Amanda writes:
We are expecting our 4th child October 25th and are going crazy trying to figure out a name.
We do not know the gender so it is complicating things too.
My other kids are Cameron Jakob (boy), Brayden Nickolas (boy), and Addison Mackenzie (girl)
I feel strongly that we should keep the naming pattern of ending in the letter “n” and having 7 letters, paired with a middle name with a “k” in the middle, but we are not agreeing on anything.I like Teaghan or Karigan Viktoria for a girl. (He is tolerant of Teaghan but not Karigan, which I like more than Teaghan) My husband really likes Brooklyn, but I don’t really, but it would be ok as middle name. Plus since we call our son, Brayden, “B’ so I would prefer to not repeat that letter.
For a boy, the middle name possibilities that we agree on are Lukas or Zackary. The front-runners for the first name are Griffin and Drennan but we are just not totally in love.
Our last name starts with an F and ends in an “o” so no names ending in o.I am just lost. Should we just break our naming pattern and go with something totally different?
I want to love this baby’s name like I love the others.
Please help!!!
You’ve put yourself in a tight situation. A “naming pattern of ending in the letter ‘n’ and having 7 letters, paired with a middle name with a ‘k’ in the middle”? You’re forcing yourself into kreative spellings and EXTREMELY limited options, and is there any reason to do it?
All right, let’s see. We have Cameron, Brayden, and Addison. If I were you I would not now suddenly venture into names such as Drennan or Karigan, especially since you’ve gone with common names for your first three children. A pattern of common names is more readily recognized than a pattern of “7 letters ending in N.”
For a girl, I suggest Katelyn. It has 7 letters, it ends in N, and it fits well with the other three names without repeating initials. How about Katelyn Mckenna? Kaitlyn Mikayla? Katelyn Skylar? Or Madigan gives you something less common, but its similarity to Madison keeps it from standing out too much from the others: Madigan Annika, Madigan Angelika, Madigan Berkeley, Madigan Dakota. Or for something more traditional: Jocelyn. Maybe Jocelyn Berkeley or Jocelyn Vicktoria.
For a boy, I suggest Jackson. Jackson Mikael, or Jackson Parker. Or Greyson or Grayson: Grayson Aleksander or Grayson Lukas or Grayson Zackary or Grayson Parker. Or Donovan Mikah. Or Jameson Parker.
Or for either a boy or a girl: Tiernan.
Name update 10-30-2010! Amanda writes:
We had our baby boy on Oct 25th and named him Griffin Parker.
Your middle name suggestion of Parker just stuck with me and just made the name Griffin work so much better.
Thank you Swistle and your readers for your help and perspective on our naming dilemma.
You all provide a great service!!!
I’m going to include non-7 letter names here, since I feel like the -n ending is a much more noticeable pattern.
Girl names:
Arden
Eden
Jocelyn (7!)
Emmelyn (7!)
Regan
Eileen
Taryn
Marion
Shannon (7!)
Vivian
Boy names (avoiding B names):
Dillon
Larson
Kellen
Adrian
Jackson (7!)
Landon
Soren
Norman
Tristan (7!)
I like Mckenna (or Makenna) and Skylar best of Swistle’s suggestions for middle names for girls. I vote Zackary for a boy’s middle.
My favorites are Emmelyn Makenna or Emmelyn Skylar and Jackson Zackary.
Emerson for a girl?
i double swistle’s suggestions of Katelyn and Grayson.
I don’t think you necessarily need the seven letters, but feel that just ending the first name in “n” gives you some cohesion, without necessarily forcing you into a name that you might not love as much as the others.
For a girl, Peyton, Emerson, Grayson (I like it on a girl more than a boy, but it really could work for either), Marin, but still prefer the suggested Katelyn.
For a boy, Dylan, Jason, Jackson, and Kiernan.
Good luck!
I like Swistle’s suggestions, especially Grayson, Donovan, Parker, Katelyn, and Skylar.
But I’d drop the 7-letter pattern but maybe keep the n’s and k’s. I think you could even switch to a hard-C or ne’s, e.g., Jasmine, to avoid creative spellings.
I thin Griffin works well but Drennan, Teaghan, and Karigan don’t seem to fit. How about … ?
Logan. Logan Zackary
Landon. Landon Zackary
Austin. Austin Lukas
Lauren or Lauryn. Lauren Mikayla
Payton or Peyton. Payton Victoria
Jasmine. Jasmine Victoria
Madeline. Madeline Skylar
Good luck!
I agree with what has been said above, so here are a few name suggestions that end in n.
Evelyn
Gillian 7
Lillian 7
Vivian
mn: Dakota, Erika, Rebekah, Skylar
Benjamin
Donavan 7
Harrison 7
Sebastian
mn: Lukas and Zachary are both great. Or: Beckett, Beckham, Franklin, Jackson, Markus, Walker
Good luck!
It might seem very important that all your kids’ names match, but I think if you capture the general sound, it will work out fine.
My first three children ended up with M middle names. When my fourth was due, I realized that there wasn’t another M name that I could use. So we instead gave him a G middle name, but it matches his brother’s name in style. I really don’t think M-M-M-G is going to be an issue, and we got to choose the name we really wanted.
So that’s my advice. Choose something similar but don’t lock yourself into such a hard pattern. It’s not as important as it seems.
Wow, I think Swistle and the commenters have really outdone themselves on this challenge.
For now I’m just going to endorse a few choices and offer a few ways to combine them.
Girls
Gillian (actually this one makes me think of Jillian which I haven’t seen anyone mention yet)
Jocelyn
Lillian
Madigan
Shannon
And for girl middles:
Annika
Skylar
Boys
Donovan
Grayson
Griffin
Jackson
Tristan
And for boy middles
Aleksander
Lukas
Parker
My choices would be Gillian Annika for a girl and Jackson Aleksander or Donovan Parker for a boy.
OH! I LOVE Emerson.
Didn’t have time to read the previous comments but I love the name Emerson (which is 7 letters) for either a boy or girl. (For a girl, there’s the feminine nickname of Emmy/Emme option.)
For everyone who suggested Emerson: I like that option a lot, too, but left it out because I thought it might be too close to Addison since they both end in -son and have the same rhythm. No?
Here’s my list. Some have been suggested already, some clash with your other kids names, and most are probably not your style.
Girls names – 7 letters ending in N
Allison
Colleen
Kathryn
Meaghan
Carolyn
Emmylen (sp?)
Lillian
Gillian
Jacklyn (sp?)
If the requirement is ending in the N sound rather than the N letter then I second the suggestion of Jasmine.
Girls middle names containing K
Erika
Arnika (sp?)
Rebekkah
Boys names – 7 letters ending in N
Brendan
Croyden
Brixton
Preston
Clayton
Lachlan
Boys middle names containing K
Blake
Markus
My personal favourites for you would be:
Kathryn Annika
Lillian Dakota
Lachlan Blake
Jackson Parker
Good luck with baby number four. You’ve certainly set yourself up for a tough time naming this one.