Amanda writes:
My husband and I are due with our first little one April 15th… and we are not close to having a name picked out at all! I tend to lean towards the names that are not in the top 100 (some have slipped through though) and he tends to not care if they are popular. I was Amanda S. for my entire education, so I don’t want to do that to a little girl by naming her Addison or something else extremely popular. His name is Paul. Our last name, Cada, is pronounced like Cadillac so we would like to stay away from C and K names, they sound a little too comic-bookish to me.
The names I like…
Mira
Alexis
Mara
Nora
Alannah
Eliza
Leah
AdelineMy husband’s fav’s…
Jane/Jayne
Addison
Mia
Kirsten
Alexis
Lauren
VictoriaWe both have Alexis on our lists, but it’s still not winning us over as the finalist! (and it has been very popular in the past).
We both love Mira but fear that people will pronounce it Myra, and then everyone pronounces Cada as ‘Cayduh’ instead of the short a sound. So she would have to correct everyone on her first and last name forever! We could spell it Meera though… we just prefer the Mira spelling.
Our middle name options (just depends on which first name we go with)… Ann, Marie or Elizabeth.
Thanks for your help!! :)
I think you’re right about the Mira thing. I think the name Mia gets the same sort of thing, with some people saying it MY-ah and some people saying MEE-ah. And Mara is another one: MARE-ah or MAR-ah.
When you said Cada as in Cadillac, that’s when it occurred to me that Alexis as in A Lexus might be too much car for one name.
Both Addison Cada and Alannah Cada seem rhymey—but this is one of those areas where in some situations I’d be saying that was what made the names click so well, so this could go either way. In fact, I wonder if it might help people remember how to pronounce the surname, by getting their mouths in the right shape with the first name. The flip side of this is that a name like Jane Cada might have the opposite problem: getting people’s mouths in the shape of AY, so that they go naturally into CAY-da by mistake.
Well, enough chipping away at the lists you already don’t agree with each other on; let’s see if we can find some other possible candidates.
Since you DO both like Alexis, and your husband likes Addison, I wonder if you would like Ellison. Ellison Marie Cada. Ellison is unusual but not too unfamiliar because of its similarity to Allison, and it has the cute nickname Ellie.
Emerson is similar to Ellison, but with the cute nickname Emmie. Emerson Marie Cada.
Elaine. Elaine Marie Cada. Elaine is underused but completely familiar, and it has the cute nickname Laney. It sounds something like your choice Eliza and something like his choice Jane.
Elena would be a little more up to date: Elena Marie Cada.
Eleanor. Eleanor Marie Cada. Eleanor is like the sounds of Lauren rearranged (nor instead of laur, and len instead of ren), and you could use Nora as a nickname.
Emeline. Emeline Marie Cada. Emeline has the sweetness of Adeline, but without the repeating “addah” of Adeline Cada—which, as I said before, might be a plus or might be a minus. Also, it has the cute nickname Emmie.
I didn’t mean for those all to start with E and get paired with Marie, but there it is. Apparently I was on a roll with E/Marie.
[Edited to add: I thought of this too late to put it in the poll, but how about Aliza? It’s so similar to Alexis, and also to your choice of Eliza.]
Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]
Poll results (263 votes total):
Ellison: 51 votes, roughly 19%
Emerson: 52 votes, roughly 20%
Elaine: 18 votes, roughly 7%
Elena: 27 votes, roughly 10%
Eleanor: 55 votes, roughly 21%
Emeline: 60 votes, roughly 23%
I love swistles suggestions in this case, but I also LOVE the name Eliza, and think that could work since it is 3 syllables and not rhymmy – though I suppose the long I sound might be troublesome. From Swistles list Eleanor and Ellison are my favorites. A couple other non-E names to try on:
(I stay away from rhyming names or names that are two syllables and also end in a, because it just seems too sing-songy to me)
Genevieve
Imogen
Madeleine (a little rhymmy still)
Megan
Mirabel/lle (pronunciation better)
Elizabeth (move it to first?)
Lillian
Vanessa
Violet
Charlotte
Juliet
Love the suggestion of Mirabel, because then she could go by Mira for short, and the full name would virtually eliminate any pronunciation problems.
I also love the name Alannah (would it be pronounced with a short /o/ as in A-lon-a, or a short /a/ as in A-lan-a?) My mom’s biggest regret was that she didn’t have another daughter to name Alana (A-lon-a), so maybe someone else could use it for her! :)
[a different anonymous than the first poster]
I think Mirabel is a lovely suggestion. FWIW, I can’t see anyone pronouncing Mira as anything but MEE-rah, anyway. MYE-rah is spelt Myra. But I do think that you have to be careful of first names that end in an -ah sound, especially the two-syllable ones. I think all of the first poster’s suggestions work beautifully with your ln. Good luck!
Thanks Swistle for giving Elaine the attention it is due! Elaine is a name I recently began to feel deserved a comeback. The nickname Laney or Lainey bring it up to date.
My parents considered Alana for me, and at one point I was dissapointed they didn’t. I much prefer the Alana spelling over the Alannah spelling only because I tend to prefer the more stripped down spellings (Nora over Norah, etc.), but that’s a matter of personal tastes. Maybe your husband would prefer Alana? They sound essentially the same to me, but it’s worth a try.
I voted for Elaine.
I mean, at one point I was disappointed my parents didn’t use Alana for me… I realized the first sentence in my second paragraph might seem awkward. I’m too hurried to properly proof..
The suggestion of “Ellison Marie Cada” had me cracking up- my name is Allyson Marie Cady. (although Cady has a long A)
You both have great lists! Here are a few other options:
Nola (similar to Nora, but a lot less popular)
Lucy
Elise
Lena
Mckenna
June
Delaney
Lillian (nn Lilly)
Millie
Sadie
Best of Luck!
I think Mirabel as a path to Mira is nice and I was going to suggest Miranda but it’s probably too similar to Amanda.
I think mom and dad’s lists are closer than most. They both seem to like recognisable feminine names although mom’s seem to be slightly shorter/fresher and dad’s more classic. There should be lots of common ground. How about:
Jenna
Janine
Lara
Noelle
Naomi
Nadia
Beatrix
Jillian
Meredith
Tabitha
Theresa
Hillary
Jocelyn
and with the middle name I would pick:
Jenna Marie Cada
Janine Elizabeth Cada
Lara Marie Cada
Noelle Marie Cada
Naomi Elizabeth Cada
Nadia Marie Cada
Beatrix Ann Cada
Jillian Elizabeth Cada
Meredith Ann Cada
Tabitha Marie Cada
Theresa Marie Cada
Hillary Ann Cada
Jocelyn Marie Cada
I have a beautiful little granddaughter, almost 2, named Miranda Elizabeth and called “Mira”. I noticed you like Mira for a first name and have Elizabeth as a possible mn. I think the similarity of mother and daughter names Amanda and Miranda could be a positive connection, yet with “Mira” as the nn there would be individuality too. I haven’t heard that there’s been any confusion about the pronunciation of our little Mira’s name. I love the name and heartily recommend it!
I was also going to suggest Miranda as well. Or spelling it Mirah might also clarify things?