Name Help Desperately Needed. Inquire...

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2006
Name Help Desperately Needed. Inquire...
10
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 8:56am

Name Help Desperately Needed. Inquire Within...



  • 4-way tie between:
  • Carolina
  • Katherine
  • Sadie
  • Gabrielle
  • Spellings are firm.
  • Dissect away! and tell me what you think


You will not be able to change your vote.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 9:26am

I'm torn. Here are my thoughts --


Carolina -- are you pronouncing this Car-oh-lee-nuh or Care-oh-line-uh?



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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2006
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 1:33pm

Annie,
You have expressed my thoughts on each name EXACTLY!

Sadie is my favorite, but I don't know how it "ages". It also goes best with the middle name with have picked out (which is non-negotiable).

Katherine is quite popular as well as Katie (which is what she'd be called) and it also goes well with the middle name. I just think it's one of those timeless, classic names (Catherine Zeta Jones, Katherine Hepburn, etc.) that a girl would appreciate having.

Carolina (pr. Care-uh-LEAN-uh) is just a flowy feminine name that works well with our last name (yes, it's Italian), but doesn't go as well with the middle name. BUT, she would most likely be the only one in her class. Carolina I see growing with someone also (unlike Sadie).

And, Gabrielle I like b/c of the nn possibilities (GiGi or Elle), and I think it's also very feminine. It doesn't go the best with the middle name, but it's not horrible. But, it's also another popular name.
So,...this is why I'm having a dilemma. There are pros and cons to each. UGH!

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 2:21pm

Funny how similar our thoughts were. :)


What's the middle name that you set in stone?



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Avatar for jdnp
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 2:52pm

Wow, I think it's going to be a close race.

I picked Sadie, as that is on my list of girl name's too.

My next choice would be Gabrielle.

Katherine just sounds boring and doesn't strike a chord with me, although I love both Katie and Kathy and maybe even Katya.

Carolina is just too old fashioned or southern sounding for me.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-10-2006
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 3:05pm

I can see why you're stuck!

I voted for Gabrielle. I don't hear it as often as I do Katherine, but it is every bit as elegant and timeless sounding.
I like Sadie as well, and think it's spunkier and more interesting than the other choices. I think you're likely to get a lot more hot and cold reactions on Sadie than the others.

I personally don't much care for Carolina. It would be my last choice of the four.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-08-2004
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 3:40pm

I disagree with you ladies about Sadie. The only Sadie I know in person is about 60 years old, and it fits her perfectly. I definitely don't think of this as a juvenile name. Not even a little bit. I love it, and it's the name I voted for.

I almost voted for Katherine, and now that I know you would call her Katie, I'm glad I didn't. Katie really has no appeal to me at all. Speaking of juvenile names...I think you outgrow Katie at about 9 months. When I hear the name Katherine, I think of Katharine Hepburn. I love the full name, but the only nickname that's tolerable to me is Kate. When I hear Katie, I think Katie Holmes, and that reminds me of Tom Cruise, and that makes me want to vomit.

I'm not crazy about Gabrielle. I love frilly girl names, but this one's too much, even for me. Plus, everyone seems to want to shorten it to Gabby, which I just hate. I love Gigi, which you mentioned, but I think it's inevitable that eventually, someone will call her Gabby, and that is not a chance I would be willing to take with my daughter. But then again, this is your daughter. :-)

I love Carolina, mostly because I love Carolina Herrera and wish that I could afford to dress exclusively in her clothes. There will be some pronunciation issues, I think, but that's not reason enough to give up the name.

So, in conclusion, I love either Sadie or Carolina, but if it were me, I'd probably go with Sadie. Let us know what you decide!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2006
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 3:42pm
None of them are really my style, but I definitely like Gabrielle the best by far. Sadie is my second choice.
Avatar for mjandrew74
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2003
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 3:53pm

I too, agree with what you and Annie have said.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-30-2006
Sat, 07-01-2006 - 8:27am

Katie Holmes - blech! I hear ya with that association. I think Katie is so cute for a little girl though and it's hard to not give a little girl a nn that ends with "ee" or "ie", ya know? I would love to just call her Katherine, but know it will be shortened at some point, probably by family. I love Kate for a highschooler/college student.

Don't like Gabby and that is the one drawback to that name. But, I do love Elle (it's just so feminine, french for "she/her", right?) and if we went with Gabrielle/Elle, I would include an "Elle" notation on the birth announcement to let everyone know that that is what we are calling her and not Gabby, please not Gabby.

Some days I LOVE Carolina and think to myself that's the one! But, other days it slips on the list and I think can I really bring myself to do it??? I love the fact that it's feminine, frilly, flowy and plays off the classic Caroline, yet it's not popular like a lot of classics are right now (Isabelle, Charlotte, etc.) so I'm confident she'll be the only one in her class with that name. It does flow nicely with our last name, just not so great wtih the mn, which I wish I could post, but can't b/c of anonymity reasons.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not too familiar with Carolina Herrera's designs, but I am familiar with her and seeing an article about her in one of the magazines is what brought the name to my attention.
Well, back to banging my head on the wall....LOL!
K

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2006
Sat, 07-01-2006 - 3:40pm

I've been digesting all your thoughts and have come to think that popularity is somewhat important to you (whether or not she'll be the only one in her class).

Maybe this approach will be helpful-

Katherine- If I had to choose the most classic name in all of history around the world, I would say either Katherine or Anne... Katherine has a variant in almost EVERY language in the world and has been in consistent usage since BC. What does that say to me? Universal, eternal appeal.

Unfortunately, with that status comes the following statistics- Before you read the numbers, think about this- if 5000 girls/year are given the same name that averages to about 100 per state or two per county in ONE year (one grade). The following are the number of girls in 2005 ALONE with these names as their given names-

Katherine 6276
Catherine 2928
Kathryn 2522
Kate 2363
Katie 3100

AND the following, any number of which could have nn Katie
Kaitlyn 6276
Katelyn 1090
Kaitlin 993
Cadence 1655
Caitlyn 1871
Kaydence 860
Kaitlynn 639
Kadence 893
Katelynn 1090

And then, the following no. of girls named-
Kaylee 5779
Kayla 8438
Kailey 1282
Kaley 504
PLUS Carly/Kylie and their many spellings plus Makayla, Kathleen and Casey all in the Top 300.

In my son and daughter's classes put together there are 19 girls including the following Mary Kate, Kailee, Catheryn (called Katie), Makayla, Cami, Callie plus boys Caden, Caleb, and Casen.

In their church group, of 11 girls, we have-
Cait, Sarah Kate, Mary Catherine, Kate, and Katheryn Grace (plus two Calebs).

Now to Gabrielle.
There were 4912 girls named Gabrielle last year.
Gabriella 2823
Gabriela 4737
Elle 504
Ellie 1867
Ella 8930
And you must consider that "Elle" will also have in her class/grade- most certainly- more than one Isabella, and quite possibly an Annabel, Annabella, Daniela, Ellen, Abigail and/or Eleanor... and at least a couple of these nn Ellie, Ella, Bell, Bella.

Carolina- 1115 Looked upon very favorably these days. You might be surprised to know it has been in consistent usage as far back as the SSA tracks names (1880). It will continue to grow in popularity, though nowhere near the rate of the above two. You are much less likely to have another Carolina in her class, but it is also the type of name that people view as both feminine AND unusual (which is hard to come by these days)- You are very likely to spawn the use of Carolina in your area... Ironically, my daughter DOES have a Caroliena in her class called Lena.

Sadie- 1910 last year--- Pretty. There are more grown-up names out there, in my opinion, but it's not terribly girlish. After all, there is NO DOUBT, Sadie will be surrounded, in her adult world, by Katie, Sophie, Ellie, Kailee, Annie, Maddie, Emily, Molly, Abby, Millie, Maggie, and on and on...
She will be the most mature-sounding IMO because she will be the most unusual...

I find absolutely nothing wrong with any of your choices. I think if there is one you love most or sounds best with your mn/ln, then you should go with it. Given some of your comments, I thought putting their usage in perspective might be helpful in making your decision! Best wishes and let us know, Ginger

Ginger