Meredith writes:

We are expecting baby #2, a boy. Our daughter is Natalie Keenan LastName. We agreed immediately on her first name and Keenan is a family name on my side. Our last named is similar to Hagin. My name is Meredith and my husband is Daniel.

We need your help. It appears that we have very different naming styles when it comes to boys. The one name we agreed on is Nathan (nn Nate), which can’t be used for obvious reasons. The middle name will be Robert, after my father. Husband does not like it for a first name. We also would like to avoid top 10 names or trendy names so Ethan, Evan and Owen are out. (Yes, I know Nathan is also popular). Husband does not love names ending with N with our last name, but has not vetoed them. Also, no strong biblical names.

My husband’s list: Keith, Derek, Christopher, Travis, Trevor
My list: Seth, Shane, Logan, Kyle

Names we can’t use but love: Michael, Eric, Ryan, Matthew, Jason, James, Alexander, Jeremy, John, Jack, Liam, Tyler, Aaron, Jeffrey, Adam, Scott, Cole
Names you like that we do not love: Oliver, Elias, Simon, Henry, Milo, Max, Graham, Grant,

HELP!!

If you take away Oliver, Simon, Henry, and Milo, I’m all out of ideas! Commenters?

Name update! Meredith writes: “Kyle Robert born 11/16/10. Thanks!”

A. writes:

I’ve been reading your blog for a long time now and thought I could come up with some names for our twins myself but we’re getting closer to my due date (Nov 15 but probably delivering around Halloween) and haven’t agreed on girl names! We don’t know the genders so we could be having 2 boys, 2 girls or one of each. Our last name is pronounced Dee-in. I have no idea what our name styles would be described as but hopefully some of the names that we like can help you out.

We’ve definitely decided on Coulter (a family name) as our main boy name and will call him Cole. Our other boy name is most likely Everett. Husband is okay with this name if we call him Evan. Does that nickname even work for Everett? I’m not convinced….

Other boy names I like:
Christian
Mauer
West
Lyle

Other boy names Husband likes:
Connor
Caleb
Henry
Evan (by itself)

For girls, we’re at a loss. I have been IN LOVE with the name Nora since high school and am trying my hardest to get my husband on board with this.

Other girl names I like:
Ruth (Ruthie)
Freya
Keelin
Cordelia/Cora
Ireland (Family Surname)
Leta
Quinn (Husband thinks it’s too boyish)

Girl names husband likes:
Annie
Anna
Caroline (I love too but it’s my only sister’s name!! He thinks that doesn’t matter, I highly disagree)
Caitlyn
Melissa
Casey (kass-ee) I guess this is how you would spell it? He thinks this is how it should be spelled. I think she’ll be mistaken as a K.C. her whole life…

Any suggestions of girl names that might fit in both of our styles?

Middle name wise, they are already picked out, no matter the gender: Hill and Gregory. They are family names.

Help us please!!!!

 
Twin names are already harder to choose than a name for a singleton baby, but when the sexes are unknown it makes it an Herculean task: THREE twinsets, one for each possible combination.

In my opinion, Evan is too much of a reach as a nickname for Everett: Evan is its own name already, and not connected to the name Everett in any way except that they share the first two letters. To me it’s like using Jessica as a nickname for Jennifer.

I would suggest just using the name Evan, but it doesn’t seem to me like a very good fit with Coulter OR with your surname. West Deein seems like it blends too much; Christian Deein seems rhymey. With Coulter, Mauer seems like the best match. Or do you have another family name you could use? Perhaps Coulter and Gregory (Cole and Greg), and find a different middle name? I like Coulter with other surname names, and with your surname I like to avoid N-endings:

Coulter and Bennett
Coulter and Brody
Coulter and Elliot
Coulter and Fletcher
Coulter and Frasier
Coulter and Garrett
Coulter and Gregory
Coulter and Jagger
Coulter and Lennox
Coulter and Maguire
Coulter and Marshall
Coulter and Mercer
Coulter and Miller
Coulter and Ranger
Coulter and Redford
Coulter and Sawyer
Coulter and Thatcher
Coulter and Turner
Coulter and Yeardley

I like Coulter with Archer, but wonder if “Archer Deein” sounds too much like “archdeacon.” I also took Baxter off the list because when I said it too many times it started sounding like “bastard.” And I wondered about Brody (or Grady, or Brady) Deein—is the repeating “dee” sound too much? And Redford I love, but does the D-ending blend in with Deein too much?

For girl names—are you saying you don’t want to name a daughter after your sister? In that case, DEFINITELY Caroline is off the list. But I do think it’s a charming idea, if you both love the name and if you like your sister. …Although, does your husband have any sisters? If so, things could get dicey.

If you want the pronunciation “kass-ee,” with a short A, it’s spelled Cassie (or possibly Kassie or Cassey). Casey would be like Casey-at-the-bat: KAY-see. I suggest using a longer name such as Cassandra or Cassidy and using Cassie as a nickname. Cassandra and Caroline would be a pretty combination. Cassandra and Cassidy are both nice with Coulter, too.

Other pairings for girl twins:

Caroline and Ruth
Anna and Ruth
Anna and Caroline
Anna and Cora

For boy-girl twins:

Coulter and Cassidy
Coulter and Caroline
Coulter and Cassandra

I like Coulter and Keelin, but Keelin Deein seems too rhymey to me. I’m not sure if Cassidy Deein works or if the repeating Dee sound is too much.

I was looking for some options that don’t repeat the initial sound, but it’s hard to find: Coulter and Anna are so different in style; Coulter and Caroline might be just as different, but the repeating hard-C sound ties them together.

For boy-girl twins, I’d definitely give the middle name Gregory to the boy twin: Coulter Gregory and Caroline Hill. For boy-boy twins, it doesn’t much matter, so I’d probably give Gregory to whichever name seemed less obviously boyish. For girl-girl twins, it’s hard to decide who should take Gregory. Anna Gregory and Ruth Hill? Cassidy Hill and Keelin Gregory? I feel like they’re both going to agree Hill is the better middle name.

My favorites:

Coulter ____ and Gregory Hill
Coulter Hill and Sawyer Gregory
Coulter Gregory and Lennox Hill

Coulter Gregory and Cassidy Hill
Coulter Gregory and Caroline Hill

Anna Gregory and Ruth Hill
Anna Gregory and Cora Hill

Name update! A. writes:

Thanks for all your help! Your comments helped put a few things in perspective for us both and gave us some great ideas. Our b/g twins were born 10/20 and we named them Coulter Hill and Annora Ireland. The name Annora never occurred to us! We read it and both instantly fell in love with it. We BOTH love their names which is a miracle! And using Ireland instead of Gregory as a mn was perfect. The tradition in both of our families is to use family surnames for middle names (mine growing up was Johnson! yuck!) so using a more feminine surname was a great idea. I guess we never thought of it because I thought it would be a great first name, but it definitely works perfectly as her middle name. Mom, Dad, Cole and Nora are doing great. Thanks again!

Patti writes:

Hoping you (and your readers) could help me name my little girl who is due to arrive in early November. This will be our second child (and last!!) who is a sibling to Benjamin Ray. I chose the middle name Ray which was my maiden name (Rae) as well as my grandfather and aunt’s middle name. This time it’s a little harder. I would like to honor my grandmother whose name was Esther (no middle name), however, she hated her name! I stumbled across the name Estelle and discovered it has the same meaning as Esther, “star”. So I’d love to use that in the middle name slot. I’ve considered it as a first name but a close friend just named her daughter Stella and I’m afraid it’s too similar. If Estelle doesn’t work in the middle name slot, I’ve also considered using the initials EJ, as that was my grandmothers maiden name initials. Other possibilities to consider in choosing our daughter’s name is that my husbands background is Scandinavian (I’m a bit of a mutt) and my husband LOVES aviation.

Thought so far:

Audrey Estelle
Anna Estelle
Avery Estelle
Lilah Estelle
Eliza Johanne
Juliet Estelle
Olivia Estelle

Other names we haven’t ruled out: Freya, Helena, Amelia. Names my husband (shockingly) suggested: Matilda, Imogen (too similar sounding IMO to Benjamin), and Ingrid.

Thank you for your thoughts… We are open to new suggestions that you think might suit our style!!!

Sometimes a namesake is difficult or even impossible to achieve. You’d like to honor your grandmother, but her first name won’t work and she didn’t have a middle name. By the time you’re as far into it as using not even her maiden name but her maiden INITIALS, or using a name with the same MEANING and putting it in the middle name slot, I’m not sure we have a namesake at all. On the other hand, it may still remind you pleasantly of your grandmother, and restricting your choices may make it easier to choose a name.

I do think, though, that her first name DOES work, even if she hated it. I’m assuming from your verb tenses that she has died, and even if she hated her name it was still HERS. The name represents HER—which is why namesakes are considered an honor: our names become a stand-in for our SELVES. You wouldn’t be naming your daughter “after the name my grandmother hated,” you’d be naming her “after my grandmother.” Your grandmother’s feelings about her name are unconnected to your feelings about your grandmother, and unconnected to what it means to use her name.

So my suggestion is that you name your daughter Esther. It’s a beautiful name, and it’s perfect with Benjamin. I like Esther Rae if you want to use your maiden name again, or practically any one-syllable name: Esther Jane, Esther Rose, Esther Mae, etc. I also like Esther Matilda and Esther Imogen and Esther Eliza. Or to give her even more flexibility, Esther Olivia or Esther Avery.

From your list I find it hard to choose favorites because I think they’re all such good options. If you twist my arm, I’d choose Audrey Estelle and Eliza Joanne.

Name update! Patti writes:

Happy to say this week we welcomed Eliza Rae into our family! Thanks for your input!

Megan writes:

I’m due on November 7th with my first child, a baby girl. I have 3 stepchildren from my husband’s first marriage, and they all live with us full time. Their names are Gabriella Elizabeth (Gabby), Samarah Michelle (Sammi), and Finnegan Francis Xavier (Finn.) Our last name is Redrow—and sounds just like its spelled, Red (the color) and Row (a boat.)

When we first found out we were expecting, we had no problem picking out a boys name, Connor James. Connor hit me one day, and James is a family name on my side. We still plan to use it in the future, if we should have a boy. Girls names, however, have been difficult. We have a list, but we go back & forth with pros and cons, and nothing seems “just right.”

Right now, our list consists of…

Audrey
Fiona
Celia
Moira/Maura
Marion
Caroline (which is only on my list…)

I love Audrey, but my husband isn’t a fan of Audrey (but I’m keeping up hope.)

We both love Fiona, but my husband’s stepmother’s nickname is Fee (her name is Charlotte, a nephew couldn’t pronounce it as a baby, and she became “Fee”) so my husband is very hesitant to use Fiona.

We both really like Celia a lot, but we have a lot of C’s and K’s in my family (all of my female cousins but me, actually), so I’d like to stay away from C, especially if we’re going to use Connor James in the future.

Moira/Maura has been a great debate in our house. I love Maura, pronounced More-ah. My husband likes Moira, pronounced Moy-rah. I think naming the baby Moira is setting her up to spend her life correcting people who call her More-ah. My husband thinks I’m thinking too much into it.

And we have Marion. Marion was my choice as a middle name, and my husband whole-heartedly agreed. My great-aunt, who was very near & dear to me, passed away right before my wedding. Her name was Marion, and I’d love to honor her, along with the rest of my family (mother Maryanne, grandmothers Mary & Margaret, stepmother Margaret, etc.), since they are all derived from Mary. My only issue is—when I think Marion, I think older woman. Maybe because my great-aunt was a grandmotherly type, I just don’t see it as a child’s name. The more we discuss it, the more my husband loves Marion. I’ve wracked my brain to come up with what I think of as a kid-friendly nickname, and I’m coming up blank. I have Mimi, Minnie, etc., but nothing really grabs me. I just can’t see my daughter, at 6 years old, walking into dance class saying, Hi, my name is Marion. If I can come up with a good nickname, then I’d have no problem naming the baby Marion (middle name Renee.)

Also, on MY list is Caroline Marion. I LOVE THIS NAME, but my husband doesn’t. This is another name that I’m trying to keep in the running.

My only criteria is that the name be classic & different, but not weird & made up. I don’t want the name to be too popular either, she shouldn’t be another Grace or Ava (not that I don’t like those names, I just think they’re too popular to me, I don’t want her to be Grace R.) We’re also trying to stay away from the C/K craze that my aunts created in my family, and we’re also trying to stay away from R’s, since our last name has a double R.

This is causing quite a bit of tension in my house, so I hope you can help. I’m hormonal & indecisive, and I’m afraid that my husband is running out of patience. I tried to discuss it again last night and he said he didn’t want to talk about it, probably because I just keep re-hashing the same pros & cons, and we never really get anywhere (and I can’t really blame him either.)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thank you so much in advance!

I think you need a fresh list to work with: the “going round and round” feeling can come from a list on which none of the names are The Name. Let’s take Caroline off: your husband doesn’t like it, and it’s a C name which you’re trying to avoid. Let’s take Celia off, too, since it’s a C name. Let’s take off Maura/Moira, because it sounds like the debate my husband and I had about Elliot/Eliot: neither of us would bend on the spelling, so finally it had to come off the list. Let’s take off Audrey because your husband doesn’t like it. Let’s take Fiona off the list because Fee is a natural nickname for it.

This leaves Marion, which you both like and is a family name. I think the cutest, least-old-ladyish nickname is Mari. Well, all right, yes, it sounds like Mary, and Mary is also a little old-ladyish—but I’m not sure it sounds that way to children, who are steeped in Mary Had a Little Lamb and Mary Mary Quite Contrary. Also, it was very recently that names like Ava and Emma and Grace sounded impossibly old-ladyish, so my guess is that soon Marion/Marian will sound just as revived. (I have hopes for Florence and Millicent!)

New suggestions, keeping in mind the siblings Gabriella, Samara and Finnegan:

Adriana Redrow
Anastasia Redrow
Annabel Redrow
Beatrix Redrow
Bianca Redrow
Elena Redrow
Eliza Redrow
Emmeline Redrow
Felicity Redrow
Francesca Redrow
Genevieve Redrow
Josephine Redrow
Marilena Redrow
Penelope Redrow
Stella Redrow

My pick is Bianca: it’s similar to Fiona, which you both love except for the Fee problem; it doesn’t repeat any of the other children’s initials; and it’s good with your surname.

Name update! Megan writes:

Sorry its been so long, but I just wanted to let you know that on November 1, 2010, I delivered a beautiful baby girl named Juliette Elyse. Her name-which wasn’t even on “the list”-hit me out of the blue, after a long day of nesting & organizing. When I said it out loud, my husband & I fell in love with it. Its classic, not overly popular, and very feminine. Thanks for all your advice & thoughts (and for those of your readers too.)

Markie writes:

I am due with twins, boy and girl, November 9th. The last name is Hoffman.
The boy name is where I need some help. We have Hazel Clover picked for our girl. For the boy Drake is the middle name, this is a family name.
I am interested in h names for the boy as well and have had Heath and Hudson on my list. We are also considering Arrow. I don’t want a too common name, too trendy or too weird name.
My concerns have been that Heath may be too hard to say with the last name, Hudson too trendy and Arrow too unusual.
What are your recommendations?

I think Hazel and Hudson Hoffman is a lot to say. I think the same about Hazel and Heath Hoffman, and Heath Drake seems too choppy. So of your choices, I think I’d lean most toward Hazel and Arrow Hoffman, except I think you’re right that Arrow crosses the line into too unusual.

I recommend Forest. Forest Drake Hoffman is unusual enough to balance Hazel Clover, but not unheard-of.

I also recommend one of my friend Mairzy’s favorites: Sterling. Same as Forest: Sterling Drake Hoffman balances Hazel Clover, but isn’t an unheard-of name.

I love the sound of Ezra with Hazel: Ezra Drake and Hazel Clover. It’s perhaps a little trendy, but on par with the trendiness level of Hazel.

Name update! Markie writes:

This is very belated update sorry! The kids actually came in September, 8 weeks early and before your post. They are healthy and wonderful. We did go with Hazel Clover and Arrow Drake. My husband loves the name Arrow and I loved that he was so passionate about it. A friend later suggested that we should have named our girl Beau. Get it? Bow and arrow! Thanks so much for the help anyway. I love hearing about baby names and the blog is so much fun. Keep up the good work!

Jennifer writes:

I’m due October 27, 2010. It is a girl. I am pretty set on her first name of Sawyer and want to pair it w/a feminine middle name. I am a single Mom & do not have family that I’d like to name her after.
My top middle names:
Ophelia, Fiona, Audrina, Violet

Ophelia is my favorite, but I’m not crazy about the initials SOW.

I went thru IVF 10 times & consider her nothing short of a miracle!
Can you make some suggestions?
Thanks much!

I agree: no SOW. I would also avoid SAW and SEW, but I am more picky than average about avoiding initials that spell things. (I might be okay with SEW, but SAW makes me think of the horror movie series.)

Sawyer Beatrix
Sawyer Bianca
Sawyer Camellia
Sawyer Cordelia
Sawyer Felicity
Sawyer Helena
Sawyer Jane
Sawyer Mirabelle
Sawyer Patience

I especially like Felicity for its meaning of luck and happiness. And Patience seems a fitting commemoration of how difficult she was to achieve.

Name update! Jennifer writes: “Sawyer Grace.”

Taryn writes:

We are due at the end of October and are finding ourselves further and further away from a name that we like, boy or girl. Our last name is Nadeau (rhymes with play-doh) and we have a 2-year-old daughter named Finley Frances. We love her name and can not come up with a name, either gender that we love equally. We recently created lists with the thought that we need to have some names in mind when we get to the hospital, none that we are truly married to.

For boys we have:
Andrew (after my father and would be called Drew)
Trevor
Callahan
Owen

For girls we have:
Louisa (have not gotten a great response when floated this name with friends and fam but can’t help but be drawn to Lou-lou for n.n.)
Brenna
Annika
Olive

There have been other names we like but for certain reasons can’t use them. We love Francesca, but 1. Fin’s middle name is Frances and 2. I do not want to use the same letter to start Fin’s sibling’s name. Also, any name that ends with an o sounds funny with Nadeau. I also like a lot of names with a similar ending to Finley, but it sounds funny to me when I say the names together. It is important to us that the name have a good n.n. and that it is somewhat different without being outlandish. (although our boys list does not necessary reflect that)

We would love to hear some suggestions, as we have searched every list around and have yet to be inspired by anything!

Thank you!!

Because Finley is an androgynous name, I’d use this rule of thumb (which I’m pretty sure I got from Beyond Jennifer and Jason): similarly androgynous for a sister (or at least not distinctly frilly), clearly masculine for a brother. And with your surname, I find I don’t like the sound of first names ending in N, which cuts out a ton of options.

Darby Alice
Ellery Estelle
Ellis Ruby
Emory Eleanor
Hollis Harriet
Quincy Margaret (Fin and Quinn too much?)

(I included a number of names that don’t have nicknames, because I would have thought of Finley as nicknameless, too.)

I LOVE Louisa. I think it’s non-frilly enough to go okay with Finley, though it’s quite a different style. Louisa is the sort of name people might be “meh” about when you tell them about it, but then later it will grow on them so much they won’t be able to believe they ever felt that way. And the right middle name will make it fit better with Finley: Louisa Ruby is better with Finley Frances than, say, Louisa Elizabeth. Maybe: Louisa Hazel, Louisa Matilda, Louisa Harper, Louisa Ivy, Louisa Violet.

For boys, I find Owen too much O with Nadeau–and because it ends in N, it runs together. Owenado.

My favorite from your boy name list is Andrew, and I like that it’s a family name.

Name update 11-05-2010! Taryn writes:

We had a baby boy on October 29th! After he was born we took out our list and reviewed our names, and like many before us have stated, one name just seemed to stick out… We named him Kelton Terry (after my older brother) Nadeau. Although Kelton was a name not suggested for us, I did find it on your blog suggested as a boy’s name on a different post! Thank you for your ideas and inspirations :)