end, and you’ve spelled it “Nora” with no H all the way through the post. ;-) Sorry to nitpick, but… now more and more people are writing “Nora, Lucy and ___” and sometimes the spelling does make a difference when thinking of matching names. (Ugh, really sorry to be the one to point that out, but it was just irking me a touch, lol).
I like Daphne and Isabel for a girl, and I’m very NOT fond of Campbell. I also love the name Claire, so out of Swistle’s suggestions I’ve voted for Claire.
For a boy, I like the suggestion of Asher with the daughter’s names… Asher Rex is cool. I also like Carter and Grant.
Steph- DANG IT! And the polls won’t let me change them! Dang it dang it! Well, I’ll go change the spelling in the post anyway. You’re right: DEFINITELY the spelling makes a difference.
I, too, like Daphne…not used enough I say! How about Daphne Lee or Grant Maddox?
How about Margaret, for a girl? And then call her Daisy? I love the sound of Norah, Lucy and Margaret but this could fulfill your husbands need for a nickname and you could still have an older sounding name.
I love Asher for a boy. Asher sounds dreamy, to me.