Hi Swistle,
We’re expecting baby #4 in November and I’m having a hard time feeling settled on our girl name option. Hubby is pretty open. Our last name sounds like Lyberg but starts with an N. This will be our last baby.
We have used honor names (that we also just like which feels worth mentioning) for both first and middles of our 3 kids so far: Grant Leonard, William “Will” Daniel, and Mae Pamela. I’d love to continue this tradition not because I feel pressure to but because it just helps a name feel really meaningful to me. I love one syllable, spunky names (or a regularly used nickname like Will) and would prefer not to repeat first initials.
I have two wonderful women I’d love to honor Susan Leigh and Marlene Joanne. So far, so good, right? Wrong.
Susan Marlene called Sue fits my criteria but Sue feels outdated still. Should I love Leigh? It feels a little generic to me. Plus Leigh and Marlene rhyme so that combo would be out and I’m not sure of a good alternative. Leigh Anne? I have a grandma named Louise (also my middle) who goes by Lou so I’d be excited by a first name that easily lended itself to the nickname Lou but I don’t feel as strongly about honoring her as the other two ladies so that’s not a top priority. But doesn’t Lou sound great with my kids’ names? But is it significant enough on its own and what do I do for the middle? I thought I’d hit the idea jackpot with Lucy Susanne (smoosh of Susan and Joanne plus hubby approved) but I feel a little sad that the nod to these two ladies isn’t as obvious as my other honor names are. Also, I wonder if I’d need to spell the nickname Lu to make more sense which then takes away a little significance for me. I grew up with a Louisa so that doesn’t feel right to me. Eloise is cute but is Lou too much of a stretch? I considered Louanne as a smoosh but I’m not sure that’s right for us and Louanne Susan sort of rhymes. Hubby didn’t love Louanne mostly because he works closely with one. My brother’s name is Joe so using Joanne/Joanna called Jo could be confusing. Anne sounds so much like Grant to me. Susan means Lily so I’ve considered Lily Marlene but I’m slightly sad about losing the one syllable first name/nickname pattern I’ve started. I’m nervous to use two middles for the first time after reading from some that it makes paperwork somewhat complicated.
That was a lot, sorry. It feels like a riddle with no good solution in my mind. I’m hoping you and your readers might have some suggestions or encouragement for me that would help me honor the people I love but also give me a first name that fits my established style. I’m tired from overthinking and still have 6 months to go! I’d love some outside input that’s objective and isn’t influenced by hormones.
Boy names we’re considering are Luke, Andrew called Drew, Allen called Len, or Clark.
Thank you in advance!
Marissa
I do love Leigh. It’s the kind of name my eye might skip right past in the baby name book, until I encounter a Leigh in real life or in a book, and then suddenly I am thinking “Leigh!! What a lovely, lovely name, so simple and so elegant, and look how nice the letters look, why are we not using it??” I think in part it feels generic because of its familiar use as a middle name—which reminds me of the current situation with the name Rose: extremely common as a middle name, but still fresh and surprising as a first name. Leigh as a middle name feels at this point like a filler; Leigh as a first name is a fresh surprise.
But I also love love love Lou. So perfect! And I LOVE Louise, and I love that it’s your middle name and your grandmother’s name. I would be ready to go straight to this option. I even love the way you’d have two kids with a one-syllable given name and two kids with a one-syllable nickname, and those names alternate, and it would be one boy of each and one girl of each. Totally unnecessary, but satisfying all the same. Grant, William, Mae, Louise; Grant, Will, Mae, Lou. I see what you mean about feeling less strongly about honoring your grandmother—but it’s also one of YOUR names! And I don’t think we use mothers’ names often enough in our culture. It is so, so, so common to use fathers’ names, and still a little remarkable to use mothers’. You don’t say who Susan and Marlene are to you, but my hope is that one of them would be in some way honored by the Louise (e.g., if one of the women is a daughter of your Grandma Lou), to make it obvious that you should use one of the other woman’s names as the middle.
I also love Jo, and I care not two beans that it could be a little confusing that her uncle is also named Joe. If anything, that seems fun and charming and like something that could be a cute bond between them, and it would not be hard to differentiate: he could be referred to as Uncle Joe, and another cute option would be used for her. Maybe Jo paired with her middle name; maybe Jo-bug or Jojo; maybe the full version of her name if you go with Joanne and use Jo as the nickname—there are tons of rich options here.
The name Susan feels not quite ready for a comeback but I think it certainly WILL come back. I might use Sukie as a nickname for it. Or does lengthening it into Susanna dilute the honor too much? But that doesn’t solve the preference for a one-syllable name/nickname.
I think Marlene would work beautifully for a modern child, with the nicknames Marlie or Lena to choose from. But again, that doesn’t give us one syllable.
So here are some of the options I like best:
Joanne Leigh, called Jo. To differentiate her from her Uncle Joe, she could be called Jo-Leigh, which sounds like Jolie, which is French for pretty.
Louise, called Lou, with the hope that it is clear which of the two women should now be honored with the middle. I like Louise Susan, I like Louise Marlene, I like Louise Joanne.
Leigh Marlene, or Leigh Joanne. Marlene shares the L-plus-long-E sound of Leigh, but doesn’t rhyme, and I am finding the sound compelling and fun to say. I want to use the whole name when I am sweet-talking her. Leigh Marlene! And I like the way one woman’s MIDDLE name would be used as the FIRST name, and the other woman’s FIRST name would be used as the MIDDLE name; this feels balanced. But Leigh Joanne is a great name and I love it too, and it can also be appealing to think of using both women’s middle names.
Name update:
Hi Swistle!
Name update here! Baby #4 arrived on November 10th and surprised us by being 3 weeks early AND by being a boy! We chose the name Luke Davis (my maiden name) Nyberg and couldn’t be happier with how he finishes out our family: Grant, Will, Mae and Luke (plus our puppy Beau!). Thank you and your readers for all of your great suggestions that helped give me peace of mind about girl names (even though we didn’t ultimately get to use them).
Gratefully,
Marissa
I am not sure if it is your style, but Lilou also means “lily,” starts with the sound of “Leigh” and contains “Lou.” Lilou Marlene or Lilou Joanne called Lou. I also enjoy the repeating sounds in Lilou Marlene.
I want Susan to come back! I just reread The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to my kids this month and Lucy and Edmund seem to be back, and Peter was never out, and so what about Susan? I feel like we need a young new protagonist in a book or movie named Susan and then it will Be Back LOL.
As for the letter writer, I LOVE Louise for your family with pretty much any middle name in the world. Louise Joanne, Louise Susan, Louise Marlene, Louise Susanne…all so good!
What about Louella? Or Louanna? Louella Susanne called Lou. Louanna Leigh called Lou. Louanna Joleigh called Lou. Seems to cover all bases and gives the Lou nickname you love. Or just Lou. Lou Susanne. I think honor names can be just as significant if you and the honoree both know the baby is named in honor of them. It sounds like Lou is your favorite so I would either just name her Lou or a longer form of Lou and call her Lou.
But I also like Leigh a lot. Leigh Marlene or Leigh Joanne. Or Joanna Leigh called Jo. Or Susanna Marlene called Suse (prn Sooz).
For boys I like both Clark and Len from your list.
Louise Susanne, called Lou seems to be the obvious winner in opinion.
I also like Joanne Leigh, called Jolie or Jo/Jojo.
I love the name Susan but you could always use Susannah to make it feel more fresh. I would be charmed to meet a little Sue or Susie. Or even Sosie or Zuzu.
I feel like you could get away with Suz (pronounced Sooze) as a nickname for Susan, in the way people are starting to use Wills for William or Bex for Rebecca, though I don’t know how well it fits with the rest of your sib set.
I love Louise/Lou.
I have a daughter named Susanna, mostly called by the full name, but often shorten to Sus (pronounced Suze). That could work for a Susan too. I agree that Susan and especially Sue sound dated, so I think Susanna might work better at this time –maybe Susanna Jo, using a variant of each honoree’s name.
Also like Louise Susanna a lot (even more). I think that fits well with your other children’s names. And like, Swistle said, I like the idea of sharing a middle name with a daughter.
I used my first name Patricia for our second daughter’s middle name. And my first granddaughter and I share the same middle day Ellen. Very special…
Meant to write Louise Susanne
Leigh here. I like my name pretty well and would be delighted to meet a little Leigh, so that gets my vote. Congrats to you!
I have two special women figures to consider for honoring, Susan and Mary Anne. I’ve always though Susanne or Suzanne would combine them and be a bit fresher than either independently is. I think Susan is a lovely name, but it is definitely not to the point of coming back just yet so a spin like Susanne, Suzanne, Susannah, etc. may be a more modern take on honoring your Susan. I think if you have someone else with an Anne, that a Suzanne is a great way to honor both. While it may dilute the honor a bit, I think (especially if this is your last child/last chance) wanting to honor as many as you can with this little one is a great way to explain it. I think Suzanne Louise is beautiful, honors both of who you set out to (Susan and Joanne) and yourself (Louise). You can shorten it to one syllable with Suze (pronounced sooze) and longer/cute names liek Suzie Lou. Good luck!
So many good suggestions!
I like Louise Jolie with the nn Lou. Jolie incorporates the beginning sounds of both Joanne and Leigh, so both women receive honor. You could go with Joleigh, JoLeigh, or Jo-Leigh, but I think Jolie looks prettier (no pun intended, as Swistle pointed out that Jolie means pretty in French).
I also like:
Leigh Marlene
Joanne Leigh or Joanna Leigh, nn Jo
Swistle suggested it as a nickname for Marlene, but what about Lena as a first name? I am not sure if it dilutes the honor too much, but you could use the nickname Lee (or maybe Leigh? I’m undecided as to whether that’s a stretch).
A friend’s pediatrician is Dr. Leigh and like Swistle, it delighted me as a first name. Definitely gets my vote!
What about Joanne Leigh called Anne? Avoids the Joe confusion.
But I prefer Leigh as a sister to Mae. Mae and Leigh. So Leigh Marlene!
Joleigh Louise popped for me right away. You’d have the option of Jo or Leigh for nicknames.
I grew up with a Liane, pronounced Leigh-Ann, so that’s another possible smoosh. I would recommend against using Lily Marlene; some old fogey like me might start humming the WW2 ballad of which that was the title.
omg THANK YOU. I KNEW I knew “Lily Marlene” from somewhere. Leonard Cohen references it in “Famous Blue Raincoat.”
For the OP: I think you’d be ahead of the curve in an awesome way with a baby Susan “Sue.” Also I love all versions of it– Susanna, Suzanne (another Leonard Cohen song lol), Susie, Sookie.
I also like Marlene. You could do nn Mars if you really want the 1-syllable thing, but Marlie and Marnie and Lena are also so cute.
And Joanne/Joanna and Louise/Louisa? You can’t go wrong here. Congrats!
I love Louise (after YOU) called Lou. It fits so well with the siblings and Lou brings you joy. That is enough of a reason right there. I am going to venture a little out and suggest either doing a hyphenated middle OR doing a hybrid middle. Marleigh seems fun to me? Louise Marleigh. I bet a girl a few years ago named Marley/Marleigh (uncertain on the spelling) and she was a memorably vibrant young person. But Louise Joanne-Leigh works for me too. Or any combination that you like.
For a boy, Clark makes me swoon. So perfect.
I recently came across a toddler Joanna who goes by Josie which I found completely charming. Grant, Will, Mae, and Josie make a great set.
That was my dream baby girl name/nn! Although I wanted Johanna called Josie. Alas we had two boys
I agree with Swistle that Louise being part of your own name increases the appeal. I also like the first/middle switch of Leigh Marlene.
Like others, I think Susan will come back, but Suzanne or Susannah are nice alternatives, with Sue or Suze as the nickname. (I do know a Suzanne who goes by Suze sometimes.)
I vote for Joanne/a Leigh. While Jo is my favourite nickname you could also use Jan, Anne or even Jane as nicknames.
I think it’s a lovely idea to call her Louise, after yourself! My daughter is named for me, my middle name that I share with my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It feels so nice to have that connection with her, since she has my husband’s last name while I kept my own. My son has an honour name from my side, as well, for the same reason.
Some fun one-syllable names with your honor middles:
Jane Susan!
Elle Marlene
Tess Joanne
Eve Susan
Sage Leigh
Claire Joanne
Beatrice “Bea” Leigh (Bea-Leigh would be such a cute nickname!)
Kate Marlene
Paige Joanne
Sloane Leigh
Ruth Joanne
Kathleen “Kat/Kit/Kate” Susan
Susan and Marlene (and time a lesser degree Leigh and Joanne) are such mid-century styles, that I think you should just lean in and go for it! I love Susan just as it is, with no nn. Or Susie! It really is so sweet on a little girl.
I didn’t realise how ready I was for the name Sue to come back until reading this – so so cute! I can just see it working so well on a little girl. Susan makes me think of Narnia but also one of my childhood favourite books, Swallows and Amazons has a main character called Susan. I love it. Sue is adorable, as is Susie. I know a Susannah who goes by Suz (rhymes with cruise) and that definitely works too.
My only hesitation with Sue is that in this particular sibling set, although it fits in terms of style, alongside Grant and Will it does start to sound a little… legal?
My favorite here is definitely Leigh Marlene. I little girl named Leigh seems super cute to me and I agree saying Leigh Marlene is just so fun and seems like Mae Pamela
Louise Leigh-Anne is my second vote.
Louise Marleigh. Perfect.
What about Marlene with the nickname Leigh? Or Lee? Those don’t feel too stretchy to me.
He’s adorable! Congratulations! Luke has always been on my list!