Hi!
I am due September 5th with our first child. We are having a boy, and we are completely stumped on a name!
Some names we like are Luca, Sebastian, and Milan. My husband has suggested Luca Dean (which I like, but fear that it sounds too similar to Dean and Deluca). He also likes Sebastian Cruz, which I like but I’m not sure if it’s too much?? We can’t think of anything that goes with Milan, any suggestions? I haven’t been able to settle on a name because I feel like I’m missing something, or that I’m close to what I’m looking for but just not there yet….
Surname sounds like Ver-bell.
Some names we had on our list Rylan, Jaylen, Desmin, Royce and Remy.
I would most appreciate any and all feedback on what we have, as well as warmly welcome suggestions on names we might have missed, and name combinations/middle name suggestions, etc.
I look forward to hearing from you! I have truly enjoyed reading your blog posts! I can’t wait to hear what help you have to offer, and to happily report back a final name we settle on!
Best regards,
Gilda
In some families, the middle name is in everyday usage; but in most families, it’s a special occasion name for birth announcements, discipline, and graduations. Luca Dean gave me a flash of recognition (I don’t know how long it would have taken me to think specifically of Dean and Deluca; it just felt very familiar for a reason I couldn’t put a finger on), but the daily-use name Luca Verbell doesn’t have that issue. Sebastian Cruz may seem like too much, but most people will only hear Sebastian Verbell.
I think I’d like to start by seeing if we can get a handle on your naming style. Rylan and Jaylen are both modern names. Sebastian and Royce feel vintage-revival and gentlemanly. Milan, Jaylen, Remy, Rylan, and Luca are unisex to various degrees. Luca, Milan, Sebastian, and Remy have international flair. Royce is an interesting pick: familiar, and yet quite unusual. I’m not familiar with the name Desmin, and might suggest Desmond unless you have a particular reason for using the unusual variation. It looks to me like for the most part you like suave, not-too-macho, not-too-common names. I see a lot of R and L sounds.
Do you think you’re likely to try for more children after this one? If so, I’d suggest thinking ahead to sibling names, and thinking about how much you’d like them to coordinate. If you’d prefer some coordination, this is a good time to pick between, say, the Jaylen path and the Sebastian path.
Every parent feels differently about unisex names: some people love them, some people avoid them, some people get angry about how our society tends to use “boy names” for girls but not “girl names” for boys. What I like to do is limit the discussion as much as possible to usage facts: not discussing whether names “should” be used for one sex or the other, but only showing how the names are currently used in the United States, and leaving it up to the parents after that. Here is the U.S. usage for 2014:
Luca: 67F, 2291M
Lucca: 40F, 319M
Luka: 16F, 489M
Milan: 424F, 748M
Rylan: 339F, 1726M
Rylen: 43F, 205M
Rylin: 67F, 7M
Rylinn: 228F, 11M
Rylynn: 183F, 8M
Remy: 278F, 424M
Remi: 429F, 88M
Jaylen: 156F, 1082M
Jaylyn: 165F, 36M
Jaylynn: 416F, 17M
(I gave up on Rylan and Jaylen variations: there were just too many, and I hadn’t even started on the Ril- and Jal- spellings yet! To summarize: unisex, used overall more often for boys, but the -lan/-len endings lend themselves to -lyn/-lynn variations.)
For something to go with Milan, I started by saying “Milan ____ Verbell” over and over, with a little pause between, to see if a rhythm would feel right. The first one I thought of was a dah-DAH-dah type of name. Milan Jacoby Verbell. Milan Elijah Verbell. Milan Tobias Verbell. Milan Augustus Verbell.
But then I realized I was saying ver-BELL. If the emphasis is more on the first syllable, I still like Jacoby and the rest of them, but I’d add some basic two-syllable, emphasis-on-the-first-syllable, traditional names: Milan Robert Verbell, Milan Joseph Verbell, Milan Henry Verbell.
With Milan, Rylan, and Jaylen on your list, I wonder if you’d like the name Nolan. It has that suave sound to me. Nolan Verbell.
Or Alan. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned that name in awhile, but it was in our top seven finalists for Henry. I think we’d just watched a documentary with Alan Alda, and I was admiring his calm, friendly personality. Alan Verbell.
Or Lance. That’s got the -lan/-len sound and also the -ce of Royce. Lance Verbell.
Or Bryce. Bryce Verbell.
Or Brooks. Brooks Verbell.
But I feel like these last few are getting a little preppier than what you’re looking for. Maybe more like:
Adrian Verbell
Dean Verbell
Elliot Verbell
Emmett Verbell
Everett Verbell
Flynn Verbell
Graham Verbell
Grant Verbell
Julian Verbell
Louis Verbell
Miles Verbell
Phineas Verbell
Reid Verbell
Rhys Verbell
Simon Verbell
Theodore Verbell
Name update!
Hi!
I’m writing with our name update! We welcomed our baby boy August 30th and his name is Bastian Demir Verbell.
Thanks again so much for all your help! It was so fun reading your suggestions and the suggestions of all your wonderful readers!
Take care!
Gilda
How about Milan Sebastian Verbell? Unless you want to save Sebastian for a potential sibling. Other combos I like: Royce Sebastian & Sebastian Royce. Or how about Luca Dane to take it just another step away from Dean & Deluca? I like the suggestions of Miles & Louis, among others.
I thought of a couple more that might be your style: Mateo, Sterling
I am loving Luca, Sebastian, Desmond and Remy.
I think Cruz is a perfect middle with this style of name.
I am particularly fond of Desmond Cruz Verbell.
I could see brothers Olivier, Lucian, Percival, Inigo, Alexei, Soren,
My favorite from your list is Sebastian. I think it is versatile enough to fit a variety of naming styles should you go on to have more children. I also think Bash is a darling nickname for Sebastian. Sebastian Dean is a very handsome name! With Milan and Cruz, I have strong celebrity baby associations (Shakira and the Beckhams, respectively) so I’m not feeling those as much. Luca is nice, but I prefer Lucien for you.
Some other names that fit your varied style:
-Modern feel (like Rylan and Jaylen): Jasper, Felix, Milo, Silas, Knox
-International flair (like Milan): Soren, Rhys, Caspian, Cassius (nickname Cash), Hugo
-Gentlemanly/vintage revival: Atticus, Cyrus, Alcott, Finnian (nickname Finn)
Combos:
Sebastian Dean Verbell
Jasper Cruz Verbell
Felix Dean Verbell
Remy Silas Verbell
Cyrus Dean Verbell
Atticus Knox Verbell
Lucien Rhys Verbell
Sebastian is my absolute favorite. Both timeless and trendy, it does not hamper you in any way if you have a second kid and want some kind of name coordination. You could go timeless like Rose or Mary, you could go “international” with Luciana, or you could go trendy like Ava or even unisex like Avery. For a second boy, you may want to avoid the unisex names, like a Jaylen or Jayden, and Milan seems way too feminine to me, but almost any other name is on the table.
I have a crush on Remy for boys. It’s international, easy to say/spell, suitable for baby, boy, adult, friendly and sophisticated. I know two – one is Remy short for Remington. You may not like the gun brand association and more western feel of Remington, but that shouldn’t diminish the name Remy.
I also like Sebastian. Lots of fun nicknames and gives you flexibility for naming in the future.
Am I the only one who finds most or even all of the nicknames for Sebastian either weird or too much of a stretch/unintuitive? I like Ian well enough, but most of the others just sound strange in English. I do like the full name Sebastian enough to consider it useable, though, and I do like it a lot with your surname. Sonny, maybe?
Milan I suspect will end up becoming a name given primarily to girls, the twin to Monet. Where I live (rural New England), both Milan and Monet would be mispronounced often, and probably considered a tad pretentious. Milan would be MY-Linn. These issues would be enough to steer me away from using it.
Luca would also be quite exotic in this area, but perhaps Ezra and Noah have paved the way toward acceptance. I gather from reading various blogs that Luca is quite popular in hip, urban areas, and from your lists would guess that you’re in an area where these names are more common or at least more aspirational, in which case you can simply ignore this concern.
I like Luca, Sebastian and Milan more than the list of others you’ve considered. And I really, really like many of Jamie’s (above responder) suggestions for you, especially Cyrus Dean and Lucien Rhys. Very inspired.
I agree about the nn problem with Sebastian. The problem is compounded where I live because Baz is the standard nickname for the very middle aged Barry. barry hasn’t been gone long enough to be back and Baz (and cousins Gaz and Shaz) have a bad rep. I wonder if part of the problem is that it is such a long name but doesn’t have an obvious dominant letter or syllable.
I know someone who has a friend named Sebastian who goes by Seb, and for some reason it never struck me as odd to hear it. Thinking about it as a possible nickname for my own baby, I would say no, but for some reason it seems fine to me for other people.
I was going to suggest Bastian instead of Sebastian, since OP thinks Sebastian is a bit much Bastian Cruz Verbell. Bastian Verbell.
Hi!! I’m just circling back to our post- our baby boy is now going to be 2 months tomorrow! Boy how time flies! We did wind up with Bastian!! Bastian Demir Verbell! :-)
Awesome!!
I’m another person pro-Sebastian for you. I grew up with a “Seb”, the only one I’ve ever met. Happy it’s gaining a little traction. His name was never weird even with the Little Mermaid so prevalent in my childhood. I particularly like the idea of Baz as a nick. Sebastian and Remy sound like they could be brothers. International classics. I like the suggestion of Felix too.
I’m from a coastal area in New England, but wouldn’t have any pronunciation problems with Monet (famous artist), Luca (popular with Italian-Americans and Lucas/Noah fans) or Milan (like the city) but my taste tends to be more classic and English leaning. They may sound out of place where I live with all the Jacks, Henrys and Jacobs. But I could see all of them being mainstream in a more urban area like Gail mentioned. Monet and Milan read as female to me. Luca is all male to my ear.
A name association I have with this list is Roman. I think Roman is a dashing name, with Romy as a cute childhood nickname.
I’d describe your shortlist as ‘soft Italian’. Milan is all boy to me, thanks to Milan Kundera, but the city makes me think of Italy. The Sebastians and Lucas I know have Italian backgrounds. So I’d look at names like Nino, Alfonse, Italo, Ignatius/Ignace, Julian… But I love the three you’ve got already!
Or maybe Santo – so soft and dashing! Or Dante, Anton, Gabriel, Cosimo, Arlo…
How about Nico, Rocco, Marco, Julian, Adrian, Donovan, Vincent, or Leo?
I like the name Sebastian, but for some reason, with your last name, I find my tongue getting caught, so that I’m trying to say, Sebastian Ber-vell or “Sevastian Ver-bell.” But it might just be my addled brain! :)
I like the suggestions of Mateo, Marco, and Nico (or you could use the name Nicholas, nn Nico) with your last name. I think Dean would work as a middle name for all three. And I know a sweet little boy named Luca, so I have very positive associations with it as a boy name.
I think Milan is nice and I like Marc with it, but that could be because I have a friend whose name is Marc and his dad is Milan. I have an Italian friend whose daughter is named Rebecca and she calls her Rebe for a nickname (she says it Ray-bay) and it’s so sweet, I wonder if you could use Seb or Sebe (Say-bay_ for Sebastian. Good luck!
Lots of lovely suggestions! I like Julian, Adrian, Hugo, Felix, and Anton from other comments. Perhaps Nico (as a nickname or stand alone name), Leo, Solomon (Sol or Solly?). I know a little one named ____ Raphael who goes by Rapha. It’s charming on him.
I agree with Swistle that it might be helpful to spend some more time thinking about future siblings (if you think some may come) and finding your style, since some names from your “others” list seem to be outliers. I’m getting that “soft Italian” or otherwise International vibe, but that might not resonate with you.
Oh! I also grew up with a Severin who goes by Sev.
I love the nn Bach for Sebastian. I really like Milan Sebastian and Adrian James (nn AJ) for you.
My favorite Sebastion nn is Bas. While I think Luca Dean is fine (no problem with Dean and DeLuca), I really like Sebastian Cruz.
Lane Dexter Ver-bell
I LOVE the name Milan. If you do decide on this name and aren’t familiar with Milan Kundera, I would start reading to make sure you are okay with the association (I think it’s a positive one, but I can see some people being less comfortable with it). Middle name ideas and the patterns that sound good to my ear:
Milan Alexander Verbell (4 syllables)
Milan Dean Verbell or Milan Royce Verbell (1 syllables)
Milan Randolph Verbell (2 syllables, not ending in “n” and emphasis on 1st syllable)
Milan Xavier Verbell (3 syllables, not ending in -n and emphasis on 1st syllable)
Sebastian is also one of my favorites. Milan and Sebastian would make good brother names if you plan on having more. I think Sebastian Dean or Sebastian Cruz both sound nice. Because of the length of Sebastian, I like 1 syllable middles with it, or a 2 syllable not ending in -n, such as Sebastian Milo or Sebastian August
I named my son Sebastian, he’s four now and his nickname is Bastian, I also like Bash as a nn; although I adore his full name and mostly refer to him in that manner. Love your choice too, congrats!
Whoa, wait! I’m 43 and perhaps just realizing that I pronounce Sebastian differently than others! I say Seh-bast-tee-an. Do others say Seh-bash-tee-an? Seh-bash-tyun? The way I say it, I would never think of Bash as a nickname. Am I the only one? Or is this a Canada vs. US thing? (I’m Canadian). Or is it the same thing as Erin vs. Aaron, where to some those sound the same and to some they are very different? Now I’m very curious…