Julie writes:
My friend turned me on to your website and I am happy to see I can get an educated, thorough, outside opinion on our third child’s name. My husband and I are having a tough time and Baby Boy Number Two is due October 6th.
Our last name is pronounced “Yank-An-Itch” believe it our not. Our children’s names are Erin and Steven Jr. Our third is a boy and while we both agree we would like a name ending in N, we can’t agree on the exact name. I like names like Justin (my number one), Kevin, Mark, and Thomas. My husband has suggested Declan, Kevin (with hesitance), Sullivan, and a million other unusual names.
Can you help? We are open to anything…even names not ending in N or names that are not “Gaelic” like our other two.
Thank you!
I like Brendan: Erin, Steven, and Brendan. They’re all different enough to be distinctive and all of the kids get their own initial, but they go together and have the matching N-endings.
I also like Alan/Allen: it was one of seven finalists for my youngest (it grew on me because on the TV show Arthur, “The Brain”‘s real name is Alan). But I think two brothers named Steven and Allen might bring Steve Allen too readily to mind.
It’s too bad both Aaron and Darren are out: in style, they’d go very well. Eric, too, if it weren’t also almost the same as Erin. And Gavin may sound too much like Steven because of the matching endings, and Evan is way too close to both names. And names like Corbin and Keegan and Lawson and Ruben, while some of my favorite N-ending boy names, don’t seem close enough in style to Erin and Steven.
Owen, maybe? It’s a little wordlike with your surname (oh and yank an itch) but I may be overthinking it.
Nathan! Erin, Steven, and Nathan!
Or Benjamin: Erin, Steven, and Benjamin.
For non-N possibilities, maybe Joshua? Erin, Steven, and Joshua. Or Matthew: Erin, Steven, and Matthew. Or David: Erin, Steven, and David. Are there any good family names, so that each boy is a namesake?
We have an ending in N thing at our house.
My suggestions are Gavin and Austin (our boys).
Also on our list favorites were:
Ethan
Jordan
Preston
Cameron
Logan
And I love Nathan.
Good luck!
Julie, I think the style of your children’s names is “New Classic”, not Gaelic. Erin, while a lovely name referring to Ireland, isn’t used much in that country as a given name, and Steven comes from the Biblical name Stephen. “Baby Name Wizard” has a list of “New Classics” (including Erin and Steven); from that list, I would recommend Colin or Justin. Austin would be a good match too.
From Swistle’s suggestions I especially like David (I know a family with David, Diane and Steven) and Matthew.
With your last name, I would probably look for a one or two syllable name. I think there are many classic boys’ names — old or new — that would fit well with Erin and Steven, including James, Andrew, Thomas.
From your list and your husbands, I especially like Thomas. I really don’t think you need to look for a strongly Gaelic name like Sullivan or Declan unless you have some Irish ancestry you want to honor.
I was so happy to see Swistle suggest Nathan. My name is Erin and my younger brother is a Nathan. I’ve always thought our names were excellent sibling names. They sounded good together when my mom yelled them! LOL
I am also fond of Gaelic boy names; my son’s name is Kieran. The other choice we debated was Brennan, which I find much easier to say than Brendan.
For N-endings, I also liked Julian, but my husband vetoed that.
LMAO! I didn’t get the Oh yank an itch at first becasue I was pronouncing it with to ah sounds with the emphasis on CAN rather than YANK, producing yahn CAN itch. Owen Yankanitch even works syllabically (with a slight stretch on the wen of Owen) with Oh Christmas Tree! That is one of the best funny name combos I have heard in a long time (without trying).
On a serious note, I like Nathan and Benjamin the best. Both would be great.
From your lists, I like Declan quite a bit. My own favorite ends in n name for boys is Ian. But I liked the suggestions of Owen and Benjamin, too. Other possibilities: Dane, Griffin, Jonathan, Sean or Zane.
I like Nolan, Nathan, Benjamin, Jordan, Owen, Cameron, and David for you. Good luck!
Thanks all! I had my son a week early yesterday and his name is Kevin Charles!
Kevin sounds like the perfect name for your family, and Kevin Charles is excellent. Congratulations!
What about:
Dugan
Liam
Ryan
Kellan
?
Best wishes to all of your family!
What about Cohen, Emerson, or Quinlan? Not particularly Gaelic but similar sounding.