Hollie writes:
We are expecting baby boy #2 at the end of April. Our son Andrew was named very easily, I had a dream about it before I was even pregnant, hubby liked it, and we were done. This time, it’s not so easy. We are having a very difficult time finding names we both like, and have narrowed it down to two. Unfortunately we’re not sure EITHER goes well with our last name! Our last name is BEER-din. My top choice is Evan, which leaves us with Evan Beerdin, kind of rhyme-y. My husband does not like the name Evan very much. His top choice is Caleb, which I like, but am even more concerned because Caleb Beerdin said fast sounds like Cayla Beerdin. And the dreaded b-B with the last letter of Caleb and the first letter of Beerden. Hubby loves the nickname Cal, which I don’t care for and wouldn’t use much but he would.
If it weren’t for the last name issue, I would go with my husband’s top choice because I like Caleb very much. But the last name thing stops me. I love this blog, and told my husband I was going to get objective opinions from you all! So I would like to know, is Caleb just NOT going to work due to our last name? Is Evan too rhyme-y? Do we need to go back to the drawing board all together? Please help!
Ooo, good one. I’ll put polls to the right. [Polls closed; see results below.] There will be THREE of them. One will be a vote on whether Evan Beerdin is too rhymey because of the an/in endings. Another will be a vote on whether Caleb Beerdin sounds too much like Cayla Beerdin because of the b-B blend. And another will be a vote: Evan, Caleb, or back to the drawing board.
Poll results:
Is Evan Beerdin too rhymey? (338 votes total)
Yes: 114 votes, roughly 34%
No: 224 votes, roughly 66%
Does Caleb Beerdin sound too much like Cayla Beerdin? (340 votes total)
Yes: 277 votes, roughly 81%
No: 63 votes, roughly 19%
Help the Beerdins out (321 votes total):
Evan: 110 votes, roughly 34%
Caleb: 45 votes, roughly 14%
Back to the drawing board: 166 votes, roughly 52%
Name update 04-23-2009! Hollie writes:
oh yay! I’m excited to see it on there–alas baby arrived early! Now I’m just excited to see the majority of people agreeing with ME, since ultimately I won the debate! Evan Jack was born 4/16/09, almost 2 weeks early. And I didn’t want to get into too much detail in my email, but Calvin–the obvious choice for an alternative to Caleb, was the name of our best friend’s Dalmatian, who just passed away last year at 13 years old. Major name association there! ;-)
Your husband likes the nickname Cal, so what about another name that uses that nickname. Callum/Calum, Calvin, Callahan, etc. might be options. I personally really like Callum. Just an idea.
I suggest Calvin too- can use the Cal nickname, but it sounds similar to Evan.
I second the Calvin suggestion. Another idea is Everett. Everett and Andrew.
I like the Callum suggestion too. I agree that Evan is rhymey and Caleb is too bbbbbbb with your surname.
I was thinking of Calvin too – one of my faves, but only if you can come around to liking Cal.
On to the questions at hand; Evan Beerdin sounds / looks fine. Caleb Beerdin, on the other hand, does not. The run together with the b’s is a problem IMO.
For other options (some from my head and others from books / websites searching for Andrew & Evan brothers):
Nicholas
Daniel – like Daniel Beerdin
Nathan or Nathaniel
Kyle
Joshua
Gabriel
Grant
Isaac
Thomas
Peter
Paul
Eliot
James
Miles
Timothy
Matthew
Michael
You know, Matthew and Michael came up a lot. Personally I was afraid to include them – they were so overused for my generation that I perceive them as boring. And I actually find Michael obnoxious because almost every Michael / Mike I knew growing up was obnoxious – I knew many. But maybe I shouldn’t eliminate them for you due to my possible misconceptions. I also got a lot of options ending in “n” just like Evan, such as Colin and Brandon (double whammy – with alliterative at the beginning and ending – ouch). I think Colin is fine, but I was looking for options that didn’t have the rhyming issue because if you can get past the rhyming, then you might as well go with your first choice Evan. Good luck.
I think the B in Caleb doesn’t work with the last name. But I don’t think Evan is too rhymey (full disclosure; I have a son Evan so clearly I love the name).
What about Cale?
I like Evan, I think you should go with that! It’s not too rhymey, it’s fine.
I don’t really feel that bothered by Caleb Beerdin possibly sounding like Cayla Beerdin… it only sounds that way to me if you say it fast. If you split the names when you say it, “He’s Caleb Beerdin”… I mean really, it’s two names and he’s a boy, and Caleb is a well-known enough name I don’t think people are really going to think his name is Cayla.
And a lot of times, you don’t say your first and last name. So if Caleb is the name you really like, I don’t really see your last name starting with a B being a huge deal-breaker. It might be “slightly annoying”, but I wouldn’t say it should be a be-all/end-all.
But that all being said, haha, I personally prefer the name Evan to Caleb, and think that Evan would work really well. :-)
I prefer Evan, but I think that if your husband doesn’t like Evan, it should definitely be out – you should both like the name, not just one of you.
I also, unfortunately, think Caleb Beerdin runs together too much and forces you to make an unnatural pause to really enforce the name Caleb, plus you don’t like the possible nickname, so again I’d say scrap it.
My vote was to go back to the drawing board…
I’m going to echo the previous suggestion of Callum – it would give your husband the nickname he likes and I think it goes better with your last name. I think Caleb is a good name but just doesn’t have as nice a flow with your surname. I like Evan as a name too, but am not as keen on the having both names end in “n”. Good luck!