C. writes:
My husband and I have a 19 month old daughter named Emery Michael. We always loved the name Emery and used the name Michael to honor my dad. (Growing up, I knew a girl named Michael, so it didn’t seem odd to me to use it for her middle name). I fleetingly had namer’s remorse over Michael, but the joy my dad got from it quickly remedied that.
I am now expecting a boy in August. My husband and I can never agree on boy names…which is why we were relieved to have a daughter first, and were secretly hoping for another one!
So, Baby Boy Wilson is on the way! After my husband shot down dozens of names, I threw out the name Meyer. To my surprise, he loved it! Here’s our problem: M-E-Y-E-R = E-M-E-R-Y. They have the SAME letters! I’m trying hard to convince myself that this is not a deal breaker, but I’m wondering if it should be? We do plan on having one more child, and I don’t see how we can use the same letters to form yet another name.
I guess I’m just wondering what your opinion is on the situation. Should we keep on hunting? If so, we are so very open to suggestions. We would like to use the name Owen, Jacob, or Lee for the middle name as they have family significance. We would prefer to not use Owen for a first name because of it’s current popularity in our area. Jacob is my husband’s name, but he doesn’t want a Junior. Lee is a family name my husband would like to use. I don’t love it, but would compromise on using it as a middle name. Please help us!
Ooo, I think you have stumbled on an excellent set of twin names! Emery and Meyer is pretty genius!
If you were having only two children, I would say no, it’s not a deal-breaker, and also it’s pretty cool. If, however, it’ll make you feel weird when naming a third child, then probably it won’t work out.
Do you like the name Miller? I think of it as very similar to Meyer, but it takes away that rearranged-letters issue. I don’t think it’s quite as good with Wilson, however, which is disappointing. Well, and making that comparison made me notice how really nice Meyer is with Wilson, and now I’m reconsidering the third-child issue. Do you think it’s something you’d be able to go with? That the first two children happen to have re-arranged letters of each other’s names, not on purpose but just by coincidence, and that the third child won’t? It’s the sort of issue that can seem like a huge deal during the naming process, and not a deal at all later on. I suspect children care about these things less often than we do—or at least that they can have it explained to them, if they do turn out to care. It seems like a cheerful “I know! Isn’t that a funny coincidence? We almost didn’t use it, but then we decided the most important thing was to use a name we loved for each child!” could go a long way to reducing feelings of exclusion. And perhaps you could find another way to tie a third name in, such as making sure it had an “er” in it like the first two, or a Y in it like the first two, or something like that. (Or both, like Sawyer or Cameryn. Emery, Meyer, and Sawyer; Emery, Meyer, and Cameryn.) Another option would be to gamble and save Meyer for a possible boy next time, but I think that could make things even more complicated by giving the potential excluded feeling to the classically-feeling-excluded middle child.
Well. It’s a tricky issue. I’m not sure what I’d do. Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what everyone else would do. [Poll closed; see results below.]
To find new candidates, I think I’d look in the Last Names First section of The Baby Name Wizard:
Connolly
Currier
Dwyer
Fletcher
Flynn
Garner
Hayes
Kiefer
Maguire
Mercer
Merritt
Mitchell
Murphy
Ridley
Sawyer
Thatcher
Turner
Owen could be a little tricky as a middle name: BOW, COW, DOW, HOW, LOW, MOW, NOW, POW, ROW, SOW, TOW, VOW, WOW, YOW, ZOW. But those are pretty innocuous, and may even be fun. Jacob and Lee both work without spelling anything, though L could be cute with a monogram where the surname initial goes in the center: with a name like Oliver Lee Wilson, you could have the monogram OWL—a little secret cuteness, maybe a cute family nickname, and a fun excuse for buying owl things.
I like the name Meyer and I think that it is a cool thing that it has the same letters as Emery. I see the point about it being impossible with a third child but I have never met a kid who felt “left out” of a naming trend so I wonder if this is something we moms heap upon ourselves for more guilt?
I don’t think many people will notice Meyer and Emery have the same letters. Also, I think it’s cool:)
If the third child has a Y in his/her name, all I’d notice about the sibling set is that they all have Y’s.
The pronunciation of Meyer and Emery are quite different. Even if people notice, and they may, I think it’s kinda cool! Third child can be liked with a ‘y’ AND an ‘er’ and then the theme is upheld. Sawyer is a great suggestion for a second boy, and it can’t have the ‘o’ middle name, and Cerys (pronounced ‘Se-reece’ is nice for second girl. Similar name formation but very different pronunciation.
Yes, use Meyer!
I like the name Meyer, too. I’d say use it EXCEPT for the 3rd child naming issue!
I really like the suggestion of Miller.
Miller Jacob Wilson
Good luck!
I voted to keep Meyer and I really like Owen with it. Meyer Owen Wilson.
Meyer and Emery sound so different, I doubt most people would notice. You might not be able to use all of the same letters on a 3rd, but you could probably find something that includes some of the letter patterns/sounds.
I would say that using Emery and Meyer is cute. If/when you have a third child, write back about coming up with something special for the third child. “Yes, they have the same letters, but you are the one who got two middle names!” I think all you’d have to do is make some kind of connection for the third child’s name. Maybe we can find a name with those same letters in it if we add more letters.
I love Meyer. Meyer Owen Wilson. Beautiful!
And I think, as Swistle has said before, that keeping the third child from feeling left out is all a matter of spin.
I’m going against the crowd here – I don’t like the fact that it has the same letters as Emery, regardless of whether there is a potential 3rd child to think about. I would want a name that compliments Emery without being so matchy-matchy. From Swistle’s list, I like Sawyer Lee Wilson.
Go with Meyer if you love it.
If you have a third child, you could call him or her Reyme!
I also like Sawyer, Elmer, Cyril, and Ray as brother names for Emery and Meyer. Raye, Rhyssa, and Amaryllis are good sister names.
I actually know a family with a similar situation. The kids, in order, are Lucas, Mali (pronounced like Molly), and Liam. They’re between the ages of 15 and 25 now, and it’s never been an issue. Mom claims they didn’t even notice the Mali-Liam letter situation until they were much older.
Long story short, go ahead and use Meyer if you love it.
as a sibling name for Meyer and Emery, you could use Remy, but that kind of sounds similar to Emery. other than that, I like sawyer because of the connections!
My first thought was Collier! I pronounce it like Cole-yer. It has a very similar sound as Meyer without the letter problem!
I like it with Jacob or Lee, but not Owen because of the initials. :)
I would use the name Maguire. It sounds alot like Meyer, and you could use the nn Mac for short.
I really like this combo for siblings, honestly. I think you should absolutely go for it.
I’ve thought similarly about Alice and Celia, then decided if I ever had twin girls I’d likely go for it. I agree that not many people would notice, so if you love it you should use it.
The previous poster’s story about Mali, Liam & Lucas is nice. Mali & Liam might share letters, but the boys both start with L. Use Meyer now and if you have a 3rd, you can find a girl’s name with “E” or a boy’s with “M” to link them to their siblings.
Honestly, I don’t think I ever would have noticed that the two names had the same letters, and certainly wouldn’t notice if there were three kids and two shared letters in their name. I would notice things like siblings names Kieran & Kiera (which my husband wanted to do until I vetoed that in a hurry!).
I say use it. It’s a wonderful, wonderful name.
Just wanted to offer up another first name suggestion if you decide not to use Meyer. My friend named her son Macoy and he goes by Mac. I love his name because its not popular and unique. Macoy Wilson. Emery and Macoy, then if you have a third you could make sure the last letter in their name ends in Y.
I like Jacob for the middle name. That lends to the nice nn MJ too. I also like Swistles idea of OWL monogram initials. Is Owen really too popular?
Owen Wilson is an actor! I don’t think I would use that as a middle name.
whoever said use, “Maguire” is awesome! :) That’s what we named #3 and it fits him to a ‘t’!
In your situation, I really like Meyer. I think that it is a great first name…do you have a nn?
Good luck!
i bet most people wouldn’t notice the Emery/Meyer issue.
But if you want to use a different name that has similar sounds here are some suggestions:
Thayer
Ryder
Kyler
Tyler
Wilder
i would not use Owen as a middle name because of the actor Owen Wilson.
I would definitely still use it!
Meyer is a keeper of a name… it’s even cool that he and his sis share letters.
Great taste and congrats to you and your growing family!
I don’t notice that they are similar. I think Wilson, Emery & Meyer go quite well together.
Can’t you just spell it Mayer and avoid the problem completely? I’m not sure whether you’re pronouncing it Mayer or Myer – I’ve heard both – so you may want the Myer spelling instead.
USE IT! I think Meyer is a great name. I wouldn’t have noticed that it has the same letters as Emery and, if and when I did, I would think that was a sweet, cool link between siblings.
I don’t think you need to worry about the hypothetical third child right now. It would be a shame to pass up Meyer for this child, a great name that you both love, because of concerns for a hypothetical child in the future. I think there will be plenty of ways to link a third name to both Emery and Meyer without seeming contrived or out of place (two E names for girls, two M names for boys, repeating the “ery” or “er” sounds…)
Congratulations! Please update us (& return to Swistle when you have that third so we can chime in again!)
p.s. (I just posted at 11:48) – I like the sound of Meyer Jacob the best, but if you are considering a third, that might be a bit too much significance packed into the second child’s name — a first name with same letters as sister AND dad’s name as middle name.
I’m not a fan of the sound Meyer Lee (sounds like miserly, and too similar to Emery) so that leaves Meyer Owen. I few people have commented on the Owen Wilson connection. In our family, middle names are most often said in conjunction with our last name (our kids are small so they practice their names, e.g. “Hello, my name is Meyer Owen Wilson”). Say the two names together a few times and ask yourself if you mind the Owen Wilson actor connection.
How about Arrow for a middle? Meyer Arrow Wilson sounds amazing to me! Or, is there a way you can use a name from your husband’s maternal side (as Emery has her maternal grandfather’s name as a middle, perhaps Meyer can have her paternal grandmother’s maiden name, etc?)
I’m all for Meyer – yay, Meyer! – but would consider more middle names…
I second the idea of spelling it Myer. That’s my favorite spelling anyway. It’s still an actual spelling, but it has a little cool factor, I think. And that way, he just has SOME of the same letters as his sister, which is very replicate-able,ala Remy or Sawyer or any of the other things suggested
I say go for Meyer, love it. And then name #3 Sawyer. Works for boy or girl and the combo of all three is super cute. Also really like Maguire and Thatcher witht he first two names.
I am so sad that I’m late to comment but am excited over all the love for the name Meyer because that’s my sons name! It is a fabulous name but we spell my sons name Myer. I think a minor spelling change to Myer eliminates the problem of being an exact match and you get to keep the name. Other alternatives are Meir (although people may pronounce it Mayer). Or Mayer (again not sure how you plan to pronounce). My fingers are crossed that Myer is the final selection!!