Dear Swistle,
Our second baby boy, the fourth and last baby for our family, is due the first week of March. There really are no names we have fallen in love with that we would even settle on, at this point.
Here is our dilemma:
Our last name is “Herr” and rhymes with “fur”. Therefore, any name that ends with “-er” sounds like a stutter. Also, any name that is a verb, or COULD be a verb, is often laughable. For example, Colin, Paige, Mark, Philip, etc.
Our other kiddos are Reese Elizabeth, John Manning IV (n.n. Jack …yep …pretty bad connotation with our last name), and Henley Macon (girl). Given that our first two have single syllable names, and our third has two syllables …we are leaning towards two or more syllable names for our fourth. Also, we have honored all sides of the family with our older children, except my maternal side, so we are considering “King” as a middle name (other names from that side of the family we aren’t jumping to use are Bartow, Francis, Thomas, Whitley, Miller). Also, my husband’s family is rather large with numerous traditional names already claimed!
Independently, my husband likes Grayson. I feel that is too common. Other common contenders are Elijah, Weston and Bennett. However, Bennett can be shortened to Ben Herr (you see the comedy there, I am sure) I love the name Declan, but our dog is Dunkin.
We welcome any ideas! We love names with a biblical meaning or that relate to our ancestry (we are primarily Irish with lots of Western European).
Thank you for considering this conundrum! I love pouring over your blog for ideas!
Gratefully,
Ashley
This is an interesting puzzle. Normally, I like the sister names in a family to coordinate, and the brother names in a family to coordinate—even if the parents’ naming style is different for girls than for boys. So in a family with Reese and Henley for girls, and John/Jack for a boy, and another boy on the way, I’d be looking for something similar to John/Jack: Charles/Charlie, for example, or Andrew/Drew, or William/Liam. But in this case, you have two girls with coordinated names, and then you have a boy with an honor name that does not fall into what appears to be your usual style/popularity preferences.
And generally, when one child has an honor name, I feel that falls into the “easy to explain” category, giving parents more flexibility to NOT worry about coordinating with that name. On the other hand, I like to avoid setting up situations where a child’s name is repeatedly misunderstood because of sibling names; in this case, with two girls who have unisex/surname names and one boy with a traditional/classic name used almost exclusively for boys, adding a third unisex/surname name could cause the name to be mistaken for a girl’s name.
I’m mostly thinking aloud here, because most of the names you’re looking at are not unisex enough for me to suspect they’d cause any confusion; also, if you were writing to me saying you felt pressured to find a name to coordinate with John/Jack, I’d be assuring you that that was not necessary. I might, however, look for something more common and used almost exclusively for boys.
Weston seems to me like a good option. It’s not even in the Top 100 (for comparison, the Social Security Administration reports that in 2017, John was #27, Jack was #35, Grayson was #34, and Elijah was #8), and in the U.S. it’s used almost exclusively for boys. Weston Herr; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Weston. I like that.
Skimming the Celtic section of The Baby Name Wizard, I noticed Broderick. Quite uncommon, not currently even in the Top 1000, but familiar because of the surname. Snappy sound like Jack. Currently used in the U.S. exclusively for boys. Broderick Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Broderick. You could perhaps use Brody as a nickname. Reese, Jack, Henley, Brody.
Or Camden. Camden Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Camden; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Cam.
Cormac is similar to Declan but probably too close to Jack? But maybe not? And I can be unpicky about similarity between one sibling’s given name and another sibling’s nickname. I am not even opposed to rhyming nicknames, so that’s where I am on the spectrum of minding about this. Cormac Herr; Reese, John, Henley, Cormac; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Mac.
If I may delicately ask: how old is the dog? Because Declan just seems great to me, but I wouldn’t want the tongue-tangle of it, either. But if it wouldn’t be for very long… But maybe Dec Herr is something we want to avoid anyway.
Ooo, maybe Finian? Finian Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Finian; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Finn.
Or Griffin, same Finn nickname.
Keegan is cute, and similar to Declan. Keegan Herr; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Keegan.
Moving out of the Celtic section now:
Nolan Herr; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Nolan.
Calvin Herr: Reese, John, Henley, and Calvin; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Cal.
Wilson Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Wilson; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Wil/Will/Wils.
Milo Herr; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Milo.
Thompson Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Thompson; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Tom.
Lincoln, similar to Declan. Lincoln Herr; Reese, John, Henley, and Lincoln; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Linc/Link.
I love the name Paul and it’s a good biblical name and I love it with John, and it’s currently fairly uncommon, but it feels like there aren’t enough consonants in Paul Herr.
Maybe Simon. Simon Herr; Reese, Jack, Henley, and Simon.
Silas
Wesley/Wes/ Weston
Ezra
Daniel
Nathan/ Nate
James
I like these Biblical names with your set of kiddos. (I do know Wes is not in the Bible, but has Christian significance)
I really like Brody and some form of Ben. I love Ben Hur. Not sure most people are literate enough to get the reference typically. But I am a fan of the novel and of the name.
We do have a Wesley in the family…but are considering Weston. I like those though! Thanks!
I think Swistle already summed up my thoughts on wanting some merging that sort of coordinates or compliments the style of John/Jack.
I do like Cormac for you-and I think Jack/Mac could me cute together. I wouldn’t do it for given names, but I think it’s ok for nicknames. Collin made me think of Colm-which isn’t problematic with the last name. And then Mac and Colm made me think of Malcolm.
Weston makes me think of Westley and Wesley. I think any of these work. Weston and Westley seem like they both bridge the style differences in the sibling set nicely.
Yes …I like versions of “West”. Colm or Malcolm hadn’t crossed our mind! Thanks.
As someone whose last name starts with the sound “off”, I totally hear you on needing to avoid verb names! I’d love to have been able to name one of my sons Jack but it was not going to happen!
I have a nephew named Declan and an uncle named Duncan. I didn’t notice they sounded similar until I heard my 2 year old saying his cousin’s name. But for adults and kids past the toddler stage, I don’t think there’s too much of a problem separating those names. Beyond Declan, maybe Lachlan or Levi would appeal?
Your last name does close of some options unfortunately. I agree with swistle about avoiding unisex names.
I like Weston as an option for you. That lead me to Waldon. Waldon King. I like the sound and the literary connection. I do like Winston but not I am not sure about the nickname Win with your last name.
Since you like Declan and Weston, what about Dalton?
Biblical options I Like for you include Amos, Adam, Ezra, and Ethan.
And, of course, Kingston or Kingsley seem like good options for an honor name.
I thought of Ben near the start of the letter and smiled in a good natured way about it. I also like Swistle’s suggestion of Camden. Camden Whitley?
I want to say that I love Nolan for you, has a celtic background and not heard everywhere. Some others that you may like, Brennan, Cameron, Landon, Aiden, Garrett, Gavin and Logan. Good luck!
From the names already mentioned here I especially like Ethan:
Ethan Herr
Reese, John, Henley & Ethan
I would also suggest Lucas: it’s a timeless classic with biblical roots just like John, and brothers named Jack and Luke would be cute:)
Lucas Herr
Reese, John, Henley and Lucas
Or maybe Edward! Edward Herr. Jack & Ted
And what about Gregory? Gregory Herr. Jack & Greg
And If the repeating ‘er’ sound wouldn’t be an issue, I would also add Peter: Peter Herr actually sounds kind of cool (or is it just me?)
Love Gregory called Rory. Jack and Rory would be awesome brother names.
You’ve got some great options there. I would avoid Weston, because ‘Weston Herr’ sounds like ‘westerner’, which sounds me a hair political in a west-is-best kindof way. Not strongly so, but still. . .
Oliver? nn Ollie? I feel it kind of ties together the diverse styles you already have. I think it’s what Swistle calls a happy assortment.
Reese, John, Henley, & Oliver
Reese, Jack, Henley, & Ollie
Oh, I forgot the no ends -in-r names preference. Never mind.
All of Swistle’s suggestions are great, and the reader suggestions as well. I thought perhaps Dominic would work?
I love Lucas/Luke to coordinate with John/Jack. I also just wanted to say that I know a female Weston and the name seems more unisex than you may like (to me). Could possibly become a mostly girls name in the future whereas that will not be a question with your other son’s name.
I was interested in this and looked it up. In the U.S. in 2017, there were 3,637 new baby boys and 10 new baby girls named Weston. There were another 163 new baby boys and 11 new baby girls named Westyn. For comparison, the same year there were 12,951 new baby boys and 12 baby girls named Lucas.