Rachel writes:

My due date is January 10th! We are down to the wire but fortunately I found your website…

Our first is Camille Isadora. We chose the first name as a name we both loved and her middle is for her grandfather who was Isidore.

Last name is Freedman. We need a sibling name and are 90% we like Simone for a girl. The middle name is not determined but we like something with a vowel and 3 syllables to follow the “formula” of Camille Isadora. I seem to like feminine, French-sounding names that are also the names are famous feminists…

We are having a much harder time with boy names. I like: Gabriel, Ezra, Benjamin, and Theodor. Husband likes Raphael, Aramis, Lando. He’s not wild about my names and I can’t stand his (except for Raphael). I think “Freedman” is a difficult last name and probably works best with a first name that ends in a vowel although we did not go that route for our first. For a boy, I think Simon (masculine version of our top pick girl name) is okay but not great. I love Marcel and Julian but husband has vetoed.

I’d appreciate your suggestions!

Simone is wonderful with Camille. Four-syllable middle name possibilities that match Isadora (do you pronounce it with 3 syllables, or is that a typo?):

Simone Aliberty
Simone Angelina
Simone Arabella
Simone Araminta
Simone Anastasia
Simone Annabella
Simone Ariadne
Simone Arianna
Simone Artemisia
Simone Aurelia
Simone Azalea
Simone Eleanora
Simone Elisheva
Simone Elisabeth/Elizabeth
Simone Emilia
Simone Evangeline
Simone Iliana
Simone Octavia
Simone Olympia
Simone Ophelia
Simone Orianna
Simone Ottilie

Or, if you don’t mind having three syllables instead of four, you could use one of Simone de Beauvoir‘s other names (she had four first names, connected with hyphens—now THERE’S an interesting baby name to discuss!): Ernestine. Simone Ernestine Freedman. Ernestine is not a name currently in style, but it certainly would pay a strong tribute to a famous feminist. In fact, to two famous feminists: Ernestine Rose.

Another 3-syllable candidate: Simone Ursula. Or Simone Antoinette. (Antoinette would also be a very nice first name: Camille and Antoinette; Antoinette Freedman.)

If you can waive both the 4-syllable requirement and the vowel requirement, Simone Josefina would be so pretty. Or Simone Marguerite.

All right, that’s all the time I want to spend on that (time is ticking away and the baby could be born TODAY), especially since I’m not sure how attached you are to the preferences about syllables and vowels, but anyone who’s interested can keep working their way through the list: List of feminists, on Wikipedia. My favorite so far is Simone Antoinette.

Oh, wait, I’m right back to that list, because I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t continue to work from it for a boy’s name. Heinrich might be too hard to work with; I like to use actual namesake names as much as possible, but maybe in this case it would be better to use the U.S. version of the name and go with Henry instead: Henry Freedman. Cornelius has possibility. I wish it had a good nickname. Neil? Lee? But by the time we’re working on nicknames for a middle name, I feel like we’ve lost the benefits of a namesake name.

I really like the name Alan (it was on our Top 7 list for our lastborn). Alan Freedman, Camille and Alan. More possibilities:

Anthony Freedman
Becker Freedman
Brenner Freedman
Carpenter Freedman
Charles Freedman

…Although, this is making me a little uncomfortable. Something about taking a feminist woman’s surname and making it a boy name…I’m not sure if it’s Very Very Good or if it’s Not Good At All. We could stick to the names of male feminists, but (1) that’s a very short list, and (2) none of the names stand out to me: they’re all Thomas and John and so forth (Frederick is wonderful, but not with Freedman).

Your husband’s style is fairly consistent: Lando and Aramis are in The Baby Name Wizard‘s Fanciful and Fantastical sections, respectively, and Raphael is an Exotic Traditional. Those three sections are more like one section of increasing unusualness. If I look at that section (or three sections) through a filter of the names you like (Gabriel, Ezra, Benjamin, Theodor), I think these might work:

Aidric Freedman; Camille and Aidric
Alistair Freedman; Camille and Alistair
Barnaby Freedman; Camille and Barnaby
Elias Freedman; Camille and Elias
Everest Freedman; Camille and Everest
Ezekiel Freedman; Camille and Ezekiel
Felix Freedman; Camille and Felix
Malachi Freedman; Camille and Malachi
Milo Freedman; Camille and Milo
Orion Freedman; Camille and Orion
Phineas Freedman; Camille and Phineas
Titus Freedman; Camille and Titus

(Ezra, Gideon, and Cornelius are all in this section, too, so perhaps your husband could be leaned toward one of those.)

Oh, I see Hugo listed as a brother name for Ezra. Would that work? Hugo Freedman; Camille and Hugo.

Your name choices lean more toward Biblical and French. Looking at those categories with your husband’s preferences in mind, I wonder if any of these would work (note some repeats from the previous list):

Abner Freedman; Camille and Abner
Asher Freedman; Camille and Asher
Barnaby Freedman; Camille and Barnaby
Ezekiel (Zeke) Freedman; Camille and Ezekiel
Judah Freedman; Camille and Judah
Levi Freedman; Camille and Levi
Lucius Freedman; Camille and Lucius
Malachi Freedman; Camille and Malachi
Phineas Freedman; Camille and Phineas
Silas Freedman; Camille and Silas
Tobias Freedman; Camille and Tobias
Titus Freedman; Camille and Titus

And I see Raphael is both Exotic Traditional AND Biblical, so that might be one to consider hard if nothing else seems right.

(I will add parenthetically that I think Titus is risky, considering how much it might sound to co-students like tight-a$$. But it was so cool that it was in both categories.)

Out of the blue I will mention Darien (or Darian or Derian or a number of other spellings), because it was a name agreed on by a couple I know who had a very hard time reconciling one parent’s more fanciful tastes with the other parent’s more traditional tastes.

I think my top choice for you is Hugo, followed by Raphael, Becker, Aidric, Barnaby, and Milo. If Raphael isn’t a name you can quite agree to, it might make a very nice middle name. Hugo Raphael Freedman would be really nice.

Last minute possibility: Pascal. French and dramatically underused. Pascal Freedman, Camille and Pascal.

Name update! Rachel writes:

Our baby was born on January 13th. We decided that Camille Isadora’s little SISTER would be Simone Aviva. We had agreed on Simone all along…I have always loved the name Aviva, an Israeli name that was popular when I was growing up. My husband had vetoed the name early in the process but at the birth, decided to give me a “gift” of using this name as the middle. I was thrilled and I feel like the middle name is closer to our Jewish heritage and rounds out the “French-ness” of our girls’ first names. (We are not French).

Thanks for your help!

Lindsay writes:

We could use some help. Our due date is February 7th but I will most likely be induced up to two weeks before that date. Our last name sounds like Castle. I have two sons, Conrad and Nolan. We are not finding out the baby’s sex so we’ll need names for both a boy and a girl. My husband and I have different tastes for names, and it’s been really hard coming up with something we both like.
For boys he likes old, common names and the one,s he likes are usually associated within his family somewhere. Examples: Jack (his grandpa), Henry (another grandpa) and Max (great grandpa!). My favorite name by a long shot this time around is Beckett. Hubby thinks it doesn’t sound like a ‘real’ name. I thought it was perfect because his give name is ‘Buck’ and since I refuse to do a junior Beckett has three of the same letters. Anway, some others on my list are Atticus, Arthur, Magnus, Mathias, Abel and Hendrik. I also considered naming him Hendrik and having Henry as the nn. The middle name will be after my husband’s father who has passed away, David.

As for girls I like Harper, Hazel, Briar, Everly, Verity and Vanora. I want to honor one or two people with her middle name. My dear friend that passed, Sheryl, for sure. And possibly hubby’s mother Janis. I’d like to go with either Sheryl or a combination of the two. I was thinking Sheris. I’m concerned about Hazel Castle with the same sound at the end of each name. And I don’t want anything that’s up and coming with popularity so that might cut out Harper. (Nolan became waaay more popular than I ever thought it would.) My husband has only suggested one girl name that really surprised me-Basil. We were cooking and he said it sounds like a nice name. I think he’s more open to unusual girl names.

I’m on the same boat with the idea that thinking since baby is getting his last name I should get a strong say in baby’s name. Especially with the boy name since the mn is after his dad too. I would highly appreciate your expertise.

Thanks!

And:

I wrote to you a few months back in need of help for baby names. Since then, we have evolved a bit and I wanted to update you.

For a boy, we will take Hendrik, Beckett and Arthur to the hospital with us and decide from there. We are both satisfied with all three of these options if we have a little boy, and the middle name will either be David or Henry.

Our main problem is with girls’ names. We’ve finally come up with a middle name, thank goodness. My options for people to honor are named Sheryl, Mary Lou and Janis, so I came up with Meryl Jane. I’ve decided that two middle names is okay with me and if we have another girl in the future I will do the same for her.

For first names my favorite was Harper…but I took if off the list due to popularity rising (esp. in our state). I prefer uncommon names, and I learned with Nolan’s name how fast some can rise. He’s six years old and it wasn’t very common then…but there are quite a few around now. I hardly ever hear Conrad’s name, which is something I love about his name.

On our narrowed down/reinvented list consists of:
Juniper
Penelope
Albany
Matilda
Hermione

My husband and I like all five of these names, but his favorite is Albany while mine is Juniper. I still have tiny reservations with each of these names though. Does Albany Castle sound too much like a place? Can you see Juniper on a grown woman? Is Penelope getting too popular? Will people be able to say/spell Hermione? And is Matilda going to be associated with the movie/Heath Ledger’s daughter constantly?

I’d love your opinion on these and maybe some new suggestions that fit our style. I don’t like repeating initials so C and N names are out. Also, I like there to be a natural nickname that goes with name that doesn’t fall into the popular category….for example, we would call Matilda “Tillie” instead of “Mattie” or “Maddie”. Someone had suggested Felicity for us but the only nickname I can come up with is Fliss which we wouldn’t be able to use (last name of an ex) and I don’t like Lissy. I also think I prefer the three syllable names over the four syllable names which might be making me a little more hesitant about Penelope.

I look forward to reading your suggestions!
Thanks~

And:

I see that you’re getting into February and I’m getting so excited to see what you have to say.

Just thought I’d send over a few more names that we’ve been considering though DH is not overly excited about them….yet. It usually takes a couple weeks of repeatedly hearing a name before it sounds ‘normal’ to him.

Oh and I thought I had the middle name narrowed down to Meryl Jane but have since changed my mind…the middle names will now be Meryl Lane…not a huge difference but something to note.

Added to our girls list are:
Winslet
Galway
Ottilie
Verbena
Gweneira

I think the front runners are Matilda, Albany and Winslet for me….Albany for DH.
I hope this is not too confusing and you can seem this together with my last emails :)

Thanks Again!

 
I think with a surname that sounds like Castle, I would eliminate all place names and surnames: Albany Castle, Galway Castle, Winslet Castle all sound exactly like tourist attractions to me. I would in fact suggest going as far as you’re willing to go on the side of established, easily-recognizable-as-names names: a name like Margaret Castle clues us that we may be looking at a person’s name in a way Verbena Castle does not.

From your list my favorite candidates are Verity, Juniper, Matilda, and Penelope. Right now it’s difficult to picture Juniper on a grown woman, but that’s only because it’s a new name this generation: names like Madison and Caden are difficult to picture on grown-ups, too, but when this generation of kids grows up those’ll be perfectly ordinary mom and dad names.

The Harry Potter books/movies have dramatically improved the general population’s ability to spell and pronounce the name Hermione—but I think Hermione is far more associated with Harry Potter than Matilda is with the movie or with Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger’s daughter. I think the same of Winslet: the association with Kate Winslet is the ONLY association most of us have with that name, unlike the name Matilda which has a variety of associations.

I recommend the Social Security baby names site for monitoring popularity, since that aspect is important to you. The names we’ve used for our children “catch our ears” the way other names don’t—so using a name can make it seem as if the name is suddenly EVERYWHERE, when it didn’t seem that way before. The name Nolan is a perfect example: it’s made only a slow and small increase in popularity (#175 in 2003; #122 in 2009), but it feels to you as if it’s skyrocketed. Looking at the actual rate of popularity increase (nationally and by state) can be reassuring (“Oh, I’m just noticing it more because it’s on our list”) or can give you a heads up (“Holy cow, apparently everyone else likes Penelope too!!”).

And indeed, everyone else does like Penelope, so I’m taking that off my finalist list of four: I think the increasing popularity will bother you. That leaves Verity, Juniper, and Matilda, and I think Matilda is the most recognizable as a name, so that makes it my first choice. Matilda Meryl Lane Castle. I would also vote for returning to Jane instead of Lane, to cut down on the noun problem.

I’m trying to make a list of other candidates to consider, but here’s the problem I’m running into: the names I think would go well with your style (names like Avalon, Azalea, Clover, Emerald, Fable, Harlowe, Langston, Magnolia, Padgett, Paisley, Story, Tilden, Winslow, Yeardley) are names I don’t want to pair with Castle. And so then I’m inclined to look for more “established-name-y names” like Matilda, but I’m not sure those names (Adelaide, Alice, Eloise, Frances, Henrietta, Ramona) are ones you’d necessarily like. In short, I see the problem you’re facing!

Maybe Lorelei? It’s uncommon, yet recognizable as a name. It’s nice with Castle. It’s nice with Conrad and Nolan. Lorelei Meryl Lane Castle.

Or Imogen: Imogen Meryl Lane Castle; Conrad, Nolan, and Imogen.

Name update! Lindsay writes:

Baby Castle has arrived! And she’s a GIRL!

She was born on Wednesday at 3:40 a.m. during our massive snowstorm leaving no way to make it to the hospital on time. She was delivered by her daddy and grandma in our bathroom!

When it came down to it, our mutual favorites ended up being Albany and Juniper. Since we decided to definitely use Jane in the middle (in honor of the grandma that helped bring her into this world!) we decided on Juniper because we liked the alliteration and the nicknames to boot. Loryl after my mom and dear friend. Jane after my mother-in-law.
Thanks to everyone here who gave me feedback and helped me through the naming process! I appreciated everyone’s comments.

Here is our sweet baby, Juniper Loryl Jane:

Hope writes:

My husband and I are expecting our second boy due Feb 4, 2011. We are having a difficult time coming up with a name. Our last name is Poe. Our first son’s name is Shepherd (Shep), which I love, but he went without a name until he was 3 days old. I would like to avoid that this time. We had decided on the name Magnolia Beatrice for a girl, Beatrice after my husband’s grandmother, and wanted to call her Nola Bea. However, we aren’t having a girl, so now we need a boy’s name. A few of the names we like include Canon, Abel, Rowan (too girly?), and Asher (too popular?). Thanks for your perspective.

The first time I heard the name Rowan was when Brooke Shields used it for her baby girl, so the name will always sound feminine to me despite being used half again as often for boys as for girls in the U.S. (source: Social Security Administration). And with Poe I think it sounds a bit like “Ro and Po.” I suggest Roman instead, although I don’t think I like the repeating long-O sound with Poe. Or Cowan, except now there’s a “Co and Po” sound. Or Roland Poe, which should give me a “Roll and Po” feeling, and yet doesn’t. Perhaps Ryland, which I only just saw in The Baby Name Wizard? Ryland Poe. Shepherd and Ryland. I like that.

Because the biblical Abel was a shepherd, it makes an immediate connection for me with the name Shepherd. Also, I feel like poor unfortunate biblical Abel ruined the name for secondborn sons everywhere. But I was a diligent Sunday School scholar, and not everyone would even think of those things, let alone care. I might use Abram instead. Or Abner is a nice combination of Abel and Asher, if it’s not too close to Edgar.

Asher seems good: it has that tradesman sound without actually being a tradesman name, and the repeating SH-sound ties it to Shepherd.

Canon is a name I’m not familiar with. Because of that, it sounds very nouny to me with Shepherd, and makes both names seem less like names. But I think if I were familiar with it, it might seem just about perfect. Again, though, your surname doesn’t quite GO with it: Canon Poe sounds OFF to me.

The Baby Name Wizard suggests these brother names for Shepherd/Shepard: Gibson, Bishop, Burgess, Fletcher, Tillman. Bishop seems much too profession-oriented to me (a Shepherd, a Bishop, perhaps next a Farmer and a Deacon?), but I like Tillman and maybe Fletcher. (Gibson always reminds me of “Gibson girl,” which for me makes it awkward as a boy’s name.)

Miller seems like another good option. It SHOULD give me the same feeling as Bishop, but instead for me it tips both names from Profession Names to Surname Names.

Carter and Carson and Mason and Sawyer and Slater and Turner might work, too—or might give you the same feeling Bishop gives me.

Anderson seems nice: Anderson Poe; Shepherd and Anderson. Yes, I like that: it gives that “surname names” feeling.

Avery might work: it has the gentle sound of Shepherd. Shepard and Avery.

Or Harris: Harris Poe, Shepherd and Harris.

Or Redmond: Redmond Poe, Shepherd and Redmond.

Or Truman: Truman Poe, Shepherd and Truman.

Or Campbell: it too moves Shepherd from profession to surname. Campbell Poe, Shepherd and Campbell. In fact, I think that’s my favorite.

Coleman would also be good: Coleman Poe, Shepherd and Coleman.

May I offer sympathy on your surname? After working with it for only an hour or two, I am feeling like it is a very difficult surname to work with, and that everyone will have to understand that whatever you choose shouldn’t be expected to flow well with it.

Name update! Hope writes:

We decided on Charles Levi. Neither name had been on any list we had, but when he was born it just seemed right. We are calling him Charlie.

Megan writes:

My name is Megan and my husband’s name is Eric. We’re expecting a baby girl on February 2, 2011. We have everything all prepared for her arrival… except for her name! Our two kids are named Meryl Alexandra (5) and Quentin Thomas (3). Meryl and Quentin’s names were easy to pick: Meryl is after Eric’s grandmother Mary and Thomas was my maiden name, Alexandra and Quentin were names we just liked. This time around, we’re having more difficulty. Here are our current front-runners:

Clementine – This is probably my favorite. I would shorten it to Cleo as a nickname, but I’m not sure if we’re brave enough to use it! I love it, but is it too much for a little girl?
Tess – This is Eric’s favorite. I like it, but I dislike the way the “s” in Tess runs into the “s” in Osbourne.
Renata – Again, we love it, but is it too much? I don’t think we would use a nickname.
Celine – Eric likes this one more than I do. I think it’s pretty, but I don’t see it as “the one.”
Allegra – I’m a little bothered about the way Allegra Osbourne runs together. Is this a problem?

I think it ultimately comes down to Clementine “Cleo” versus Tess. Tess is a safe choice, Clementine is much more unusual. Is it too big of a name to saddle on a little girl? Ultimately, Eric says he would be fine either way, but I know he prefers Tess and I wouldn’t feel right about naming her Clementine if his heart wasn’t in it.

Is Clementine the right name? Tess? One of our other choices? Something else entirely? Help us out!

This is the fault of my 5th grade teacher, who for music class had us sing nothing but the folk songs she enjoyed in her youth: the name “Clementine” automatically and without fail causes me to think “Oh my darling.” Because of this, if you knew me I would tell you it was better to use Clementine in the middle-name slot: you get the full fun of the quirkiness with none of the downfalls (such as Swistle humming the song cheerfully whenever she’s around you, without even realizing she is doing it).

I like Tessa Clementine. Adding the -a gives a nice separation between the S sounds in the first name and surname, and you can still call her Tess whenever you want. It gives you a nice combination of safe and quirky, and gives you the option of calling her Clementine as an endearment—and she can go by it later, if she wants.

Another option is to name her Cleo. I think of Cleo as a completely different name than Clementine, and not a natural nickname for it. Cleo has some of the quirkiness of Clementine and some of the safeness of Tess—a nice compromise name. Cleo Clementine or Cleo Allegra or Cleo Renata plays up the quirkiness; something like Cleo Celine or Cleo Maria or Cleo Samantha plays it down.

Name update! Megan writes:

Thank you so much for all your help! Cleo Celine Osbourne was born on February 4, 2011, at 6 lbs, 10 oz. She’s absolutely delightful and her name fits her perfectly.

Jaime writes:

I heard about your blog today from my husband’s cousin. I LOVE to talk about baby names and have never had a problem coming up w/ baby names for my children before….until now!

We have two children right now. Faith Kinder Sanderson and Eli Burkhalter Sanderson. (Kinder and Burkhalter are family maiden names). We are adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. She is 3 1/2 years old. (Just 10 days younger than our son.) I do like for sibling names to go together but not be matchy. We have a few “rules” when it comes to naming our kids. I think I may have to bend them a bit for our new daughter in ET.

Here are some of our rules (or preferences)

1) Biblical first name….but doesn’t have to be a Bible character’s name

2) we use family maiden names as middle names

3) we use the first name as their name (don’t like to “go by” another name)

4) easy to say/spell….HATE “unique” spellings

I CANNOT come up w/ a name that fits our new daughter. Since she will look different than her siblings, I REALLY want her to have a name that fits her but also makes her feel apart of our family. I think we have decided to use her given Ethiopian name as her middle name (this bugs me a little b/c we are not giving her a “family maiden name” like her big sis and bro have….but I also want to honor her culture too, so I am feeling better about using that. We will definitely tell her “her story” and teach her about her culture. Her Ethiopian name is Dinkenesh (pronounced Dink–en–esh).

Here are some of the names we like:

Scout– LOVE this name, but don’t think it “goes w/” Faith and Eli very well. It’s not obviously Biblical, but it is in the Bible when the spies “scout” out the promise land. It’s a stretch, I know and doesn’t have the Biblical feel that Faith and Eli do. I also LOVE the character from “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

RuthAnn–I don’t like the name Ruth by itself and Ann is my SIL’s middle name so that is one way to give her a family name but RuthAnn Dinkenesh Sanderson is quite a mouthful. I think Ruthie is a cute nn for a little girl and she can grown into RuthAnn. Not sure she looks like a Ruthie/RuthAnn though. Hubby is not a big fan of this name.

Honor–I really like this virtue name. I don’t like Hope, Charity, Gracie b/c they sound too matchy w/ Faith.

Esther–like this one, not sure she looks like an Esther though

Naomi–like this ok, but not “lovng it”

So….our request is for a first name. We are pretty sure the rest of her name will be Dinkenesh Sanderson.

I know you requested a “due date” and since she is already here, we don’t have one :) We are hoping to travel in late February/early March for our first trip. I am REALLY wanting to find a name soon so that we can begin to “bond w’ her” and get used to calling her by her name. This will help our kids a lot too! Right now we are calling her Dinkenesh. (which sounds like a normal name to us b/c we use it so much, but others keep asking us to repeat it and have a hard time pronouncing it.)

I appreciate you reading this long request and look forward to any feedback you can give!

Thanks!!

 
I think Scout goes fine with Faith and Eli, but there’s no stretch stretchy enough to make it a biblical name. Since Faith isn’t particularly biblical, either (it’s religious-sounding, but doesn’t belong to any specific religion), I think you could just change your mind about using biblical names—unless there’s some particular reason you’re working with that restriction.

Regardless, I suggest using a more serious name than Scout, since your first two children have more serious names. The Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird was not actually Scout but rather Jean Louise; perhaps that would be a good candidate. Jean Dinkenesh Sanderson, or Jean Louise Dinkenesh Sanderson. Or spell it Jeanne to reference Jeanne d’Arc, if you want to continue the religious theme.

Honor sounds too matched with Faith to me, especially if you say just the girls’ names: “Our daughters Faith and Honor.” The name Joy is a possibility: it definitely matches with Faith, but the meaning of the word is so nice for this situation, if it were me I’d be more willing to tolerate the matching. Joy Dinkenesh Sanderson.

I think Esther and Naomi are both wonderful and underused names, and very good with the sibling names. Either of those would be great, I think.

But I’m drawn most to Ruth because of the famous “Your people will be my people” quote, which was meant for a mother-in-law but feels extra meaningful and poignant for an adoption. I would use it without the Ann: I think the repeating AN sound in Sanderson (as well as the -en in Dinkenesh and the -on in Sanderson) is what makes RuthAnn Sanderson seem like a mouthful. Ruth Dinkenesh Sanderson is perfect. I hesitate pushing this name only because of the matching -th ending with Faith, but I think that’s fine.

If you’d like to continue the tradition of family maiden names, remember that you can use two middle names. We’ve done that in our family, and the hassle has been minimal—even less than I’d been expecting. You could name her Ruth Dinkenesh [family maiden name] Sanderson, or Joy Dinkenesh [family maiden name] Sanderson, for example. It’s a lot of name, but it’s very rare for middle names to be said. This makes her given name a special bonus name—instead of a replacement for the family name. But I also think it’s fine to not use a family maiden name: the idea of using her own first name instead makes so much sense.

Name update! Jaime writes:

I am SO EXCITED to report that we passed court earlier this month and our new daughter is officially ours!! We loved all the feedback we got from you and your readers. We have decided to name her, Eden Dinkenesh Sanderson. We love the name Eden for many reasons…it means “delight” (which she is to us!!), all the letters in Eden are in her Ethiopian name, it’s Biblical (like her big sister and brother’s names) and it has a strong “D” sound like her Ethiopian name. We will continue to call her Dinkenesh until she is ready to make the switch to her new name. Children her age are really attached to their names and since she has to adjust to so many other changes in her life, we want her name to stay the same. We LOVE her so much! Her name just fits her! Here are a couple pictures to share!

Thanks again!

Teresa writes:

Need some help choosing a name for our baby girl due Jan 26th. This is our second child; we have a son whose name is Grady Stephen. Last name is MacNamara. My husband and I have been discussing names for months and have a list going, but just can’t settle on a name and now DH isn’t sure he likes any of them. Here’s our list: Carolyn; Ellen; Nola; Alice; Erin; Lucy. I also like Etta and DH likes Althea. Names we’ve discussed and rejected: Evelyn; Rowan; Eleanor; any B names (don’t want initials BM); any name that ends in -ara (too rhymie with last name). Names of nieces so can’t use: Olivia; Abigail; Emma; Laura; Natalie. We’d like to use River as a middle name, so long as it flows well (no pun intended).
I guess I’m looking for any feedback on our list names and also any suggestions I can bring to DH.
Thanks for the help!

Name update! Teresa writes:

I enjoyed reading everyone’s comments, and getting such positive feedback for Nola really helped swing us back around to the first name on our list. And as much as we loved River, we decided to go with a more traditional middle name, choosing to honor an aunt and great-aunt of mine. So Nola Catherine was born on February 2nd, our little Groundhog Day baby.

Jillian writes:

My husband (David) and I are expecting our first child, a girl, on January 31st and felt absolutely no rush to come up with a name for her because 9 months feels like FOREVER and picking a name is SO HARD, and now here I am in my 8th month, still calling her babygirl. I was of the persuasion that we’d go in with some ideas, but that we should wait till we saw her face to make the final decision, but you’ve had all these name regret posts recently, and I’d really like to avoid that stress and hassle, so the time for procrastination has passed–we need to name this baby!

Her last name will be Pascale-Hague, since we both hyphenated when we got married and we are pretty set on using my late grandmother’s name, Carmela, as the middle name. So, names that start with or contain el or that are too long are sort of ruled out. I love nicknames and feel strongly about some nickname options.

Names we like, with comments are:

Ruby nn bee – this is my favorite. It is short, but has a cute nickname and goes well with Carmela. My husband likes it, but is afraid to commit to it for some reason. My only concern is junior high “Ruby Boobie” teasing, but junior high sucks for everyone, regardless, so I’m okay with this. Final issue: my husband has bright red hair. If this baby inherits this trait, would a red-headed Ruby be ridiculous or adorable?

Magnolia nn Nola – I think this is my husband’s favorite. While I love the nickname Nola,we both fear the nickname Maggie. Also, is Magnolia Carmela too much?

Juniper nn Junie – So cute, but I don’t think the name Juniper will age well.

Eleanor nn Nora – I love this name, but it is a no go because Eleanor Carmela sounds funny to me.

Penelope nn Penny or Poppy – Same problems as Eleanor

For extra information, if this were a boy, we really liked the names Oliver, Ezra and Jude.

I am definitely open to new name suggestions and am excited to see what you and your readers come up with!

Thanks so much!

 
Ruby is my favorite, too, and I think a redheaded Ruby would be adorable. More possibilities: Lucy, Sadie, Olive, Rose, Molly, Alice.

Your mention of the nickname Bee makes me think of Beatrix.

I love Magnolia, but I think your fears of Maggie are justified. You could probably work with it early on (“This is Magnolia, we call her Nola”), but she might choose Maggie herself later on.

If you like Juniper but want something with less risk of aging poorly, the name June is lovely. Plus, it’s nice and short! June Carmela Pascale-Hague is a very good name.

If you like Eleanor, I wonder if you’d like Eloise? I know you’re avoiding names that start with El-, but I think that one might work with Carmela: Eloise Carmela. Maybe not, it’s hard to tell—but the EL sound might tie it together.

Name update! Jillian writes:

We had our beautiful blonde (not red headed!) baby girl on 1/28 and, thanks to you and your very kind readers, we had settled on Ruby, but we decided to a middle name. Our plan was to use just my late grandmother’s name, Carmella, but I got to thinking of how great it would have been if she were alive to enjoy her namesake and how fun it would have been to tell her we were naming our child for her. David is really close with his grandmother (who is still living), so we decided to also use her name, Lucille, as a middle name. So, now we have a child with five names, but I’m happy we did it, because David’s grandmother was over the moon and it was meaningful to both of us to be able to share that with her. So, Ruby Lucille Carmella (affectionately Ruby Lu) it is.

Thanks again!

Raigan writes:

I am panicked. I am due at the end of January with a baby which will be a brother or sister to our three year old son Ronan Darren. We went into the delivery room with a few names we liked and as soon as we saw him we knew he was a Ronan and Darren is his father’s name. Our girl name, had Ronan been a girl, would have been Lily. It has been “my name” ever since I was a little girl and although I hate the popularity of it, I’m not sure if I could actually name a girl anything else. I have also never heard of a Lily in our area and trust me, I’ve put some effort into snooping around about the name. Her middle names will likely be Noelle Elizabeth after my sisters.

Now, boy names….. we have problems. My husband and I are both teachers and are therefore VERY aware of common names and I really do not want my son to be a multiple name in his class (this is the only reservation I have about the name Lily). We also have very large families and groups of friends which eliminates many names that aren’t already associated with a student. Some names that we have considered but just aren’t right are:

Hudson – I have liked since Ronan was born but my husband isn’t sold. Honestly, neither am I.
Oliver – My husband doesn’t think it’s strong enough.
Lincoln – I just can’t get the car, band, president out of my head.
Finn – My husband liked this with Ronan but I didn’t think it was serious enough and friends now have a little boy Finn.
Sam – Mieh…it’s whatever to me.
Milo – I liked, husband wasn’t sure but we now have friends with a little Milo.

I don’t want an overly traditional name like Mathew or Joshua. These names are great but not my style. Some names we have in our families/friends are Max, Grady, Tate, Owen, Cole, Reece, Duncan, Dane, Logan, Marco, Simon, Will and Kade among many many others.

I read your blog very faithfully and have yet to come across something that stands out to me. My son is also registered in every tot class they offer so I truly feel like I have heard every name out there. I’m starting to worry that the strong yet cute, original yet not made up name that I want just doesn’t exist. Please help me come up with the perfect name. Oh yes, our last name is a a three syllable McD______ name and the middle names will be Christian Leo after his grandfathers. Any help or suggestions would be fantastic.

 
I think Declan, if it’s not already in the family, friends, or classroom. Declan Christian Leo McD____, Ronan and Declan.

Or Keegan: Keegan Christian Leo McD_____, Ronan and Keegan.

Callum: Callum Christian Leo McD_____, Ronan and Callum.

Emmett: Emmett Christian Leo McD_____, Ronan and Emmett.

Camden: Camden Christian Leo McD_____, Ronan and Camden.

Felix: Felix Christian Leo McD______, Ronan and Felix.

Carrick: Carrick Christian Leo McD____, Ronan and Carrick.

Teague: Teague Christian Leo McD____, Ronan and Teague.

Lorcan: Lorcan Christian Leo McD____ Ronan and Lorcan.

Lachlan: Lachlan Christian Leo McD_____, Ronan and Lachlan.

I also like the idea of using Leo as the first name. It’s similar to the name Milo you liked. Leo Christian McD_____, Ronan Darren and Leo Christian.

I think this would be a happier and easier process if you could bring yourself to avoid an insistence on the child being the only child of your acquaintance with that name. Total non-duplication isn’t a practical goal for parents who are teachers with large social circles and large families. Even if you find a name that (1) you love, AND (2) is not the name of any student, friend, or family member—you’re highly likely to encounter the name in one of those groups in the future. Coming to terms with a duplicate now is like getting the first ding or scratch on the new car: nice to get the inevitable over with.

Name update! Raigan writes:

Although we were unsure about a boy’s name throughout my entire pregnancy, the closer I came to my due date the more I was sure about our original choice of Hudson. So during my surprise c-section (we found out he was coming face first when I was seven cm), my husband and I finalized our name choices; Hudson Christian Leo or Lily Noelle Elizabeth. Minutes later our perfect baby boy arrived and he was absolutely a Hudson. Thank you for your help – I’ll probably be asking for more in a couple years.