E. writes:
I had no problem choosing Baby #1’s name – Anderson Joseph (AJ ) Carnevale. It fits him so well, with just enough uniqueness, professional flair and snappy nickname options.
Now that I’m expecting Baby #2 I’m frozen on a baby boy name. I can’t seem to find a pairing that has the same qualities and pairs well with Anderson.
Scanning my list of names that haven’t been completely ruled out – but still don’t feel perfect – quickly shows that I have a surname addiction. I’d like to use a family name – Deshaies (DEE – SHAY – Z) as the middle name and all my first names are also surnames – TOO Much!
Jones Deshaies Carnevale
Fitzgerald (Fitz) Deshaies Carnevale
Reid Deshaies Carnevale
Miles Deshaies Carnevale
HELP!!
P.S. If the doc is wrong and it’s a girl, our lead candidate is Reece Deshaies Carnevale. Plan B – Lumen Deshaies Carnevale.
Three surname names in a row does seem like a lot of surname. I see two main available paths here:
1. Say, “Heck with it, I LIKE surname names!” and use three surname names.
2. Choose which is more important to you, a surname first name or the family-surname middle name, and then ditch the other.
My guess is that the reason you feel stuck is that you’re looking for something similar to your first son’s name, but you’ve started out with something completely non-similar: your first son has a familiar non-surname name as his middle, but you want an unusual surname name as your second son’s middle. Again, I see two main paths from here:
1. Say, “Heck with it! The names don’t have to be parallel!” and use the family-surname middle name.
2. Decide you’d rather have the names be parallel, and choose a familiar non-surname name for the middle name.
If you choose Option 1 for both, I’d suggest that with an unusual family surname in the middle name position, you go for one of the simplest and most familiar and least whimsical surname names for the first name—and/or another surname name like Anderson that’s already familiar as a first name. Fitzgerald Deshaies Carnevale seems like Too Much to me, especially paired with Anderson Joseph. Jones Deshaies Carnevale is my favorite from your list: Jones gives a balancing simplicity to the more complicated middle name and surname. I also like that Anderson would have AJ, and Jones would have JD.
Miller would be another nice choice. Miller Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Miller.
Or Sawyer. Sawyer Carnevale; Sawyer Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Sawyer.
Grant Carnevale; Grant Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Grant.
Bennett Carnevale; Bennett Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Bennett.
Truman Carnevale; Truman Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Truman.
Davis Carnevale; Davis Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Davis.
Wesley Carnevale; Wesley Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Wesley.
Grady Carnevale; Grady Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Grady.
Broderick Carnevale; Broderick Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Broderick.
Or this is my favorite of all: Everett. Everett Deshaies Carnevale; Anderson and Everett.
From your list, my favorites are Reid & Miles. Yes, they can be surnames, but they get a ton of use as firsts so they don’t feel as surnamey as your other choices. Along those lines, I like Grant, Ross, Clayton, Graham & Mitchell.
Ditto to all of this. Reid & Miles don’t stick out as too surnamey.
I agree. I don’t think of them as surname names at all.
I also agree.
I was just going to suggest that Miles doesn’t seem too strongly associated as a surname. I didn’t notice Reid on the list, but I have to agree Reid doesn’t seem too surnamey to me either.
Lumen like the unit of light?
So I have this weird test for names, which is that I check to see if I think that they sound like they could be main characters in a romance novel. (I am a writer.) You know… “Colt Harrison”, if it’s just too cool in that very specific way, it can’t stay on the list.
I think I may part company with Swistle a tiny bit here, but I think that Reid and Miles actually map very well to “AJ”, which is how I get the impression the family refers to Son #1. Reid and AJ, Miles and AJ, those sibsets both have snappy tween TV show sounds to me. And even with the full names, I can hear someone calling “Anderson, Reid/Miles, dinner!” in a way I stumble over “Anderson! Fitzgerald/Jones!”
I’m not bothered by the middle name issue at all, because I think maybe people tend to feel a lot of pressure about a name that is only rarely going to be on display. I doubt that people would think “But that’s three last names!” very often if you picked Reid or Miles (which I hear primarily as first names). But I do think you’d probably get quite a bit of “What’s the first name here?” if you went with Jones Carnevale, or, to a somewhat lesser extent, with Fitzgerald.
So from the original list, I think that Reid or Miles are both fine, and Fitzgerald is a distant third (I just think it’s… a LOT of name, and since it sounds like the idea is to go with Fitz as a nickname, why start with the whole thing?) and I don’t love Jones. I think of it as a cool-nickname-name, and in general I’m not a fan of those as given names, although I do like them when they’ve evolved naturally.
I like Reid the beat. I’m really commenting to say though, that I don’t think Lumen is a good choice for anyone’s name. I don’t know if this stands out for non-biologists, but lumen is a biological term that can refer to parts of the female genitalia, among other things. Maybe something like Luna would be better?
Agree. It reminds me of hymen. I wouldn’t use it, sorry.
Ooo, but Luna is a great suggestion! Or Luz/Lux, Latin for light!
I like both Reid and Bennett with the chosen middle name and with your surmname. They also sound good with Anderson. However, if you were to have a daugther in the future and name her Reese, I think that Reid and Reese are too similar. So, I like Bennett the best of all the options.
Reid does not feel at all surnamey to me. I think Reid would be a great choice.
I agree that Reid, Miles and Bennett all seem to work really well with Anderson/AJ. Also wanted to throw out that I met a little boy named Frederick who went be Fitz. I think Fritz is the more common nickname but when I heard Fitz on this Frederick it felt like it worked really well so it could be a non-surname option if you want a Fitz!
I think of Miles primarily as a given name, and Reid is pretty common as given name as well. It would tip more into that territory if you spelled it Reed. Then I think nature name first and not surname name.
What about Deshaies (nn Shay/Dez/Z/Zay) as a first name? If you follow along with Swistle’s logic, you could do family name-that-is-surname and choose a non-surname middle, similar to Anderson’s name flow. Shay Everett? Deshaies James? Unconventional, but I think its cool and could work.
I just wanted to pitch in some skepticism regarding the use of Lumen as your plan-b girls’ name. When interpreted as a measurement of light, it’s a pretty name for a girl, but to people working in the healthcare industry (and that’s a lot of people these days) a lumen is the inside of a hollow organ–e.g. the inside of your intestines.
This is what I was going to write. Please reconsider Lumen. :) I also vote for Grant, which is a lovely name. Every Grant I’ve known has been super nice!
Just wanted to make a plug for Miles. It’s my son’s name, and it gets compliments all the time, from multiple generations. I like it for you because I don’t think it’ll put you in a style box in the future – I wouldn’t think twice of a sibling group like Anderson, Miles and Fitzgerald OR of one like Anderson, Miles and Henry. It is obvious for this child which is the first name, and allows more flexibility for a third child’s name, if matching styles are important to you. I like surname names mixed in a family rather than all in a row. Anderson, Fitzgerald and Jones sounds to me too much like a law firm since all three are so strongly in the surname category. I do like Reid, Grant and Mitchell with Anderson too!
My opinion is that Reid and Miles are too common and trendy. Fits is amazing! If you call him Fitz all the time I think the given full name sounds fine. I doubt you’ll be saying “Fitzgerald” all the time.
Lumen is gorgeous and different. Go with it! Reece, again, a little too common.
I like Deshaies. I sounds like a party name. I would call him Deshaies alouette carnevale
Anderson Joseph is a fantastic name!
I love Reid and Miles too but they are becoming more popular. Maybe something more distinguished with Anderson?
Some suggestions:
Brennan
Bentley
Benson
Carson
Donovan
Blaine
Deacon
Hayden
Hamilton
Preston
Willoughby
I know it starts with A but Abram is a great name too.
Names like Maximilian, Nathaniel and Sebastian sound great with Anderson also.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Oh! Just thought of Jensen, Brooks and Griffin!
What about Jacoby?
Oh, I love Everett and Anderson! Everett Deshaies Carnevale is such a strong name.
Bennett is one of my all time favorite names, so I was planning on commenting just to vote for that, but I really do love the sound of Everett Deshaise.
I love Fitzgerald and Anderson as brothers. This is my pick.
I like Fitz, but Fitzgerald is too much.
As for Lumen, am I the only one who thinks of Dexter?
Was just going to comment that there was a Lumen on Dexter! I think it is kind of quarky… had I not seen a Lumen on the show, I would maybe be disagreeing like the others but I actually like it!
My little one has 3 surnames and it works really well for him. I guess it could be too much, but I really want him to live up to his name. We have plenty of nicknames for him and until he is older, he doesn’t need to feel like his name overwhelms him.
Good luck and do what you think is best!
I was going to put my son’s name here as an example: Maguire (Mac) Riggs ______. If we were to have another son it would’ve been Anderson/Anders or something similar/surname-ish.
What about using Fitz as a stand alone name? Or would Fitzpatrick work better? My son has three surnames and it works well for him. However, his middle name is often used as a first (Thomas), which makes it a little less of a mouthful.
I second Fitzpatrick. Or Fitzhugh? Fitzjohn?
Other suggestion would be Booker.
Good luck, let us know!
I think Anderson Joseph, nn AJ goes well with both Reid and Miles – Fitzgerald seems too much, especially considering that the likely nn would be Fitz. Somehow I can’t imagine AJ and Fitz as siblings.
AJ and Reid or AJ and Miles (or Milo), sure.
Would this be your last child? If not, Reid and Reece are too close as siblings so I would look at which name means more to you before going with Reid.
Other name suggestions:
Anderson and
Hayes
Blake
Harrison
Jasper (JD?)
Trenton
Just wanted to throw my vote in for the suggestion of Miller. Sounds cute with Anderson. I also like Reid from your list as well. Good luck!
Miles isn’t a surname — it’s a traditional given name that can also be a surname. There’s a difference!
Instead of…
Jones — Jonas, Jonah, Joachim, John, George, Jude.
Fitzgerald (Fitz) — Frederick (Fitz/Fritz), Felix, Franz.
Reid — Rhys, Reese, Rex, River
Miles — Milo, Giles, Charles, Niall, Milan
I like Robinson Deshaies ! If we couldn’t have Anderson Jeter, Robinson Cano would be ok. I’m a little concerned that you are only wanting boy names. When I looked at the sonogram I thought I saw the makings of a girl. ( even thou its only the size of a peach right now )
As soon as I saw your own name list, I thought Jones was Jonas. When I realized it was actually Jones, I was disappointed. All this to say, I think Jonas is great!! Anderson and Jonas. I love it.
I also will point out that Reid and Reece are too similar – so I would decide between the two of them now and go with your favorite.
Good luck, please keep us posted!
My girlfriend almost used Anderson when she had her son but went with ” Sayer”… I love it and thought of him when I read your post.
I think you have a great list of suggestions. My favourites, I think, have all been listed above already but here they are:
Harrison (not sure if it’s too matchy-matchy for your taste with similar ending -son)
Fitzpatrick is my favourite. Anderson and Fitzpatrick. LOVE IT.
Fitzgerald.
Maguire. Anderson and Maguire. LOVE IT.
Jones
Davis
Wesley
Keep us posted!
I also read Jones as Jonas!