Hi Swistle!
I have been reading your blog off and on for a while. My husband and I are expecting our first baby, a girl, at the end of June. We are having the hardest time agreeing on a name for her!! I think it’s because our naming styles are different. My name is Ashley and his name is Kent. I do not like common names, I was one of 4 Ashley’s in school. Our last name is Gooding. Here are some names we have both suggested but can’t seem to agree on:Ellery- My top pick and favorite! I like that it’s not too common. Very cute and feminine.
Kenley- My husbands pick. He likes it because it combines both his name and mine. I don’t like it because it sounds too trendy to me. I’m also not big on combining names.
Cadence- Another name my husband suggested but I HATE it!
Sloane- I like this name but think I would prefer it as a middle name.
Obviously our styles are all over the place. These are just a few of the names that have been suggested. I can’t seem to find anything I like as much as Ellery. Do you have any suggestions on names similar to Ellery that I could possibly get my husband to agree on? Or any name suggestions at all?!?
If we were going to be having a boy, Kingston was at the top of our list. Other names that were possibilities were Sutton, Holden, and Emerson.Any and all help appreciated! We are coming down to the wire!!
Sincerely
Ashley
Although you and your husband don’t agree on each other’s top favorites, your naming styles seem very compatible: both top picks (Ellery and Kenley) are modern surname names.
One suggestion I have is to change goals: instead of trying to find a name you like as much as Ellery (such a name may not exist), switch the focus to finding the name you like best of all the remaining names.
One possibility is to consider using Emerson from your boy-name list. Emerson is a unisex name currently used more often for girls in the United States; here are the 2013 numbers from the Social Security Administration (for spellings used as least 25 times that year):
Emerson: 1509 F, 973 M
Emersyn: 595 F, 16 M
Emersen: 45 F, 10 M
Emmerson: 170 F, 22 M
Emmersyn: 71 F, – M
Sutton is another that is unisex but currently used more often for girls (316 new baby girls and 183 new baby boys in 2013), so perhaps that could be considered for a girl.
Another possibility is Emery: similar in sound to Ellery, but perhaps enough different that your husband would like it.
Or Ellison, or Ellis.
Or Everly, or Waverly.
Or Brielle.
Holden makes me think of Hadley, Holland, and Hollis.
Cadence makes me think of Jade, Delaney, Braelyn, Gracen, Paisley, Campbell, and Teagan.
It sounds as if Kenley is not a likely choice for several reasons, but it interested me because we recently did another letter from parents who combined their names for the first child.
Kenley reminds me of Kinley, Kinsley, Brinley, Keelyn, Linley, Finley, Tenley, and Lennox.
Sloane reminds me of Simone, Fiona, Winslow, Quinn, Brynn, Jade, Laine, and Berkeley.
Both of your husband’s top names start with a hard C/K sound. Maybe Coralie would be something he would like that is also similar to Ellery?
Or if Kenley sounds too trendy to you, would you feel differently about Kaylee or Keely? They have a longer history of use, but would still count as a combination of your two names.
Maybe you could play around with other ways of combining your names. Something like Shallen would borrow letters from each of you. Or you could try combining your middle names too, if you have middle names.
I had the same thought about C/K names. Cassidy, Kendall, Calliope, Carson and Cleo come to mind.
A few others you might like: Marley, Wren, Aracely, Bianca, Darcy, Felicity, Gretchen, Reese, Tansy, Danika, Blakely, Brooke, Lark, Talia
The best mash-up I can think of is Kelly, but that may be too traditional for you. One idea, if you want to honor yourselves but don’t like the possible mash-ups, is to give her first and middle names that start with the same letters as you. For example, Kendall Aracely or Ainsley Kate.
Emery sounds like a great compromise to me. Or would you like Piper? That seems like your style.
Hi! My name is Ashli and I have a 2.5 year old girl Ellery so for that reason I’m going to selfishly give you different names so that Ellery doesn’t become too popular! :-) I posted the following names 3 posts ago regarding name suggestions for a sibling to Brier and Kinley. Hopefully one of these will strike a fancy with you. These are names I genuinely like and are on my list for a next daughter if we are so blessed to have another.
My tops are Carys and Cacia!
Maren/Marin
Ayla
Corinne
Briese
Brea (Bray-uh)
Carys
Cacia
Ansel
Seren
Gentry
Hartley
Jensen
Keelin
Keela
Noel
Nola
Belen
Reyna
Reeve
Tavia
Waverly
Adria
Aftyn
Aria
Baxter
Ansley
Fallon
Risa
Lexie
Isla
Ellery was on our list as well. We ended up choosing a different name, but I still have nothing but love for Ellery! My first thought for you was Hadley. I also like the suggestions of Emery, Everly, Piper, or Maren.
Hmmm…maybe try to find something that combines the hard C/K sound that your husband likes with the “L” sound that you seem to like. Larkin? Keely or Keelin (as already suggested) would fit that too.
Other suggestions:
Rowan
Finley
Avery
Kaia (Ky-uh)
Ridley
Oh it’s so interesting two people with the same first name named their daughters the same. I wonder if that’s a thing (for people with the same first names to like the same names for their kids)?
My first thought for you was Henley.
My second thought for you was Kelley. Seems unoriginal for our generation, but for *her* it would be really original.
Similar to Ellery.. Ellington?
My favorite name in a similar style that I’ve heard recently is Briarly. It’s not even in the top 1000, so if you’re looking for uncommon, it definitely makes the cut. Less surname-y, more, I dunno, modern and whimsical? I really like it, and modern names aren’t usually my jam.
I like Swistle’s suggestions of Sutton, Everly, Fiona, and Winslow.
Others I thought of while reading your post…
-Aleka, Valerie, Kinley, Kenna, Ember, Emery
The name Kenley made me think of Kendra, a familiar name but definitely not over-used or trendy. You could use a variation of your name in the middle, such as Ashlin. Kendra Ashlin is very pretty and uses parts of both your names without being a mash-up. If you don’t care about using your name, Kendra Sloane is also quite nice.
Minor variations on suggestions above:
Riley
Laine
Reagan
You can still get the “ri” nickname of Ellery. I like Laine though! Lainey for a nickname.
I’m a Sarah (speaking of common names) and just named my sweet baby girl Ellery. My boys (5 and 2) have more uncommon names. I will say that Ellery is very similar to other popular girls names and so sometimes when I introduce our little girl people think Elodie or Everly or Emily or even Hilary.
So if that ends up not being an option (though I love it for our darling bean), at least you may avoid those pitfalls.
Interesting that you’ve had someone hear a different name other than Ellery. We’ve had people ask us to spell it but no one has ever misheard it.
I think Kenley as an honour name works well in the middle slot. I wonder if you let him have his favourite as the middle, if he will let you choose your favourite for the first name?
I personally don’t like the rhyming of Ellery Kenley though. I wonder if you could do something like all the girls get a middle name beginning with Ken, e.g. Kendra, Kenzie, Kennedy, Kendall, and all the boys get a middle name beginning with Ash, e.g. Asher, Ashton, Ashby.
I’m imagining a family made up of: Ellery Kendra, Paige Kenzie, Kingston Asher and Carter Ashton
Good luck.
I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s suggestions and comments. There have been a lot of good names to think about. I’m wondering if anyone has some other suggestions on how to combine our names for a middle name (other than Kenley). I’m thinking I could still get the hubby on board with Ellery if I could find another way to combine our names for a middle name. I was pondering Kelyn/Keelyn, which combines his first name with my middle name (Lynn), but still not sure if I like how that sounds.
Maybe Laken?
What if you just used some of the same letters from both of your first names to make a middle name?
Keley? Or Leyna?
Kate is even a possibility taking just a few letters from both names
K (Kent)
A (Ashley)
T (Kent)
E (Kent and Ashley)
What about Kensley instead of Kenley? It sounds more feminine to my ear and the nickname Kensie/Kenzie is cute!
Other suggestions:
Ansley
Avery
Eden
Everly
Hadley
Harlow
Kennedy
Kinsley
Riley
Skylar
Paisley
Waverly
Embry
Kendall
I think Emerson is lovely on a girl and Emerson Kenley would be nice.
Good luck!