Kinsey writes:

we are having our second child soon and want your opinion on the name we are 95% set on. we have a 19 month old named Joseph Hank, he goes by Hank. this baby is a girl and we have decided we love the name Stella Rose, to mainly go by just Stella. Rose is my mom’s maiden name, and her mother is my only living grandparent left, so we really like this for the middle name. The part I would like your advice on is — Stella. when i was pregnant with Hank, we didn’t have ANY girl names that we both loved. actually not any that we even liked. so, when we found out this baby is a girl, we started to wonder if we’d ever find a girl name we both loved. after LOTS of ideas, i suggested Stella (i’ve always loved it) and my husband was pretty much hooked from the beginning. my questions to you–is it too popular? is it going to be too popular in a few years, like when she starts kindergarten? do you have another suggestion that you like better with Hank? we LOVE hank and stella together, but i want to make sure we aren’t missing something better. i have a unique name, especially the spelling–Kinsey–and i love that Hank is not weird or out there, but still not that common. we want the same for her! help!

ps. we have a LARGE group of friends and family with kids the same age as ours, and i’m a teacher, and i’ve never personally met another stella. and if it wasn’t for facebook i wouldn’t know two of my sorority sisters named their baby that either ;-) but that also makes me nervous that it’s too popular. what do you think?!

thank you!

 
Let’s start with the chart from the Social Security Administration:

(screenshot from SSA.gov)

When there’s a little blue “a” in the slot, that means the name wasn’t in the Top 1000 that year. So for the name Stella, we have a name that was very, very uncommon, and then went from #907 to #126 in a dozen years—a rapid rise.

We won’t have the 2010 data until next month, and we won’t have the 2011 data until a year after that, but if you’d had a baby named Stella in 2009, she’d be sharing the name with .1267% of the baby girls her same age—or roughly 13 Stellas per 10,000 baby girls. An uncommon name.

Whether it will become more popular is anybody’s guess. Ella and names ending in -ella are in favor right now; some parents who love the name Ella but want something less common may head for Stella. It may even be that by the time your Stella is in kindergarten, the name will be given to more like 1 in 100 baby girls, as the name Isabella (the #1 most popular girl name in the U.S.) is now. Or it may be that the St- (reminiscent of Stephanie and Stacy and less-used currently) will keep it from rising too high, and it’ll find its level at around #50, or #100, or #75, or even dropping back down to #150, and never get any higher than that.

If it DOES get significantly more popular, your girl will still be ahead of that group: her class will have the same percentage of Stellas in it as the year you gave her the name. But if you’re looking for something that will stay as uncommon as the name Kinsey, I don’t think Stella is a safe bet: it hits the current name preferences too solidly, and it’s already so far ahead.

But you both love it, you agree on it even though you can’t find others you agree on—you may want to go with the name that’s a little more common than you’d like, rather than choosing one you like less. It depends on how important the uncommonness is for you, and what you’re willing to trade to get it.

You could also consider naming her Stella Rose but calling her Rose, as you call your son Hank: Joseph is #16 and Hank is #970; Stella is #126 and Rose is #352. Hank and Rose is an adorable sibling pair.

Name update! Kinsey writes:

i wrote in to you way back in april about whether or not the name we loved for our little girl was too popular or not…well, after MUCH consideration and NO luck finding anything we loved as much, we stuck with our first choice and sweet Stella Rose was born on July 15th! even though we might run into another Stella eventually, I LOVE her name too much to care! And my mom is thrilled that she is carrying on her maiden name, Rose, as well. Thanks for your help!

Melissa writes:

We are having a BOY! Big sister is Paige Irene. Last name is phonetically Hayworth.

Boy’s middle name will be Clay (Irene and Clay were agreed upon as family honor middle names before we knew Paige was a girl).

Criteria: No noun/verb names. I totally broke this one and only criteria with Paige and I love her and her name but regret that because I HATE saying “turn the page, Paige” etc. Oh, and Clay clearly breaks this rule as well but middle name, family name, whatever, can’t worry about it.

Other criteria: Not a name prone to nicknaming. I want a name where he is called by his full name on a regular basis (I like this about Paige’s name). The other thing I like about Paige’s name is that everyone is familiar with it and it feels common enough without feeling super trendy. I know girls/women of many ages with the name
Paige.

Back to boys: when we were first married we somehow agreed we both loved the name Tyler and promptly named our new puppy Tyler so that’s out. And we have very close friends with a son named Ty so that’s out. I think that’s the only boy name we’ve ever agreed on. I do not like the name Tyson.

Very early in this pregnancy the name Quentin was brought up and I agreed I kind of like it and now hubby is CONVINCED our son is Quentin Clay. End of discussion. Meanwhile all my initial reservations are resurfacing: We live near San Quentin prison (death row) and that is the first connotation that comes to mind for me AND Quentin Tarrantino whose films are so violent is the second. It makes the perfectly nice name, Quentin, sound very violent to me. Oh, and I don’t want to end up with the nickname Quinn. On the up side, Quentin is my father in law’s middle name so it would be another naming honor. But also for his side of the family so it’s a double honor to dad’s side while Paige’s middle name is a single honor to my side and my mom, love her,
but she’s sensitive to such things.

And there we’ve stalled out. Hubby is set on Quentin and I am not.

Having obsessively read Swistle Baby Names and paid close attention to names in general since the start of this pregnancy I’ve decided I only like girl names. The only boy name I like that comes to mind is Cade and that doesn’t work with Clay.

Help!

and:

An update on this naming situation: Quentin is off the table, criteria and middle name Clay remain. Our ‘fetus name’ is Oscar and we don’t want to use it for real but I do like the sound of the name if not the many cultural references.

We find we’re drawn to names with a K/C/Q sound. I don’t mind the repetition of sound with Clay; it’s more important the the first and last names work together than first and middle. Nobody uses their middle name much.

I’ve checked out the Baby Name Wizard from the library and here’s what we’ve got. We seem to like the “Brisk and Breezy” style where Paige’s name is found and the “New Classics” for their timelessness. The “Nickname Proof “list was also helpful. On our list:

Drew (verb name). We like Andrew but so nicknameable I’d rather use just Drew (or Andy?)
Lucas (very nicknameable to Luke but I don’t love just Luke)
Colin (seems fine–maybe we should just use it?)
Lincoln (after our boat engine, not the president. Hubby and I get a kick out of this inside joke but nickname Linc seems really possible and the name’s a bit out there)
Kyle (I like, hubby is a teacher and it has bad connotations for him so it’s out)
Carter (this one seems really bad with the middle name–even though I said that didn’t matter. Much.)
Eli (seems fine but don’t love)

Any other ideas or thoughts?
Thanks!

 
This is a name that probably doesn’t fit your style AT ALL but I want to mention it anyway because I’ve recently started thinking of it as one of those “Why isn’t anyone USING this GREAT NAME?” names: Pascal. It has a similar sound to Oscar; Paige and Pascal is adorable. But it definitely fails the criterion of being familiar and common.

Another one that might be too unusual but I want to suggest it anyway: Felix. Felix Hayworth, Paige and Felix. And it’s a little in-joke on the name Oscar if you ever watched The Odd Couple.

A more likely suggestion is Scott. It too has the “sc” sound of Oscar, but it’s definitely more familiar. Scott Hayworth is wonderful, as is “Paige and Scott.” Because the name was much more common in the 1960s and 1970s, the main downside is that it’s a bit of a “dad name.” On the other hand, I know a little elementary-school-aged boy named Scott and it didn’t seem ODD to me—the way it DID seem odd when I once ran into an elementary-school girl named Kristen.

From your list I think Kyle is a wonderful idea: close to Tyler, but without duplicating your friends’ use of Ty. Lyle is another similar possibility, since the name Kyle has teaching associations. Or there’s Kyler, or Schuyler. Which makes me think of Spencer and Parker.

I wonder if you would like the name Caleb? It’s somewhat similar to Cade and Kyle. I’m not sure if it works with the middle name or not (the L sounds and the AY sounds might get too tangley), but my inclination is to think it’s cute and works well enough: Caleb Clay Hayworth. And I like the matching vowel sound with the sibling name: Paige and Caleb.

Or Isaac? It has that nice hard-C sound, which runs into the C of Clay just a little but I think it’s fine: Isaac Hayworth, Isaac Clay Hayworth, Paige and Isaac. No automatic nicknames (though he’d have Zac and Ike if he wanted them), and familiar at different age levels.

Do you like Charlie? I was just mulling Hayworth and Paige and it popped into my head. Charles Clay Hayworth. Paige and Charlie.

Or Keegan? Keegan Clay Hayworth, Paige and Keegan.

Or Ian: Ian Hayworth, Paige and Ian.

Or this is a stretch, but I got to it by looking for other names that started with a sound similar to Ty: Milo, or Miles. Paige and Milo is so cute I can hardly stand it. Milo Clay Hayworth.

Same thing with this name (Ty to Sy): Simon. Simon Clay Hayworth, Paige and Simon.

Or Wyatt: Wyatt Clay Hayworth, Paige and Wyatt.

Oliver has the O beginning and the R ending of Oscar: Oliver Clay Hayworth is handsome. Paige and Oliver.

Grady is similar to Cade but is better with Clay: Grady Clay Hayworth. Paige and Grady.

Similar to Quentin but without the issues is Benton. Downside: Ben is such an easy nickname. But otherwise, it’s so good: Benton Clay Hayworth, Paige and Benton/Ben.

Less similar but still within reach is Edmund: Edmund Clay Hayworth, Paige and Edmund.

Or Kent or Trent, but they don’t work well with Clay. Well, maybe Trent does? Trent Clay Hayworth, Paige and Trent?

I also love Lincoln from your list. I think it will continue to become more common, which might make it more comfortable to use.

(screenshot from SSA.gov)

Would you like Eli better as Elias? Elias Clay Hayworth, Paige and Elias. I like the pleasing mirror symmetry of their ai/ia.

Name update! Melissa writes:

Thanks for naming our baby! Baby Boy Hayworth now known as Charlie Clay Hayworth arrived on May 27. We’re already used to saying “no, not Charles, just Charlie.” Charlie was a name I considered early on but you suggesting it in your response brought it up for discussion with hubby. After getting beyond the fact that it was his family dog’s name growing up all agreed we love the name Charlie. Scott and Colin were our runner up names.

Still trying to get used to not calling this little boy Oscar as we did in utero :)

Photo attached and thanks for your wonderful naming service!

Laura writes:

I am due May 20th 2011 and I do not know the sex of the baby yet. I’m doing okay with girl names but having no luck at all with boys. My husband and I have plain traditional names, Laura and Joshuah. We have an odd last name that I just don’t worry about when naming a child because there is no helping it sound less funny. Our 1st child is named Cambria Rogue. We are looking for some unique but not to strange. Something almost romantic and masculine. Josh is into music I’m into art and we are very open minded but just haven’t run into something we both like for a boy. Our list is very small so far Josh like the name Bentley (I’m not a huge fan) and I liked Adare (Josh isn’t a fan) and that’s where it stops. The only thing I think we are avoiding is the letter J. Any ideas?

One of my favorite “romantic and masculine” names is Everest. It’s exotic but familiar. One of my friend Mairzy’s favorites is Sterling: again, exotic yet familiar. Other possibilities:

Aidric
Alistair
August
Claude
Corbin
Cormac
Dario
Dashiell
Declan
Desmond
Donnelly
Edmund
Everett
Finian
Gabriel
Greyson
Heath
Hugo
Kiefer
Lachlan
Maverick
Orion
Pierce
Rafael
Redford
Rohan
Roman
Sebastian
Stefan
Theodore
Wyatt

Some of these might work particularly well as a middle name: Maverick, for example, would be a good pair with your daughter’s middle name Rogue.

[Update in comments section.]

Kelly writes:

We have 3 children born within 22 months of eachother…
twin boys: Joseph Isaiah and Benjamin Michael
girl: Gracie Belle

Need both a boy and girl name for a future sibling. Nothing starting with M. We like biblical names and southern sounding names (but the following are NOT an option: Micah, Jonathan, Jared, Noah, Claire, Molly). Projected due date in May.

For a boy, I suggest Isaac: Joseph, Benjamin, Gracie, and Isaac. Maybe Isaac Matthew.

Or Daniel: Joseph, Benjamin, Gracie, and Daniel. Maybe Daniel Elias.

For a girl, I suggest Cora: Joseph, Benjamin, Gracie, and Cora. Maybe Cora Mae.

Or Ruby: Joseph, Benjamin, Gracie, and Ruby. Maybe Ruby Mae.

Name update! Kelly writes:

We decided on Levi Nathanael…..so, all 3 boys are named after the sons of Jacob in the Bible.

Tamara writes:

My husband and I are expecting our 3rd and final child in just 3 weeks and we still don’t have a short list of names. I discovered your blog just a week ago and really like your suggestions.

Ethan has my grandfathers first name as his middle name and Audrey has my grandmothers middle name as her middle name. We will find a family name to fit whatever first name we come up with, but names like Maxwell, Campbell, Louisa, Laura, Rosina, Lindsay and Gordon are among the possibilities.

I really love the strength in our other children’s names and that they have meanings. I think they fit those two personalities really well. I should also mention that we are Australian’s and don’t want a name that screams of another place or one that is really popular. Ethan is in his late teens and when he was born the name was very uncommon here and now it polls in the top 3 boys names every year. Audrey is also not very commonly used here, not since the 50’s anyway. Ethan and Audrey also have no real possibility of a great nick name so they get Eth and Auds… which we really don’t like and so many of the names on our list don’t have nice shortened forms.

Our “girls” list currently reads like this:

Violet
Harriet
Scarlett
Eleanor
Louisa
Patience

Violet is the one for me, but my husband is not feeling it. He doesn’t like the fact that it ends in T and reminds him of the word violence. So many of the names we love end with a T… I think that has been a major factor in us not being able to settle on anything. We also really like the name Ivy but as we are IVF patents it seems a bit weird!

Our boys list currently reads like this:

Elliot
Maxwell
Oliver
Quinn
Nelson
Austen/Austin
Lawson
Liam
Edgar or Edwin
Aiden
Lloyd
Owen

I just don’t love any of them. Audrey was going to be Maxwell if she was a boy, but friends have recently used it in naming their son and we’ve gone off it a bit. My husband really likes Liam and Austin. I feel like Austin is a bit too soft or something… can’t quite put my finger on it.

HELP????

Name update! Tamara writes:

You were kind enough to post my plea for help way back in April, so it’s been almost 4 months since our beautiful little girl came into the world. We went into the labour ward with 2 boys names and 2 girls names and didn’t settle on THE name until after we had called home to our other children and their anxious grandparents.

After many tears due to the realization that my husband would not come round to Violet, I asked him to sit down and watch ‘Gigantic’ staring Zooey Deschanel with me. I felt that while we loved the name Harriet it wasn’t our favourite only for the fact that we don’t know, have ever met, or haven’t even come across a Harriet in popular culture. We needed a positive association with the name, so we watched the movie together and although that Harriet is mostly called Happy throughout the film it did the trick and it became OUR front runner. DH allowed me to use a name from my family as middle name as I did with our other two. So Harriet Louisa Taylor has my grandfather’s mother’s and sister’s name… both Louisa’s known affectionately as Lou. We haven’t attached a nick name to her yet… although I do love Happy…. we’ll just wait and see who she is. She arrived 5 days late and weighed in at 3940gms and was 51cm long. She has a lovely dusting of red hair like her daddy. We adore her and her name.

Thank you readers for your input and wisdom. You did help me work through some of my issues. Thank you Swistle for this amazingly supportive and warm environment.

Adey writes:

We are expecting Baby Reid #3 on May 16th and are keeping the gender a surprise this time around. We have agreed on girl names but I am really struggling with the boy names!

First off, we already have 2 children.
Nolana Emmanuelle will be 3 in April (her name is pronounced “No-Lawn-ah” not “No-LAN-ah”) and we call her Lana (“Lawn-ah”) 95% of the time.
Our son Carson Roderick was born in June of this past year so it was quite the surprise to learn that I was pregnant again 2 months later! Seeing as they will all be so close in age I really want to make sure their names flow well together.

My husband and I both agreed on the names for our first 2 kids. Nolana was a compromise seeing as my husband really wanted to name her Lana but I felt it was too short, so when I saw Nolana in my 100,000 baby name book I knew it was perfect. I am surprised however at how many people pronounce it wrong. Even people we have now known for over a year still manage to say is incorrectly despite us constantly saying her name, so we have tried to avoid names that would get pronounced incorrectly since. Emmanuelle means “God with us” which I loved, plus it had 4 syllables. I think longer middle names sound better with our last name. With Carson it took us months to agree on his name but I am so happy we did and the name suits him so well! Roderick is my husband’s middle name.

So now onto Baby #3.

The one, and ONLY, name my husband will even consider is Lincoln. He is so in love with this name that it surprises me because in 3 pregnancies now he has only ever picked up a baby name book once. It was always me suggesting names and he did the vetoing (like so many other spouses I read about on here!). He has begged for this name to be used in the previous 2 children but I managed to avoid it and since this baby is our last he knows it’s now or never to use it.

I feel stuck because I don’t hate the name Lincoln, but I don’t love it either. We agreed on Xavier for a middle name and I DO think that Lincoln Xavier sounds great – but again, I don’t get that “Love it!” feeling. BUT, I do like the idea of being able to tell this baby that “Daddy named you!”

I feel guilty because this baby is so close to my last pregnancy I haven’t even wanted to pick up a baby name book because I just did it a few months ago! We prefer uncommon names (preferably not even the top 100 although Carson was the exception!)

I guess my questions are the following:

1) What are your thoughts on Lincoln Xavier?
2) Does it flow with our other children’s names?
3) Is it okay to pick a name I don’t love, but don’t hate either?

I would love to hear your input!

 
1. I think Lincoln Xavier read is a fantastic name.

2. I think it goes very well with Nolana and Carson.

3. I do think it’s okay to choose a name you like but don’t love, and I think the most likely thing is that once it’s on the baby it will grow on you until you DO love it—but there is, of course, also the risk that it won’t.

This is a crossroads for you. If you continue to like-but-not-love the name Lincoln, your husband will put all of his naming energies into convincing you to use it. If you want him to divert that energy to finding new possibilities, I think it will require you saying to him that the name Lincoln is out of the running as a first name, and that he needs to help you find something else. The tendency is for the parent who wants a particular name to think of it as the other parent’s responsibility to find a name that’s “better,” but that responsibility belongs to both parents.

If you decide you’re not willing to use Lincoln as a first name, one possibility is using it as a middle name. It’s not what your husband wants, but if having it as the first name is not what YOU want, it at least rescues the name from “never getting to use it at all.” But of course that still leaves us the problem of the first name.

It’s hard to know what to suggest. I think maybe “names that are in some way or another similar to Lincoln”:

Aidric
Atticus
Beckham
Deacon
Felix
Finnegan
Fletcher
Forrest
Frederick
Gideon
Langston
Lennox
Malcolm
Quentin
Shepard
Sterling
Sullivan
Tillman
Truman

(I had Anderson, Edison, Harrison, Jefferson, Lawson, and Wilson on there, too, but thought you might not want both sons to have a -son ending.)

Name update! Adey writes:

I am thrilled to announce that our newest little bundle, Lincoln Xavier Reid, finally arrived on May 19th @ 3:33pm weighing 8lbs 8oz and 20″ long. I cannot thank your readers enough for helping us make our final decision. Hearing so many positive things about the name Lincoln made it possible for me to allow my husband to name the baby what he had wanted! After reading through the list of Swistle’s suggestions I couldn’t help but think that none of the other names suited him and that perhaps he actually was a little Lincoln all along! Nolana and Carson are adjusting very smoothly to having another baby in the house and although we are extremely busy with 3 kids under 37 months, I can’t help but think that God knew exactly what he was doing. I love our little family!!

Thanks again for all your help.

Laura writes:

Our second son is due on May 9th, and we’re having such trouble settling on his name! Our last name is Gottlieb (pronounced Got-Leeb), and our first son’s name is Nathan Howard. We almost immediately settled on Nathan and Howard is after my husband’s grandfather. If this baby were a girl–and I was convinced it was, based on a dream, completely different pregnancy, and the early ultrasound–her name was going to be Claire Abigail. However, the 20-week ultrasound was emphatically boy, dashing all my pretty pink dreams, and putting us right back on the drawing board.

We’ve gone back and forth over a lot of names and the front-runner seems to be Eli, but I’m just not sure about it. My husband loves it, but it just doesn’t seem “right” to me. I’m not sure I like the sound of Eli Gottlieb (too many eees?), and it just seems so short written out (shouldn’t there be more letters?). Also, and this is probably in the way-picky realm, I don’t like the reversal of the e & i from the first name to the last. People always reverse the i & e in our last name, and by putting the e first in the first name, I feel like it’ll make it worse. It’s entirely possible that I’m way overthinking this, so can you and your readers give me a reality check? Does Eli Gottlieb work?

Our other front-runners are Robert and Henry. The baby’s middle name will be either Robert or Lawrence after my dad (my maiden name was Roberts, my dad is Larry). Unless, of course, I can get my husband to agree to Robert as a first name, and then it will be Robert Elias.

We’re open to other names, here’s some that we’ve considered and tabled:
Tobias (nn Toby)
Simon
Josiah (my all-time favorite, soundly rejected by hubs)
Lloyd (I had to give up Josiah to get this one off the list, husband still doesn’t understand why I hate it)
Micah
Noah

We’re pretty squarely in the “Timeless” section of the Baby Name Wizard, but I’ve looked through that list so many times and nothing jumps out at me anymore. So, I guess what I’m really looking for is some other opinions on Eli Lawrence, or to see if there’s anything out there that I’m missing.

Thanks so much for your help!

I think what might be called for here is a longer name with Eli as the nickname. I notice you like Josiah and Micah and Noah—do you like Elijah? And you like Tobias; do you like Elias? Both of those take care of any extra-E problem for me.

Or there’s Ian: similar levels of E-sound, but without the e-i problem, and without an L and a second strong vowel sound. But maybe Nathan and Ian is too much -an.

Lloyd + Elias brought the name Louis to mind. I love it with Gottlieb and with Nathan. Maybe Louis Roberts Gottlieb.

Or Frederick? Frederick Gottlieb; Frederick Lawrence Gottlieb; Nathan and Frederick.

Or Edmund? Edmund Gottlieb; Edmund Roberts Gottlieb; Nathan and Edmund.

Or Daniel? Daniel Gottlieb; Daniel Lawrence Gottlieb; Nathan and Daniel.

I’m wondering if it would work to use Roberts (with the original S) as the first name? Not only would it be your actual maiden name, it would fit in well with the other surname names being used now.

I also love both Henry and Simon from your list.

Name update! Laura writes:

Elijah Lawrence Gottlieb arrived at 3:52 pm on April 24, 2011. Many thanks to you and your readers for the advice and suggestions. We went back and forth over various versions of Eli, Elias, and Elijah, but when he decided to be born on Easter Sunday and during Passover (I’m Christian, Husband is Jewish), we knew we had to go with Elijah. We’re calling him Eli and are so happy to have him in our family!

Thanks again!

Felicia writes:

We are due 4/26 with our third child, and we are not finding out the gender before the birth. Baby will join older siblings Owen and Aubrey. So our last name is one syllable, starting with B, and it’s the word for the make-up that you put on your cheeks.

Here is the pertinent information:
* If Baby is a girl, she will be named Leah Caroline, both names for a grandmother who is in failing health. But, we are stuck on a boy’s name!

* We choose middle names to honor family members who have passed away. Possible middle names for boys: Joseph, David, James, Emmett (with Joseph being first pick because it would actually honor two different people, one from each side).

* We would prefer a name that does not start or end with a B, to avoid the alliteration or running together.

* Owen is named partly for the soccer player Michael Owen, and partly because it’s the only boy name we ever found that we both agreed on. We did not find out his gender, but if he were a girl, he would have been Alannah Evelyn – Alannah for its Irish and Hawaiian origins.

* Aubrey is named because I just liked the sound of it (and my husband likes the baseball player Aubrey Huff). I actually started out liking Audrey, but got thrown off by the “odd” sound at the beginning. If she were a boy, she would have been Landon Joseph – Landon for the famous soccer player (Landon Donovan) and flyfisherman (Landon Mayer) of the same name. For some reason this time, it just does not seem right to re-use Landon.

* We want a boy’s name to be unequivocally masculine name, since we have such a feminine surname.

* We really do not have any contenders for a first name, since nothing feels right to either of us so far. My husband is really into soccer, flyfishing, and skiing, so I’m sure he would not be opposed to finding a name from there.

* Although we are both American (going back several generations), my husband’s heritage is Lithuanian and Irish, and mine is Irish and German. (We had the Hawaiian name in there because we spent two weeks there on our honeymoon and LOVED it, though neither of us is even remotely Hawaiian.)

* Last but not least (sorry so long!)… I suggested Adam, Eli, or Eric, but my husband was very “meh” about them. He suggested Travis, which I was “meh” about. I don’t know why we could both instantly agree on Owen (as well as girl names) but cannot seem to find a boy’s name this time that is a good fit.

I know you and your readers can help us though!

I urge you to reconsider Landon Joseph: you both agreed on it, you both loved it well enough to use it if Aubrey had been a boy, it’s completely masculine, and it’s good with Owen and Aubrey. Think of all your children in a little line, waiting to be born: you had a boy name and a girl name all set for your second baby because you didn’t know which child was coming next—and it was Aubrey, so Landon’s name is still available, unused, for when HE arrives.

But if it’s that you don’t feel like using the name anymore, I do understand that: we had a girl name in mind for both our first two boys, and by the time we actually had a girl we were tired of the name.

Lawson is similar: Lawson Joseph B___.

Would you like the name Milo? I love it with Owen because of the repeating long-O sound. Oh, and with Joseph too! Milo Joseph B___.

Or Jasper: a little of the sound of Travis, with more the style of Eli: Jasper Joseph B___ could also go by J.J. if you like double-initial nicknames. I like Jasper David B___, too. It niggles in the back of my mind that both Jasper and Emmett are Twilight characters? If that’s the case, I’d probably avoid Jasper Emmett B___, even though it has a very nice sound.

Or Jeremy Joseph B___ would give you the same J.J. if you wanted it.

Or Lucas: Lucas Joseph B____; Owen, Aubrey, and Lucas.

Would you use Emmett as the first name? It’s wonderful with Owen and Aubrey. Emmett Joseph B___. I think the rhythm of Everett works even better: Everett Joseph B____.

Name update! Felicia writes:

Leah Caroline was born three days before her due date. Newborn picture is attached. If she had been a boy, I was really pushing for Landon Joseph or Miller Joseph. My husband came out of nowhere with the dark horse contender of Vanek Joseph (after one of his favorite hockey players). But in the end, the decision was made for us since she was a she. :) Thanks for all the input from Swistle and readers. We have gotten a ton of compliments on the name choice.

Renee writes:

Hi Swistle, my name is Renee and my 5th (and final!) child is due on the 28th of April. One of my favourite things about having children is naming them, however I’m not having so much fun naming this baby.

My kids names are Emerson “Emmie” Louisa, Rose Susanna, Liam Davis and Noah James. All middle names honour family members, but for this baby I would just like a middle name that ends in ‘a’ so that it fits in with Emmie and Rose’s middle names. I have step-sisters named Jennifer and Rebecca, so if you could think of a name that honours both of them I would consider that, but I don’t want to honour one of them, but not the other.

Anyway, as you can see we have an Emerson and a Rose – names that are completely different in style! So honestly, I am feeling a bit lost and I don’t really know what name I want. I would like to steer clear of names starting with E, R, L and N, but if I fell in love with a name I would use it, except for E names as we also have a niece named Elli. Emmie and Elli are very similar names, so we would not only like to steer clear of E names, but steer clear of names ending with an ‘ee’ sound as we also call Rose, Rosie, sometimes too. We also have a niece named Nala, so that is off-limits to us too.

Here is our name list, though none of the names feel like ‘the one’ or we can’t use them:
Mila – I would use this, but my husband isn’t as keen on it.
Scarlett – Both like, but don’t love.
Grace – I love this, but I would end up calling her Gracie. Emmie, Rosie and Gracie with a cousin Elli is no good!
Ava – We know a couple of little Ava’s, so no good for us.
Isabella – Like this, but don’t really love.
Sophia – This is my favourite name (apart from my girls names), but Emmie has a best friend named Sophia, and we are very close with her family.

So there you have it. One big mess!!!

I hope you can help us :-)

 
My sense of order and consistency itches at the idea of giving the first four children family middle names and then not doing the same for the fifth. But I also dislike the idea of trying to honor more than one person with a single name: I think it ends up honoring neither one. This second opinion is at odds with what I have for you, which is a combination name to attempt to honor both Jennifer and Rebecca: Jennica. This is a name I think is cute ANYWAY—a good alternative for someone who loves the name Jessica but felt it got worn out in the 1980s and 1990s. AND it ends in an A.

Rose, Liam, and Noah all have a similar style; since you call Emerson “Emmie,” I think that fits right in with the others.

Since you like-but-don’t-love Scarlett, would you like Charlotte? It goes well with the style of the other names. Charlotte Jennica Campbell.

If you like-but-don’t-love Isabella, I’d suggest Annabella and Arabella—except I don’t like the repeating -bell sound with Campbell.

If you love Grace (or any other name with a natural -ie nickname), I think you could reframe the situation: an Emerson, a Rose, and a Grace with a cousin Elli. Only the nicknames repeat the -ie ending, and MANY (most?) nicknames end in that sound.

Along those lines, I suggest Molly. I know, it makes it even worse by repeating not only the -ie sound but the -llie sound! But—Elli is a cousin, not a sister, and Molly seems like such a different name.

If you love the name Sophia, I think you could reconsider using it: I think it’s sweet that it’s the name of Emmie’s best friend, and it’s not likely to cause MUCH confusion even if you’re good friends with the family. Or you could use it as a middle name, since it ends in A. Charlotte Sophia, Molly Sophia, etc.

Ava and Mila make me think of Amelia. Amelia Campbell is wonderful, and it doesn’t have a natural -ie nickname. But because it ends in -a, it’s trickier to find a middle name to match the first two girls’. MUST it match the first two girls’ names? Amelia Grace Campbell would be so nice. But perhaps Amelia shares too many sounds with Liam anyway.

Clara or Cora would be pretty, and they don’t end in -ie or have a nickname with an -ie. But they end in -a, so again with the middle name problem.

In short, I recommend dropping at least one (and maybe both) of your optional restrictions (the “not ending in an -ie sound, either in name or in nickname” one and the “middle name ending with -a” one). I think that combining those (and the problem they create in combination with each other) with the difficulties already inherent in choosing a name to go four sibling names AND avoiding repeating initials AND avoiding any similarities to cousin or friend names, is what’s making this so difficult—more like doing a complicated logic puzzle than choosing a baby name. But since I’m also advocating adding an ADDITIONAL optional restriction (giving a family middle name), you know I will be completely on your side if you keep the other restrictions as well. In which case I suggest Charlotte Jennica or Charlotte Ava or Charlotte Sophia—but the -ie thing means you can’t call her either Charlie or Lottie. So let’s see if anyone else has ideas!

Name update! Renee writes:

First of all, thanks to Swistle and all the comentors (?) for your help naming our baby girl.

A week early, on the 21st of April, Amelia Renna Campbell was born. To the person that suggested Renna – thanks, we love it and so do my sisters – and thanks Swistle and everybody else who suggested Amelia! We weren’t 100% on the name before Amelia was born, but once she was here we quickly decided that she was an Amelia. We (mostly me and the kids) have been calling her Mila and sometimes I call her Mila Ren as we sometimes call Emmie, Emmie Lou. We are all in love with her!

(I will attach a picture of Amelia from her newborn photo’s!)

Shannon writes:

I’m having a lot of difficulty coming up with a girl’s name for this baby. I think we are set on a boy’s name. Here’s some back round information:
We have two kids, Ivan Bradley and Gwendolyn Ruth. Gwendolyn goes alternately by Gwen or Gwendolyn. I’m pretty sure that if this baby is a boy we will name him
Nathaniel Jeffrey. I feel like Ivan, Gwen & Nate sound good together.

My husband is sick of me changing my mind and really doesn’t want to think about names until the last minute. I dread going to the hospital without a solid choice for either sex. We’ve talked about the name Veronica for a girl but it’s such a strong name and I think people either love it or hate it. I’ve even read on some boards that people automatically assume someone with this name is stuck up or a total b*tch. I’d hate for people to have that snap judgment of my daughter!

Here are some parameters for names. I like names that are clearly male or female. I’m not a fan of anything with questionable spelling and/or of the Greyson, Braiden, Makayla, etc. style. I’d like a girl name that is similar to Gwendolyn. Feminine not trendy and has room to be played with nickname wise. I’d really like to avoid anything that is incredible popular right now. Ivan and Gwen are names that, in my opinion, are different enough without seeming pretentious or trendy. I realize Nathaniel is more popular than my kid’s names but I feel it’s a solid choice. Jeffrey is my father’s name.

Anyway, I’m due 4.25.11 and I don’t know what I’m having. But I guess I need more help with a girl name. Thank you very much!

I think Veronica is great, and I think every name will have its own set of people who will say unpleasant things about the name as if their own personal dislike of it means the name itself is objectively bad. “Reminds me of a stripper,” they’ll say, and add “Sorry!” as if they feel bad that their individual association obviously rules out the name permanently for everyone. (Perhaps it is obvious I feel a little PRICKLY on this topic. Veronica = “stuck up b*tch,” MY FOOT.)

Another possibility is Victoria, though I don’t think it goes as well with Gwendolyn. Maybe Cordelia, or Isadora if you don’t mind repeating an initial.

I wonder if you’d like Francesca? I think it goes well with Gwendolyn: similarly feminine and unusual, and with lots of nicknames (Frannie, Frankie, Chessie).

Or Imogen?

Ooo, or Anastasia? Or Willemina/Wilhelmina? Or Philomena? Josephine?

Or Minerva?

Name update! Shannon writes:

It’s a Girl! Despite her due date, she finally arrived on the morning of May 1st. Thank you again for including my question on your blog. There were so many beautiful names suggested. My husband loved them too. In the end, I think your post gave me the confidence to go ahead and name my daughter Veronica. Thank you, thank you! So her name is Veronica Jane. Jane is a family name after my Aunt Jane who is a really cool lady in her 90s. True story, while filling out the birth certificate info as I was chatting to my husband, I nearly wrote “Mars” as her middle name. Whew! Glad I caught that one.