Dawn writes:
I am in desperate need of your help. I am due with our second child, a boy. Our 3 1/2 year old daughter is named Molly Deane (the “e” at the end is silent it’s pronounced like Dean) and was named after my husbands favorite aunt Molly and my favorite aunt Deane. We are at a complete loss for a name for this child, all the boy names I always thought I LOVED just don’t seem right for our boy.
We know the middle name will be Thomas (after both my dad and my husbands dad) so that part is easy, it’s a first name we can’t seem to find. Our last name begins with an “E” it is Welsh and sounds like Heavens.
A few of my “naming requirements” would be that I like names to flow, like our daughters name it just flows so nicely. I also prefer for sibling names to fit together, it makes me crazy when I hear siblings and the names don’t seem to fit together or to even be in the same category like one is a classic name and the other is a way out there trendy name, does that make sense? Also both mine and my husbands names begin with a “D” so while D names are not out of the question I think I would like to avoid them. Oh and no funky spellings, I have spent my life correcting people on my name (as simple as it is) I do not want to do that to a child.
Some names we like but are off limits due to family or close friends already having them would be Andrew, Kasen, Wesley, Jackson, Connor, Justin, Jacob, William.
Some names we have considered but are not loving are Jeremy, Jared, Jonathon (this is my husbands middle name but, I am afraid he would end up being called John), Mason, Max, Shane (I like, husband hates), Gavin, Liam, Ben.I hope you and your readers can help, your our last hope, as we have scoured all the baby name books and web sites we can find and still we are without a name.
I like coordinating styles, too. In this case, it depends on how you see the name Molly. I find it hard to pin down names like Molly and Sadie and Lucy: are they down-home old-fashioned revival names? or are they modern sassy nickname names? Or both? or what?
So I’m going to give a little variety in the suggestions: some names coordinate better with a down-home old-fashioned feel, and some coordinate better with modern; some are more like nicknames and some are less like nicknames. I’ll use “Heavens” as the stand-in surname here so we can get a feel for how things fit, but I’ll keep the E in the initials to remind us.
Caleb Thomas Heavens (CTE). Caleb Heavens. Molly Deane and Caleb Thomas. Molly and Caleb.
Charlie Thomas Heavens (CTE). Charlie Heavens. Molly Deane and Charlie Thomas. Molly and Charlie.
Clark Thomas Heavens (CTE). Clark Heavens. Molly Deane and Clark Thomas. Molly and Clark.
Cole Thomas Heavens (CTE). Cole Heavens. Molly Deane and Cole Thomas. Molly and Cole.
Henry Thomas Heavens (HTE). Henry Heavens [not actually a double H sound: surname starts with E]. Molly Deane and Henry Thomas. Molly and Henry.
Kyle Thomas Heavens (KTE). Kyle Heavens. Molly Deane and Kyle Thomas. Molly and Kyle.
Leo Thomas Heavens (LTE). Leo Heavens. Molly Deane and Leo Thomas. Molly and Leo.
Luke Thomas Heavens (LTE). Luke Heavens. Molly Deane and Luke Thomas. Molly and Luke.
Milo Thomas Heavens (MTE). Milo Heavens. Molly Deane and Milo Thomas. Molly and Milo.
Nathaniel Thomas Heavens (NTE). Nathaniel Heavens. Molly Deane and Nathaniel Thomas. Molly and Nathaniel.
Riley Thomas Heavens (RTE). Riley Heavens. Molly Deane and Riley Thomas. Molly and Riley.
Simon Thomas Heavens (STE). Simon Heavens. Molly Deane and Simon Thomas. Molly and Simon.
Spencer Thomas Heavens (STE). Spencer Heavens. Molly Deane and Spencer Thomas. Molly and Spencer.
More ideas for Dawn?
Name update! Dawn writes:
Baby boy “Heavens” Arrived late in the evening on March 24th (the little stinker was a week early!) and only had to wait three more days for a name. We went into the hospital with the list narrowed down to Jeremy, Spencer or Wesley and while Wesley was on our list of can’t use because we know one already in the end we decided the Wesley we know is a great kid and we wouldn’t mind our little guy sharing a name with him. So our little guy is now named Wesley Thomas and it fits him to a T. Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions.
From your list of likes, I really like Gavin. I have a Gavin of my own and before I read all the email, I was thinking…Gavin would go great with Molly.
From Swistle’s list I really like Cole, Kyle, and Luke. And I like Nathan (nn Nate) over Nathaniel, I love Molly and Nate.
Maybe Alexander (Alex) or Daniel (Danny)?
I love Spencer Thomas. Molly & Spencer sound great together.
I like Simon and Spencer. And for more ideas this is what came to mind:
Calvin Thomas. Molly and Calvin.
And some from Nymbler:
Abe Thomas. Molly and Abe
Benjamin Thomas. Molly and (Ben or Benjamin)
Hugh Thomas. Molly and Hugh
Nat Thomas. Molly and Nat
James Thomas. Molly and James
My favorite is Abe, and I think James works especially well with Molly. Good luck.
Oooh, I like Caleb, Gavin, and Liam. Mason is a family name for me, so I love it too. It sounds modern but is old fashioned. My great-great-grandpa (I think) was named Mason, and it is the middle name of my grandfather and father.
I love the name Thomas. I also love Luke and think that Luke and Molly go well together.
To me, Molly sounds kind of Gaelic/Celtic/Welsh and the surname is Welsh, so that’s the direction I am leaning toward for baby boy.
I like:
Liam Thomas; Liam and Molly
Caleb Thomas; Caleb and Molly
Simon Thomas; Simon and Molly
Finnigan Thomas; Finn and Molly
Connor Thomas; Connor and Molly
Graham Thomas; Graham and Molly
Aidan Thomas; Aidan and Molly
I love Aidan , as Barb suggested. I think it sounds great with Molly. Also-what about Oliver? Oliver Thomas. Oliver and Molly. I love it!! Good luck
I like Spencer by far the best with all things considered (middle, last, and sib set).
Why not Jonathan Thomas? I think it would be really special for your little boy to have his father’s middle name as his first name.I have a baby grandson named Jonathan who will not be called John as that’s his father’s name. But if you want a nickname, you could call him Jack: there’s a Jonathan in my grandsons’ kdg. class who goes by Jack. I find Molly and Jack very compatible: both started out as nicknames for very classic names.
I like James Thomas too: Molly and James or Molly and Jamie.
From your list, I especially like Benjamin “Ben” Thomas and Liam Thomas. Liam too comes from a classic name but now is being used as a given name.
Thinking of Molly as a name popular among the Irish/Gaelic speakers, I think Gavin or Owen would be good matches, also, again, Liam. Daniel coordinates too.
HENRY THOMAS!
Spencer and Charles are my faves.
Luke Thomas is very handsome.
Would Nathan be a good comprise nice? Nathan Thomas E. is a solid choice.
I also think that Lewis Thomas E. would be nice.
I like Henry best of your list — especially with Molly!
Going with the Irish theme, how about:
Sean Thomas Heavens
Reese / Rhys Thomas Heavens (esp since Rhys is Welsh too)
Conor / Connor / Conner Thomas Heavens
On my daily walk with my son (aka a dog named JJ) I saw “Spencer” written in chalk on a sidewalk. I take this as a sign that I made the right choice in condoning Spencer in my comment ; )
Oops, sorry, just re-read and see that you can’t use Connor.
Honestly, I think you can’t go wrong with any of the names that you listed or those that have been suggested. My faves are probably Gavin, Owen, Jonathan, and Sean.
I vote for Mason!
Molly and Mason
Mason Thomas Heavens
Unless you have something against having two names that start with the same letter…but I love it!
Henry!!
Luke!!
Oliver!!
all great!
My grandpa’s name is Charles Thomas, and the name is timeless. Charlie would be a great nickname. Charlie and Molly…love it!
Reading the possibilities, I like Gavin or Ben the best to go with both Thomas and Molly. I also like Barb’s suggestions a lot. How about a boy’s name or nickname that is more informal similar to Molly – Jamie (James)? You seem to like J names, how about Jude?
I love Cole Thomas – it was on my list for a boy, but hubs liked Clay Thomas better – and we had a girl anyway :) but from Swistle’s list – it definitely gets my vote!!
From your list I really like the names Liam and Mason…
good luck!
Luke Thomas has a lovely flow and is a great match for Molly.
tristan thomas – tristan & molly
Lots of good suggestions, so I’m just popping in to say that to my ear, Molly and Milo sound a bit too similar to use for siblings. They’re like the same name, just rearranged. I almost wonder if Liam has the same problem.
Liam, Mason, Caleb, Spencer and Connor
All those are great.
How about Louie?
Our son is called Louie and if our next baby is a girl we will call her Molly.