Yvette writes:
I am Yvette and my husband Luke and I are due with our fourth child on August 24. We had the name Wolfe Alan Mackenzie picked out but when we announced it last week, we had the very unpleasant shock of learning from my mom that Wolf is the last name of my grandfather’s first wife who stole all his money and was a very nasty woman and that my grandfather would be very upset if we picked that name.
Luke really likes last names as first names and I hate them so it was a trial settling on Wolfe in the first place. I don’t like names that end with an EE sound although I don’t mind this in nicknames. This is probably be our last child.
Our new son will join George Darwin, Caden Samuel and Minerva (Minnie) Laura. Darwin is my maiden name, Samuel is Luke’s father’s name and Laura is Luke’s mother’s name. George, Caden and Minnie are names we adore. We’re not in love with Minerva but we love Minnie and wanted her to have a proper name. The baby’s middle name will be Alan, which is my grandfather’s name.
As you can see, we like a lot of different styles and don’t think it’s important that siblings names match. When you’re an adult, no one cares what your brothers and sisters are called.
Names We’ve Rejected:
Skylar (Luke only likes this on a girl)
Harper (he loves but I hate it)
Colton (We love but Luke’s cousin who he’s never seen in 20 years but has the last name named his son this.)
Uriah (My favorite boys name ever and Luke absolutely can’t stand it. He insists that any child named Uriah will be mercilessly teased by other children calling him urinal.)
Lachlan (We love but no one has heard of it and thinks it a girl’s name. We also don’t like the nicknames Lack and Lackie, for obvious reasons.)
Names We’re Still Considering:
Kester (We met an adorable little boy with this name last year and the name has really stuck with us. We both love it a lot and especially love how Kester Mackenzie sounds. We are concerned about people mispronouncing and misspelling it. People also don’t seem to be aware it’s a name. I’m nervous about giving our son a completely unheard of name.)
Zane (We both like it but don’t love it.)
Martin (We both like it a lot but we don’t like Marty.)
Hamish, pronounced Ay-mish. It’s the Scottish James (We love it but people pronounced wrong and our families hate it.)
Cyrus (I love, Luke thinks it’s okay but we’re a bit worried it will make people think of Miley Cyrus)
Please help us Swistle and readers! We’re due in less than two weeks and can’t settle on anything. Thanks so much!
From your comments by each name you’re still considering, it sounds to me as if Kester is the name you want. It’s hardly ever used as a name in the United States (according to the Social Security Administration, five children were given the name in 2009; the name isn’t in the database at all for 2010, which means it was given to fewer than five children), but the names Chester and Lester and Hester (and words like jester and tester) may help people find it more familiar.
Cyrus sounds like your other major contender. Although I associate the name Miley with the Cyrus family, the name Cyrus doesn’t make that connection for me.
I think you should put Lachlan back with the finalists. If people haven’t heard of it, I’d say it’s more that they haven’t heard of it YET. It’s unusual but still more common than Kester (147 new baby boy Lachlans in the U.S. in 2010; only 5 baby girl Lachlans).
If you like Coleton and the only problem is duplicating another family member, do you like Coleman instead? Or Alton? Or Ashton? Or Clayton? Dalton? Trenton? Fintan? Corbin? Holten? Holden? Treyton? Keaton? Kelton? Kenton? Paxton? Sutton? (I’m harvesting huge riches here from the “The -ens” section of The Baby Name Wizard.)
If you go with Martin, I think you’ll be able to avoid the nickname—but of course he may choose it himself when he’s older. Hamish seems like a poor fit for your circle, and I do think it would be mispronounced. Zane is an excellent fit for the sibling group but neither of you are enthusiastic about it.
Let’s have a poll for your finalists (plus Lachlan), over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]
I don’t think Kester is that ‘out-there’. It’s a traditional old short form of Christopher. Nice. Only downside is that it begins with the same sound as Caden.
Cyrus is a lovely traditional name. I certainly don’t think ‘Miley’. Nor would I let it be!
Lachlan’s great too — I agree with Swistle, don’t dismiss it. It’s actually quite popular in Australia.
Uriah though I’d say is definitely best on the off list. Uriah Heep is one of literature’s most repugnant characters!
Just so that you know, the traditional British pronunciation of Hamish is actually with an ‘h’ – ‘Hay-mish’!
To complement your other children’s names, and because it’s such a good name, I’d definitely go with Cyrus. :)
If I was choosing for myself I’d go with Zane, but it sounds as if your favorite is Kester and I almost always recommend going with your favorite. People may be surprised at first, but they will get used to it. Almost half the kids in my daughter’s preschool class had names I’d never encountered before but within a few week, they seemed normal.
Declan? Though the initials aren’t great…DAM.
If the Miley Cyrus association really bothers you, might you like Cyril instead?
My favorites from your list are Hamish and Zane. Though I’m a big fan of Hamish and think it is sadly underused, I like Zane better with your last name.
Chiming in to agree Lachlan is extremely common down here, and since the brother names seem to be rising in the US – Aidan, Callum, Liam, Connor – I would say Lachlan would go along for the ride. Also here (everywhere?) it’s pronounced “Lock-lin” so the standard nickname is in fact “Lockie” if that improves things for you. But if you like Lachlan and Hamish, maybe you’d like Angus?
– jac (Sorry about the anonymous… Google is not my friend today it seems.)
Kester may be uncommon, but it has very familiar syllables, and doesn’t *feel* as unusual as Lachlan or Hamish, for instance, even though those are more ‘official’ names. I don’t think you’ll have pronunciation problems, and nobody’s going to look up exactly how uncommon it is – they’ll just assume they haven’t heard it before. If you like it, use it.
Also, if you like Cyrus, Josiah has similar sounds without the teen-star association.
If Cyrus isn’t right, what about Silas? Silas Mckenzie… Ohhh, I love that!!
Kester isn’t *my* taste, personally, but I think there’s a reason you both seem to come back to it. If you love it, you should use it! While I think it is a bit out there (as in, unheard of by most), it seems more like a name people would accept than, say, Hamish or Uriah.
I think you already have your name among these finalists (Kester, Zane, Cyrus & Lachlan are all just lovely), but Haymish & Cyrus make me think of Seamus (perhaps a bit more known than Haymish?) and Silas.
Good luck!
Okay, clearly it may be just me, but Kester reminds me of keester, a slang word for butt. I wasn’t sure of the pronunciation until other people said it was like Chester.
I like Zane and Lachlan from your list. Lachlan, to me, could be for a boy or a girl.
I have to agree with the above commenters about Lachlan. I worked in Australia for the summer where I met about fifteen different little boys named Lachlan. It’s in the top ten there. It’s pronounced “Lock-lan”, and while some of them did go by the nn “Lockie,” the little boy I nannied didn’t go by a nickname at all, and it was fine. It’s short enough that it doesn’t really need one.
Besides that name (which I foresee growing rapidly in popularity. People love ScotsIrish names), I love Martin and Cyrus. Hamish (another slightly popular name in Australia! Though it’s pronounced “Hay-mish there, and the name of a popular radio DJ) is a bit grandpa-sounding (and not really in a good way yet), and with your pronunciation of it I can imagine it getting mistaken for “Amish” quite a lot…
Since no one else has mentioned it, maybe I’m the only one, but when I see Kester, I think “keister.”
I’ll join the group and encourage you to put Lachlan back on your list. I like that name the best.
I also like Zane and Cyrus. Cyrus Mackenzie doesn’t make me think of Miley at all.
Personally from your lists I’d use Lachlan or Zane but I agree that Kester is totally usable and what you love so, Go for it.
Personally, Kester makes me think of the word “fester”, but that’s me.
I’m sure someone has already suggested it, but would Keaton be an option? I really like Lachlan (especially with your last name) but would definitely pronounce it LOCH-lin. Others that are similarly Scottish/Irish are Monroe, Cedric and Declan.
There’s an MMA fighter by the name of Urijah Faber. If he was nicknamed urinal, he certainly has shown them now.
That said, it seems like Kester or Lachlan are the best choices and I like them both pretty equally. If you go with Lachlan you could always use the nn “Lane”.
Good luck!
I like Lachlan! Nickname Lock or Lenny.
Kester is just okay to me, probably because as Swistle said, it reminds me of Chester which I don’t like.
Cyrus is also a good choice! I know a Cyrus,so as a first name I don’t associate it with Miley or Billy Ray.
For some reason, the name Sumner comes to mind.
I think Lochlan is gorgeous, as would Lorcan be.
Kester seems made up although it is an established name, stylistically it would balance the four names: George and Minnie, Caden and Kester.
Some new ideas:
Jasper
Hayes
Dante
Altan
Dashiell
I am another Aussie reader and Lachlan is VERY common here. ProNounced Lock-lan as others have said.
I wondered if Callum was close enough to Colton for you to love it just as much? We’ve just named our new son Callum and had really positive responses. George, Caden, Minnie and Callum.
Without hesitation I voted for Lachlan. Love the name and even more so with your Scots last name Mackenzie. Alan, while repeating the letters in Lachlan, is another name with Scots connections and sounds well with Lachlan too. I pronounce Lachlan as Lock-lan (listen to http://www.forvo.com/word/lachlan/ ), so a shortening would be locky, not lacky, but as it appears that your George and Caden don’t have nicknames that they go by, would Lachlan need one? The name Lachlan is currently #6 in NSW (Sydney etc.), Australia, where the Scot Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824) was the 5th governor of New South Wales and played a crucial role in the development of that state.
Lachlan Alan Mackenzie would be an excellent name for your son.
I’m usually not a fan of non-mainstream names, but I really like the sound of Kester. Maybe because it’s similar to Chester, but (I think) better?
I don’t like Martin myself, but Tintin has to be best nickname ever, and my first choice. It would be a great way to avoid Marty!