Renee writes:
Hi Swistle, my name is Renee and my 5th (and final!) child is due on the 28th of April. One of my favourite things about having children is naming them, however I’m not having so much fun naming this baby.
My kids names are Emerson “Emmie” Louisa, Rose Susanna, Liam Davis and Noah James. All middle names honour family members, but for this baby I would just like a middle name that ends in ‘a’ so that it fits in with Emmie and Rose’s middle names. I have step-sisters named Jennifer and Rebecca, so if you could think of a name that honours both of them I would consider that, but I don’t want to honour one of them, but not the other.
Anyway, as you can see we have an Emerson and a Rose – names that are completely different in style! So honestly, I am feeling a bit lost and I don’t really know what name I want. I would like to steer clear of names starting with E, R, L and N, but if I fell in love with a name I would use it, except for E names as we also have a niece named Elli. Emmie and Elli are very similar names, so we would not only like to steer clear of E names, but steer clear of names ending with an ‘ee’ sound as we also call Rose, Rosie, sometimes too. We also have a niece named Nala, so that is off-limits to us too.
Here is our name list, though none of the names feel like ‘the one’ or we can’t use them:
Mila – I would use this, but my husband isn’t as keen on it.
Scarlett – Both like, but don’t love.
Grace – I love this, but I would end up calling her Gracie. Emmie, Rosie and Gracie with a cousin Elli is no good!
Ava – We know a couple of little Ava’s, so no good for us.
Isabella – Like this, but don’t really love.
Sophia – This is my favourite name (apart from my girls names), but Emmie has a best friend named Sophia, and we are very close with her family.So there you have it. One big mess!!!
I hope you can help us :-)
My sense of order and consistency itches at the idea of giving the first four children family middle names and then not doing the same for the fifth. But I also dislike the idea of trying to honor more than one person with a single name: I think it ends up honoring neither one. This second opinion is at odds with what I have for you, which is a combination name to attempt to honor both Jennifer and Rebecca: Jennica. This is a name I think is cute ANYWAY—a good alternative for someone who loves the name Jessica but felt it got worn out in the 1980s and 1990s. AND it ends in an A.
Rose, Liam, and Noah all have a similar style; since you call Emerson “Emmie,” I think that fits right in with the others.
Since you like-but-don’t-love Scarlett, would you like Charlotte? It goes well with the style of the other names. Charlotte Jennica Campbell.
If you like-but-don’t-love Isabella, I’d suggest Annabella and Arabella—except I don’t like the repeating -bell sound with Campbell.
If you love Grace (or any other name with a natural -ie nickname), I think you could reframe the situation: an Emerson, a Rose, and a Grace with a cousin Elli. Only the nicknames repeat the -ie ending, and MANY (most?) nicknames end in that sound.
Along those lines, I suggest Molly. I know, it makes it even worse by repeating not only the -ie sound but the -llie sound! But—Elli is a cousin, not a sister, and Molly seems like such a different name.
If you love the name Sophia, I think you could reconsider using it: I think it’s sweet that it’s the name of Emmie’s best friend, and it’s not likely to cause MUCH confusion even if you’re good friends with the family. Or you could use it as a middle name, since it ends in A. Charlotte Sophia, Molly Sophia, etc.
Ava and Mila make me think of Amelia. Amelia Campbell is wonderful, and it doesn’t have a natural -ie nickname. But because it ends in -a, it’s trickier to find a middle name to match the first two girls’. MUST it match the first two girls’ names? Amelia Grace Campbell would be so nice. But perhaps Amelia shares too many sounds with Liam anyway.
Clara or Cora would be pretty, and they don’t end in -ie or have a nickname with an -ie. But they end in -a, so again with the middle name problem.
In short, I recommend dropping at least one (and maybe both) of your optional restrictions (the “not ending in an -ie sound, either in name or in nickname” one and the “middle name ending with -a” one). I think that combining those (and the problem they create in combination with each other) with the difficulties already inherent in choosing a name to go four sibling names AND avoiding repeating initials AND avoiding any similarities to cousin or friend names, is what’s making this so difficult—more like doing a complicated logic puzzle than choosing a baby name. But since I’m also advocating adding an ADDITIONAL optional restriction (giving a family middle name), you know I will be completely on your side if you keep the other restrictions as well. In which case I suggest Charlotte Jennica or Charlotte Ava or Charlotte Sophia—but the -ie thing means you can’t call her either Charlie or Lottie. So let’s see if anyone else has ideas!
Name update! Renee writes:
First of all, thanks to Swistle and all the comentors (?) for your help naming our baby girl.
A week early, on the 21st of April, Amelia Renna Campbell was born. To the person that suggested Renna – thanks, we love it and so do my sisters – and thanks Swistle and everybody else who suggested Amelia! We weren’t 100% on the name before Amelia was born, but once she was here we quickly decided that she was an Amelia. We (mostly me and the kids) have been calling her Mila and sometimes I call her Mila Ren as we sometimes call Emmie, Emmie Lou. We are all in love with her!
(I will attach a picture of Amelia from her newborn photo’s!)
What about Coral. It’s absolutely adorable.
Emerson, Rose, Liam, Noah, and Coral sounds like a good sibling set to me.
Why don’t you change Isabella to Isabelle? With nickname Belle. Then the middle name ending ‘-a’ would be easier to accommodate?
Or, I wonder why you don’t use your own name as the middle name? I would personally be more concerned with giving a family name than having a common ‘-a’ ending across all girls.
Isabella Renee
Sophia Renee
Its out of the blue, but another name that occurs to me is Thea. For my mind Emmie, Rose and Thea is a very pretty combination.
Thea Renee
Regina could combine both names. I like Amelia Rebecca but that leaves out Jennifer. Amelia Regina would be nice.
Claire would be a nice complement to the sibling names, too.
Funny, Jennica popped into my head as soon as I read Jennifer/Rebecca, too.
I think Charlotte is a good suggestion.
Or maybe:
Violet Jennica
Alice Jennica
Harper Jennica
Brooke Jennica
Rachel Jennica
Best wishes!
Are there other family middle names you can use? Grandmothers, great-grandmothers, etc.? I like Jenica as a composite, but I just wonder if there are any other options available for you.
I really like the suggestions of Charlotte and Claire.
You also might like Alice, Autumn, Maeve, June, or Vivian.
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I lean toward Sophia, because you said it’s your favorite. And I like the idea of using Renee as the middle.
Sophia Renee Campbell
I like Grace for you, too. I don’t mind the repeating ies so much. Maybe Grace Jennica or Grace Renee?
I like Grace the best, I love the sound of Emerson, Rose & Grace as a sister set. Maybe because Emerson is my top girl name & Grace is also on my list. :)
One comment about Amelia – while it doesn’t have to be used, Emmie is also a nn for Amelia.
Of your list (which I know you said you aren’t super keen on) I really like Grace and Sophia the best.
As for another hybrid middle name suggestion, how about Jenna or Jenava?
Isidora, rather than Iabella, so it doesn’t rhymr with last name.
Isidora nicknames could be,
Isa “Is-ah”
Sidora “Zah-door-ah”
Sidore “Zah-door”
Grace reminds me of Faith. A name with similar positive feeling, but less religious association is Felicity or Felicia.
Another suggestion, Cecelia.
I think Grace is adorable and works so well with the other sibling names it’s a shame not to use it. The fact that the most natural nickname ends in an “ie” doesn’t bother me a bit. Plus I imagine as your girls age you’ll be dropping the “ie” OR they’ll be getting their own nicknames. I’m a Christine who was called Cricket for a good long time and then became “Teenie” to a lot of friends in high school and college. I think the only person who ever calls me Chris is my dad, and no one has ever called me Christy.
I would also vote for using a family name for the middle, but I do like the suggestion of Jennica. I don’t think you need a middle name ending with “a,” especially if you end up choosing a first name that also ends “a”.
Out of the names suggested (and some additions that I don’t think were named yet) I really like Charlotte, Vivienne, Rachel (even though it violates the double R, with Rose), Sonia, Evelyn.
Good luck! Can’t wait to hear what you end up picking out!
I also think that not giving this baby a family name will make her feel left out. And maybe cancelling some of your restrictions would open up a lot more options. I would suggest Camilla, but the nickname Millie ends in -ie, obviously. Hmmm… Tegan, Catherine (NN Cate), Juliana, Leah, Ilah, Joselyn (NN Joss), Caroline??
If you can’t use Ellie, you could use Adele.
Good luck!!! Baby girls are SO precious :)
Renee is my sister’s middle name and I have always thought it was a perfect middle name. On the other hand I might think it odd to pass down my name to my child (why is it weirder with women than men?) BUT in my family my grandma gave her first name to her third daughter (my mom) as a middle name. My mom did not give that middle name to me or my sister and regretted it and now my daughter has that middle name SO I think it is a wonderful family tradition to start especially with such a lovely name as Renee. As for first names, I’m no help :)
I think of Felicity as a pretty religious name, it’s the name of a big time Martyr and Saint, but that could be just me!
What about Gennara or Jennara for a middle name? http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Gennara
Sophia Gennara
Grace Gennara
Love Alice, Molly, Avery, Madeline, Zoe, Julia, Violet or Mary, Gemma, Ella, Adeline, Isla, or Claire/Clara for you.
Your children all have beautiful names.
Oops Ella too close to Elli. How about Josie? Josephine?
If you love Sophia so much but can’t use it, why not have it as the middle name as it meets the “ends in a” requirement.
Otherwise how about Renna for a middle name – taking the RE from Rebecca and the double N from Jennifer.
Some other names not ending in A or IE that you might like:
Paige
Hope
Beth
Amber
Piper
I also like Maia for you even though it ends in A.
Just one final thought, if you already have a Rose then you might want to reconsider Scarlett otherwise Emmie might feel like the odd one out. Same with Violet or Lily.
Good luck with your new addition.
I don’t think Isabella or Arabella is too much “bell” with Campbell. The “bell” in the first names is an -eh sound, while Campbell is usually more of an -uh sound.
I like Sophie for you!
I’m not usually a fan of “made-up” names, but Renna is so cute and works so well. Well done! Mila Ren is especially adorable.
Congratulations! Your little Mila Ren is absolutely adorable.