Hi Swistle!
I am due with my second baby in June. We don’t know the sex, but if it is a girl my husband and I both love the first name Willa. In debating middle names, we’ve somewhat settled on Katherine. However, my question is: Does Willa Katherine sound too much like Willa Cather, the famous author? Does it matter? I know she’s not incredibly well-known today, but I feel like those who know, know, and she’s definitely history’s most famous Willa.
If the general consensus is yes I would love some other suggestions for a middle name that sounds nice with Willa. I feel like the middle name has to be somewhat sophisticated – for example, I love the middle name June, but Willa June started to sound a little too “down on the farm” for me. I hope that’s ok to say.
My older daughter’s name is Alice. Our last name rhymes with Fenwick. Would love your opinion and help with other options!
Best,
Emily
For me, Willa Katherine strongly evokes Willa Cather—enough so that it almost has a jokey/wordplay sound to me. But I do a lot of reading and I work in a library, so I might not be representative. I wonder if for most people, the association would just make the name sound right, without them knowing why it seemed to go together so well.
Whether it matters is another topic, and depends on things like whether you think the middle name will be used much, and whether you’d be pleased or annoyed by people mentioning the association to you / thinking you did it on purpose / thinking you did it accidentally. Do you think you’d want to call her “Willa Katherine,” or do you think you’d always call her Willa and the Katherine part would disappear between the birth announcement and high school graduation?
If it were me, I would want to find another option–but with regret, because Willa is a little tricky to find a middle name for, and Katherine is such a lovely fit with it.
Willa Bethany
Willa Caroline
Willa Celeste
Willa Claire
Willa Constance
Willa Cordelia
Willa Eleanor
Willa Florence
Willa Frances
Willa Genevieve
Willa Harriet
Willa Margaret
Willa Noelle
Willa Rosalie
Willa Violet
Name update:
Hi Swistle,
I wanted to give you a name update on the Willa Katherine/Cather situation – I had a big healthy baby boy! Ha! It was extra exciting because a doctor had referred to the baby as “her” during an ultrasound (after explicitly saying she would use the male pronoun) then apologized, all flustered. So I was certain it was a girl, and the eventual surprise was even more exciting since I have an older daughter. I contacted the doctor afterwards thinking I had read too much into her reaction and she confirmed, no, she got it wrong and thought he WAS a girl! So lots of surprises all around. Oh, and his name is Benjamin James, and he goes by Bennie :).
Thanks for including my email on the blog!
Emily
I’m familiar with Willa Cather but it didn’t come to mind until you mentioned it. I do think it’s still useful either way.
Another suggestion, similar to Katherine: Willa Kathleen
I like Willa Claire. Same consonant sound as Willa Katherine, and I think the cadence of the full name flows nicely: two syllables, one, two.
My daughters are named Willa and Claire. 😊
I am also familiar with Willa Cather, but for some reason I didn’t immediately associate the name with her. To me it just sounded like it worked well. I do know a couple of other Willas so the author, isn’t my immediate connection with the name. I think it’s beautiful and even if people did think of the author, I’m not sure it matters unless questions about it would bother you.
Other suggestions:
Willa Josephine
Willa Jane
Willa Charlotte
Willa Rose
I’d never heard of Willa Cather (I’m not American) but at least she’s a long-deceased author, so she’s unlikely to become suddenly scandalous.
I am aware of the author and didn’t make the connection until you mentioned it. Even then, it was nothing more than a shrug. I really don’t think this is an issue worth changing the middle name for. you May get a handful of comments when she is named-but that should be about the end of it I think. Throughout her life, most people won’t know her middle name anyway. For those that do, and notice, and bother to comment, a simple statement that is was just a coincidence should be the end of it.
If you just can’t pull the trigger, I like the suggestions of Willa Josephine and Willa Rose. To me, it seems Willa needs something longer or more of a one syllable snappy sound. Willa Margaret, Willa Vivian. Willa Kate, Willa Claire, Willa Jean.
I don’t recognize the name. I’ll have to google it. (Late thirties American in the PNW).
I’d go with the name you like!
Willa Helene
Willa Jacqueline
Willa Adrienne
Willa Evelyn
Willa Jocelyn
I see the Cather connection and I’m pleased by it! It’s the Willa Kate abbreviation which I would so totally do and then regret because of the Royal Family Will n’ Kate thing.
So that tells me that you could give yourself a sort of “so what” test…
You: please welcome Willa Katherine!
Others: whoa, like WILLA CATHER? It makes me think of Willa Cather!!!
You: is that bad?
Others: NO I LOVE HER. It’s weird that the name is sort of similar though.
You: ??? well anyway….
I DO make the connection, and it’s a strong one for me, but not an unpleasant one. If that’s the name you like best, do it. I would definitely spell it as you wrote with a K, though and not a C.
That said, Willa was on my very short list for my daughter (Mabel)…I personally like it best with one syllable middle names, but found they were almost as tricky LOL. Willa Grace is lovely, but…TV show! Willa Jane and Willa Jean are adorable…but of course they are, because Willa Jean is Howie’s little sister in the “Ramona” books we grew up with.
Willa Rose was my favorite, when I was playing with it. Willa Claire is also great. Then again, I also think that the shorter middle names REALLY make me lean into using both…so if you want Willa to stand by itself more often, stick with the multi-syllable middles.
Ugh…this was not really that helpful. ;) I love Willa! Do it!!! I think Willa Caroline is my favorite of the suggestions.
Willa June doesn’t have those Ramona associations. And she’s due in June!
I’ve never heard of the author so it would not be a deal breaker for me (an early thirties New Englander). Unless you were planning to usually use her two names together, I wouldn’t think twice about it.
Also have never heard of Willa Cather (early 30s CA resident).
I think the middle name is usually used so infrequently, use Katherine if you want. Baby will be known as Willa Rhymes-With-Fenwick for almost everything.
I have heard of the author, but it isn’t an unpleasant connection. It’s also a really pleasant sounding name. Will it bother you if people constantly remark upon it? That would be my benchmark, personally.
The suggestion above of Willa Kathleen is great, as is Willa Josephine. Also Willa Marian.
As a person with a daughter named Willa who is aware of Willa Cather as an author but has never read anything by her, I see this as a total non-issue. Granted, I’m not American, but not one person has ever mentioned Willa Cather to us when learning our Willa’s name. In fact, the most common question I get is, “Is it short for Wilhemina?” (It’s not.)
Willa is an excellent name, and Katherine sounds lovely with it!
I’ve never heard of Willa Cather and I would consider myself pretty well read. Well, I HAD. Anyway, I think it’s a beautiful name and even if it’s reminiscent of an author, as long as you liked that author, I’d call it a non-issue.
If we had had a boy, we were going to name him Silas even though we assumed everyone would think of Silas Marner, but it’s a great novel, so we didn’t care.
FWIW, I’m 43 in the midwest.
We just welcomed a Willa into our family! We went with a family middle name – Willa Emory. I think Willa Katherine sounds great! I am a librarian, so I enjoy the positive association, but I’m going to say the vast majority of people
won’t even notice. I only had one person even mention Willa Cather, and she was also a librarian! I just mentioned this to my husband, and he has absolutely no clue who she is. On an unrelated note, I had a handful of people think her name was Willow in the beginning, but once I started putting a little extra emphasis on the ending sound when introducing her, that went away.
Stick with Willa Katherine. I know Willa Cather, and she’ll forever remind me of high school lit classes. But I still didn’t jump to her when seeing Willa Katherine. The K helps probably but so does the familiarity of Katherine. I think that the number of people who jump to Cather would be few and far between, and that is among a small group of people who will ever hear her middle name. Playing the odds on this one, they are low.
If you prefer another name, clearly have at it. But don’t walk away from Willa Katherine because of Cather.
Very familiar with Willa Cather here in Nebraska, and for vague professional reasons as well, so yes, I immediately made the connection. But it’s a lovely one that made me smile. I say go for it, but if you can’t I do love Willa Claire.
Willa Katherine does sound a lot like Willa Cather, and although I’m aware of the author, I don’t think it’s a major issue. People generally go by their first name; I doubt a dozen people even know mine.
Now if you want to call her by both names, that’d take more consideration. I’d probably go Willo Kate. (I do something similar with my eldest and call him Kerry-Mike sometimes.)
Willa Katherine made me think first of Willa Cather and then very quickly following that Will and Kate the royals. I’d scrap it.
If you like the ‘rine’ sound, how about Willa Irene? Instead of June, what about Jane? Willa Jane. I love Swistle’s suggestions.
I think it sounds like the author. If you’re ok with that then I think it’s a nice name. If you want to avoid the issue in the future:
If you like two names ending with -a:
Helena
Fiona
Samantha
Cassandra
Victoria
If you don’t want two -a names:
Elizabeth
Marielle (Mariel)
Margaret (or Marguerite)
I’m a huge fan of Willa Cather, and I actually know of a Willa Catherine and never made the association. I think it is because Catherine is so classic it doesn’t have any single association. My vote would be to stick with Willa Katherine, but if you prefer not to, I also like:
Willa Claire
Willa Margaret
Willa Paige
Willa Frances
Willa Blythe
Willa Gwendolen
Willa Christine
I would think of Willa Cather if I heard Willa Katherine, and assume that it was a deliberate tribute.
My main Willa association is a character on the tv show Succession–she’s not a great name buddy, but I don’t think a ton of people watch the show.
I have read and loved Willa Cather’s work and Willa Katherine (especially spelled with a K) does not bother me a bit. It doesn’t seem like an association that will come up frequently and it’s not a negative or humorous one – I say go for it!
Cather was one of several authors I wrote about in my dissertation, so yes, I thought of her immediately. If you’re a fan, it could be a nice tribute. Otherwise, I thought Caroline and Claire were nice replacements.
Or how about Willa Josephine?
Question: do you not like the association with Willa Cather? Because she was pretty amazing, and it’s nice to honor women in history (I’m named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Elizabeth Cady Staton).
If you DO like the association, lean into it! Willa Catherine! (with a C), say, “YES” when folks ask, “Like Willa Cather?”
If you don’t, then I would go with Willa June as another commenter suggested. Or, if you REALLY REALLY don’t like Willa Cather, go with a different first name (Willow? Wilma? Milla?), or go with Wilhemenia nn Willa.
I did not use Willa but has it on my list, love the name! Here are some of the ideas I had listed as middles, sorry for any repeats:
Willa Gardener
Willa Garland
Willa Grier
Willa Mabrey
Willa Marigold
Willa Mazarine
Willa Evelyn
Willa Merritt
Willa Louise
Willa Emmeline
Willa Juniper
Willa Josephine
Willa Jane
Willa Reverie
Willa Ruth
Willa Bernadette
Willa Rowan
Willa Wren
*had
late 20s in PNW, not familiar with Willa Cather and I took English Lit courses in college, but I would avoid due to royal family connection “Will and Kate”!
In high school I worked at our local library so I’m familiar with Willa Cather. I see no problem with Willa Katherine at all.
It doesn’t bother me, but it’s an immediate connection for me… I do have a degree in literature so that could be part of the reason. I also make the royal connection, and for that reason alone I would probably pick something else.
I like Willa Eloise, but also the previously mentioned Willa Josephine, and Swistle mentioned Willa Genevieve which is so sophisticated sounding.
I think Willa Katherine is great! I honestly have never heard of Willa Cather (and maybe I should be embarrassed, but I’m a reading teacher). When I googled her, she wasn’t the first Willa to come up (she was the second). After reading more about her, even if Willa Katherine brings to mind Willa Cather- it doesn’t seem like a bad association, unless I’m missing something. Seeing as how she died over 70 years ago, I would think the association will become less and less familiar. Sooo.. I say name her (if she’s a her) Willa Katherine!
I know a Willa Alexandra and I’ve always loved the way that sounds.
I really like how a hard C or K sounds following Willa.
Willa Catherine/Cathleen or Katherine/Kathleen
Willa Camille
Willa Christine
Willa Claire — I think Claire works well with so many first names.
Willa Cordelia
Willa Beatrix/Beatrice
Willa Marguerite
Willa Sophia
Willa Therese
Willa Victoria
Congratulations! What a sweet and classic name.
My doctor did the same thing! I asked him about it later, and he said he wanted to throw in a few “she’s” to balance out the male pronouns and keep us guessing.