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Baby Girl or Boy Krause: Last-Minute Concerns About Name Choice

28 Replies

Dear Swistle,

I was due with my baby Feb 14th and am now overdue, but still have reservations about my girl baby name!!! My husband has been incredibly picky, making agreeing on a name a true challenge. Luckily we agree on the boy name (we did not find out gender) which will probably be Owen Michael unless that just feels off when we meet him, then we would use our 2nd pick, Emmett Michael. Girl names that he likes that I also like are Jillian Ivy or Camilla Ivy. Girl names I really like that he is lukewarm about are Nora Ivy or Lillian Ivy. I also love Vivian or Charlotte, but he really dislikes both. Our last name is Krause, which is why I have some minor reservations about Camilla. Too alliterative? Especially when shortened to Cami Krause for a nickname? I do really like Camilla, but don’t know if that would sound funny with our last name. I also love the idea of Nora Ivy. Nora would be after my paternal grandmother Eleanor and Ivy after my maternal grandmother. Oddly enough my paternal grandmother texted me a name idea a long time ago and it happened to be Camilla which is funny since weeks later my husband put that name on his list. As far as Jillian, I had really liked that name initially, but have reservations about it due to Jillian Michaels and associate it with more a tomboy type name. At the same time it is similar to Lillian and Vivian which I love, but husband does not. Other girl names I like that husband does not include: Samantha, Savannah, Emily/Emma (we can’t use these names due to someone else having this name, but we both like the names), Lauren, Scarlett, Juliet, Beatrice. Other than Emma/Emily, husband dislikes all of these. As well as numerous others I have suggested! We do plan to have one more baby. This is our first.

Who knows, maybe I’ll go into labor before you reply, but I thought I’d give it a shot!!

Thank you!

 

Alliteration is a matter of personal preference: some people love it and seek it out, others dislike it and avoid it. I am somewhere in between: I sometimes like alliteration and sometimes don’t. And Camilla Krause / Cami Krause sounds great to me.

I also love the story of the name: that your grandmother suggested it, and then coincidentally your husband added it to his list a few weeks later. And I think it’s great with both proposed brother names.

I love the name Jillian, too, if you take a look at the baby and she’s just not a Camilla. My association with Jillian Michaels is small, perhaps because I think of her as Jillianmichaels. Or I wonder if you’d like Julia? Or Gemma?

I suspect that this is last-minute cold feet. I remember agitating over my babies’ names even in the hospital: it’s such a big choice.

Baby Girl or Boy Clark

38 Replies

Hello there,

We would love your help! My husband and I are having the hardest time choosing a boys name. We do not know the gender, but love the girls names we have picked out. Our due date is March 1st, but we may get induced early the week of February 22nd. I am starting to worry we will leave with “baby boy Clark” if we don’t hustle to find something we love!

Girl names we love:
Ellie Brave
Cosima Wilde

We love the idea of using Word names as middle names. We also would love the name to have a strong meaning. For example, Ellie is “shining bright” and Cosima is “Order, beauty.” Overall, we also tend to lean towards gender neutral names. We plan to have 2-4 children, but this is the first!

Other girl names we love:
Winslet
Imogen
Nora
Sophie
Willa
Zoey
Thea

Boy names we have considered:
Watson (Wat)
Indiana (Indie)
Oliver (Ollie)
Beau
Declan
Ellis/Elliot/Elias (Eli)
Ezekiel (Zeke)
Dax

One struggle we are having – we love short nickname type names, but with a surname like “Clark” they may sound too abrupt?
Oliver Watson is the most up to date we are considering, but my husband doesn’t love Oliver and his family doesn’t care much for Watson.

Thank you!!
All the best,
Jess

 

My favorites from your boy-name list are:

Oliver Clark (though using Ollie may rule out using Ellie later)
Elliot Clark (may rule out using Ellie later)
Ezekiel Clark
Elias Clark (may rule out using Ellie later)

Would you want to consider Brave and Wilde as middle names for boys as well, or only for girls? A few more suggestions for word middle names with nice meanings:

Able
Justice
Loyal
Merit
Pax
Sterling

Because the first Indiana who comes to mind is Indiana Jones, and Jones/Smith/Clark share the Short Common Surnames area of my brain, the name Indiana Clark has an amusing sound to me. This could be a downside or an upside: it might get rather wearisome to have people keep referring to it, it might be quite fun to say “Indiana Clark and the Last Bite of Dinner!” or “Indiana Clark and the School Bus of Doom!” or what have you.

Beau Clark and Dax Clark sound a little choppy to me, but not deal-breakingly choppy. When I say them aloud, Beau Clark gets a little blended, but not to anything that creates a bad/embarrassing/confusing situation; and Dax Clark is a little hard for me to say.

The repeated CL in Declan Clark feels a little awkward/choppy when I say it aloud. But again, nothing at deal-breaker levels.

How do you feel about sibling-name coordination? Parents are all over the spectrum on this one, from caring very much to not caring at all. If you DO like sibling names to coordinate, experimenting with putting names on your list into pairs and groups can have the bonus of helping you narrow down a larger list. Pick one boy name from your favorites list, and then try it out with the names from your girl-name list, and with other names from your boy-name list. Are there any names that, if you used them, would cause you to cross out other favorites? For example, maybe you wouldn’t want two siblings with one-syllable names, or wouldn’t want to combine a one-syllable name with a four-syllable name, or wouldn’t want to repeat an initial.

Thinking ahead to future siblings is also a good idea to avoid accidentally ruling out names: for example, if you would FAR rather use Ellie for a girl than Ollie or Eli for a boy, that may knock Oliver, Ellis, Elliot, and Elias out of the running. If you love Watson but wouldn’t want to repeat an initial, you can think ahead to whether you’d most like to use Watson or Winslet or Willa.

I wonder if you would like the name Felix. It has sounds and style similar to other names on your list, and it means happy and lucky. A name like Felix Sterling Clark would be pretty smashing.

Baby Girl or Boy S., Sibling to Jamri and Avia Marie

51 Replies

Hi,

My husband, Jason, and I have 2 daughters, Jamri Nova and Avia Marie (2 first names) Poppy (middle name). We are expecting a baby due March 8, 2016 but can’t figure out what to name it if this is a girl! We like names that are not super common but something that will match up somewhat with the names of our current kids too. I have been throwing names at my husband for almost 9 months now and he hasn’t been satisfied with almost any of them. I’m running out of options and time.

Also we pay close attention to initials since our last name begins with an S (we thought of Ayla Scout S… Which leaves us with initials of A.S.S.)

Names I have thought of for a girl are:
Evvie
Trixie
Harper
Ayla or Elah
Cedar– I absolutely love, husband isn’t yet convinced
Willow– love but seems very popular
Huxley
Serenity –we both don’t like this anymore
Ren
Judah
Mica
Fable–no longer a favorite
Romy–no longer a favorite
Scout– I love but husband says the poor girl will feel she has to be a “tomboy”
Ollie
Nava
Ziva
Xumi (zū-mee)
Olivia Jane
Emery

One name we had almost officially chosen for our girl was recently the name one of our friends chose for their baby girl born a few days ago (we hadn’t shared any names in advance so we were completely shocked they had the same name picked). The name was Finley. We feel too close to them to choose the same name they gave but still love the name so anything similar to that would be welcome too.

Thank-you in advance,
Mistie

 

I like how you included names that used to be favorites but no longer are. It’s helpful because it keeps us from suggesting those same names, but also because it adds to the overall picture of your style. To work with this list, I’d start by crossing all those names off—but I’d leave them visible, because I think we’ll find them useful.

Brace yourself, because I’m in the mood today to start with big CHOPPING motions, like an explorer cutting swaths through a tangle of vines. I’m going to remove Olivia and Harper because I think you’ll find those too popular for your tastes: Olivia was #2 in 2014 and Harper was #11. I’m going to remove Evvie and Ayla for being so similar to Avia: Evvie in sound and Ayla in appearance. And I’m removing Emery for being too similar to Jamri. I’m removing Huxley, Judah, Mica, Ren, and Ollie for sounding like brother names in this sibset, and I’m going to add Ren back in as Wren. I’m taking out Cedar and Scout, at least until your husband changes his mind. Willow was #138 in popularity in 2014, which may or may not be too popular for your tastes; lets leave it in for now.

Let’s see what that leaves us with.

Trixie; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Trixie
Willow; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Willow
Wren; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Wren
Nava; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Nava
Ziva; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Ziva
Xumi; Jamri, Avia Marie, and Xumi

The ones I would LIKE to remove are Trixie and Xumi. I would like to see Trixie back in circulation as a sweet fairy/pixie nickname for Beatrix, but it feels too lightweight to me on its own. Xumi hits my ear as Zoomy.

Also, I didn’t notice during my first cut, but Nava are Ziva are quite close to Avia.

Willow does seem a little too familiar in this sibset. Wren might, too.

Let’s see what that leaves us with. …Oops. Too much cutting.

Well, let’s work now on building things back up. I see that you like the sound of the letter V: Nova, Avia, Evvie, Nava, Ziva, Olivia. And I see you like the sound of the letters X and Z: Trixie, Huxley, Xumi, Ziva. You like -a and -ie/y sounds/endings. You like contemporary sounds used in unusual combinations. You like word names, and a touch of whimsy. One of you likes unisex names but the other doesn’t seem to.

I want to bring back Mica from the original list. With that spelling, it doesn’t look boyish at all; and even the spelling Micah is sometimes used for girls. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Mica.

Or maybe take Ren, and instead of making it Wren, make it Renna or Wrenna or Reni or Rinna.

I wonder if Roxie feels more solid than Trixie. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Roxie.

Zola would be pretty, I think: Jamri, Avia Marie, and Zola. Or you could spell it Xola.

Instead of Finley, I wonder if you’d like Brinley or Linley. I particularly like Linley in this sibling group: Jamri, Avia Marie, and Linley. This may still feel way too close to your friends’ child’s name. Maybe Linden instead.

Or Quincy. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Quincy. That might not work with a surname beginning with the S sound.

Or Insley. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Insley.

Perhaps something like Arlie/Arley. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Arlie. I can’t tell if that fits well, or if’s too many repeated sounds.

Instead of Ayla, something like Aylin. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Aylin.

Idelyn (EYE-dah-lyn). Jamri, Avia Marie, and Idelyn.

Evanie has the sound of Evvie, but with another consonant to set it further apart from Avia. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Evanie.

Or Essa. Jamri, Avia Marie, and Essa. May not work with a surname beginning with S.