Hi Swistle,
I’m a lifelong name-nerd and have been reading your site for YEARS; now I can finally write in with a naming issue of my own! I am pregnant with our first child, gender unknown. However, if it’s a girl, my favorite name is Vera. Our last name is similar to “Lillibrand.” I was saying the name out loud the other day and am now worried both names will run together and sound like “virile.” Yikes. Do you think others will notice that or am I just reading into it? I just love the name so much!
I have now said “Vera Lillibrand” out loud so many times, it doesn’t sound like real words anymore. I want to wait for the kids to get home from school and have them say it aloud so I can listen and see if I hear “virile”; I’m not hearing it when I say it. The word virile has a “rull” sound that is missing from the combination of “Vera” + “Lil”—like, I can see how it ALMOST hits the right sounds, but I think it misses because “rah-lil” fails to hit the “rull” note. I think it’s a great name.
What does everyone else think?
Name update:
Hello Swistle!
As it turns out, our worries were for nothing (for this baby, anyway) as we welcomed a baby boy on December 8th, which happens to be my birthday as well! Eli George “Lillibrand” is beautiful and we are happy beyond words. Thank you everyone for your input!
I agree with Swistle. I’m not hearing it.
I don’t hear it at all.
I don’t hear “virile” at all. I think it’s a lovely name!
I can ALMOST get to “virile illibrand” but only with a lot of squinting. And Vera Lillibrand is SUCH a wonderful name, I think it’s worth risking.
Maybe I say “virile” differently? I was thinking it was like vih-RYuhl, rather than vih-RUL.
Either way I don’t think that Vera Lillibrand sounds like Virile at all.
I liked the combo Lucy Alice, until I realized it sounded like the ED drug Cialis. So I do understand the concern. I think you’re good though.
This!
I don’t hear it.
No ‘virile’ to my ear. Use it!
I don’t hear it, and that’s a lovely name. Plus, even if it did sound like virile, that isn’t really a word that most fifth graders know, so I think she’d be safe from teasing. By the time, she and her peers have that expansive of a vocabulary, they should be past the name-picking stage.
I don’t hear it at all. And it certainly doesn’t LOOK like it.
I think you’re safe using this lovely name.
That is a hard name to say ten times fast :).
I don’t hear it (I say virile the British way – rhymes with aisle).
Thank you, everyone!!! This has given my husband and I such relief, ha. It was one of the few names we both agree on and love. I will send an update in December!
It’s lovely. Look forward to the update!
ugh i kind of hear it (when I pronounce it as “vee-rile”) but I’m LISTENING for it and it’s such a gorgeous name and really, most folks do separate out or pause first and last names. I think you’re fine. Vera is beautiful.
Vera is beautiful. No issues with the last name. Use it!
I don’t hear it and vera sounds lovely.
I say not a problem at all. I think Vera is a beautiful choice, but that’s my daughter’s name, so I know I’m biased!
I am not hearing it. Great name!
Soooo beautiful! Love it.