(My mother-in-law is in town this week, but the babies don’t wait and the questions are coming in faster than I can answer them, so I’ll post some for anyone interested to work on.)
Elizabeth writes:
I am due on Oct. 18th and are have struggled with possible names this entire pregnancy – especially girl names! We have two little girls and don’t know if this baby is a boy or girl. Here’s what our family looks like right now:
Mom – Elizabeth
Dad – Russ
3.5 year old – Jane (goes by Jane/Janie)
2 year old – Ellen (goes by Ellen/Ellie)
Our last name rhymes with “Bottle”If we have a boy, my husband would like to follow his family’s tradition of naming after grandpa’s. Going with this, we would name the baby boy William John. My husband is pretty set on this name but I have a couple of issues with it:
* His nickname would be Will and “Will Bottle” sounds funny to me. Something like an unfinished sentence??
* I don’t want to switch the names and have a John William b/c there are already 2 other John’s in the family.Unfortunately, we have no other options for boy names so we are open to new ideas…
As for baby girl names, we have struggled trying to match the other girls without being too similar. Our top names have been Claire, Lillian (Lilly), Mary and Lucy but have reservations about all of them. We both like Claire and Lilly but are concerned they are becoming too popular. I like Mary more than my husband but am concerned that Jane, Ellen and Mary almost sounds boring?!? Lucy was a late addition and my 3 year old loves it but I’m once again concerned that it is growing in popularity and will be one of the next “It” names.
As you can tell, we like simple, traditional names that aren’t overly common. Please help with any suggestions!!!!
Couple of thoughts on the girl names:
Lilly sounds pretty similar to Ellie in my opinion. Lucy would be lovely with your girl names, but I do agree it’s becoming more popular.
If you like Mary but worry about it being too common, there are many variants:
Marion, Marie, Marine, Marigold, Marisol, Mariposa, Marilyn, Mariel, Marissa, Marilla, Marita, Marika, Mara…
These are all fairly established names and might avoid the “Jane and Mary” boredom syndrome.
Some options to Mary / Lucy:
Carrie (Caroline/Carolyn/Carol)
Lacy / Stacey / Tracey / Macy
Josie (Josephine)
Does his nickname HAVE to be Will? What about the less traditional Liam? Liam Bottle doesn’t sound like an unfinished sentence to me at all.
Of the girl names you listed, I like Claire the best with Jane and Ellen.
If you think Mary is too boring (if you like it, I say go for it), then what about Marie? It’s presently around #550 on the SSA list, and has only gotten less common in the last 20 years.
Margaret is another possibility–traditional, less popular over the last couple decades; it’s presently just short of #200.
As far as boys’ names, I think William John is nice. And if your husband is pretty set on it and you don’t really have other options already thought up to argue with. . . . What about your father’s name? Do you like it any better? Then you could argue that you’d (technically) still be following the tradition, just with something that works better for you? Or is there a way to combine the two grandfather’s names? Or their middle names? I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with “Will Bottle,” personally.
Good luck!
Other names ending in N sound: Susan, Fern, Lynn and Marian. Ivy or Rose if you’d like something botanical this time. What about Marie instead of Mary?
You could use nicknames: Meg (Margaret), Sally (Sara/Sarah), Lisa or Beth (Elizabeth), Marge (Marjorie).
Some that end with A: Anna, Laura, Dana, Lena, Nina, Martha. A few other ideas: Gail, Hope, Carol, Louise, Joyce, and Ruth.
I too was going to suggest liam. Or you could do john william and call him j.w.? For girls I like claire. I like thw suggestions of Marie and sarah too. How about ruth? Sounds great with jane and ellen and she can go with ruthie too!
I like William John, and think Will Bottle is just fine. If you were going with John first, you could always call him Jack (quite popular right now, but so is William).
I think for girls, Claire sounds great with the sibset, and I like Lucy as well. Lillian feels a little flowery to me compared to the other two girls names. What about Clara, for something a little less popular (also classic)? Love that name. I also like the above suggestion of Ruth, and to that end I think Ruby could be quite nice (reminds me of Lucy). Good luck, I love your daughters names!
Your daughters’ names are gorgeous! I think you have a number of good choices to go with them. For a boy, I like William John, and I don’t think Will Bottle is a problem. His full name will flow well, and informally I don’t think nicknames necessarily have to “go” with the surname (mine doesn’t). Of course, there are always alternative nicknames, like Liam, to avoid the issue if it bothers you.
I think any of your girl choices are good, but I especially like Claire and Lucy. Lily is pretty but close to Ellie, and while I love Mary and don’t think it’s boring in the least, it sounds like it’s lower on the list. As for popularity, Lucy is still only given to approx. 0.15% of girls in the US, and Claire to 0.22%. They are rising in popularity but I think they have a ways to go before becoming “It” names.
Best of luck!
I like the idea of using Liam for William. As for girls, I’m loving Lucy or Lucie lately. I think it is gaining in popularity, but it goes so well with your existing girls’ names. I wouldn’t let the “popularity” stop me. Honestly, I keep hearing Lucy, but I don’t personally know any little girls/babies named Lucy.
What about using a double name like Mary Jo, Mary Beth or Mary Claire?
I don’t really have a problem with Will Bottle, but if it bothers you, what about Liam Bottle? Or if there are already too many Johns in your family, what about Nate Bottle?
(John>Johnathan>Nathan>Nate)?
I really like your girls’ names, and if you think Lucy is too common, you could spell it Lucie? Janie, Ellen, and Lucie.
There’s also Lucia as a variant of Lucy. Ditto Lucille and Lucinda, but those tend to be shortened to Lucy anyway, so you might want to steer clear of them.
I don’t think Will Bottle sounds bad, but if it bothers you, I’d suggest another nickname, like Liam or Jack.
For girls:
Instead of Mary: Molly, Marian, Margaret, Margot, Mae, Meredith
Instead of Lily: Penelope (nn Poppy), Margaret (nn Daisy), Lila, Rose
Instead of Claire: Clara
And a few others to consider that I think sound great with Jane and Ellen: Beatrice, Alice, Anna, Charlotte, Hazel, Phoebe.
Good luck!
I see no problem at all with “Will Bottle.” For girls, I like your pick, Claire, but love the above suggestions of Clara! Good Luck.
Of all your choices, I think Mary is actually the least likely to become an “it” name, although I like most of them except Lillian – Lily. I saw someone suggested Molly. Another idea is to use Molly as a nickname for Mary, which is how Molly originated. That was actually the first idea that popped into my mind when I read your letter before I got to your contender names.
I was thinking traditional names that aren’t overly common with 1 or 2 syllables and a nickname. Here’s what I come up with (most are probably repeats but I don’t think anyone else thought of the nicknames):
Alice – Allie
Laura – Laurie – the nickname might be dated
Susan – Sukie
Anne – Annie – Anna is somewhat popular now, but Anne is surprisingly underused
And these I can’t think of nicknames but I think they would work:
Hope
June
May – sort of like Mary
Nina
Amy
@Joceline: Oh, I looooove Penelope, nickname Poppy! I first saw it when someone who wrote in to Swistle mentioned using it for her daughter – now it’s in my top 10 girl name choices! But I have to ask…how did you get Daisy from Margaret?
It looks like most of the other commenters have come up with my suggestions.
I love, love, love the names of your two daughters (obviously I’m biased towards Ellen). I adore Claire and Lucy, but both are becoming more popular. I like someone’s suggestion of using Mary and calling her Molly.
Anne or Anna (nn Annie) was one of the first things that popped into my head–I noticed another commenter had the same thought. I haven’t met any little girls named Anne and it’s so classic.
As for boys, I don’t think Will Bottle sounds bad, and William does go well with the girls’ names. If it bothers you, though, there are a lot of classic boy names that would go well with William as a middle name. What about Charles (nn Charlie) or George or James?
Good luch!
Will Bottle doesn’t bother me at all- but ditto the suggestions to call him Liam (Or Bill, or Billy- but you might not like that alliteration)
For girls, of your picks I think Claire sounds the best with Jane & Ellen.
Or How about
Rose (Rosie?) or Rosemary
Tess
Nora
Kay(e)
Beth
I really like Claire with Ellen & Jane.
Other classic but less commonly heard names for a girl: Maria, Clara, Lila (or Lilah), Nora… Isabelle
I have heard the question objection before with the name Isabel, but never with Will. Personally, it doens’t bother me and I think it’s a great name. If you reversed it, I know a John William who is sometimes called by both names to differentiate him from another John in the family (ok– only his mom does it but I’ve always liked the sound of it). As so many have suggested, Liam is a possibility, too.
For girls, I think going with variants is a good idea if you want less common names (Clara for Claire, Mariah, Maura or Rosemary for Mary, etc.)
What about Kate? Or Emma? Or Anna? These kind of remind me of the feel of Lucy, which btw, I really love.
I love Alice, Claire, Rose, Susan, Ruth, Laura, Mary.
I have to mention that for this family, I LOVE the option of using Mary but nicknaming her Molly. Molly isn’t boring or overused, but it is adorable, and you still get the more formal/classic name with Mary. Plus, it makes a great sibset!
Jane, Ellen, and Mary.
Janie, Ellie, and Molly.
Love it!
What about Anna? nn Annie
It goes with Ellen and Jane, is a classic name but one she can grow with, and the nickname fits in with the others. Plus, it’s easy to find a middle name with this one.
I am totally biased for this one, but I’m throwing my 2 cents in just the same.
My name is Claire & it is still on the edge of *too* popular and goes great with Jane & Ellen. So I vote for Claire.
Also, my son’s name is William, but we call him Liam as there are already 2 Bills (his grandfather & uncle) in the family.
So, there are my votes: Claire & Liam. Lovely.
Also, if it IS a boy, Jane, Ellen & Liam sounds quite nice, I think.
My first thoughts were Clara or Meredith.
Maria
Beth
Meg
Olive
Violet
Iris
Maude
Harriet
Katherine
Philippa (Pippa)
Helen
Louisa
May
June
Georgina (Nina or Georgie)
Frances
Josephine (Josie)
Dorothy (Dora)
Cora/Cordelia
Grace/Rose/Anne/Jillian
hope not too many repeats.
I like Clara and Cora. Not as common.
I suggested June, and realized it is just one letter off from Jane – so scratch June.
BILLY!!! I’d call a William “Billy” in a heartbeat, especially with your daughters’ Americana names that are once again ahead-of-their-time.
Mary is far from boring, in my opinion, and sounds just perfect as a sister to Jane and Ellen.
First thought for a boy otherwise was George. Love the suggestions of Margaret, Louisa, and Frances.
I don’t have anything new to add, but have opinions on what others have said.
1. If Mary seems boring to you, the suggestion of Marie or Maria is lovely. They have a little more flair.
2. Will Bottle doesn’t bother me at all. I love the names William and Will.
3. Lucy may be getting more popular, but for a reason. It’s a sweet, sweet name. It would go great with Jane and Ellen.
4. I also like Deniselle’s suggestion of Carrie for Caroline/Carolyn/Carol. It’s one of those names that moves easily from child to adult.
Oooo, I like Maryanne. Jane, Ellen, and Maryanne.
TweePopACap,
I only know this because of my love for Little Women, but Daisy is a nn for Margaret due to the fact that “marguerite” is the french word for a daisy. (When Meg befriended a well-to-do family, they began calling her Daisy as a nn, in the book).
Come to think of it, what about Meg, or Meggie as a nn for Margaret? Cute!
I have to agree with Carolyn as a suggestion, although of course I’m biased :). A cute nn I just heard for it is Carly.
I love the name Mary- I think it goes really well with your other names (I think it goes better with them than Lilly, Lucy or Claire)and it wouldn’t be too boring.
I think Katherine might be nice, you could call her Katie. Or you could name her Kate- it’s a little less traditional (though still pretty timeless, IMO) and short like Jane and Ellen.
Janie, Ellie, and Katie.
Jane, Ellen, and Katherine.
Jane, Ellen, and Kate.
I also like:
Cora
Marie
Eve
Erin
Eliza
Liza
Lisa
Abigail nn Abby
Josephine nn Josie
Amy
Cara
Laura
Sorry if some of these have already been said- I wasn’t able to look through all the previous posts!
Good Luck- I love your other daughters’ names!
Libby
Carolyn,
Thanks for the response! That makes perfect sense to me, now that I know! Love it. I’m all for stretching the rules on nicknames, anyway. One that I thought of recently, along the same lines as Margaret/Daisy, is giving the name Soleil (pron. so-LAY; the French word for sun) and using the nickname Sunny. Cute, methinks! :]
I’m really sleepy so I’m not reading the other comments, I’m sorry for duplicates…
For your son’s name, how about the nickname Liam? Liam “Bottle” Sounds cute! Or even Liam-John Bottle.
For a girl:
Anna/Anne
Clara (It seems less popular then Claire and a little more old fashioned fitting in well with your other daughters names)
Grace
Alice
Cora* (My favorite)
Nora/Norah
Sadie
Good luck!
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