Dear Swistle,
I’m hoping you can help us out with a few suggestions for a boy’s name. We just found out that our child due in mid-November is a boy, which is great, except for the fact that we only can find girl names that we like!
Our last name is Lamberton, and we have a daughter (who will be 2 when her little brother arrives) whose name is Annie (not Anne, Anna, Ann… Annie – we knew that’s what we would end up calling her for a long time, though we are not nickname-averse).
Girl names we’ve liked:
Margaret (Maggie)
Clara
Talulah, Louisa (Lulu as a nickname for either of those, although we weren’t entirely sold on the alliteration with our last name)Boy names we’ve liked but nixed:
Elliot (our friends have a son named Elliot and it would feel weird to us)
Henry (I love it still, but my husband is less sure about it… it doesn’t feel right to him.)
Charles (I like it, husband doesn’t)
James (we’re kind of on the fence – it’s my one brother’s first name, but he goes by his middle name)
Beckett, nickname “Beck”. – I really liked it until I saw a sign for Beck beer….
Oliver – love it, especially with Annie, except for the fact that my far-more-astute-than-I friend pointed out that both our children would then be named after orphans.We’ve also nixed a lot of the really popular names right now: Mason, Liam, Noah, Owen (he’ll have a big cousin named Owen)… Names ending in “-aden” don’t even enter the discussion.
Using “Richard” as a middle name is a possibility, as it is a strong family name on both sides, but my brother has already used it as the middle name for his son, so we don’t need to use it… but it would be nice to find something that could go with it.
My husband is Benjamin (goes by Ben), so that is probably out, although I do love it as a name. Basically, we like interesting names that are more timeless than trendy. Oh, also, we’d probably like to steer clear of names beginning with a “B”. We’re already having our first two children (I’d like more, at least I think I would, but my husband isn’t sold on that yet) at pretty much the exact same interval as my husband and his older sister, and since his sister’s name also begins with an “A”, I’d like to try to stop the similarities before they get too out of hand. Hmm… any other conflicts? Ben thinks it would be hilarious if the baby’s initials were “LOL”, but I beg to differ :)
I hope that made sense… we obviously have some time, but I would just love an impartial third party’s opinion!
Thank you so much,
Kate Lamberton
The sibling pairing Annie and Oliver does immediately bring both musicals to my mind, even though I don’t think of the musicals with either name alone. Whether this is a problem or not depends on your own reaction to it: it would bother me, but if it doesn’t bother you I think there’s plenty of room to spin this as a musical theme rather than an orphan theme. I also think “named after” is too strong a condemnation: if you’re not deliberately naming the children with the fictional characters in mind, then it’s just a shared name rather than a namesake.
I do love James from your nix list, though I would have liked it better with Anne or Anna: pairing it with Annie suddenly makes me feel as if the girls get cute names and the boys get serious names. To avoid this feeling, I think I would lean toward using a boy name with a similar nickname feel: Charlie/Charley, for example, rather than Charles. Or Jack would be exactly the kind of thing I mean. I think Henry also works for this, perhaps because of the -y ending.
Gus, perhaps? Gus Lamberton; Annie and Gus.
Or Grady. Grady Lamberton; Annie and Grady.
Or Eli. Eli Lamberton; Annie and Eli. My tongue gets just a little tangled, but not enough that I’d rule it out; I find I even like it, so perhaps tangled is the wrong word. I find I start saying it with a little sass.
Or Theo. Theo Lamberton; Annie and Theo.
Or I wonder if you’d like Milo: Oliver and Charles and Elliot and Henry and Milo were all finalists on my own name list. Milo Lamberton; Annie and Milo.
Or Hugo. Hugo Lamberton; Annie and Hugo.
Or George. George Lamberton; Annie and Georgie.
Or Louis, if you find you’re pro-alliteration. Louis Lamberton; Annie and Louie.
Elliot makes me think of Emmett and Everett. Emmett Lamberton; Annie and Emmett. Everett Lamberton; Annie and Everett.
Name update:
Thank you all so much for all your helpful input! While I could have sworn that I updated you all after he was born, a quick Google search of our names (fueled by being overly awake from prepping lunches for the week and too much caffeine, as it’s 11:17pm here) revealed this query and the fact that I never did update you all! Thanks to R for checking back in in February (and I will now update my selections so that I receive updates should anyone else post)!
We ended up naming our son Jacob Richard, and we call him Jake. Annie and Jake. They have just turned 4 and 2 years old respectively, and we think we really nailed it on the names for them. They are classic but with some flexibility, and while Jacob seems to always be on the top 10 lists for popularity, I know of only 2 others.
In the end, I couldn’t go with Jack, knowing it was the name of my brother’s dog. That hasn’t stopped people in our family for accidentally saying “Jack” instead of “Jake”, but since my mother once went through all my brothers’ names and the dog’s (Choco) before finally landing on “Kate” one time, I figure that’s not so bad. ;-)
Even though James is on the nixed list, I noticed you say you are on the fence, which indicates you could come back to it. I think Annie and Jamie would be a nice pair when he’s young, though I’d use the full name so he can use it as an adult. And James Richard sounds very distinguished.
I can’t decide if the Annie/Oliver connection is too much or not. I want to say it’s fine, but I keep hesitating to type that so maybe it’s not.
I’ve never heard of Beck beer, but I don’t drink so that wouldn’t be high my radar. People do name kids Miller though and that’s a much stronger beer association.
Haha, good point about Miller!
We didn’t even name Annie until she was 1.5 days old, and that was with having known our baby was going to be a girl! It’s going to be a long process… we’ll probably end up going into the hospital with a few contenders and seeing what fits him best. For our case, Annie is the perfect name for our daughter. She is (no bias here, of course) smart and funny, sweet but with a temper, quite cute with striking eyes, and can be quite silly at times. It just seems to suit her perfectly. When I look at all the other names we considered for her, only one or two others could have possibly worked… well, really, Maggie/Margaret. But she’d be a Maggie hands down for right now.
Anyway, I am definitely keeping James on the list, too! One thing I always loved about my brothers’ names (mentioned in another comment) (and my own – Kathryn Elizabeth) was how distinguished they sounded :)
My first thought was Jack! Annie & Jack – love it!
Classic and as Swistle said, has the nickname feel similar to Annie, but I think it stands perfectly strong as a given first name.
Good luck!
Thank you! I love it too, but it’s what my brother and his wife named their dog! It’s not off the list, but we have to decide if we’re okay with having both a human and a french bulldog in the family with the name Jack :)
Annie and Jack are the names of the main characters in the Magic Treehouse series. I like Brady or Brody with Annie. I like the suggestion of Eli.
I’m not familiar with that series yet – I’ll have to check it out! :)
Maybe I’m alone here, but Annie by herself instantly evokes the musical for me! (But that’s without meeting her and having a name to attach the face to.) Adding Oliver to the mix does amplify the effect, but in kind of a good way! I think a lot of people will notice it, and that as long as it seems intentional or at least aware, it’s a cute theme that won’t seem so themey when they’re apart and when they’re older.
I love Emmett, which Swistle suggested, and I also like Beckett and don’t think the Beck beer thing is a problem.
I see the issue with Annie and James/Jamie as far as formal vs. non-formal (If Jamie gets to also be James, why isn’t Annie also Anne or Annabel, etc.), but I think there are lots of other one-syllable names that pair very well with Annie without highlighting that as much–
Annie and Blake
Annie and Chase
Annie and Drew
Annie and Finn
Annie and Gage
…
Annie and Shane
Annie and Tate
Etc.
As a bonus, one-syllable names work great with Lamberton!
Good luck!
Also…
Annie and Guy
Annie and Cliff
Annie and Clint
Annie and Dane
By the way, I wouldn’t NOT use James in this case–it’s a great name. And consider the possibility that Annie someday decides to go by Ann anyway!
That was our thought! I’m just now getting to read all these wonderful responses – I’m so glad I wrote in and that my letter was posted! Thank you all! – Anyway, we figured that with a name like Annie, she could still decide to call herself any derivative of Anne later on down the line, should she choose to. Keeping in mind that she could always choose a more formal nickname for herself, I am also reminded of Annie Leibovitz and the Annie E Casey Foundation. There’s no reason you can’t be professional or credible with a name like Annie :)
I still really like James. The only issues are that my brothers are Richard Wesley, Peter Charles, and James Lucas (goes by Luke). I’m afraid of leaving Peter out if we were to name our son “James Richard” or “Richard James”. Anyway, it’s on the list of contenders still :)
I also thought of Walter or Whitman, nn Wait or Walt.
Or Nathan/Nathaniel. Annie and Nathan, Annie and Nate. Nathaniel Richard.
Sam or Samuel. Annie and Sam. Sam Lam-berton isn’t my favorite though.
If you like Louise, do you like Louis? Annie and Louis.
I really do like Charles or Charlie for you.
How about Max? Annie and Max.
Finn
Miles
Marcus
Myles
Oh, how about Dean? Annie and Dean have a really great classic 40s feel without being too dated.
One thing I need to get over is the fact that someone else will inevitably have the same name as my child! My next door neighbor has 4 boys, all with “N” names. I love all of their names and would have happily used them, if only they weren’t our next door neighbors! (Nathan is one of them ;) )
Max is cute, and I am still a little stuck on Charles… but then if I do Charles Richard, it takes names from 2 of my brothers, leaving the 3rd in the dark…
Oddly, I don’t care for Louis as much as Louise! I know, I’m weird. I think the problem for me is that, just like their clothing, it’s much easier for me to get excited about girl names than boy names. I have yet to find one that I just absolutely love. I read a more recent entry in which Swistle said “maybe you just won’t fall in love with a name”, and it made me realize that it’s okay. I will love my children more for the people that they are than the names we bestowed upon them anyway! Well, hopefully ;-)
It seems like Benjamin might be right for you as a middle name…it saves you from the A & B initials problem, and the two Bens in one family problem, but you still get to use it.
I really like Annie & Jack but worry that Jack might be too popular for your taste, so I think maybe you should look for names similar to Jack: classic nicknames that don’t end in -ie. To me, that’s just matchy enough with Annie without being overboard. Some ideas might be Mac, Hal, Hank, Roy, Ron, Nate, Joe, Cal, Sam, Theo, Ned….
I love Sam! It makes me think of Sleepless in Seattle – Annie and Sam (Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters!) :)
I don’t see the problem with Annie and Oliver – I would thik of the musicals but it wouldn’t be that big a deal.
I also think a formal name with a nickname paired with Annie seem like you expect your sons to be strong and accomplished and your daughters to be cute and sweet. I am not sure if that matters or not to you or if others would think the same.
Instead of Charles, what about Arlo?
Annie and Arlo (it avoids the A/B issue but I am not sure if you want to go with a shared first initial)
Instead of Henry, what about Harvey, Grady, or Ramsey?
Annie and Harvey
Annie and Grady
Annie and Ramsey
Instead of James, what about Jared, Jonas, or Judah?
Annie and Jared
Annie and Jonas
Annie and Judah
Instead of Elliot or Beckett, what about Wyatt, Garrett, or Rhett?
Annie and Wyatt
Annie and Garrett
Annie and Rhett
Instead of Oliver, what about Otto, Ozzie, or Otis?
Annie and Otto
Annie and Ozzie
Annie and Otis
Oh, I like Arlo! I think of Arlo Guthrie, but that’s not a bad association for me. As for the shared first initial, I just don’t want it to become a thing if we have more than 2 kids. I have no problem with other people doing that; I just don’t like being limited in that way!
Here are some…
Malcolm or Malachy (nn Mac?)
Cal (Or Calvin, Callum)
Graham
Timothy (I know a sweet 3 year old who goes by Timo)
I also really like Nathan/Nathaniel and James. Those are such handsome makes
Hm.. I don’t particularly like Annie & Oliver together – more so because Oliver has become SO TRENDY. especially compared with Annie imo and especially when it seems you are trying to avoid trendy.
Beck has always made me think of Peck : / “Beck the Peck” — would something like Breck or Bex interest you?
I agree with Swistle “Charles” with an “Annie” does make it seem like the girls are getting CUTESY names while the boys are getting SO SERIOUS names. What about Chaz? Annie and Chaz?
Would you consider Archie? Annie and Archie are kind of darling imo.
I also like the suggestions above of Gus and Otto.
I think short and/or nickname-y is a good tradition to keep going on with:
Ken? Tom? Bill? Jim? Hank? Tim? Bob? Mack? Mike? Mark? Paul? Chris? Joe? Jon/John? Toby? Zack? Adam? Corey? Glen? Tony? Al? Chas or Charlie? Simon? Ian?
If you’re avoiding the letter “B”, and you don’t want trendy/dated, then the first thing I suggest is scrapping Beckett. It’s a great name, but stylistically very different from your other choices. And it is experiencing a surge in popularity that will possibly make it dateable in the future.
I don’t think I would have thought of orphans/musicals when hearing Annie and Oliver as siblings– I think it’s a very pleasing pair– but then, I’m not into theater at all.
On the boy’s side, it’s hard to get a sense of what your husband actually likes, only his objections (Henry, Charles). Has he just been nixing things, or actually offering suggestions? (Beyond the puns.) If he can’t be positive about any of your choices, I think you need to discuss the impasse with him directly and see what he has in mind (if anything).
I love Swistle’s suggestion of Jack!
I agree that I’d want to avoid a very serious sounding name with Annie. James could still work, if you like the nickname Jamie.
I didn’t catch the Oliver/Annie orphan thing until you mentioned. Like Swistle, I thought of the musicals.
I love the suggestion of Theo. Perhaps Theodore/Teddy?
Samuel/Sam/Sammy , Leo, Rory, Isaac/Ike, Toby
This breaks your “no B” rule, but how about Bennett? It’s similar to Beckett and Benjamin. Bennett James nn Benny!
I wouldn’t worry too much about the initial repeats with your husband and his sister. I doubt anyone will notice. Maybe close family, and then probably only as a passing thought.
I like James and Henry from your list, aslo Swistle’s suggestion of Milo and Theo.
Here are some more ideas:
Annie and Finn (or Flynn)
Annie and Leo
Annie and Felix
Annie and Owen
Annie and Gage
Annie and Lucas
Annie and Albert (I love the Bertie)
Hmm. I was actually going to suggest Ben, but then saw that it’s your husband’s name. My other thought was August, nn Gus, which Swistle suggested. So that’s my favorite. I think Max and Jack are both great options, as well.
What’s funny is that my husband’s cousin named his son (6 months younger than our daughter) August, and he goes by Gus! Also, there was another suggestion of Jasper, and that is another cousin’s name! So basically, our family is all on board with all of these suggestions ;)
Well, I just melted when I saw Swistle’s suggestion of Hugo. Annie and Hugo. Hugo James? Hugo Charles? Love it!
I never would have considered it before, but it is seriously growing on me! Maybe we’ll end up with too many names to choose from instead of too few! There are worse problems to have :)
Annie and Oliver immediately brought ‘orphan musicals’ to mind. Nice combo, though.
‘Jack and Annie’ also reads (pardon the pun) Magic Treehouse series to me. They are THE books to read when in first grade these days.
How do you feel about Harvey? Harvey Richard Lamberton sounds classic but fun. Annie and Harvey.
Strong feelings about Ralph? Ralph Richard Lamberton has a similar retro vibe. Annie and Ralph.
Jasper could be nice, too. Annie and Jasper.
Or Carl. Carl Richard. Annie and Carl.
There’s Seth! Seth Richard. Annie and Seth.
Richard itself has the nickname of Dix or Hardy. Annie might go well with either of those.
Hmmm… on to LOL names.
Leo (Leonard, Leon, Leonidas, Leopold) Orson. Annie and Leo.
Lawrence (Laws, Larry, Low) Otis. Annie and Laws.
Lance Oscar. Annie and Lance.
Leroy (Roy, Lee) Ormond. Annie and Roy.
Levi Oliver. Annie and Levi.
Lewis (Lew) Osmond. Annie and Lew.
Lincoln (Linc) Orville. Annie and Linc.
LLoyd Otto. Annie and Lloyd.
Lowell (Wells) Oswin. Annie and Wells.
Lyle Ogden. Annie and Lyle.
At the risk of sounding trendy, I will throw the name ‘Ace’ onto the pile. Annie and Ace sound nice together. And Ace Lamberton is pretty awesome. Perhaps Ace would make a good nickname? Let’s see… there’s Andrew as a full name (Andrew Richard). Asa would be an obvious full name. Or there’s Anthony. Arnold. Arthur! Arthur Richard Lamberton! And Art isn’t so bad of a nickname either! Annie and Arthur. Annie and Art. Annie and Ace.
Well, whatever you two decide, it’s going to be great. Best wishes to you and your growing family! Please let us know when your excellent son arrives. :)
Kudos for the LOL exploration! I, too, thought it worth exploring and not dismissing–maybe the boy would grow to have an awesome sense of humor? I like Leo the best with Lamberton–some of the others get a little tricky to say.
First of all, thank you so much for the good wishes! I will be sure to come back here with an update, especially after all the help I’ve received!!
I mentioned in an above comment that my daughter already has a cousin named Jasper, so unfortunately, I think we’ll have to put that on the “no” list :(
I love your LOL suggestions! Of course, so does my husband :) Lyle Ogden makes me think of Ogden Nash, whose poetry/writing I remember my dad liking when I was little, so that’s a nice association!
Arthur is my father-in-law’s middle name! And as much as I love the name Seth (so there’s one I do love!), it’s my husband’s co-worker’s name, and he has said that he’s not comfortable using the name of anyone he works with. He loves the name Thomas, but he has a direct report called Tom (short for Thomas), so he won’t use it.
So many good suggestions… thank you!
Annie and Peter. (Pete)
Annie and Samuel (Sam)
I like both of those options! Having a brother called Peter, I would have to clear it with my family first ;)
I know Beckett may be off the table, but if it helps, the beer is called Beck’s, not Beck. Personally I love the name Beckett and the beer connection had never crossed my mind. If the beer was called Beck Lamberton, I would stay away in your case, just like I’d advise anyone with the last name Artois not to name their daughter Stella; however, I don’t think the connection is strong enough with it just being a first name.
I don’t have any better suggestions than have already been made, but Theo and Hugo stand out to me as sounding really great! Also, I do kind of think the Annie/Oliver orphan character connection is a bit strong, but you could save Oliver for a possible subsequent child. The connection is a lot less clear when Annie and Oliver have another kid or two between them.
My sister’s name is Annie (22) and my brother’s name is Edward (29). Teddy for a few years, and now floats between Ted and Edward. Ive always loved the classic yet somewhat unexpected first names they have.
Edward/Ted/Teddy Lamberton
Annie and Teddy! I do like that combo a lot! (My husband would pooh-pooh Edward for the Twilight connection. One of these days, he’s going to have to get over it ;)) We have discussed Theodore, though, so that could still work for Ted/Teddy!
First of all, I think all my suggestions have been mentioned already, but here’s my preferences.
I know I am 100% biased but I say go for Oliver. I agree with previous commenters, rather than looking at it like you’ve named your children after orphans (which you haven’t named them after, rather is just a coincidence) you could say that they were names that you loved and that it is a neat coincidence that they share names of popular musicals. Swistle nailed it. We have an Oliver and absolutely LOVE his name. We have received so many positive comments on it. Plus, Annie and Ollie. SO CUTE.
If Oliver isn’t right, what about Arlo? Or Oscar.
This first name that came to mind was Max. Annie and Max. Great combination. Also like longer version, Maxwell.
I also really love:
Jack.
Charlie.
Walter. nn Walt.
Archie.
Simon.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Annie and Ollie would be so cute!!
So, I think Oliver might be back on the table, along with James, Charles, Jack, Theodore, Sam… I really am feeling drawn to Hugo as well as Arlo! Like I said earlier, I may end up with too many choices! :)
Very good point about the musical coincidence, because really, that’s what it would be! And Swistle was right, that “named after” is way too strong a statement. It would be purely coincidental.
Thank you!
Just wondering what name you decided on in the end!
Oh my word, I never came back to this and I swore I did!!
We ended up naming him Jacob Richard, and we call him Jake.
Annie and Jake.
We think it’s perfect .
Thank you all so much for all your helpful input! While I could have sworn that I updated you all after he was born, a quick Google search of our names (fueled by being overly awake from prepping lunches for the week and too much caffeine, as it’s 11:17pm here) revealed this query and the fact that I never did update you all! Thanks to R for checking back in in February (and I will now update my selections so that I receive updates should anyone else post)!
We ended up naming our son Jacob Richard, and we call him Jake. Annie and Jake. They have just turned 4 and 2 years old respectively, and we think we really nailed it on the names for them. They are classic but with some flexibility, and while Jacob seems to always be on the top 10 lists for popularity, I know of only 2 others.
In the end, I couldn’t go with Jack, knowing it was the name of my brother’s dog. That hasn’t stopped people in our family for accidentally saying “Jack” instead of “Jake”, but since my mother once went through all my brothers’ names and the dog’s (Choco) before finally landing on “Kate” one time, I figure that’s not so bad. ;-)
Love Annie and Jake. Thanks for the update!
Very cute, and will grow well. :)
Mom would frequently go through the whole list including her baby sisters before getting to the kid in trouble!