J. writes:
I am due at the very beginning of January with my second baby, and we don’t know the gender. We have one son whose name is Declan Christopher James (the two middle names are for a specific reason, but not one we need to repeat with this baby). Our last name is F.o.l.e.y., thus rendering most names that end with -y, -ie, and especially -lie too cutsey or sing-songy for our tastes. If you couldn’t tell from our son’s name or our last name, we’re Irish, but a lot of the Irish names we like (ex. Aiobheann) are terribly difficult to spell or pronounce in English, so we’re willing to branch out, unless someone has any suggestions.
At this point, I think we’ve whittled our list down to either Eleanor Megan or Margot Anne for a girl, and Elliot Somers, Miles Thomas, and Winston Somers for a boy. All of the middle names are family names, so we’re set on using those, but we’re open to suggestions for first names. My husband also likes Miles for a boy, and I like Adrian and Julian (neither one of us has managed to sell the other on any of those, but we also haven’t eliminated them), and we both like Maura for a girl.
We’d love additional suggestions, as well as opinions on the names we’ve already listed.
Thanks!
I really, really like your choices. If you twisted my arm and forced me to choose, I’d choose Eleanor Megan for a girl and Elliot Somers for a boy, but I don’t think you can go wrong no matter what you choose. I’m going to make two polls, one for the girl names and one for the boy names. Polls are over to the right [polls closed; see below]—let’s vote! And hurry: baby is due at the very beginning of January, and ACK! we are a week into it.
Poll results, girl names (232 votes total):
Eleanor Megan: 136 votes, roughly 59%
Margot Anne: 96 votes, roughly 41%
Poll results, boy names (231 votes total):
Elliot Somers: 99 votes, roughly 43%
Miles Thomas: 105 votes, roughly 45%
Winston Somers: 27 votes, roughly 12%
Name update 01-17-2009! J. writes:
We finally had a baby girl yesterday, January 16 (I guess she just needed extra time to get those sweet chubby rolls!), and we decided to name her Eleanor Megan. Thanks so much for the votes!
I like Eleanor and I really like Maura esp. if you’re working the Irish thing. Elliot is not my favourite boy name, it seems quite feminine to me, not manly at all. Declan and Seamus go well together and Seamus usn’t so unheard of here that people don’t get it.
I really like Maura, too. I Seamus is a great suggestions! Seamus Winston? Best of luck!
I would stay away from Elliot, only because of the tidal wave of little girls named “Ellie” and “Ella” in the US right now…I think it would sound too feminine.
Seamus is cool…if he wants to be really surfer-American, he can even go by “Shay” when he gets older.
I picked Margot and Miles on the polls. I like all your names, though…different without being strange…
I agree that a more Irish-sounding boy’s name might work better with both Declan and your surname. I like Seamus too, but there are others you might consider.
Eleanor is lovely; as I recall the possible nn Nora has been well-used in Ireland. Maura is nice too.
I recently discovered that I think I like Irish names for boys or names that make me think they are Irish.
Some of my favorite boy names are:
Cael
Callum
Colin
Ryan
Kian
Kieran
If you like Maura – do you like Mara? That’s one of my favorites. I think Giselle is right about Elliot, so I picked Miles in the pole.
Margot and Maura are absolutely beautiful names — Margot Anne Foley is really nice. Eleanor is just too old-fashioned for my tastes, but it’s a very pretty name as well :)
For boys I voted Elliot, but honestly I like all three of your choices!
What about Pierce, Teagan, or Ronan? I love Seamus with Declan.
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Irish names are my specialty! I love them. I’m also Irish, by descent.
Anyway, Declan is a fabulous name!
For boys, have you considered these staples? Connor, Sean, Owen, Aidan, Ciaran, and Seamus. I also love the name Desmond, although it may be too similar to Declan. But I love the nickname Desi for it…so cute.
One of my favorite Irish boys names is Colm. Pronounced COLL-um, it means dove, and comes from Saint Colmcille, who founded the monastery on Iona, and was a follower of St. Patrick. Which leads me to the next name: Padraig. Even though it’s pronunciation in Irish is more PAW-dreg, it’s typically pronounced PAD-rig.
Ronan is another great name. It’s strong, easy to pronounce, and works very nicely with Declan. Similar names are Donall, Conall, and Conan.
As for the girls, I have always loved Margot, I think it’s so beautiful. Although, decidedly not Irish. It works really well with Declan, too. And Anne is lovely with it.
Even though I think that name may be the right choice, here are some other suggestions, just because I love doing this!
Maura is a great one. Dierdre was once the most beautiful woman in Ireland, but I don’t know if you would want both your children to start with D. I also really like Ciara (KEE-ra). And Ida (EE-da).
I love Brigid, although I’ve been told it looks too much like frigid, and that other spellings are preferred (though, not by me).
Cara (CAR-a) is the actual Irish language word for friend, just as amigo is in Spanish. I think that it’s wonderful as a name for a little girl.
I named my dog Mona, but I also think it’s a great name for a person. It means little noble one and is spelled Muadhnat in Irish.
Neve is an Anglicized form of Niamh, which is a beautiful Irish name. By the same account, Rosaleen is the Anglicized version of Rosín, which means little rose.
Many of these names are on my name list, if you’re interested: http://www.babynames.com/namelist/9671979
Sorry this is so long, and many congratulations to you and your family!
I love Maura, as well as Moira.
I think that with a Declan already in the family, she should go with another Irish name. I like Ronan a lot, which was suggested by someone else. I also have heard the name Cian before (pronounced key-in) before and liked it. I also like Seamus, Ian, Aidan, and Liam, but those last three are a bit on the more popular side.
As for girls, I like Maura or Moira. I also like Csiara a lot…we have a cousin by that name.
Ooh, I’m loving all of these suggestions! Much to my chagrin, we have NOT yet had our baby, and we still haven’t made a decision, so these suggestions are all really helpful. Thank you so much!
Out of the boy names mentioned how about Thomas Somers? Other ideas: I like the names Angus nn Gus, Connor or Keane (Cian). I would stay away from another boy’s name ending with n so I voted for Miles Thomas in the poll.
Out of your girl names I like Maura Eleanor. I second Bridgid and also like Maeve.