Shelby writes:
Here is our issue:
I am a proud mama to 2 little girls, Poppy (Penelope) Isabella and Paisley Savannah. Our last name is Powers. Well, we are now expecting baby number 3 in September and I cannot decide whether to go with another P name or not if this is a girl. I don’t want their names to sound cheesy, and I definitely gravitate toward P names because I love the double P sound in the first and last names, particularly for female names. Do you think a 3rd daughter will feel “left out” if we don’t use a p name? This is most definitely our last child.
So far, names in the running for a girl are:
1. Piper (my husband loves this name)
2. Posey
3. Mariposa and call her Posey
4. Phoebe
Do you have any non-P name suggestions that go well with Poppy and Paisley?
If the baby is a boy, his name will probably be Theo Caspian Powers, which I love.
I think if I were you I’d stick with a P name for a third girl. I like Piper best of your options because I think it’s the best in the line-up: Posey is so similar in sound to Paisley when said out loud (I found myself swapping the sounds: Paisy and Posely), and Phoebe suddenly feels like it SHOULD be pronounced with a P sound instead of an F sound. Other P names to consider:
Padget Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Padget.
Patience Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Patience.
Persia Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Persia.
Philippa Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Pippa.
Peyton Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Peyton.
Polly Powers. Poppy, Paisley, and Polly. (This might be too close to Poppy—but it helps that Poppy is actually Penelope: Penelope, Paisley, and Polly.)
My two favorites are Padget and Philippa: Padget because I only recently heard of that name and I think it’s adorbs, and Philippa because I like the way she can draw attention to the P sound with Pippa, or downplay it with the F sound of Philippa.
Name update 09-17-2009! Shelby writes:
We have an update — our little boy, Theo Caspian, was born on September 14th!! He’s a healthy, beautiful little boy and everyone is doing great. Thank you all for the great suggestions!
What about Parker?
I think you should stick with a P name, too. I’m married to a man who still feels left out, at age 35, becasue his brothers are Dean and Dale. He’s the youngest, and is named Harold.
I really like Piper. And Pippa.
Another P name to throw in is Portia.
I like the idea of Mariposa, nn Posey – Poppy, Paisley and Posey is sort of cute-on-steroids, but Penelope, Paisley and Mariposa is different – unexpected, sophisticated and still fun.
If not Mariposa, nn Posey, I think Philippa is a nice second choice.
I love either Piper or Pippa!
I agree, Piper or Pippa (Philippa)! Since you have a po/pe and a pa a pi would be a good distinction.
I am completely persuaded by Abby@AppMtn’s comparison of “cute-on-steroids” to “unexpected, sophisticated, and still fun.” “Penelope, Paisley, and Mariposa” sounds perfect!
I would stick with a “P name & my choice would be Piper, love that name!
I’d stick with a P name, and Piper sounds perfect.
I also like the idea of having a /p/ sound in the middle of the name to complement the last name, “Powers”.
(e.g. Juniper Powers, Phillipa Powers, Mariposa Powers)
I have mixed feelings on this. My first instinct is to say definitely stick with a “P” name and of your choices Piper is my fave. BUT then you had to list Mariposa as a name choice and I think it TOTALLY works! The “P” sound in Mariposa is very strong and with the nn Posey it works. So, if you are going to stray from P names I like Mariposa, not sure any other non-P name would work. A couple of “P” names I like are Priya and Presley. Btw, love your boy name choice too! Good Luck!
I love both Pippa (Phillipa) and Padget. I like Petra and Prue, too.
Elspeth -> Pepper?
Aspen -> Penny?
Harper -> Perry?
Juniper -> Perry?
Ophelia and Josephine seem like they SHOULD have a “p” nickname, but it’s not coming to me.
Non-P…
Clover
Daisy
Ivy
Lilly
Violet
Good luck!
I second Parker.
Mariposa is Portuguese for moth. Not butterfly – MOTH. I’m a Portuguese speaker and it sounds really odd to me that someone would name their daughter Moth.
Another hesitation about Mariposa: in at least one region of South America, Mariposa, in addition to meaning moth or butterfly, is also used as a rude slang term. I’m not sure how widespread that is, but I have run into it.
I do love Phoebe, despite its lack of hard “p” sound, and Philippa, nn Pippa. Best of luck on finding the perfect name!
Leslie, here in Brazil, mariposa can indeed be used to refer to, er, women of ill repute. It’s not that common, may be a little old-fashioned, but yeah. I don’t know about the Spanish-speaking countries.
I’ve heard that mariposa is a derogatory term for a gay man in some Spanish-speaking countries, so I’d definitely recommend staying away from it.
My favorite of your choices is definitely Piper. It’s so cute! I’m also recommending Petra (PEH-tra) and Paige.
What about Portia? I know a little girl whose name is Portia and her nickname is Petey. Darling.
I want to sell my favorite P name – Paige. Love it. I also have a last name that begins with P, but I insisted on no P names. I’m not a fan of the illiteration in names or the initials P.P. But now I kind of like it. I should have gone with Paige…
I like Petra myself. It sounds like there are names you like that begin with P so if that’s what you like, I say why not. You like P names and don’t really need any other justification than that.
However, I have to disagree with those who say if you don’t go with another P name the third child will feel left out. I grew up in a family of 3 kids, all with A names. My brother, the youngest, mentioned off-hand that he didn’t like his name (never told my Mom of course!). I explained to him that our parents chose it because they felt compelled to continue the A pattern because they didn’t want him to feel left out. His response was that he wouldn’t have felt left out had his name started with another letter, he would have felt like he stood out and he would much rather stand out.
I’m just offering that as an example to assure other parents who may not want to continue a name pattern/theme with a third kid. There seems to be a lot of letters to Swistle lately from parents wondering if they should repeat initials with a third kid, and that’s why I am giving my general opinion on the topic.
I think the best would be to combine all of the possibilities into one: I think if you could find a PH (f) name that can be shortened to a P nickname… Sort of like Philipa nn Pippa… then they still have the P, and the nn P, but stand out on their own with F when they want to be!
I don’t really know how Pippa is pronounced but in my head it sounds kind of… not natural… I wonder if there are any other good Ph names?
Padget! 100% (I might even stick that on a mental list, since our last name is Powers, too!)
Philippa, Pippa.
PORTIA (as a few readers suggested above)
So underused, but elegant, and I love that it would have a different ending then the other too girls.
I also really like Juniper for non-P with this sibling set, but not sure I like Perry as a P nickname.
Another suggestion:
Paloma?
My favorite P name is…. PATTON. Its a family name and I am mulling it over for our next daughter (should there be one). I love Patsie as a nn.
Glad to see a few posters have suggested Portia. It was my first thought when I read the original post.
Also love Piper, Paloma, and Philippa nn Pippa. And Penelope!
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I’d love to add another suggestion: Persephone. It’s pronounced pur-SEFF-uh-nee.
I think it goes well with the sibling set – especially with Penelope, since it has the same rhythm. And the best part about the name is that is has a perfect nickname for your sibling set: Perry (or Peri/Perri/Perrie/Perie, however you want to spell it)! I never much liked the name Perry on a boy, but I recently heard it used for a girl, and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever!
Penelope, Paisley, and Persephone.
Poppy, Paisley, and Perry.
P-p-p-perfect!
I love Mariposa, nn Posey, for the same reason Abby mentioned above: it fits in perfectly with the cute-little-girl scheme, but it isn’t absolutely tied to that (and it’s such a pretty name!). I don’t think she’d feel left out, since she’s got the nickname that matches.
If you do go with another P name, I’d definitely try to stay away from an “ee” sounding ending.
Piper, combined with your other P names, reminds me of the TV series Charmed, which is about three witch sisters who all have P names (Piper, Phoebe, and Prue, who’s later subbed out for Paige.) I don’t watch the show that much, and I’m sure by the time your little girls are over it’ll be long gone (if it isn’t already), but that’s an association a few people will probably have. I didn’t think of it until Piper was mentioned, because that’s the most distinctive one, but if you do go with Piper (or Prue; Phoebe and Paige are probably common enough to be safe) I can bet you’ll have at least a few people say, “Oh, they’re kind of like the Charmed sisters!” I wouldn’t necessarily stay away from it on that account, but just wanted to give fair warning!
I couldn’t possibly choose. Who knew “P” girl names were so awesome?
Thanks everyone! We are still pondering, but so far we have come down to Piper Tallulah (who will probably have the nn Pippa since this family HAS to shorten names!)or Phoebe Frances. I love all of the suggestions though!
Hi, Shelby – I think Piper Tallulah fits better with the pattern of your other girls’ names (even in terms of middle name) but I love the name Phoebe, too.