Aly writes:
I am due TODAY with a boy. It’s our first, so I have a feeling we have another week or so before he’s here.
The baby’s last name will be Weaver – this is my husband’s last name and I kept my name when we married.
We’ve decided on the first name Austin. It was hard for us to find a name we both liked. Others we liked a lot all seemed to end in “er” which we thought sounded weird with the “er” on Weaver. Examples: Cooper, Walker. Austin is a family name – my maternal grandparent’s last name. They were very important people in my life. We like the significance and the name itself. Plus it has the benefit of not being super common but also not so unique that it’s strange.
Where we’re having trouble is with the middle name.
An obvious choice would be my last name but the three names really don’t sound good together. Plus I’m afraid it sounds too much like three last names.
We’d prefer something with significance but that’s not an absolute requirement.
We live in Hawaii, and for a long time I was pushing for Kai. However, my husband absolutely does not like this name. So it’s out. A lot of other Hawaiian names just sound way TOO Hawaiian – and we’ve only lived here a year, so we both feel like giving a really traditional, Hawaiian sounding middle name would be odd/inappropriate.
My husband suggested Cal, which he likes the sound of – plus we met in college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I’m just not sure…it doesn’t sound too bad but I feel like it’s sort of cheesy/weird to explain to all these people how we chose the middle name. Is it okay? Or kind of weird?
We need help, please! Another name we both like is Jack or Jackson (and it’s my husband’s grandfather’s name), but it doesn’t sound great as Austin Jackson Weaver. Or does it??
I really want to feel confident with a decision before we go into the delivery room! I would be SO appreciative of any help you and your readers can provide.
THANK YOU!!!
P.S. other grandparent’s/great-grandparents names include Samuel, Richard, Olin, Ron, Jack
I like Austin Jack Weaver, which takes away the repeated-ending problem of Austin Jackson. I also like Austin Samuel Weaver, and I like Austin Richard Weaver. Any of those would make excellent names. Let’s have a poll over to the right and see if we can get results before the baby arrives! [Poll closed; see results below.]
Poll results (250 votes total):
Austin Jack: 96 votes, roughly 38%
Austin Samuel: 103 votes, roughly 41%
Austin Richard: 8 votes, roughly 3%
Austin Cal: 43 votes, roughly 17%
I voted for Austin Jack Weaver. With Austin being the family name of the maternal grandfather, I think it’d be special to have the baby’s middle name from the paternal grandfather. Also I like the sound of Austin Jack best of the 4 choices.
I like Cal, mostly because I like its significance. I don’t think it’s weird. I think it’s clever.
While Jack isn’t my first choice, it has nice significance with the added benefit of being great initials if he would ever like AJ as a name option. (Or if you like AJ as a nick name for that cute little man.)
I like the sentiment behind Cal (I have a son named for the dorm where my partner and I met in college) though the name itself is not my style. It sounds like part of a name and not a whole name.
I have the same problem with Jack I do with Cal, too nicknamy. Of the two remaining options I like Samuel best, both as a name in its own right and how it fits into the whole name. Good luck deciding.
Why not Austin Caleb Weaver? Significance is there, but also a proper nice name that goes well with the style of the rest of the name, so no one will think its weird?
I voted for Austin Samuel Weaver, but Im not sure I like the uel sound close to the W. Austin Sam would work though!
Finally, can you take part of your last name and form it to a less last-namey middle name? Obviously, it depends on your last name, but Tchaikovsky becomes Ty, or Johnson Jonathan, or something like that?
How about Austin Calvin Weaver? Still has Cal in there, but I think it flows nicer.
I personally like Austin Cal Weaver. I like how the one-syllable name sounds with the other names. I also like that it has significance to you and your husband. I am from Baltimore-home of Cal Ripken-so the name Cal around here is god-like and not at all nickname sounding. SO, that gets my pick. Good Luck!
How about Louis in honor of San Luis Obispo? Austin Louis.
I also think Austin Kai would be nice.
This is probably too late! I like Cal and even the suggestion of Louis. As a tribute to Hawaii maybe you could use a nature name like Austin Ocean Weaver (not sure how out there you’re willing to be) or Austin Cliff, Austin Apollo, Austin Ceruluean or Cobalt. You could definitely get creative. But hey, that’s what middle names are for. :)