Hi Swistle,

I am writing to question the seeming total unpopularity of a name I really love – Ignatius.

A brief outline: My husband and I are expecting our second child, a boy, in September. We have a son named Theodore. Our preference for boy names is long, traditional names with a cute shortened version for everyday use and familiarity (Theodore goes mostly by Theo and also Ted and Teddy). We also don’t like anything *too* popular.

Our favourite name for our son is Ignatius with the nickname of Iggy or Nash/Nashy (and maybe even Nate when he is older if he prefers it).

My issue is, it seems like such an unpopular choice … Why? It seems to live in the world of Alexander, Theodore, Oliver, Frederick … But no one seems to use it.

When I research it online it seems to be only discussed as a name considered trendy simply because it is so out of style and even termed ‘ugly’

We really want and plan to use this name – but I thought it might be good to see some discussion – what’s the problem with Ignatius?

I wouldn’t have said that the name Ingatius was hanging out with Alexander, Theodore, and Oliver. I would instead have placed it, as The Baby Name Wizard does, with Leonidas, Tiberius, Octavius, and Ulysses. I wouldn’t pair it with Theodore: I’d pair it with Theodosius or Theophilus.

It’s hard to say WHY we’re not really using that category of name in the U.S. right now. Styles come and go, and some names that would have been seriously startling to use two generations ago are now in the Top 100. Perhaps we will soon have a revival of names such as Euphemia and Euclid. But right now, at the time you plan to use it, the name is extremely out of style, and this will be part of the package deal of choosing to use it. You can do a lot of research trying to figure out WHY it isn’t in style, but I suspect it will be as difficult and as simple as figuring out why we’re not currently wearing togas: they just don’t appeal right now. Perhaps next summer the maxi-dress will be completely eclipsed by the new toga trend (they’re not THAT different), but it’s not here yet.

If you like unusual names, you may want to go ahead and use it anyway, just as if you liked togas I might tell you to go ahead and get down with your bad self. People might be startled (especially when the child’s brother has a Top 100 name), but they’ll get used to it—and may end up envying/copying your style. But with names, it is good to keep in mind that you are making decisions on someone else’s behalf. We can’t know whether our babies will be the type to love an unusual name or hate it, but it’s still a good idea to consider the issue.

For me, Ignatius fails the “Would I want this name for myself?” test. I would recommend having your husband perform the Starbucks test on it: ordering a drink at Starbucks (or ordering anything else at any place where they ask your name) and giving Ignatius as his name. I also suggest that whenever you’re in a busy place for the next couple of months (a mall, a restaurant, etc.), you mentally put the name Ignatius on every boy and man you see: it’s like trying a new clothing fashion on a variety of people instead of just on a model. But again, there’s no real way to tell if he’ll be the kind of kid who fits the name or not. You’ve got some good nicknames in mind, which will help in case he does not. And I think the reaction to the name will be more positive once the child is already named: people feel freer to discuss potential issues when the name is not yet a done deal.

I do think it would make a fabulous middle name. I would not mind at all, if someone asked for my middle name, saying “Euphemia” instead of “Nicole.” I would use it with one of the other names you mention, such as Oliver or Frederick. If it were my choice, I would choose Wesley: wonderful with Theodore, and Wes may be my top favorite boy nickname of all.

Name update:

Hi Swistle,

I would like to send out a huge ‘thank you’ to you and all the commenters on my recent question about the name Ignatius. I was so thrilled and surprised to see that so many people had a positive and encouraging response to the name and during our decision making process I read and re-read the comments many, many times.

In the months, weeks, days and even hours before our son’s birth we were back and forth between using Ignatius as a first or middle name. Ultimately we decided to wait until his birth before making the final decision.

When our son was born we were still back and forth and started calling him Ignatius for the first hour or two, but it didn’t quite feel right. We went back to our finalists and ‘tried on’ our other favourite name and it just seemed to fit. Our son, now six weeks old became

Henry Ignatius

We feel very happy and settled with this decision. He is definitely a little Henry and we often call him the full ‘Henry Ignatius’ just because we love hearing it so much.

Thank you again to everyone for their comments.

Hi Swistle!

I’ve heard of binge watching TV shows, but I don’t think I’ve ever spent hours binge reading blog archives until I stumbled upon your site. As someone who is slightly obsessed with baby names, I was instantly hooked. I have two questions and I won’t be upset if you chose to only answer one portion, but I hope you answer both!

First. Hubby is a second (II). James II to be precise. From the beginning, he told me that he didn’t want a James the third. However, now he has thrown me a total curve ball and is dead set on a Third. Normally, I wouldn’t mind. I actually think it’s kind of adorable. I even love the nicknames for a third (Trip or Trey), and am more in love with the idea of calling my baby JJ or even Jay as he gets older. Many options. Adorable. Here’s my only problem. Everything I have ever read has led me to believe that hubby’s mom did it wrong. He should have been James Jr., not James II because he is named after his father. I’m sure she just didn’t know any better. (And it’s never come up in our personal lives apart from my stealth internet research). BUT a part of me feels like continuing this name is perpetuating the improper usage of the name suffix. Like maybe it looks like I didn’t know what I was doing when I named my son the Third because his dad should have been Jr. but wasn’t. Is this pretentious? Maybe. Am I overanalyzing this? Would this concern you or your readers? Am I wrong? (I would LOVE to be wrong but my understanding is that Jr. and II only maybe become interchangeable when the Sr. dies?) I read your post about nicknames for the fourth (IV), which was very helpful in educating me, but I’m still not sure. Granted, I know that the whole Americanization of the lineage names has departed from the original royal usage purpose, so any modern use of Sr., Jr., III., etc. is probably not technically correct. But I’m still spinning my wheels on this one! Help!

Question number two: Stone is a family name that has an incredible amount of meaning to me. It is the last name of my grandparents who are both still living and are like second parents to me. Obviously it was my mother’s maiden name. And now it is both mine and my brother’s middle name. We don’t share the same surname so this was our mother’s loving way of linking us. My grandparents had three girls- my mom and her two sisters. They are all married with children who took their father’s surname. The Stone surname has ended for our family which is crushing to me. We are the Stone Family. (Not to be confused with The Family Stone! Ha). Anyway my point is, my aunts, uncles and cousins all identify as the Stone Family despite having a different name. I will take future hubby’s surname and keep Stone as my middle. It is woven into my very being.

I LOVE the name Stone as a first name. Love it. I used to love it as a boy’s name and it looks like about 150 or so boys have been named Stone each year for the past few years. But someone said to me in passing once, “Oh Stone would be a pretty girl’s name.” And, Swistle, that rocked my world! It took a couple years of careful pondering but now I am sold. (Hubby is not so sold, but I think I can get him there). I just know my future little girl’s name is Stone. To me it feels so sweet and smooth for a little girl, rather than rigid or tough or even cold when I think about it for a boy. I picture a gemstone, smoothed until it shines. I can see her with ribbons in her hair playing with her friends at school. I can see her as a sassy teenager and I can see her as a mature, strong adult. Your post on Atlas also helped with this, so I’m not so much asking whether you or your readers could see this as a name. It is a name. Although, from what I can tell, less than 10 girls per year have been named Stone in recent years, but I love that also. I love that it is unique but not made up. It is fun but not overly cutesy. Full disclosure- I am Emily. I have been desperate for a unique name my entire life, but obviously never got it. I am giddy over how unique a girl named Stone would be.

Here’s where I need your help.

A. The middle name. With Stone as a first name (somewhat masculine, one syllable, word name), I am stumped as to a middle name. Surname is @llcorn. Just like if you said I ate all the corn at dinner. My thoughts have been that the middle name needs to be a pretty traditional feminine name. Like Stone Margaret or Stone Eleanor. I don’t think either of those are it, but just for illustration. Stone Rosemary or Stone Willow won’t work because I don’t want her to whole name to be objects. I am drawn to middle names with vowel sounds since Stone is so consonant-heavy. Like Stone Elizabeth or Stone Isabelle. Alice and Ellen are family names that I love, but Stone Alice or Stone Ellen sound too short and choppy to me. Hubby’s fave family name is Pauline nn. Polly but I’m not a big fan of that name and don’t even think it would work here.

I just know that you have the key to all my problems!

B. The sibling names. I love classic names. I love the names of my generation’s grandparents. Ruby, Sophia, Henry, Charlotte, etc. Other than my potential James III, boy names I love are George, Michael, and August (though I LOVE August for a girl too. Maybe I have a thing for traditionally masculine names for girls?) August is a family name for me too so it’s pretty high on my list, but I don’t see as much of a problem coming up with middle names for either gender. My point is, the rest of my children will not be named Slade or Onyx or Kynleigh. Those names are beautiful, but the classic names are my style.

So, thinking back to question one, or to any future children, will Stone work with my little JJ? To me, Stone is almost as traditional as these other names because it has been such a hallmark of my family for as long as I can remember. Other people probably see it as trendy, but I don’t.

Also, I am a big proponent of use it or lose it when it comes to names, so if I only had boys, I would still go with Stone. But for purposes of this question, I am only considering the possibility that my Stone is a girl. So to recap, names for future children that are high on my list (I hope to have three):

James III (JJ)

Stone (girl)

August (boy or girl)

Alice

George

Hopefully this gives you an idea of my style. Does Stone work with these options? Am I crazy? Will my little Stone wake up one day and wish I had named her something common like Emily?

Thanks for all your help and for providing such fun reading material!

I have good news about the suffix situation. From what you’ve told me, it does sound as if your husband’s parents should have used Jr. instead of II: in current U.S. usage, Jr. is used when a child is given the exact same full name as a parent, and II is used when a child is given the exact same full name as a non-parent. But! Sr. and Jr. are the only non-numerical suffixes in the line-up: after that, it goes III, IV, V no matter what. That is, let’s say your husband had been named for his grandfather or uncle, and so he was indeed supposed to be a II: in that case, his son would be a III. Or let’s say your husband had been named with the Jr. suffix: in that case too, his son would be a III. Either way, III is correct and no one will think you did it wrong. If I encountered a family where the dad was a II and the son was a III, I would assume the dad was named for his grandfather or uncle—and that’s if I gave it any thought at all.

Now, a middle name for Stone. For middle name challenges, I like to start by figuring out what sort of syllables/rhythm situation I’m looking for. I said “Stone _____ @llcorn” again and again, changing the hm-hm-hm sounds in the middle until they seemed good to me. My favorite was the “four-syllable name with the accent on the second syllable” category which, luckily for my current self, my past self set up a whole post for. Here are some of my favorites:

Stone Amelia @llcorn (SAA)
Stone Elizabeth @llcorn (SEA)
Stone Honoria @llcorn (SHA)
Stone Olivia @llcorn (SOA)
Stone Victoria @llcorn (SVA)

These weren’t strong preferences: almost all the names on that list sounded good to me with Stone.

But I also think there are a lot of other names that work with Stone and aren’t in that 4-syllable/2nd-syllable mold:

Stone Bianca @llcorn (SBA)
Stone Celeste @llcorn (SCA)
Stone Josephine @llcorn (SJA)
Stone Louise @llcorn (SLA)
Stone Mariah @llcorn (SMA)
Stone Yvette @llcorn (SYA)

And so on.

With my own babies, when I’d narrowed down to a first name but was having trouble choosing the middle name, what I liked to do was take a baby name book and just go through it fast (in sessions, if it was a long name book), sort of skimming while saying the name combinations very rapidly, pausing only to write down any that seemed like they’d work. So for example, if I started at the beginning of The Baby Name Wizard, I would be saying under my breath: “Stone Aaliyah, Stone Abby, Stone Abigail, Stone Ada, Stone Adair, Stone Addison, Stone Adela…” Tastes will vary tremendously, of course, but in my own case I would have paused at Stone Abigail. I would then say “Stone Abigail @llcorn” and see if I liked THAT. And if I did, I’d add that to the list. Then I’d go right back to the skimming: “Stone Adelaide, Stone Adele, Stone Adeline…”

I think it is very smart of you to be thinking ahead to sibling names. I think particularly if you name a FIRST daughter Stone, it will not be too difficult: it may attract interest and questions (especially if you have a sister pairing of Stone and Alice), but “It’s a family name” is in my experience the best ever eyebrows-lowering explanation. If you happen to run into a Swistle type, she will have an almost bottomless interest in any further details you feel like sharing—but most people will drop it right there.

If you have only boys, I think JJ and Stone work very nicely together, especially with their similar levels of family honor; they’d be excellent for twin boys. JJ, Stone, and August works particularly nicely for brothers, I think, but I also like JJ, Stone, and George. I think you’re okay here.

As to your last question, a girl named Stone may indeed one day wish you’d named her Emily, just as an Emily may wish to have a name like Stone. There is no way to predict it ahead of time when we’re making a decision for someone else, someone we haven’t even met yet, so all we can do is make what seems to us to be the best decision, and then be flexible and understanding if the child later disagrees. I would not want the name Stone for myself, but it doesn’t have the meaning for me that it does for you, and that can make all the difference: if she grows up with a significant chunk of her family tree thinking she has the best name in the universe, she’s going to feel differently about it than if the name did not have a family connection. If you have tried the Starbucks test (i.e., ordering your coffee and giving “Stone” as your name to get a feeling for how the name will be perceived); and if you are on-board with the other issues that are a package deal with this particular name (being mistaken for Sloane, being mistaken for a boy’s name, the startle factor of being so unusual, the verb usage of stone/stoning, the association with stoners and being stoned, etc.); and if you have a wonderful naming story to go along with the name (which you do); and if you have made sure you are picturing the name on a wide variety of people and not just on a particular type (I like to go to a mall for this, and picture the name on every woman or girl who passes by); then I think the only other thing I’d do is something you’re already doing, which is to select something more common/traditional/feminine as the middle name. A child may grow up to dislike ANY first name, but with the ones where it feels more like a gamble for whatever reason, I like to increase flexibility by giving a middle name I wouldn’t mind if the child ended up using as a first name.

I’d also like to bring up the idea of using Stone as the surname for the children, especially as you say it’s the end of the line for that branch of your family tree. I realize this is a long shot, especially with a husband who wants a III, but I think it’s good to keep in mind that this sort of thing is an option.

Name update:

My amazing little boy Stone Jameson @llcorn was born July 2018. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that we decided to go with Stone. I now concede that it worked out best that we used our favorite name for a boy, although I’m just stubborn enough that I would have probably used it for a girl. My grandfather passed away 8 months after Stone was born, and his name became all the more an honor name to the patriarch of our family. It has meant so much to my family in a difficult time.

Hi Swistle!
I started writing this a month or so ago and never finished thinking we had plenty of time since we are due in 10 weeks however this past week I was hospitalized with preterm labor and will be here until this baby is born. We are hoping for a few weeks but it could be any day now so we are running out of time! A few things about us that might help with the naming process… we don’t want a cutesy name but are a fan of the classics, we think a name needs to fit a baby and an adult, and our last name starts with a B. This is our first child and we are not finding out the gender!

We are stuck on boy names….we went through the family history and the only name we liked was my dad’s middle name Franklin, which we would only use as a middle name. For some reason I am getting caught up on the fact that a lot of the names we like don’t have nicknames even though we agree we don’t need one. We tend to nickname everything so having SOME kind of nickname just seems to make sense.

Names I like:
Clarke
Crawford
Henry
Shepherd

Names he likes:
Holden
Crawford
Kellan

Names from our list that we ruled out:
Elliott
Wade
Collin

We have the name Crawford overlapping but somehow it just hasn’t felt right. We don’t have a leader and are open to suggestions! For reference, we have the names Anna or Lydia picked out if it is a girl.

If you guys tend to nickname everything, nicknames will evolve naturally even if the name doesn’t have a natural nickname. Paul and I are big nicknamers, and all five kids have multiple nicknames, and most of those nicknames have nothing to do with the child’s actual given name. Henry’s main nickname is a two-initial name (like PJ or JD) that isn’t the same as his actual initials. Elizabeth’s main nickname is Pinky. These things just happen.

True, a family nickname is not the same as a nickname the child can use at school, and so if that feels important to you, it may be appropriate to reevaluate the “it doesn’t need a nickname” agreement.

With a possible future sister named Anna or Lydia, my favorite from both lists is Henry. I find Henry Holden and Henry Crawford appeal to me, but Henry Franklin is great too.

I wish Franklin could be a first-name option. It shares sounds with many of the other names on your lists; it’s classic and non-cutesy; it’s adorable on a baby but great on an adult; it’s great with Anna/Lydia; etc.

I think at this point, where you each have a list and the only overlap doesn’t feel like The Name, I’d do the “similar names” game: writing down each name from your lists, and then seeing if you can brainstorm names that are similar to those names in style or sound or general feel. The names that feel similar will vary considerably from person to person, but I’ll show you how it would look if I did it:

Clarke
Reid
Grant
Marcus
Brooks
Calvin
Clay
Karl
Carson
Henry
Simon
Wesley
Everett
Charlie
Milo
Oliver
Leo
George
Shepard
Fletcher
Miller
Archer
Deacon
Spencer
Crawford
Lawson
Sawyer
Hawkins
August
Davis
Holden
Nolan
Malcolm
Truman
Hudson
Wilson
Cole
Kellen
Keller
Declan
Lincoln
Corbin
Emmett
Callum
Ian
Kieran
Stellan
Keaton
Bennett

Another fun exercise is to get your hands on a copy of The Baby Name Wizard, look up each name on your list, and pick your favorite name from the suggested brother names; then look up THAT name and so on. For example, let’s say we look up Clarke. Suggested brother names for Clark are Ward, Carlton, Hal, Lewis, Clyde, and Stuart. Don’t worry if you wouldn’t choose any of those; just pick the one you like BEST. Let’s say you choose Lewis. We look up Lewis; Lewis doesn’t have its own listing, but Louis does and I like that spelling better anyway. Brother name suggestions for Louis are Arthur, Jules, Edward, George, Theodore, and Charles. Let’s say your favorite from that list is George, so then you look up George and etc. etc. etc. If you get to a dead-end or a loop, you can go back and try another brother name for Clark. You could also start by looking up brother names for Anna or Lydia.

What I find is that this game helps me narrow down my style (“Hm, I seem to keep ending up with Timeless names and Ladies and Gentleman names”), helps me identify outliers (“No matter which path I follow from this name, I don’t find any names I like”), and helps me beef up my list in general.

Name update:

Name update: After a month in the hospital, our little boy came in fast on July 11th.  By then he already had a name to me, so Henry Franklin was born at 4 pounds and 32 weeks. I knew I made the right choice when we told my dad and he left the room crying! Henry just came home after 36 days and he’s doing great!  Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Hello, hello!

We will be welcoming baby number 3 at the beginning of August, and we are in desperate need of naming help. Baby sister’s older siblings are Sophia (Sophie) Lauryn and Oliver Henry. Our last name is Freitag. I like that our other 2 children both have 6 letters in their first name; however, that is not a necessity. This entire pregnancy we have referred to the baby as Hadley. As her due date nears, I find myself not loving the name, but maybe acquiescing because it is a name that both my husband and I agreed upon easily…. Our boy name we had decided upon was Elliot.
We (I) have considered these other names: Ella, Sutton, Ashlyn, and Elliot (nn Ellie). My husband does not like gender neutral/boy’s names for girls so I don’t think I can convince him of this, and I don’t know if it fits with our traditional naming preferences thus far for a girl.
As far as middle names I would love to honor my mom by using her name, Marie Margaret, somehow or incorporating my grandmother’s name, Mildred Serena-possibly Millie? My husband is not on board with Millie. I love it. Another honor name possibility we have considered is Jane. It is my mom’s favorite name and my middle name.
Please help!

Thank you!

It looks to me as if you have two preferred naming styles. One style includes Sophia/Sophie, Oliver, Ella, and Elliot-for-a-boy. The other style includes Sutton, Ashlyn, Hadley, and Elliot-for-a-girl. At this point, there are three approaches you could take. One would be to say, “We used one style for our first two kids; now it’s the other style’s turn.” The second would be to say, “We used one style for our first two kids, so let’s stick to that style for a third.” The third would be to say, “Let’s pick our favorite name and use it, regardless of style.”

My own personal preference would be to stick to the established style (or a similar style), because I like sibling names to be compatible. So from the names you’ve mentioned, I would start with these:

Ella
Jane
Margaret

Then I would see if I could plump that list out a bit with some similar candidates, looking in particular for names with six letters, names that have sounds in common with Hadley/Emma, and names that might honor a Marie/Margaret/Mildred:

Adeline (similar to Hadley and Ella)
Amelia (six letters)
Annabel (similar to Ella)
Audrey (six letters; similar to Hadley)
Charlotte
Clara
Cora
Eleanor (similar to Ella)
Eliza (similar to Ella)
Ella Jane (double first name)
Evelyn (six letters)
Grace
Greta (similar to Margaret)
Isabel (six letters; similar to Ella)
Josephine
Lillian (similar to Ella)
Lydia (similar to Hadley)
Madelyn (similar to Hadley and Ella)
Matilda (possibly somewhat similar to Mildred)
Margot (six letters; similar to Margaret)
Mariela (Marie + Ella)
Marina (six letters; similar to Marie)
Melody (similar to Hadley and Ella)
Nora
Olivia (six letters)
Rose
Stella (six letters; similar to Ella)

I singled out Ella Jane as a double-first-name candidate, but I also think Ella as a first name with the middle name Jane is great. And in fact, I’d be inclined to use Jane somewhere in the name if at all possible. Audrey Jane. Eliza Jane. Isabel Jane. Jane Margaret. Jane Marie. Margaret Jane. Jane Evelyn. Annabel Jane. And so on.

If you decide to go with a name from your other preferred style, I suggest Ellery. It fits with names such as Hadley and Sutton; it has six letters; it sounds like Ella and Elliot and gives you the nickname Ellie; it’s used almost exclusively for girls.

Name update:

This is a well overdue update! Adeline Jane joined our family at the end of July. Thank you for the name suggestions. Her name suits her beautifully.

Dear Swistle,

I have composed this letter to you many times in my head while lying awake in bed at night. I am worried I will leave something important out! Here goes…

FYI my husband and I are pregnant WITH TWINS (!!) who are due in October. By the way, your posts about loving having twins on your main blog have been so encouraging to me! So many people react with negative thoughts about us having twins so it’s nice to have your perspective to balance that! These will be our first babies, but second pregnancy. We hope to have at least one more child after these. We are not finding out the sexes of the babies. But, we would love one of each and have a feeling that is what is in there. For boys names, we have about three solid options, any of which we would both be very happy with. Because I think you will want to know what those are – they are Abraham, Jacob, and Homer (all honor names from immediate or close to immediate family members). Abraham is the strong front runner, with us probably using Homer as his middle name. (My absolute favorite is Homer but we usually think it would be safer to use in the middle spot). It’s the girl’s name that I need some help with. I say “I” because my husband knows what he thinks and I feel I need some outside encouragement (yours, specifically) to feel certain about my choice.

Also FYI, my name is Amy, his is Barry, and we will be using my husband’s last name for the babies which is pronounced Wall – boor – skee. My maiden name, which I kept, and which was my mother’s maiden name which she took back after her divorce from my father, is Banner. I actually changed my last name legally from my father’s surname to my mother’s when I was in my late 20s so it is a special name for me.

Here goes for real…

My mother, to whom I was very close, died several years ago. Her death is something I have accepted because I had to, but not something that feels “ok.” I very much want to name a daughter after her, and my husband is all for it. He loved my mom and loves her name. Her name was Jeannette. Well, to be exact, Jeannette was actually her middle name but she despised her first name, never went by it, and would only concede to using it as a first initial when legally necessary, so I don’t associate that name with her at all.

The thought of a daughter of mine having my mother’s name brings me a joy and a peace that are literally breathtaking. It *almost* makes my losing her feel “ok.” I love imagining saying to people, “this is my daughter, Jeannette, she was named after my mother.” Ah, what a wonderful warm feeling for me. BUT, here’s my dang issue. I just never have really liked my mom’s name. I mean, I didn’t and don’t hate it, but I don’t like it, either. Maybe because it’s just not in style at the moment. Not that I care about what’s in style at the moment. But you know how our tastes tend to match up with the tastes of the moment somehow. I do love the way her name looks, though. Just looking at it gives me a wonderful feeling. I love the way the e and a look together side by side. And I think it looks very feminine, which I like. I will probably use it regardless of how much I like it, just because of that wonderful feeling I think it would bring to me. BUT, I want to really LIKE IT. You know? And I think I just need a little outside help with liking it. Like, someone to help me see the beautiful sound to it, or something. Please help me with that! The way it’s pronounced in America, the juh in juh-net is just not a very appealing sound to me. Oh, another fun thing about using Jeannette is that it has the same number of letters as her last name will – 9. And 9 + 9 = 18 and 18 is a very special number in Judaism (we’re Jewish) – it represents life (chai pronounced hi).

I will share the two alternatives I have come up with to using her exact name: 1) to either use Jeannette as a middle name or 2) to use Jane as a first name. The Jeannette as a middle name option is nice enough, I mean it still keeps her name in there, but it doesn’t bring that same wonderful feeling that I think having it in the first name spot would bring. I would probably use Miriam as her first name in that case. The reason for using the name Jane in the first spot would be that my mother told me she had always wished her name was Jane, after her beloved grandmother, Jane. And when she said it, she said it with such a sweet shyness, it was clear that it was very dear to her. I think I would feel a real warmth in that being my daughter’s name, and that it would feel connected to my mother, but not as strongly or obviously as using her actual name. There is something very appealing to me about the option of Jane, though, because I feel that it symbolizes what my mom wished she had been, the best version of herself so to speak. I think that if my mom were to be given the privilege of naming the child that she would name her Jane. Plus, I prefer the name Jane. I find it very warm and sweet, probably because of how my mom felt about it. My husband also likes Jane enough to use it, but he likes Jeannette more, but he feels that it is my choice and he wants me to use whatever would feel best to me. Oh, one more vote for Jane would be that I think it sounds better side by side with the other twin names we’re considering (both boy and girl names). Let me know if you disagree/agree! But, I’m not a person who needs sibling or twin names to be perfectly matched.

The girl baby’s middle name will likely be Chaya (pronounced hi – yuh) which would be after my husband’s deceased father whose Hebrew name was Chaim (hi – yum) and which means “life.” Like the saying “l’chaim” (to life), but the feminine version. His English name was an H name that is unusable now.

So, my hope is that you can help me to really like the name Jeannette or help me feel more solid about Jane. It would also be fun to hear some nickname suggestions for Jeannette!

Thank you, Swistle!

You’ve mentioned that the thought of saying “This is my daughter, Jeannette; she was named after my mother” brings you a joy and peace that are breathtaking. What approximate percentage of that feeling do you get with “This is my daughter, Jane” or “This is my daughter, Miriam Jeannette”? How much breathtaking joy and peace are you willing to trade to get a name you like better? I think the way I’m phrasing this makes it sound as if I’m saying you shouldn’t be willing to trade any of it, but actually I don’t take that stance at all: I think it’s a matter of what the trade is WORTH. If there is a 10% reduction in joy/peace, but that leads to a 250% increase in name-liking, that could be considered a pretty worthwhile trade.

The name Jeanette/Jeannette is indeed out of fashion right now. It hit its peak in the U.S. in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and is currently at its lowest point in the Social Security Administration’s online record. Upside: once a name falls out of the Top 1000 entirely, as Jeannette has done, it can be due for a comeback. Downside: but it’s not back yet. Right now it sounds like a mom/grandma name, depending on how old the hearer is: it fits in with names such as Joyce, Barbara, Janice, Suzette. Nothing is WRONG with any of these names, but they’re too familiar to feel fresh again yet. They have to wait their turn, just like Charlotte and Emma and Lucy did.

You have asked for something interesting, and that is for help loving the name more. When a name is out of style, it’s hard to even imagine how good it once sounded to parents’ ears: how did someone once choose the name Mildred/Elmer/Bertha/Herbert on purpose, thinking of it as the best name out of all baby names? It’s strange when the order is reversed, too: marveling at how a name that used to seem so dusty and dated now sounds so surprisingly fresh and usable. I remember long ago when I felt so sorry for a co-worker with the harsh-sounding name Charlotte—and NOW look at the name Charlotte! I felt similarly sorry for a co-worker saddled with the boyish clunker Georgia (like Jacoba! or Ethanette!)—and now Georgia and George are both on my favorites list. I remember when Emma sounded like a generic old lady name—and not just old-lady, but farm/hick old-lady. I remember when Olivia was the weird name of the character on Sesame Street: it was fine for her, but no one would name a BABY Olivia, any more than they’d name a baby Oscar! I remember when I was waiting at the airport and heard someone call out to their child Lucy. LUCY?? Like the bossy grouch in Charlie Brown?? Like LOOSE-y?? Why do people have to give their kids such WEIRD NAMES??

I seem to have gotten off track. It’s just so interesting to me the way fashions influence our perceptions. Right now I am hearing Jeannette as a mom/grandma name—and yet I know with near-certainty that one day I will be looking at a new baby girl and thinking “JEANNETTE! Boy, am I ready to hear THAT name again!”—just as I did with Ruth, and Eloise, and Rose, and Jane, and Genevieve, and hundreds of others. Even just writing the name again and again for this post is having an effect. It is starting to sound light and dancey and cute, like a French ballerina.

I’ve found it helpful to spell names different ways—not with the intent to use those spellings, but to help me re-see and re-hear them. Charlotte seems quite different spelled Sharlit or Sharlot, and Loosey would be a hard sell. My eye skips right over the name Lynn, but Lin? Ooo, now I see it as light and sweet, compact and poised—and suddenly I get a glimpse of why Linda was such a hit in its time. We wouldn’t spell Jeannette this way (and some of these wouldn’t be pronounced quite right), but when I play with spellings such as Jennett, Jinnette, Gennett, Ginnette, etc.; or look at similar names such as Jenna, Etta, Ginny, Linnet; or think of contemporary names such as Bennett and Elliot and Violet and Juliette; I can see the name more as the parents a hundred years ago would have seen it.

Plus, I don’t know if this was the case, but it seems like some of those parents would have been seeing it as a fresh new spin on the name Jean. Jean was okay, kind of plain and serviceable. Jeannette was fancy! Frillier! Like taking Emily and turning it into Emmeline! Like taking Anna and turning it into Annabelle! Like taking Jenny and turning it into Genevieve!

French chic, for sure. For those of us who say it Jen- or Jin- instead of Juh-, it had the darling sound of the cute and popular Jennie or Ginny, combined with the French fad of Paulette/Suzette/Lynnette that preceded Nicole/Michelle/Danielle. And it ends with the interesting/fresh/unusual -t sound, like Charlotte, Violet, Juliette, Harriet, Margaret, and Scarlet.

It has excellent nickname options, too: Jinny, Jenny, Jenna, Jeanie, Nettie, Netta, Etta.

If you decide against using Jeannette, I would lean toward Jean instead of Jane. Jean feels like a more natural leap, and it preserves some of what you like about the name visually. And Jeanie is adorable. I might increase the honor by using your mother’s surname as the middle name: Jean Banner Wall – boor – skee.

I would also be on board with the idea of using Jeannette as the middle name. If I were you, I would then introduce her as “Miriam Jeannette—Jeannette is after my mother,” to maximize the good feelings. But I find I am sadder at the idea of you using it as a middle name. It sounds to me from your letter as if both you and your husband would prefer to use it as a first name, and of course I can’t know but my GUESS is that you will find the usage of the name for your daughter will make you love the name. Furthermore, I suspect your daughter will end up being on the very front lines of a fashionable name—like the women now in their 30s and 40s who were among the first to be named Sophia and Charlotte and Emma instead of Jessica and Ashley and Amanda.

One issue you don’t address in your email is what you will do if both twins are girls. With such an emotional and important honor name, I think it would be good to think ahead of time about possible strategies. For example, a friend of mine had twin boys, and one was to be a junior; she gave the other twin a very important family surname as his first name, to try to balance it. If you have two girls, and one is Jeannette, perhaps the other one should get the middle name Chaya. Or you might want to use Jeannette for one middle name and Chaya for the other. Maybe you would find it satisfying to use Jane/Jean/Jenna/Genevieve for one twin and Natalie/Garnet/Antoinette/Linnette/Etta for the other twin, to sort of split your mother’s name between them, with Chaya/Banner as middle names.

I think Jeannette and Miriam go nicely together as first names. Jeannette Banner and Miriam Chaya is nice, or perhaps Jeannette Chaya and Miriam Banner would be more balanced. Or Jeannette Chaya and Miriam Jane.

Edited to add: I was doing some housework after posting this, and as I thought it over it felt to me as if I’d left out another point that I think I want to make. It’s this: that I feel like people get Extra Honoring Credit if the name is not what they would otherwise have chosen.

That is, it seems as if everyone who has an Emma/Charlotte/Ella anywhere in their family tree has found that Emma/Charlotte/Ella and named a daughter after her—whether or not she was someone anyone wanted to honor. Meanwhile, Grandma Mildred was the loveliest woman in the world, everyone’s favorite sister/aunt/grandmother—but has no namesakes.

And so when I encounter a child with a somewhat dated or unfashionable name, and then I find out the child has been named after a relative, I feel EXTRA happy. It’s completely excellent and fine to love a name for itself AND because it’s an honor name, or to use a name you love and feel extra loving toward it because it happens to also be a family name—but where there had to be a little personal-tastes sacrifice to use the name, that is where I see some hardcore honor.

This is NOT TO SAY that I think you must use a name you’d prefer not to, just to honor your mother—and this is why I was not sure this was a point I wanted to make at all. The thing is, I think it works only one way: that is, if you use a name you don’t love, in order to honor someone you do love, I think you get extra points; but if you choose not to use a name you don’t love, I don’t think you lose any points.

Name update:

Hi Swistle!!

Well, I had those twins on 10/5 and after all my Jeannette ponderings wouldn’t you know they were both boys! I am sad to not have been able to use Jeannette after yours and your readers’ comments helped me really “get there” on using it, but hopefully I will get that chance in the future. Without further ado, let me introduce my sweet and funny boys, Jacob Homer and Abraham Chaim. In the pic, Jacob is on the left. He is the firstborn, btw, which kind of flips the Biblical order of the names which I think is fun. Abraham just looked more like an Abraham. I can’t thank you enough for your help with my Jeannette question and will keep you updated if I ever have one :)

Amy

Swistle,
We need your help! My husband and I are expecting our second baby boy, due in October. Our son’s name is Nicholas Patrick, and since Nicholas was the only boy name we could agree on the first time around, naming his little brother is proving to be a challenge. Our last name is Rise but with W instead of an R. Our son goes by both Nicholas and Nick. I tend to like longer names that allow for nicknames. I also like older, classic names. My husband is all over the board with the types of names he likes, although we agree that we don’t want to go with a very popular name. We will probably use Harvey or Charles as the middle name. The name we had chosen for a girl during both pregnancies was Clara.

 

Names we both like but can’t use for one reason or another:

Grant (Favorite! But this is also the name of husband’s best friend.)
Maxwell (Husband doesn’t want to use because a coworker of his just named his baby Max.)
Owen (Just not totally sold on this name)

 

Boy names husband likes:

Levi
Lambert (I physically cringed when he suggested this name)
Eli

 

I like:

Nathan
Gabriel
Benedict
Looking so forward to whatever help you can give! Thank you!

Ashley

I like Gabriel best from all the lists. I like that both boys would have a longer name with a shorter nickname: Nicholas and Gabriel, Nick and Gabe. I like that both names are older/classic, but neither one is overly common.

Every parent has a set of personal preferences, and one parent’s Definitely Yes is another parent’s Absolutely Not, and so I will not be startled if something that is a Definitely Yes to me is an Absolutely Not to you. But I want to urge you to reconsider Grant, if at all possible. It’s the top favorite name for both of you? And you are having a terrible time agreeing on a name? And the Grant you know is a very positive association (at least for your husband)? This seems like a slam-dunk to me.

Names that remind me of Grant: Clark, Dean, Reid, Spencer.

I also suggest Benjamin. Nicholas and Benjamin; Nick and Ben.

And Jonathan. Nicholas and Jonathan; Nick and Jon.

And Daniel. Daniel shares sounds with Lambert and with Gabriel. Nicholas and Daniel; Nick and Dan.

There’s no nickname, but I love the sound of Simon with your surname. Nicholas and Simon. And I suppose Si/Sy would be a short form of the name.

It doesn’t seem to quite fit your style, but I keep coming back to Isaac. Nicholas and Isaac; Nick and Ike/Zac.

I’d take Eli from your husband’s list and make it Elias instead. Nicholas and Elias; Nick and Eli.

I would like to suggest Wesley/Wes, but I’m not sure about that with the surname.

Nathan and Gabriel make me think of Nathaniel. Nicholas and Nathaniel; Nick and Nate.

Surprisingly similar to the name Maxwell/Max is the name Matthew/Matt. Nicholas and Matthew; Nick and Matt.

Oh! Or I wonder if you might like to use the two middle name candidates? Charles Harvey is a pretty spectacular name. Nicholas and Charles; Nick and Charlie. I love this.

Name update:

Hi Swistle! A few months back I wrote to you for name suggestions. Just wanted to let you know we ended up using the name Maxwell Harvey. It suits him perfectly. Thanks again for all of the suggestions!

Hello!

We’ve got baby #4 on the way – it’s a girl!! Any ideas for a name that will go with our others? Our last name is Archibald and kids names are as follows:

Rainey Alyn (f) (said Alan)
Rutledge Henry (m)
Ryatt Edward (m)

All first names are R’s and 2 syllables and we’re planning to stick with that pattern. Middle names are after family members. For #4 we’ve come up with Maylee as her middle name. Ideas we’ve had for first name: Rogen, Rebel, Reegan – but none have come shining out like the other kids. When we first heard their names we just KNEW. It needs to be unpopular and not rhyme with any of the ones we’ve got already (for example, many have suggested Remington, Remi for short. Which is way to close to Rainey for me. Also, Riley – too close to Ryatt and it’s too popular for my liking)

Thanks for your help!!

From your list, Reegan/Regan is my favorite: Rogen seems like a boy to me in this sibling set, and Rebel has a strong/immediate association for me with Rebel Wilson. Also, it’s a name that seems to set an expectation for the child’s temperament.

Because the names will all have two syllables and start with R, my inclination is to find a new vowel sound for right after the R. So far you have Ray, Ruh, and Rye, so I would be less inclined to suggest Raven, Rayla, Raelyn, etc.

Reason
Redding
Reelyn
Reeva/Riva/Reva
Renna
Rennan
Revan
Ria
Rielle
Rhianne/Reeanne (maybe too many sounds in common with Rainey)
Ridley
Rilla
Rio (though I think I would get tired of references to the Duran Duran song)
Roby
Roelle
Romy
Rory
Rowan
Rudy

If it didn’t have to be two syllables, I would suggest Rarity, Rafferty, and Romilly. (Also, Rarity is the name of a My Little Pony.)

Name update:

Hi! I’m sending our newest little loves info! Renner Maylee was born today and her name couldn’t be a more perfect fit. Thanks again for your help!

Katie Archibald

Hi Swistle! I can’t believe I FINALLY get to email you a baby name question. Hooray!

I’m Julia, husband is Niall. Baby Clover (nickname) is due 10/16/16. Surname is Faygan (spelled without the y).

So far we seem to be doing okay with naming discussions. Nobody has a hill to die on, YET. We don’t know the sex of the baby but we will find out in about 2 weeks (hopefully!!!), so it seems like we’re in a first name holding pattern until then– discussions are pretty hypothetical.

My surname is G0dl3y (but obviously spelled with letters instead of numbers). I haven’t legally changed my surname and I’m not sure if I’m going to, but I’ve adopted Faygan as my stage name. The baby will get Niall’s last name, even though mine is clearly better. He moved to California from Ireland away from his whole family and he’s putting down roots here and making it his home and having a family here, and oh fine the baby gets your last name.

Niall did agree to having G0dl3y be a middle name for this child and any others we may have. AND he also told me, and I quote, “The baby can have as many middle names as you want.”

I think he meant it as somewhat of a joke, because he doesn’t care about middle names, but I’m taking this and running with it. I have a whole list of potential middle names.

And this brings me to my question (finally)– How many middle names is too many?

To be clear, this is not an OPINION question. What I want to know is, logistically and legally speaking, what is the maximum number of middle names a person can have? I’ve tried to look it up online, but I keep getting suckered into message boards where people ask “can I give my baby three middle names?” and the responses vary from “Sure! Give you kid as many names as you want” to “What are you, BRITISH ROYALTY?” There seems to be some consensus that two middle names is good/great/fine, but three is COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE.
(Why, though? Who cares? How is it hurting you if someone’s child has two or zero or seven middle names? I like middle names. I think they’re decorative. But I digress.)

So, anyway. I’m not interested in reading a comment war about what a terrible mother I am if I saddle my child with four or five middle names. What I want to know is, CAN I? How big are the name spaces on the baby’s birth certificate? Where do I write multiple middle names? Do I have to do something extra in order to add extra names? I’m fine with doing that, but I’d rather know now than ask some harassed hospital personnel when I’m exhausted and post-childbirth. Is the child going to have to write ALL of his/her names on legal forms or can he/she choose a favorite and stick with that one for forms and keep the others for decoration?

Just for fun, here are some of the middle names I’ve got in mind:

Stoneburner- my grandmother’s maiden name. I used to think it would make an awesome first name for a boy, but after living in SF it just seems to give off too much of a stonery or pottheadsih vibe.

Amethyst- from one of my favorite books, The Ordinary Princess. I’ve always loved the name and it REMINDS me of my grandmother because the book makes me think of her.

Raffetto- My mother’s maiden name. I had thought about it as a first name for a boy, but I don’t love the nicknames Ralph or Raffy, so… nah.

David, John, Robert, Charles- Niall’s and my fathers’ and grandfathers’ names.

Jane, Frances, Kathleen, Maureen, Marie, Eve, Florence – Niall’s and my grandmothers’ and mothers’ first and middle names.

Clover- I actually like it as a first name, but it might be better as a middle name.

Rainbow- Niall said “Why don’t we just call the baby Clover?” as a joke and I perked up and said “Great! Sure!” and then he backpedaled. So then I jokingly suggested Rainbow, which I really do like.

Poppy- Very close to my heart as a Californian.

Athlone- Niall’s town in Ireland where he grew up.

Okay, so now just imagine for a moment wee baby boy __________ Stoneburner Charles Clover G0dl3y Faygan. Or little baby girl __________ Frances Florence Rainbow Kathleen G0dl3y Faygan. HOW ADORABLE IS THAT? (Very. It’s very adorable. Somebody come with me on this.)

Thank you for your help!!

Love,
Jules

So! I did not know the answer to this. And when I tried to find out the answer, I too got distracted by a bunch of comments sections filled with people saying what they THOUGHT was true, or thought SHOULD be true, rather than what they had reason to KNOW was true. Typically the comments section of a name blog is (and should be) filled with opinions, but what is needed here is a gear-change into FACTS. Here are the facts I have so far:

Birth certificates and their application forms vary by state. Each state has their own way of doing it. In my state, I was very annoyed to find that they could not print my full name on my children’s birth certificates, because they will print only one middle name in the field for parent name, and I have two. This drives me crazy. But anyway, here’s the baby name field for a baby born in California:

Not a whole lot of space. I think you could squeeze four middle names in there if you wrote small. After that, I think you’d have to ask for help from the person who assists parents with the form, and hope you got a helpful, experienced, problem-solving type of clerk instead of a stubborn, inflexible type of clerk. Some states have their forms available online, to be partially filled out ahead of time. This seems like a great idea if you want to practice writing tiny. Also, I vote that your husband be put in charge of being firm yet charming with any clerk who proves stubborn. Although I’ll add that exhausted postpartum crying can be a very effective technique.

Furthermore, I looked up images for “California birth certificate,” and it looks to me as if the printed certificate looks very similar to the application:

It looks to me as if the child’s legal birth certificate will not have room for multiple middle names. I don’t know what they’ll do instead. Maybe just print the first one? Maybe print as many letters as will fit in the field? But I think it’s likely that the birth certificate would not show all the middle names, which I find disappointing.

Here is the second fact, and this is the one that will be a little difficult for many of us to hear: according to the United States government, middle names are not part of a person’s legal name. This also applies to suffixes such as Jr., III, IV: they’re not part of the legal name, even though they’re permitted to appear on legal documents. You can put them wherever you want, but legally-speaking they’re only decorative. This means that the government takes no official stance on how many middle names your child may have. This is a little odd coming from an entity that cares what color pen you use to fill out the forms, but okay.

And it’s good news, in that it means you are not legally prevented from using four or five middle names. It’s also bad news, in that the government is not motivated to get it right or help you get it right. On the page I just linked to, it literally says that it does not matter if the middle name(s) or suffix(es) are incorrect or omitted on government forms and cards. It may matter to the bank, or it may matter to a particular government clerk who mistakenly thinks it matters, but it does not matter to the government itself.

So no, the child will not have to use all middle names on all forms, though he or she is very likely to regularly run into problems with people who think consistency IS required. Many forms allow for only one middle initial; I’d recommend picking one to consistently default to.

In the early stages of this research, while still bogged down in sites full of people saying what they THOUGHT about multiple middle names, I asked Paul to help me figure out how to figure this out. He found two interesting things to contribute:

1. One of Uma Thurman’s children has many middle names: Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson. So she must have found a way to fill out the form.

2. There’s also this gentleman, whose name is so long it is often written with an “etc.” in it.

Name update:

Hi Swistle!

I’ve been meaning to send this for ages, but things kind of got away from me.
“Baby Clover” was born on 10/14/16 after 43 hours of labor (oof). His name (are you ready for it?) is Tiernan Jack Stoneburner G0dl3y Faygan.
Niall and I had agreed on the first name Tiernan a couple of months before his birth, but managed to keep it a secret until he was born (we had to make SURE that was his name once we got a look at him on the outside). We wanted something Irish that wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to pronounce or spell.
Jack is for Niall’s middle name (John), his dad’s name (John), and his grandfather (Jack).
Stoneburner is my grandmother’s maiden name.
G0dl3y is my last name, but it is one of Tiernan’s middle names, not a surname.
In case you are wondering, ‘Jack Stoneburner G0dl3y’ represents the maximum number of middle name characters you can have on a birth certificate (in CA)! The lady doing our forms told us we would probably have to drop one of Tiernan’s middle names (which caused newly postpartum me to weep), but they all ended up juuuuuust fitting! Whew.

Thank you so much for all your help!

Jules

Hi Swistle,
I’ve been a fan of your site and baby naming style for a while now and I’m hoping you can help us out with this one.
We are having a baby girl in October. She will be joining 3 older brothers and will be our last child. Each time we were naming a boy I thought it would be so much easier to come up with a girl name, but it turns out it has been tremendously difficult for us. Maybe because we already have 3 boy names that it has to fit with.
We like classic names that are not too common, yet not unusual either. The boys names are Dean Samuel, Elliot Lewis, and Morgan Leonard (I call him Morgan Leo but my husband wouldn’t agree to Leo on paper, saying it wasn’t a real name on its own…)
We know the middle name will be Summer, after my sister, so I am looking at names that go with this. Our last name sounds like Iverson.
The girl name we had picked for our last 2 boys before we knew the gender was Nora Summer. We still love this name, however, it has entered the top 50 (41) since we picked it a few years ago (when it was not in the top 100). I’m worried that it is now too common and I don’t want to have other kids with the same name in school, etc, although I don’t personally know anyone with the name Nora. I also like it because my father is Arabic and he likes that it is similar to the name Noor.
Because of it’s popularity (which bothers me a decent amount and my husband not at all) we have been considering other names. I tend to like names that end with an “a” sound to go with Summer as a middle, but this isn’t a rule. My only rule is that I want to avoid repeating a first initial. Also, I was considering using an A name to honor my grandmother Agnes Anastasia.

Here is our list so far of names my husband and I both like:

Farrah – also good with my heritage but a little worried about some negative associations recently (Mtv show that I’ve fortunately never seen), also doesn’t seem classic enough with the other boy names.

Althea- probably my husbands favorite after Nora. I like Thea as a nickname (even as a name on its own but my husband does not)
I worry that it’s a little too unusual.

Ramona- I really like this name. It’s a little quirky, not too unusual, and still pretty. Everyone I’ve mentioned it to gives me a funny look or refers to the Beverly Cleary books.

Other names I like but probably wouldn’t use:
Leila (too common)
Iris (doesn’t go with last name)
Clara (husband says “I don’t hate it…”

Names I like that husband has vetoed:
Flora
Louisa
Astrid

If we were having another boy, he would be Arthur Clarke. Also like Harvey for a boy.

If you could help us out with this one I would be extremely grateful! I think you give the best advice and love your readers comments as well. I promise to send the most adorable pictures of her with her older brothers (who are only 5, 3, and 1…. We are crazy!)

Thank you!

I really like the name you came up with. I feel reluctant to scrap it, even though I know the name Nora is rising in popularity. My first thought is to find a less-common long form of the name Nora, to give you/her options: you could still plan to call her Nora, but could change that plan if the name Nora was suddenly everywhere around you.

Eleanora Summer Iverson (my favorite, but repeats an initial)
Honora Summer Iverson
Lenora Summer Iverson

One downside of the name Nora (and longer versions) is the similarity in sound to the name Morgan. Morgan and Nora.

My eye was also caught by your grandmother’s fabulous name. Agnes Anastasia, oh my goodness. You wouldn’t want to use that as-is, would you? Agnes Anastasia Iverson. Well, I suppose Agnes Iverson could be a little difficult to say. What about Anastasia Summer Iverson? On the slim chance that she wants to marry someone whose surname starts with S, there are options that don’t involve a rude monogram.

I also like Althea and Ramona. Althea doesn’t seem too unusual to me: that is, I know it IS unusual, but when I see the name I know how to say it, and it doesn’t seem weird or trying-too-hard. The name Ramona makes me think of the Beverly Cleary books (positive association) and of the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (positive association). Maggie Gyllenhaal’s other daughter is named Gloria, if that name has similar appeal. Gloria Summer sounds like glorious summer: this could be a plus or a minus.

Oh! What do you think of Aurora? Starts with A, to honor your grandmother. Sounds similar to Nora but is less common. One downside is that I find Aurora Iverson a bit of a challenge to say.

There’s also Anora/Annora.

Daria might work (though it repeats an initial). Daria Iverson, Daria Summer.

Or Matilda (again, repeats an initial). Matilda Iverson, Matilda Summer.

Is Cora too common? Cora Iverson, Cora Summer.

Or Isadora. Isadora Iverson, Isadora Summer.

Winifred. Winifred Iverson, Winifred Summer.

Henrietta. Henrietta Iverson, Henrietta Summer.

Harriet. Harriet Iverson. Harriet Summer.

Bianca. Bianca Iverson, Bianca Summer.

Or depending on how you feel about repeated sounds (and how strong the repeated-initial preference is), could I interest you in one of my own wish-I-could-use-it names? Minerva Iverson, Minerva Summer. I just love it, and I find the repeated sounds pleasing to say. I’ve been sitting her saying “Minerva Iverson” for a full minute, just for the joy of it.

Or Marilla. Marilla Iverson. Marilla Summer.

Geneva. Geneva Iverson. Geneva Summer.

Name update:

Thank you for the name advice.  We decided to stick with our old favorite.  Nora Sumer (spelled how my sister’s name was spelled, still pronounced like the season) was born October 11, 2016.  Sorry so long on the update.  Things are kind of crazy with 4 kids!   Her 3 big brothers are obsessed!