Hi Swistle!
I have been reading your blog for years, and my husband and I are thrilled to be expecting our first baby in May – a girl! We compiled a large list of names and have narrowed it down to five, but none seem to stand out.
If we were having a boy, his name would be William. The popularity of the name bothers me a bit, but it is a family name, so I feel we can make an exception. I also like Charles. We would like to keep William as an option for a future boy, and we hope to have two to three children, although after IVF we know nothing is guaranteed.
Our finalists are:
Margaret
Camilla
Eleanor
Juliet
RosalieNames I love but my husband vetoed include Anna, Grace and Lydia. Names my husband loves but I vetoed include Eliza and Amelia. Our last name is Peters@n.
Our top joint picks from this list would probably be Eleanor and Camilla. We both love Eleanor but I am quite concerned about it’s rapidly rising popularity. Camilla is nice as well, although perhaps a bit too “royal” with a potential brother named William? I love Margaret (nn Greta), but I don’t know that I can get my husband fully on board. He has a negative association with another common nickname for Margaret.
We would love the opinion of you and your readers. Nothing seems as perfect or obvious as William for a boy!
I do think Camilla with William has a strong royal feeling—particularly if you may also want to use Charles. William itself is so diluted through common usage that it doesn’t seem too royal on its own (even, I think, with another common-and-also-royal name such as Margaret or Henry), but for many of us, royal Camilla is a strong association. In addition, Camilla and William have a lot of shared sounds, including the entire -ill- sound. In fact, each name has only one unshared letter.
I wonder if you’d like the name Millicent. It’s similar to Camilla, but loses the royal association and gains some different sounds. It has the sweet nickname Milly/Millie.
Felicity is another option, and seems similar in sound and style to many of the names on your list.
Or Cecily.
Margaret and Juliet make me think of Violet.
If possible, I think you shouldn’t let the increasing popularity of the name Eleanor scare you off. It’s a lovely name, and I think it goes very well with your surname and with potential future brothers William and Charles.
Would you like Eloise? It’s similar to Eleanor and Eliza.
Name update:
Swistle,
I have been meaning to write as our little one is over five weeks old! We went with Eleanor, despite the rising popularity. I only had a mild meltdown when the 2015 social security list was released and Eleanor continued its rapid ascent. :) We are calling her Eleanor or Leni, which helps alleviate some of the popularity of Elle, Ellie, and Nora.
At the end of the day, Eleanor was the name we truly loved, and if we are lucky enough to have more children, I feel it pairs well with William and our other top choices. Thanks to you and your readers for your thoughtful comments!
I would go with Eleanor over Camilla, just because you may be pairing it with William and/or Charles some day. Juliet would be nice, too.
I agree with Swistle’s assessment of Camilla; I think it’s a nice name, but it doesn’t work well paired with William. I love the suggestion of Felicity.!
I would keep Eleanor in the running as well! It’s such a fantastic name. I particularly enjoy Rosalie from your list as well. Such a cute name!
I’m not sure Camilla & William would matter too much, though I do think Camilla would rule out being able to use Charles later. FWIW, I have a William & George and we have never received a comment about the Royal Family.
If the OP is still unsure, perhaps Camille instead of Camilla?
If your husband has a bad association with another Margaret nickname, why not consider just using Greta? I think it works fine as a stand alone name. I don’t see it being any different than just Eliza instead of the full Elizabeth.
I’m totally biased but we have a Juliet and a Rose (would’ve been Rosalie but husband preferred the simplified Rose… Which after the fact I actually agree). We love both our girls names and receive so many positive comments on them.
Eleanor gives me the same feeling as my girls, yes it’s rising in popularity but I think it’s still such a lovely name that that shouldn’t sway you if that’s the name you like best.
Other names on our list, since we have very similar naming styles!
Stella (my favourite) or Estelle
Thea (if we have another girl this will be her name, not sure if it flows with your last name tho)
Violet or Viola for something a bit different
Eve
Etta
Pearl
Emilia
Vivienne or Vienna
Margaret (also on your list, so many great nn – to note: our Rose’s full name is Rose Margaret Grace _____. I absolutely love her name)
Good luck and congrats!! For the record I also love William and Charles (if we have another boy, he will be Charles… We also have an Oliver).
Love Camila! Unexpected and can be spunky or sophisticated. A student with this name drowned out previous associations, but I agree this won’t work with Charles.
I also think that Camilla, although a lovely name, has a bit too much of a royal association when paired with William.
Camilla brought to mind the name Matilda, such a sweet name, with the nicknames Tilly, Millie or even Mattie. Matilda and William. Cute!
Emmeline is nice nn Emmie or Adeline nn Addie or Della.
Love Juliet from your list with the nicknames Jules or Jet.
Good luck!
What about Susanna nn Susie or Zanna? Such a lovely underused name!
Susanna and William! Gorgeous!
I agree that avoiding Camilla is probably best. Eleanor is great. I don’t think popularity should stop you but if it does, I think Rosalie is really nice too. Other ideas based on your style/matching William:
Katherine
Jane
Evelyn
Caroline
Oops Katherine is too royal too!
I love the suggestion of Camille instead of Camilla. What about Marguerite instead of Margaret? From your list, my favorite is Eleanor. I wonder if you would also like Georgia, Mary, Catherine, Cora, Josephine, or Madeleine?
I have the same concerns about Camilla as swistle and others mentioned. It isn’t ideal with William and even less so with Charles. A sibset of Camilla, William, and Charles would instantly bring to mind the royal family, Charles affair with Camilla during his marriage, and Diana’s tragic death.
I agree that Eleanor is a great choice and, if that is your choice, go for it. The popularity shouldn’t be a big problem especially if you use Nora rather Ellie as a nickname. From your list though, Juliet and Rosalie are my favorites. Both are lovely, traditional names with a more unique feel.
OP here! Thank you Swistle for posting my letter and for all the thoughtful comments so far. It’s so nice to get some outside opinions. We are convinced to forgo Camilla, or at least table it for this child. We could always bring it back if we end up not having a boy in the future. I also think I will be giving up Margaret for the sake of marital compromise. :) At least we are making progress!
I love mid-comment OP updates!
We had Eleanor on our girl name list, but bumped it down due to rising popularity. It was replaced by Magnolia, which is also more popular now than a few years ago, but not on the same wavelength as Eleanor. I wonder if that gets CLOSER to the “bad” Margaret nickname though.
Others that come to mind —
Marta/Martha
Celeste
Adelaide
Helen
You could also go for a variant of Eleanor, such as Leanor/Leonor(e) or Eleanora.
Rosalie is such a wonderful name – it contains so much personality, is familiar, yet not overused, and would fit so many kinds of people. Juliet is another favorite of mine that is finally catching on. Like you, I am attracted to Eleanor, but I might hesitate due to the preponderance of El- names (Ellie, Elle, Elsa, Ella, Eloise, Eleanor – all sometimes called Ellie) in my neck of the woods. That may or may not matter to you – just something to consider in making your decision. All of these names would fit into the same family and be wonderful with William or Charles. You can’t go wrong!
Your list makes me think of Helena, Aurora, Magdalene, Georgiana, Virginia, Sabine
Georgette? Agatha? Dorothy? Jennifer? Catherine?
Of your list, I like Eleanor best. Don’t know any one with that name
Probably too much of a gap in style for you ..and I know you’ve probably already moved on, but I have to throw this out there because I love it as a name: Camellia. it’s the plant that most teas (black, green, white) are made from. Cam, Cammie, Lia could be nicknames. Best wishes! :)
I agree Camilla should be out of the running. I wonder if you’d like Corinna? (Or Corrine?) I like many of the strong three syllable names already suggested, and I will add Meredith to the list.
I love Greta as a stand alone name, and while I love the name Margaret and so many of the nicknames…except the most popular one which hits my ears hard. I gave up that name bc I was worried about nicknames. Dont let the shortness of the name dissuade you. Greta, Rose, and William = a great sibset!
I love your name options! I love Eleanor and it was on our list for our son. I also like the idea of Greta alone as a name – Greta Peterson is pretty great and I love the repeated “t” sound (which is interesting given my general dislike of alliterative names). And Rosalie is such a beautiful, underused name!
Other than not using Camilla with a Charles (the Royal association doesn’t hit me over the head with a William alone, and would be further diluted if say you had a Camilla, William, and Iris, for example), I don’t think you can go wrong!
Good luck!
Since William is a family name and this may be the only child, what about Willa? Yes, this takes William out if contention I’d there is a #2, but you already have a strong second choice.
Otherwise, I like the suggestions of Magnolia and Matilda.
We just had a baby girl 4 weeks ago and named her Rosalie Amelia! (Rosalie was my pick and Amelia was my husband’s). We call her Rosa and love it.
Weirdly enough if we had a boy our choices were William and Charles… Crazy huh??
Elianna. it’s a mix of both names you and your husband like Eliza and Anna.
Elianna Mae Peters@n
Ivy Grace Peters@n keeps coming to me as well. Ivy & Will
I like to come up with sets of name to see how siblings would work.
I love Elianna and Rosalie and William and Charles all together
Eleanor Camille has a nice ring to it, and incorporates your top 2.