Hello Swistle!
I am pregnant, due in January with a little girl. We are over the moon! We had a boy name all set in stone, and are thrown for a bit of a loop!
Here’s the issue.
I’ve always been a huge fan of easy to pronounce, classic (but a bit on the trendy side) names. I loathe creative spellings and always have.
So naturally, I’ve completely fallen in love with a unique name of which I want to stray away from the classic spelling. Help!
The name is Everleigh. I heard it first about 5 years ago when celebrity Cam Gigandet named his daughter Everleigh Rae. I was hooked! I thought it sounded whimsical and beautiful– a name you’d see in a fantasy movie. I didn’t even care that a celebrity had used it, or that it wasn’t a classic name. The spelling seemed normal to me, at the time. I loved how feminine it looked.
Then, about a year ago, another celebrity, Channing Tatum, named his daughter Everly. I started to wonder about the spelling. In searching, I found that Everly (spelled this way) was originally a boy’s name, and that this is the way it should be spelled (if I’m sticking to my naming rules at all at this point).
I can’t help but love Everleigh, spelled this way. I’m such a stickler for a ‘proper spelling’ with a ‘proper name’ that I don’t know how this spelling/name would be perceived by others. Part of me knows I shouldn’t care, and that we should name her whatever we want, but the other side of me knows the world can be a cruel, judgmental place. Would people think this was a cheap way to spell Everly? Have people even heard of this name? Is there anything else you can suggest? Needing some guidance!
If it helps at all, other names I love:
Penelope
Aubrey
Primrose
Natalie
Anneliese
Clara
LydiaThank you so very much,
LB
There are two issues here, I think. The first thing I would want to figure out, before working on the spelling, is whether Everleigh is not only an outlier name for you, but also a problematic outlier. I bring this example up a lot, but it’s particularly applicable here: when I was pregnant with my first child, I saw Teri Hatcher on a talk show and she mentioned her daughter Emerson Rose. I FLIPPED for the name. It was not my usual style at all, but it seemed PERFECT. We started calling the fetus Emerson right away. And I am very glad we had a boy, because I like sibling names to coordinate, and if we’d started with a girl named Emerson, I’m not sure where we would have gone from there: none of the other names on my list go with it at all.
So if you hadn’t provided a list, that would have been my first homework assignment for you: make a list, and see if you like any of the other names (girl names and boy names) as a sibling name for Everleigh. People have different preferences for sibling name coordination, and different feelings about which names DO coordinate, so you may look at your list and think of MANY combinations you like. Or you may look at your list and realize, as I did later with the name Emerson, that using a name outside my usual style would have painted me into a very difficult corner: there’s nothing wrong with pairing Emerson with, say, Clarissa or Genevieve or Elizabeth, but I’d prefer not to. If it is also the case for you that you look at your list and you don’t like any of the names with Everleigh (and this may very well NOT be the case), then I would suggest using it as a middle name and spelling it however you like best.
If on the other hand you look at your list and you think a lot of the names go well with Everleigh, then we can turn our attention to the second issue, which is the spelling. I too prefer to use traditional spellings. However, there are non-traditional spellings and there are NON-TRADITIONAL SPELLINGS. For example, I think you and I would agree that we didn’t want to spell Penelope “Pynnellapy.” But if you’re like me, you’re on board with Katherine/Catherine/Kathryn and Madeline/Madelyn: you might personally prefer (even strongly prefer) one spelling over another, but none of them feel like violations or make you cringe the way Jaxxon or Emmaleigh might.
With modern names such as Everleigh/Everly, I’m not sure I’d say there IS a traditional spelling. I found a commenter online claiming that the name was old and traditionally male, but I’m not having any luck verifying that claim: as far as I can tell, it’s a surname name that came into usage only recently. Historical/origin information for the the name seems to be based on its use as a surname, not as a first name. Very likely in the long history of humankind there HAVE been people with it as a first name, but it’s never been in common enough usage to have established a standard spelling. As a surname, the traditional spelling would be Everly. As a first name, we will have to wait and let time sort it out: maybe one spelling will emerge as the standard; maybe several spellings will all be considered standard; or maybe the name will be used only briefly and a standard will never be established. In 2013, the spelling Everly was used for 804 new baby girls, and the spelling Everleigh was used for 295 new baby girls. Another 119 were named Everlee, and another 71 were named Everley.
As to your concern that people won’t have heard of the name, I do think you’ll encounter some of that, since the usage of the name is relatively new and because not everyone loves baby names and follows them intently, but I think most people the age of your peers and your daughter’s peers will have encountered it—or will encounter it soon. Look at its progress on the Social Security site:
(screen shot from SSA.gov)
(screen shot from SSA.gov)
The online data starts in 1880. Neither Everly nor Everleigh were in the Top 1000 at all from 1880 until 2012/2013—but look how fast they’re jumping up now that they’re here: Everly was #907 the first year, and already #383 the year after that. Perhaps it will stay around that level, or perhaps in next year’s data we’ll see another huge leap.
It’s not uncommon for people to THINK they like/dislike certain things about baby names, and then find out otherwise once they start the actual naming process. The most frequent, I think, is for people to think they hate common names—and then find that their whole list is made of common names. It can be an odd adjustment, but I think it’s better to make the adjustment (“Huh! I guess I don’t hate common names as much as I’d thought! Or in fact at all!”) than to give up the names you like on principle (“All my favorite names are Top 20, but I HATE Top 20, so I must NOT like those names after all and will choose something else instead”). If you love classic names with classic spellings, but you also love Everleigh, it could be that you like classic names with traditional spellings AND modern names with alternate spellings. And how nice if you do: it gives you a much broader field for browsing. And there is room to use both styles: classic/traditional first names with modern/alternate middle names, or the other way around. Lydia Everleigh, for example, or Everleigh Sophia.
Name update!
Hello Swistle! Just wanted to thank you and your readers for all the comments and encouragement to use the name and spelling of a modern name I love. Everleigh Anne was born January 8, and we are so in love with her, and her name. Our families are really happy with it, too. Thanks again!
My daughter’s name is Everleigh. She’s nearly two. I was pretty bummed that the name has moved up so rapidly in the past couple of years. It was not even on the top 1000 when I named her. But, I still do get a lot of positive feedback from strangers, especially the ones that look at her spelling like appointment setters at the dr.s.
I love the spelling, I think it looks more illustrious than Everly, and removes the link between the Everly brothers, which I did not name her after. We just gave her a one syllable middle name, and I think that works nicely. We call her Ever a lot of the time, which is short and sweet, so I like that she has the long “whimsical-Excactly!” full name to go by. Some people were concerned with her learning how to spell it, but she’s 22 months and can already read it by sight and identify the letters, so that is a silly concern!
If you’ve done your research, you will see that there was a brothel in Chicago called the Everleigh Club. This bothered us zero, but it might bother you.
I have a load of girls sibling names I love with this name, like Gwendolyn “Gwen”, Cordelia “Cori”, Emmeline “Emme”, sigh, but I’m pregnant with a boy and having a hard time finding a boys name I love as much as Everleigh. The ones I do have however, go really nicely with Ever. So that has not been a problem.
The only problem I have ever encountered is when I’m calling her name trying to get her to pose for photos, Everleigh! Everleigh! Everleigh! is a mouthful. At time when I’m trying to get her to pay attention, I wish I just named her Mia. :) But I love hearing other people say her name, and little kids say “Eva-lee” so cute.
Good luck!
OP here :)
I love your perspective!! Thank you so much for your input. :) And yes, I had read that there was once an Everleigh Club brothel. Actually, where I live in Toronto, there is currently a club (not a brothel lol) called the Everleigh Club! Doesn’t bother me at all. Just wasn’t sure if the spelling was totally messing with the name (like Pynnellapy for Penelope), or if it was like a Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn situation, as Swistle mentioned. :) I think the point you said about little kids saying “Eva-lee” just sealed the deal for me. That’s beyond adorable. <3
I thought, before I had kids, that one of my pet peeves was people turning nicknames into proper names. People would tell me that their little boy was named Jack after their grandfather, and I would secretly think they were etymologically ignorant bumpkins that didn’t even know their own grandfathers actual name. And then I got pregnant, and I discovered that I loved very short names and that longer formal names felt completely alien to me when thinking about them in the context of my actual children. My (unused) top boy’s name was Roy and my daughter is named May. I tell myself its ok because those are names that are sometimes but not always nicknames for other names, but deep down I know that my younger self was just wrong about some stuff.
Everleigh is definitely on the trendy side, but not dramatically more so than the other names on your list. I think it’s totally within bounds and you should use it if you love it.
I wouldn’t worry about the spelling coming across as “kreative” because the name is so rare. I would imagine that in everyday contexts, she will have to spell her name regardless (as so many of us do) precisely because there are few/no cultural guidelines about how to spell Everly/Everleigh. So you should focus more on the issue of whether this name is an outlier for you style-wise and how that impacts potential future siblings (e.g., are you a strict name sibset person or not?).
For pure aesthetics, I’m with you on the Everleigh boat. It looks more like a first name and less surname-y that way. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that “Everly” is the traditional spelling. In fact, the popularity data suggest that right now you are part of the generation of parents who are creating the traditional spelling for this name.
Original poster here! I just wanted to note that I will likely be having only one child- I should have mentioned this in my original question. :) Thanks so much for the comments– keep ’em coming!
I don’t think Everleigh is a difficult or terribly unusual spelling. While I might assume it would be spelled Everly if I just heard her name, seeing it written out it is still easily pronounce-able. I say go for it.
I would use it! It’s a lovely name and it seems a shame not use it since it’s your favorite. The ending Leigh makes it look much more traditional in style to me as a first name than Everly, and also IMO makes it coordinate enough with more established names should you change your mind and have another child in the future.
I like Everleigh better myself. Obviously a girls name with that ending, and gives me a fairy tale feeling. Happily Everleigh After!
I think that both spellings work in different ways. Everly is a surname-revival and feels more androgynous and modern (like Avery and Emerson) and Everleigh feels like a compound name of modern Ever + traditional and feminine Leigh (like Annabelle). Seems like the best of both worlds for you! If it’s your favorite and you prefer the Everleigh spelling, I say go for it!
I typically hate trendy names as well…and Everleigh has always been for one for me that I really like the sound of. I prefer the leigh ending. which is what makes it trendy, but Everly to me is too boy-ish. I think paring it with a really feminine name as Swistle suggested is the best bet.
Are both spellings pronounced the same way? To me, one reads EVER-LAY and other EVER-LEE. Maybe if you have one pronunciation you like best, go with that spelling?
My brain always wants to read leigh that way . But I’m getting over it, slowly but surely. Living in the South, I come across enough baby Bayleighs and Emaleighs and Myleighs that it’s starting to click that they’re the same pronunciation!
Hmmmm that’s not my interpretation. Perhaps this is a regional accent thing but here (Pacific Northwest) I would pronounce them both the same way with the ending sound LEE. I love the Everleigh spelling and I think the LW should use it!!
I agree. My niece is Everleigh, and I saw it in print before hearing it pronounced. My (Western Canadian) inclination was that the name was EVER-LAY. (Switching my mind to hear it as EVER-LEE wasn’t an issue, though. And they call her Evie (short e) which I think it adorable!)
This reminds me of the post about the name “Keighley” and the confusion over how “eigh” is pronounced:
When I saw Keighley, I read it as if it were Kiley (rhymes with Riley). I don’t know why, since -eigh is usually pronounced “ee” (Leigh, Ryleigh, Kayleigh) or “ay” (sleigh, weigh, neigh, eight, deign, reign, freight, Leighton). I think it might be a visual confusion with the surname Knightley. In fact, I’m going to go put up a poll right now to get a more accurate survey—I can’t even THINK of another example where “eigh” would be pronounced like long-I [oh, good, Rachel mentioned the word “height”—but I think for me it was the Knightley thing].
https://www.swistle.com/babynames/2013/11/18/baby-girl-or-boy-shanever-sibling-to-gracyn-and-jmeson-lane/
I know a couple of women named Leigh (pronounced “Lee”), so I would assume that “-leigh” on the end is equivalent to a “-lee” endings (Kaylee/Kayleigh, etc). But this is an issue the letter writer should still probably consider, just in case it will drive her crazy.
I live in the South, land of -leigh endings, and I’ve been known to wince internally when yet another couple swaps out the -ly for leigh, but weirdly enough, I think Everleigh works. I agree with others that its “newness” works in its favor. There really isn’t a tried and true spelling yet. And it does look prettier somehow (unlike Emaleigh, which people use like it’s an improvement on the classic spelling).
Plus, when I see Everly and all I can think of is Beverly with the B missing. Everleigh eliminates that association. If it’s the name you love (and this is coming from an extremely picky-about-creative-names person) I would use the Everleigh spelling. It’s lovely.
I was going to say the same thing about Beverly, which is by no means a terrible name, but to me feels dated and not yet ready for a comeback. Everleigh reads so much fresher to me than Everly, probably solely for this reason.
I also agree that its newness works in its favour; who’s to say which is the “correct” spelling at this point?
It also reminds me of a few 80s names (my generation) that have multiple spellings that all seem “correct” to me: Kaitlyn/Caitlyn/Caitlin/Kaitlin/Katelyn, Brittany/Britney/Brittney, Ashley/Ashleigh/Ashlee, Amy/Amie/Aimee, Megan/Meagan/Meghan/Meaghan… None of those spellings strikes me as “wrong” or, y’know, kr3atyv, just alternate spellings of names that sound the same.
And for what it’s worth, I think Everleigh is a lovely, solid choice.
I’m very anti-kreative spellings, but Everleigh doesn’t fall into the “kreative” category to me. I think it’s because (as previous posters pointed out), it’s a newer name and the “rules” of spelling haven’t been firmly established yet. It definitely does not look misspelled and I think it’s sweet. If you love it, I say go for it!
Love the name And spelling of Everleigh. So pretty!! Go with your gut!
I don’t see a problem at all! Everleigh is very pretty and I think this spelling establishes it as a girl’s name.
It reminds me of Ashley/Ashleigh. It started out as the boy’s name Ashley but, over time, firmly became a girl’s name with people originally using the Ashleigh spelling to confirm this.
Everleigh Rose or Everleigh Mae are both gorgeous! Go for it!
All the best!
Oh. . . I know you said you will probably only have one child but, if you were ever to have a sister for Everleigh, I love Primrose and Annalise from your list!
Everleigh and Primrose are beyond adorable together!
I’d also like to suggest Rosamund! Everleigh and Rosamund. Swoon!
I think Everleigh is lovely and if you love it, I say go for it.
I know the OP has said that this will likely be her only child, but I also find the whole idea that siblings names NEED to match unnecessary. My siblings and I have different style names by virtue of the fact that some of us were born a decade and a half after the others. My parents loved our names when they gave them to us and I believe that’s what matters. Besides, we’re all adults now and rarely does anyone address us as a unit anymore.
I find no problem with Everleigh and Penelope. Neither with Everleigh and Clara or Everleigh and Lydia. Good luck!
We are currently expecting baby number four we don’t know the gender yet but Everly is on the top of my girl’s list. I prefer the spelling Everly but I think they both work and Everleigh is a fine way to spell it! Go with what you love!
Everly is one of my favorite names, and I think one of the best modern names out there. I prefer the Everly spelling, but that’s probably because I have a thing about names ending in -y. (A good thing, I mean.) But I don’t think of Everleigh as being an “off” spelling, just a variant, and it works just fine. I do think Everly/leigh will continue to grow in popularity, as it hits all the right notes, which isn’t a negative at all, just something to be aware of. (Lots of times people say how much they loved the name but now it is everywhere!)
It’s a bit of a tongue twister, but I also find myself adoring the name “Everly Penelope”
Everly is one of my favorite girl names! The Everleigh spelling is pretty too. I like the Everley spelling for a boy. If you want something more traditional, Evelyn might work for you.
Esepecially if she’s likely your only child, I say follow your heart! Everleigh seems just as valid to me as Everly. It’s not “classic” in that it hasn’t been used for hundreds of years, but who cares. And since Everleigh is now in the ssa 300s, everyone in her generation will be familiar with it. It sounds like you’ll be sad if you don’t so I say dooooo it.
I grew up with an unusual spelling of a trendy name. The name now dates me to a late 80s- mid 90s birth, and on top of that I have to spell it for everyone all the time. Even people I’ve known for years mix up the letters sometimes! It’s not the end of the world, and I know even a simple name like Kate gets misspelled Kaite and Kayte by people not paying attention, but I often wistfully imagine what it would be like to go through life as an Alice, June, Lucy…
My experience makes it hard for me to recommend Everleigh (or even Everly). On the one hand, I agree it’s important to go with the name you love most, especially if it is your only child… on the other hand, think of the long term future of your kid, who will be an adult someday. Also think about names from your own generation that are now datable. You don’t give your name, but how would you feel being a Tiffani, Britney, or Kourtney? Everleigh is very pretty, but also seems likely to fall into the same category as names from your own generation that led you to say you “loathe creative spellings and always have.”
Gently, I urge you to really think this one through. And also to get input from your partner. What does s/he prefer?
I really like all of the names from your longer list, and think Clara Everleigh in particular is a nice combo.
Good luck and please keep us posted!
Just discovered I’ve written a super-long reply… oops!
I think Everleigh is in the middle of a fairly complex Venn diagram. It’s a new name in the sense that it’s only starting to see use now, but an old name in the sense that it seems to come from a surname. Also it’s kind of adjacent to some older names – Beverly, Kimberly – so it doesn’t seem like it came out of nowhere. It’s got the “ev” sound at the beginning, which since Evelyn and Evan are quite popular I think is going to be a really prominent sound for children in her generation (and if you extrapolate a bit, the short “e” sound by itself is everywhere, too, with the popularity of Emily/Emma/Emerson/Emery, etc.). Everly is also arguably unisex (on the basis that surname names are often used on boys, although it isn’t in the SSA top 1000 for boys), and Everleigh does seem like a fairly natural spelling variation (I’ve known a couple of Ashleighs, so it feels like a “Kathryn” to me rather than a “Pennellapy”).
And so looking at the big picture, the “Ev” and short “E” sounds, the old yet new angles of it, the fact that (IMHO) it could pass as a unisex name and the fact that it has a spelling variation all together makes Everleigh seem quite current/modern.
As to the Everleigh vs Everly spellings: if you have a fairly straightforward-for-your-area surname, you might want to stick with the fanciful Everleigh that you adore; if your surname is likely to require that she spell it for people constantly, you might go with Everly, which I think would be the more likely spelling that a person would default to.
I saw your post in the comments that you’re likely only going to have one child, and if that’s the case (and I’d want you to be quite sure about it), I vote that you just go for it and use Everleigh/Everly. The most likely problem you’d face if Everleigh/Everly isn’t your usual style is potentially having to find something that you think complements Everleigh/Everly and finding nothing you like. If you’re probably never going to have to name a sibling for her, don’t worry about whether it fits the style you tend to prefer.
We have a little Everly Madison (almost 4 now!) and love it just as much as we did when we named her. I think most people have assumed her name is spelled “like Beverly without the B”.
Since we knew when we named her not many people had heard the name or seen it written, we chose the spelling that we thought most people would try first.
I think now that more people are familiar with it, you’d be just fine with Everleigh (I think both ways are very pretty). Go with what you love, we’re so glad we did!