Author Archives: Swistle

Our Favorite Baby Names Starting with U

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Here is the game we are playing:

We are going to pretend that we are naming a baby and that the name MUST start with a certain letter, and so we will need one name starting with that letter for a boy and one name starting with that letter for a girl, or else one name that would work for either, EVEN IF we don’t like any of the names that start with that letter enough to Actually In Real Life choose them. It is just a game where we place artificial restrictions on reality in order to create the kind of tension that makes games fun—like when you have to choose what foods you’d eat if you could only eat three foods for the rest of your life: the fun is in thinking it over AS IF it were a real forced decision, while KNOWING it is not. There is a baby! It MUST be given a name with a particular letter! That is the game.

After that basic concept, we can decide our own sub-rules, based on what makes the game fun and not stressful. Some examples:

• I’m not planning to play that the name has to fit with the names of my other children or with the surname, though this would be an option for anyone who would LIKE to play it that way; I think I will have more fun if I pretend it is a stand-alone baby and that the surname is not an issue, though I may change my mind as we go. (And if I narrow it down to a few options and can’t decide, I might use siblings/surname as a tie-breaker.)

• It is also fine to narrow it down to a few finalists without getting to The One Name.

• It is fine to wave aside issues such as a friend who already used that name, a famous person with the name, etc., if that makes it more fun and less stressful to choose. This is just pretend, so you can pretend that those things aren’t issues if you want to. (Or you can let the issues stand as they are in real life, if THAT is more fun.)

• We can also all make our own decisions about whether the names have to be ones we think we’d ACTUALLY USE in that hypothetical scenario, or just our FAVORITE names starting with that letter, regardless of whether we think the names are practical; I am not sure which way I will play it, and I likely won’t be consistent.

• If you already have a child with a name starting with the letter we’re working on, you get to pick again from all the names that remain; you don’t have to choose your child’s name as your favorite just because it WAS your favorite: this is a FRESH baby, and you wouldn’t give it the same name as your existing child. (If you would normally prefer not to repeat an initial within a sibling group, you can just pretend that’s NOT a preference for the sake of the game.)

• You can do as much or as little explanation as you like in your comment: you can just list the names you chose, or you can explain your process/preferences/reasoning/runners-up, or whatever is most fun.

 

Today’s letter is U. This is the shortest section of the baby book so far. When people write to us saying they want a vowel theme but they don’t want to repeat initials, it is virtually always that they can’t think of any options for U. Nor can I, frankly. I heartily recommend NOT starting a vowel theme if you want more than three or four children and you don’t want to repeat initials. Keep in mind how many vowels we HAVE, is my suggestion.

For a girl, I wondered about Unity. But I would worry that right now, politically, in the United States, that word seems like it is mostly used for “Can’t we all just Get Along, rather than having all this unpleasant Rising Up Against Injustice and Corruption???” Still, in more neutral times it would be considered a positive word. I also considered Una: I like that it doesn’t match Uma Thurman, and yet Uma Thurman’s name has made the pronunciation of Una clear. I also considered Ursula: I know there’s a sea witch association, but I’m okay with that, and we can work on channeling those powers for good. If I picture a baby in my arms, and I say the names and imagine that I MUST choose one, then I choose Ursula.

The only U boy name that was a familiar name to me was Ulysses. But…I don’t like Ulysses. He was a big old jerk. I get that he was supposed to be a hero, but have you re-read those stories recently? A lot of REALLY NOT GREAT stuff there. Still, at least it is a recognizable name. Oh, I am also at least somewhat familiar with the name Umberto, and I love the sound of it; it reminds me of Albert, another of my favorites—and in fact, comparing the sound of Umberto with the sound of Albert, I think Umberto makes Albert sound a little clunky. I would not normally feel comfortable taking a name from another culture like this, but if I am looking at the baby in my arms, and I MUST choose a name, and this is just a game so we can waive aside some of the usual issues we would consider—then I choose Umberto.

 

Now you! If you want to! Only if it’s fun and not stressful! Feel free to adjust the game-play to be fun and not stressful!

Baby Naming Issue: When Is a Double Name One Name, and When Is it Two?

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Hi Swistle,

I was recently double names and thought this might be the sort of thing your readers would care about.

Here is the question: When do two names become one name? Are names like “Mary Kate”, “Mary Elizabeth”, “Mary Jane” one name or two names? If your middle name is something like “Mary Kate”, do you tell people you have two names or one middle name? Do hyphens matter? What do you do about initials if you do have two names that are actually one name?

My middle name is the middle example and I always just say I have one middle name and write both into any forms that request a middle name (no hyphens). I’m in Canada so both middle names show up on official documents, and sometimes my initials are put as ME instead of just M. I think this really depends on how your local government chooses to input information and the fact I like the names as a set contributes to how I characterize them.

I can also see the flip side of this dispute where without the hyphen, two names are just… two names. Obviously preference has a lot to do with it.

I think where the dividing line is for me is a combination of:

1) Is this double name already an accepted single name (i.e. Mary Something)?
2) Do the names bounce together well? (i.e. Taylor Grace, Samantha Jo, Rebecca Anne all sound like “one name”)
3) Is the name clearly meant to be two names? (i.e. is the second middle name a mother’s birth name relegated to the second middle name spot? do the names totally clash?)

Which brings me around to the idea of how do two single names turn into a known “one name” situation?

These these types of things keep me up at night at I’m hoping other people are also in this boat.

K.

 

I almost skipped this one because at first it seemed too easy: it’s two names (two initials) if they are not connected (Mary Kate) and one name (one initial) if they are (Mary-Kate, MaryKate). A space is how we show that two names are separate; a hyphen or a visibly-deleted space is how we show our intent that the the two names be treated as one name. But then almost right away I thought of an example that didn’t fit, which led me to a lot of other examples I wasn’t sure about, and before I knew it I was tempted to skip it because it was too hard! Well, this is what makes for interesting discussions!

Here was the first example I thought of: I know someone named Mary Ann, and her name is Mary Ann to the extent that it would be jarringly wrong to call her Mary; but/and if she’s writing her name as an initial and a surname she writes M. Surname: her name is Mary Ann, one name. But also two. How does that work with my first paragraph? Furthermore, when she signs an email informally, without her surname, she sometimes writes “M.A.” to represent a quick writing of her first name. Even more confusing!

And what about surnames? My understanding is that many people with a hyphenated surname use the first initial of the whole thing: Koning-Dekker is represented by the initial K. But one of the teachers in our school has a hyphenated surname, and she has the kids call her Mrs. K-D. That doesn’t mean she’d necessarily put it that way on a form (as K.D.? K.-D.?), but it makes me wonder, and makes me think the answer to this question is more complicated than I thought.

I think part of the answer is that the name’s position makes a difference: a two-part first name is different than a two-part middle name is different than a two-part surname. My kids each have two middle names, and those are definitely two names, and those are definitely two initials; if a form only lets us use one initial, we use the first initial, but that doesn’t mean the two names are or function as one: it is the form that is wrong. (I have two middle names and default to my second initial.) But that doesn’t mean it’s the same with first names or surnames, and in fact we already have several examples where it’s not or it might not be.

You know what I think it probably boils down to in the end is (1) the original intent of the name(s) (i.e., how the namer thought of the name(s) when giving them) and (2) how the named person feels about the name(s). My acquaintance Mary Ann feels like she has ONE name that happens to have a space as one of the letters. She has ONE first initial (except when signing just M.A., interestingly—I wonder if she does that to help avoid being called Mary?). But another Mary Ann might feel she has TWO names, and might write her first-name initials as M.A. always. Same with surnames: some people with two surnames, hyphenated or not, might write them as two initials, some as one.

I think you’re right that it matters if, say, one middle name is the other parent’s surname: it makes it clear that the name stands alone in a sense, and wasn’t necessarily meant to combine with the other middle name, or to be used to summon the child in for dinner. This also seems like it could factor into double surnames: even when hyphenated, the parents might not want it considered “one name” per se, if it was done that way because it was important to include both names. Or they might! Perhaps the whole family took that hyphenated surname on purpose to make One New Family Name! It’s complicated, is what I’m saying.

And I think you’re right to point out that, for example, Mary _____ names have their own established usage. If I change my example from my acquaintance Mary Ann, to, say Emma Jo, suddenly it seems even more difficult to figure out.

I wonder, too, if it matters when a name already exists in one- and two-name options. Mary Ann and also Marianne and also Maryann, for example. Does that make us feel more as if “Mary Ann” can be one name? For me, I think it does—while simultaneously making me more open to the idea of it as two! It’s more like that usage makes me understand it can be either way.

And the particular naming culture of a local area is going to make a difference. If a ton of kids are going around named John Michael as a first name, it would likely lead to a feeling of that being “a first name”—i.e., one name. Or what about an area where most kids are called by their first + middle? If every parent is yelling out the door “SOPHIA JO, CHARLOTTE ROSE, COME IN FOR DINNER,” will that lead to the feeling that hearing two names is still hearing two names, rather than hearing one double first name?

It seems to me that the easiest and most straightforward examples are the hyphenated or deleted-space names in the first or middle position (rather than in the surname position, where there are societal/symbolic complications): Emma-Jo Catherine Dekker, or EmmaJo Catherine Dekker, or Catherine Emma-Jo Dekker, or Catherine EmmaJo Dekker. In all of those examples, it seems as if intent pairs well with feeling. I would guess that MOST people named Emma-Jo would think of that as one name with one initial, and that MOST people with the middle name Emma-Jo would think the same. Things cross back into complicated if, for example, Emma-Jo ends up going by E.J. as a nickname. Well! This is why I think it boils down to namer’s intent + namee’s feeling, and there isn’t a way to draw a firm solid line, which is also pleasing because it means there isn’t a specific rule that everyone needs to follow.

Okay, I am looking over the tangled mess of this answer and I don’t have the oomph to tidy it up. Let’s see what others think about when it’s ONE name and when it is TWO.

Our Favorite Baby Names Starting with V

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Here is the game we are playing:

We are going to pretend that we are naming a baby and that the name MUST start with a certain letter, and so we will need one name starting with that letter for a boy and one name starting with that letter for a girl, or else one name that would work for either, EVEN IF we don’t like any of the names that start with that letter enough to Actually In Real Life choose them. It is just a game where we place artificial restrictions on reality in order to create the kind of tension that makes games fun—like when you have to choose what foods you’d eat if you could only eat three foods for the rest of your life: the fun is in thinking it over AS IF it were a real forced decision, while KNOWING it is not. There is a baby! It MUST be given a name with a particular letter! That is the game.

After that basic concept, we can decide our own sub-rules, based on what makes the game fun and not stressful. Some examples:

• I’m not planning to play that the name has to fit with the names of my other children or with the surname, though this would be an option for anyone who would LIKE to play it that way; I think I will have more fun if I pretend it is a stand-alone baby and that the surname is not an issue, though I may change my mind as we go. (And if I narrow it down to a few options and can’t decide, I might use siblings/surname as a tie-breaker.)

• It is also fine to narrow it down to a few finalists without getting to The One Name.

• It is fine to wave aside issues such as a friend who already used that name, a famous person with the name, etc., if that makes it more fun and less stressful to choose. This is just pretend, so you can pretend that those things aren’t issues if you want to. (Or you can let the issues stand as they are in real life, if THAT is more fun.)

• We can also all make our own decisions about whether the names have to be ones we think we’d ACTUALLY USE in that hypothetical scenario, or just our FAVORITE names starting with that letter, regardless of whether we think the names are practical; I am not sure which way I will play it, and I likely won’t be consistent.

• If you already have a child with a name starting with the letter we’re working on, you get to pick again from all the names that remain; you don’t have to choose your child’s name as your favorite just because it WAS your favorite: this is a FRESH baby, and you wouldn’t give it the same name as your existing child. (If you would normally prefer not to repeat an initial within a sibling group, you can just pretend that’s NOT a preference for the sake of the game.)

• You can do as much or as little explanation as you like in your comment: you can just list the names you chose, or you can explain your process/preferences/reasoning/runners-up, or whatever is most fun.

 

Today’s letter is V. I had a lot of trouble narrowing it down. We considered the name Victoria for Elizabeth, but I only like the full name and not the nicknames, and that is one of my own personal deal-breakers for names: even if I make sure the child is called NOTHING BUT VICTORIA, at some point she will be able to decide for herself and then it isn’t up to me anymore. I like Veronica, likely in large part because of Veronica Mars; and I like that it’s less of a nickname issue than Victoria, and also feels friendlier to me. I like Vanessa, especially since I just re-read all my Maeve Binchy books and there are several good Nessas in those books. I love the sound and meaning and look of the name Verity but I can’t handle a lot of puns/jokes and Paul can’t leave such things alone AT ALL; see also: why we did not use the name Hope. I like Vivian.

When I try out the names (calling the child for dinner; asking the child did she do her homework), Vivian and Veronica are tied. I would probably choose Vivian. Or Veronica. Maybe Vivian. But Veronica! I was thinking it would be Vivian, but I’m finding it would likely actually be Veronica.

I had a harder time with boy names, as per pretty much always. I like Vaughn (I find it surprisingly approachable, considering its uncommonness: John with a V, basically), but I don’t like the way it seems to combine with surnames to make a VonSurname. Vernon is kind of nice; are the 1980s long enough ago that no one would say “Hey, Vern”? I like Victor, and I knew a really good guy named Victor, which helps; but it feels very nounish to me right now, and also see above about Paul and names that allow for wordplay. I like Vince, and I wouldn’t have expected to, so that was a nice little surprise; I don’t like Vincent as much, which is too bad because I generally prefer not to use names that are familiar nicknames for other names.

I was going to say that I guess I would choose Victor, but that my heart leans more toward Vince—and then I decided no, this is a game, I can pick what I want, and I choose Vince.

 

Now you! If you want to! Only if it’s fun and not stressful! Feel free to adjust the game-play to be fun and not stressful!

Baby Girl Fifer: Louisa Jean or Margot Virginia?

44 Replies

Hi Swistle!

Longtime reader here, and currently facing a baby naming dilemma. Our daughter is due in a few weeks. She’ll be our second and last child – younger sister to our son C!yde Thom@s. Our last name sounds like Fifer (like the famous actress, Michelle).

We’ve narrowed it down to two options: Louisa Jean or Margot Virginia. Jean is an honor name for my husband’s side of the family, while Virginia is a nod to my side. We’re not interested in switching the middle names (Ie Louisa Virginia or Margot Jean). I honestly love them both, but I’m afraid I will regret not using whichever one we don’t choose. We have not (and will not) ask our family and friends for their opinions because that always seems to lead to even more second-guessing and confusion. Hoping we can do a quick poll with your readers.

Thank you for you help!

 

Yes, let’s do a poll! Here it is: Twitter poll. [Poll closed; see results at end of post.] And don’t worry if you can’t vote on Twitter: we shall use that poll as ONE measurement (of people who can vote on Twitter—likely including some people who are voting without reading the post and without being baby-name enthusiasts, as well as many who HAVE read the post and ARE baby-name enthusiasts), and the comments section on this post as ANOTHER measurement (of people who have likely read the post and are baby-name enthusiasts, but are not on Twitter and/or have more to say about their choice). I think one of the true values of polls is the REACTION to them, anyway: a parent may find they are hoping for a certain result, or feel disappointed at seeing a certain result, which is good for clarifying feelings.

In the situation where you love both names and think you will feel regret either way, I will tell you how I would start making this decision: with the honor names. Here are two activities I would do:

1. I would think about the person Jean and the person Virginia, and think about which one has stronger positive feelings associated with them. For example, if Jean were your husband’s beloved grandmother who helped raise him, and Virginia were a great-aunt you met several times, I would say the name Jean has the stronger feelings and the stronger reason to use it.

2. I would look at how the honor names had been distributed so far. Which family’s surname do the children have? Is either the name C!yde or the name Thom@s an honor name, and if so, for which side of the family? For example, if C!yde is your father’s name and Thom@s is your brother’s name and both children have your family surname, then this time I would let the honor name from your husband’s side of the family be the deciding factor.

 

 

 

 

Name update:

It was so helpful to read all of the comments on your post about my baby name question. Interesting that the Twitter poll went slightly in the direction of Louisa, while the comments on the post were pretty overwhelmingly for Margot. Our daughter was born a few weeks ago, and we went with Margot Virginia! Thanks again for everyone’s comments.

Our Favorite Baby Names Starting with W

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EVERY SINGLE TIME I have to stop and wonder if the word “with” is capitalized in a title.

Here is the game we are playing:

We are going to pretend that we are naming a baby and that the name MUST start with a certain letter, and so we will need one name starting with that letter for a boy and one name starting with that letter for a girl, or else one name that would work for either, EVEN IF we don’t like any of the names that start with that letter enough to Actually In Real Life choose them. It is just a game where we place artificial restrictions on reality in order to create the kind of tension that makes games fun—like when you have to choose what foods you’d eat if you could only eat three foods for the rest of your life: the fun is in thinking it over AS IF it were a real forced decision, while KNOWING it is not. There is a baby! It MUST be given a name with a particular letter! That is the game.

After that basic concept, we can decide our own sub-rules, based on what makes the game fun and not stressful. Some examples:

• I’m not planning to play that the name has to fit with the names of my other children or with the surname, though this would be an option for anyone who would LIKE to play it that way; I think I will have more fun if I pretend it is a stand-alone baby and that the surname is not an issue, though I may change my mind as we go. (And if I narrow it down to a few options and can’t decide, I might use siblings/surname as a tie-breaker.)

• It is also fine to narrow it down to a few finalists without getting to The One Name.

• It is fine to wave aside issues such as a friend who already used that name, a famous person with the name, etc., if that makes it more fun and less stressful to choose. This is just pretend, so you can pretend that those things aren’t issues if you want to. (Or you can let the issues stand as they are in real life, if THAT is more fun.)

• We can also all make our own decisions about whether the names have to be ones we think we’d ACTUALLY USE in that hypothetical scenario, or just our FAVORITE names starting with that letter, regardless of whether we think the names are practical; I am not sure which way I will play it, and I likely won’t be consistent.

• If you already have a child with a name starting with the letter we’re working on, you get to pick again from all the names that remain; you don’t have to choose your child’s name as your favorite just because it WAS your favorite: this is a FRESH baby, and you wouldn’t give it the same name as your existing child. (If you would normally prefer not to repeat an initial within a sibling group, you can just pretend that’s NOT a preference for the sake of the game.)

• You can do as much or as little explanation as you like in your comment: you can just list the names you chose, or you can explain your process/preferences/reasoning/runners-up, or whatever is most fun.

 

Today’s letter is W, which I have been looking forward to because I already have a W name on my list of favorite girl names, and it is Winifred. …Actually, now that I’ve typed that sentence, I realize it’s ACTUALLY more fun for me to play this game when I DON’T already have a name on my favorites list, and have to comb through names I haven’t already daydreamed about. Well, this is fun TOO. So, Winifred for a girl, and that is one I would choose in real life. I would also consider Willemina; I can’t remember if that name is actually back in my family tree or if it is just one I found when considering Dutch names. But I would choose Winifred over Willemina.

For a boy: Warren, because I already love the name, and now it would also be in honor of Elizabeth Warren. I would also consider William, because using it as a pseudonym all these years has made me fonder of it—but Warren is the name I lean toward, and that’s another name from my “would actually choose in real life” list.

 

Now you! If you want to! Only if it’s fun and not stressful! Feel free to adjust the game-play to be fun and not stressful!

Baby Naming Issue: Is Cy a Name?

31 Replies

Hi Swistle!

We’re getting down to the wire with my second child, who is due in a month. If it’s a girl, she will be June. If it’s a boy, we had settled on Calvin (and he would go by Cal). I can’t remember who threw this wrench in the wheel, but either my husband or I remembered the name Cy.

We both love it. The only thing I can’t figure out is: is Cy an actual name? I looked up Cy Young and Cy Twombly, neither of whom were actually named Cy or anything like it.

We don’t want to use Cyrus. We like Cy, as is. Is it a name? Will having a 2-letter name cause problems on forms? We would really appreciate your/your readers help!

Thank you so much,
Marie

 

Let’s see what the Social Security Administration says. Their 2019 baby name data has been postponed (ostensibly because of the pandemic but now it’s getting weird), but we have 2018 and earlier. In 2018, the name Cy was given to 65 new baby boys. I went back five years just to check in: 99 new baby boys named Cy in 2013. Well, let’s go back FIFTY years: 18 new baby boys named Cy in 1968. One hundred years: 11 new baby boys named Cy in 1918.

So it hasn’t been in hearty usage, but it’s been around long enough that I think we can safely say that yes, it is used as a name in the United States. And it doesn’t seem as if a two-letter name would be a problem on forms, though perhaps people with two-letter-name experience  (Ty, Jo, Bo) could weigh in on this.

Because it sounds like the word “sigh,” I would double-check any final name choice for unintentional wordplay. I would also double-check for sound combinations with the surname: Cy + K___ (or hard C) sounding like sike/psych, Cy + Ber____/Bur____ bringing cyber to mind, and so on.

One more possibility to consider: you mention you don’t like Cyrus, but do you like Simon or Silas, with the nickname Si/Sy?

Our Favorite Baby Names Starting with X

73 Replies

Last time I linked to the first post rather than re-writing the rules, but I don’t think we want to click through to the first post every time. So let’s make copy-and-paste our enduring friend, and here is the game we are playing:

We are going to pretend that we are naming a baby and that the name MUST start with a certain letter, and so we will need one name starting with that letter for a boy and one name starting with that letter for a girl, or else one name that would work for either, EVEN IF we don’t like any of the names that start with that letter enough to Actually In Real Life choose them. It is just a game where we place artificial restrictions on reality in order to create the kind of tension that makes games fun—like when you have to choose what foods you’d eat if you could only eat three foods for the rest of your life: the fun is in thinking it over AS IF it were a real forced decision, while KNOWING it is not. There is a baby! It MUST be given a name with a particular letter! That is the game.

After that basic concept, we can decide our own sub-rules, based on what makes the game fun and not stressful. Some examples:

• I’m not planning to play that the name has to fit with the names of my other children or with the surname, though this would be an option for anyone who would LIKE to play it that way; I think I will have more fun if I pretend it is a stand-alone baby and that the surname is not an issue, though I may change my mind as we go. (And if I narrow it down to a few options and can’t decide, I might use siblings/surname as a tie-breaker.)

• It is also fine to narrow it down to a few finalists without getting to The One Name.

• It is fine to wave aside issues such as a friend who already used that name, a famous person with the name, etc., if that makes it more fun and less stressful to choose. This is just pretend, so you can pretend that those things aren’t issues if you want to. (Or you can let the issues stand as they are in real life, if THAT is more fun.)

• We can also all make our own decisions about whether the names have to be ones we think we’d ACTUALLY USE in that hypothetical scenario, or just our FAVORITE names starting with that letter, regardless of whether we think the names are practical; I am not sure which way I will play it, and I likely won’t be consistent.

• If you already have a child with a name starting with the letter we’re working on, you get to pick again from all the names that remain; you don’t have to choose your child’s name as your favorite just because it WAS your favorite: this is a FRESH baby.  (If you would normally prefer not to repeat an initial within a sibling group, you can just pretend that’s NOT a preference for the sake of the game.)

• You can do as much or as little explanation as you like in your comment: you can just list the names you chose, or you can explain your process/preferences/reasoning/runners-up, or whatever is most fun.

 

Today’s letter is X, which is once again a bit of a challenge for U.S. baby-naming, and in fact the list of names to choose from was even shorter than the Y names, but we carry on! (I am really looking forward to W! …But perhaps that is not kind to say when it is X’s turn. We ought to give X its full loving share of attention, and not let other letters steal its moment in the spotlight.)

For a boy, I would choose Xavier. For a girl, I initially chose Xanthe, but then discovered it was pronounced more like ZAN-thuh and not ZAN-thie as I’d imagined (I was thinking it was the -e of Phoebe and Zoe). So then I reconsidered Xanthia, Xena, Xenia, Xia, and Xiomara, and narrowed it down to Xenia and Xia, and after letting it simmer a bit, I decided Xenia was the one I could most imagine using.

 

Now you! If you want to! Only if it’s fun and not stressful! Feel free to adjust the game-play to be fun and not stressful!

Our Favorite Baby Names Starting with Y

109 Replies

Here’s the first post, where we lay out the game as we’re going to play it, but the gist is that we are pretending we have a baby to name, and that the baby MUST be given a name starting with a certain letter. From there, you can play it by whatever rules are most fun and least stressful for you, with as little or as much explanation as you prefer. And remember, it doesn’t have to be a name we’d ACTUALLY want to use: we’re just choosing our favorite from an artificially-limited batch of names.

Today’s letter is Y! I found it challenging: apparently in the U.S. we don’t use very many names starting with Y. I choose Yvonne for a girl and Yates (in honor of Sally Yates) for a boy. I initially chose Yasmine/Yasmin/Yasmeen for a girl, but then I was practicing using it (imagining calling my daughter to come downstairs for dinner, for example), and it didn’t feel right for our family. Yvonne is not what I would usually choose, either, but it felt comfortable to use. I’m a little concerned that Yates would be perceived as a misspelling of Yeats, but this is just pretend so it’s okay.