Jillian writes:
We are in desperate search of our unborn baby girl’s middle name. Her first name will be Kinsley and our last name is Babb. She is due to be born early March!
Her brother’s name is Cole Ethan. We loved his name and were sold instantly, but it’s been harder to code the girl name this time around! We didn’t use any family names to name him, so we are thinking of not using any family names for Kinsley. I think she needs a one syllable middle name, but I could be wrong.
We like cute, not too traditional names, but not so over the top trendy.
Some middle names we’ve considered:
Elyse
Sophia
Grace
Rose (my mom wants Rose after her middle name, Rosalie, but I’m not sold)
Isabella (thinking that would be a mouth full)Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
With Kinsley ____ Babb, I like a 2-syllable (especially with the emphasis on the second syllable) or 3-syllable (especially with the emphasis on the second syllable) middle name—though I think the 1-syllable options work, too, and I like Kinsley Rose Babb very much. Kinsley Sophia Babb would be exactly to my tastes. I like Kinsley Elyse Babb for rhythm, but would prefer something without the repeating -lee and -s- sounds.
I also like 4-syllable names with the emphasis on the second syllable: Kinsley Elizabeth, Kinsley Amelia, Kinsley Olivia, Kinsley Victoria.
Do you have any names you would have liked to have used for the first name, but couldn’t because they weren’t great with the surname, or because a friend recently used the name, or because it seemed too common/uncommon for your tastes? Those can make great middle names.
Would you LIKE to use a family name, but you feel like you shouldn’t because you didn’t use one for your son? Even though I like sibling names to coordinate, I do think it’s fine if there are differences of this sort.
What I like to do when choosing a middle name is take a baby name book or the Social Security name list and just skim through it, saying each name with the first and middle, jotting down any names that seem like possibilities. Each person’s list will vary depending on tastes in names and rhythms, but here’s what my list looks like:
Kinsley Adele Babb
Kinsley Aurora Babb
Kinsley Brianna Babb
Kinsley Briella Babb
Kinsley Eleanor Babb
Kinsley Fiona Babb
Kinsley Michaela Babb
Kinsley Noelle Babb
Kinsley Rosella Babb
Kinsley Sabrina Babb
Kinsley Sierra Babb
Kinsley Joyce Babb? Kinsley Simone Babb? Kinsley Louisa Babb?
You have some lovely suggestions and I don’t have anything in particular to add, except this thought on whether to use a family name or not. It’s perfectly fine to use family name for one child but not the other, as long as the reasons why you chose both children’s names is similar. You chose names that you love for your son, which happened to not be family names. If you choose names that you love for your daughter and the middle name happens to be a family name, that works. I would not choose a family name that you don’t love just because it’s a family name. Personally, Kinsley Rose sounds gorgeous. But don’t choose it unless you love it.
I think all four of your choices are good choices.
Thoughts on each:
Elyse – I dislike this choice for Kinsley only because I feel like there are too many repeating letters/its as if you took “Kinsley” and rearranged things to get “Elyse”
Sophia – I like the name sophia, but Kinsley Sophia Babbs seems a **taddd** (just a tiny bit) wordy to me especially next to Cole Ethan Babbs
Grace – this WOULD be my favorite choice of the four.. but the initials KGB do not work for me. I would always think of the KGB from the era of the Soviet Union.. but I don’t think many people would make that connection
Rose – I wold not chose this, only because it sounds as though you are really not thrilled by it and it is only on the list because your mother wants it.
Overall, I would vote for Grace… and hope that people would not make the KGB | Soviet Union connection
I immediately thought Kinsley Jane or Kinsley Elizabeth.
I second Kinsley Jane
I would stay away from Elyse and any other name beginning with E, as when you write her initials and surname you get KEBabb (i.e. Kebab. Also know as Kabob in some countries so I’d stay away from A middle names too).
What about Kinsley Katherine
I think the Ka sound in Katherine also gets you to Kebab
Love the suggestions of Kinsley Noelle and Kinsley Fiona. Lovely!
Would like to suggest Kinsley Susannah, one of my favorite, underused names too.
All the best!
Why not give her something to aspire to? Kinsley Mandela Babb.
I know one Kinsley, she just turned two, and her middle name is Paige.
What about a role model or favorite character?
We can tell you names that sounds good but not names that will have meaning for you.
Swistle suggested EXACTLY what I was thinking before I even read her suggestions. The emphasis on the 2nd syllable of the middle name flows better, and I much prefer 3 or 4 syllable middles to 1 syllable, in your case. I also have a 1 syllable surname and like 2 syllable first names, so I’ve played around with rhythm and longer middle names are what I personally prefer. I am very conscious of not sounding “choppy” though.
Kinsley Victoria is the exact name that I had in mind! : ) I do also like Kinsley Aurora.
I will add:
Kinsley Azalea
Kinsley Geneva
Kinsley Magnolia
Kinsley Rebekah
Great suggestions
I agree with Swistle’s syllable suggestions, too. I was actually thinking that one-syllable middle names would almost sound like a hyphenated last name. For instance, Kinsley Rose (which is really pretty!), when all said together, sort of sounds like Kinsley Rose-Babb in my head…. something about it only having one syllable pairs it with the last syllable for me (maybe for balance’s sake?). Kinsley Grace-Babb. Kinsley Jane-Babb. Then again, this isn’t too much of an issue since a) her full name probably won’t be said aloud all that often, and b) the one-syllable names you’re considering are clear names, rather than something that sounds surnamey, which will probably also lessen this effect. Anyway, probably not a big deal at all (and maybe no one else would think this!), but thought I’d add my two cents :)
Your choices are all beautiful, though.. and I love Swistle’s name suggestions!
I think my favorites are:
Kinsley Sophia
Kinsley Noelle
Kinsley Fiona
Kinsley Amelia
Kinsley Victoria
I’ll also add:
Kinsley Janelle
Kinsley Colette (oh wait, that’s probably too close to her brother’s name .. but I’ll leave it nonetheless)
Kinsley Mireille (mee-RAI)
This is kind of a fun website to get you thinking, too (scroll down for some charts!) … http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/advice/middle.html
I recently met a baby Vered, which means rose. Kinsley Vered Babb.