Tough time with girl's name
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| Thu, 02-22-2007 - 11:13pm |
I don't know what our issue is this time, but I'm pg with #2 and we just tcan't come up with a girl's name we like. We haven't found out the sex and we won't until birth so we need to have both options on hand. Here's our story - -
Our DD is 21 months and her name is Karoline Elizabeth. Karoline (with a K for the Danish spelling) is a name in each generation of my DH's family since the first generation of that family came to the US from Denmark. VERY FAMILY ORIENTED. Elizabeth is my middle name, and my mother's middle name (she dropped it when she got married; I kept it).
If this baby is a boy he will be William Phillip. One of DH's grandfathers and one of mine are both Williams. Phillip is DH's first name. That's a naming tradition in his family (1st son gets dad's first name as a middle name).
Basically we like "normal" or traditional names. I tend to like even older sounding ones than DH does; he vetos a lot of my choices because they sound "too old lady-ish". He doesn't come up with too many options for me to choose from though.
We both like Evelyn (his grandmother's name), but won't use it because we think his sister might want to use it. I like Helen and Margaret, but that's where I get the "old lady" comments; they couldn't be used as first names, but I might be able to win them over as middle names.
Some family names that could get used as first or middle names: Mary (not Marie), Ruth, Josephine, Helen, Abigail (I HAVE LOVED THIS NAME FOREVER, but am bummed it's becoming so so popular).
Things to avoid - Marie, Emma (my niece's name and too popular), Eva (a beloved grandmother, but too popular)
Things we like, for use in determining style, but that haven't stuck yet: Laura (fear of Little House on the Prairie theme even though I LOVE LHOTP), Lillian (on the too popular list)
The best thing, so far, that we have come up with is Lauren Mary; it just hasn't completely stuck yet. Lauren Margaret has a sound we like, but there are no family names in that. (Margaret is legal as a middle name, with DH, just not a first name. I LOVE it for a first name.) We like Allison, but our last name begins with A so we worry about the double As for initials. Abigail fits with this concern, too.
Anyway, there's some background info. I tried to give a lot so that you don't have to shoot in the dark. We like pretty traditional, normal spellings, and we're not really into "word" names like Grace and Faith and Hope - - especially since I'm a minister and we want to avoid things that are obviously religious. The poor children will have enough to deal with growing up so close in the church; we don't need to add to their "preacher kid" trouble. Bible names are OK, but definitely not a priority.
Any ideas?!?!?
Peace,
Stephanie
Karoline 5/12/05
EDD #2 6/12/07


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Ok, sorry this is so long, but hopefully you won't lose interest till you near the end. LOL
My first thought was a variant of Helen that might seem a bit "fresher" to your dh (there are plenty to choose from). ;) Something like Helena, Ellen, Eleanor, Elaine, Elena, Eleni, Elina, Lena, Nell, Ella (rather popular, especially as a nn, however), Ileana or Ilona.
Along those same lines, is your dh opposed to all forms of Margaret? Margrethe/Grethe, Merete or Marta (if you want to use another Danish form ... Karoline and Marta would be lovely, btw!), Greta/Gretchen, Megan, Margot or even something like Annegret? Or would he possibly agree to Margaret as the given name as long as he could choose the nn? Again, there are so many. Besides those above that could be used as shortened forms, there's also Maggie, Maisie, Madge, Mamie, Meg ... even Pearl! ;) I'm sure he's as stubborn as most dhs are, but thought it might be worth a shot.
Of the family names you mentioned, I really love Mary, especially. It's honestly not common anymore, and comes across as refreshing and sweet on a little girl (and obviously has no problem aging well ). Also, since I'm guessing the obvious Biblical association might be a concern for you, thought it worth mentioning that Mary is such a classic, I wouldn't assume any religious intentions unless it were paired with siblings all having equally-recognizable Bible names -- Noah, Jacob, Eve, etc. Karoline and Mary would give me more of a classic/traditional vibe, if it helps. ;)
Some others that seem to be enjoying more usage lately -- and therefore not automatically assumed to be overly-Biblical -- might include Naomi, Tabitha, Esther/Stella, Lydia, Miriam, Sarah, Hanna(h), Ruth (also on your list) and, of course, Abigail.
Speaking of which, our youngest (nearly 10 months) is named Abigail, and the popularity bothered me as well. Though it's one my dh and I both actually loved, I didn't want her to have to go through school as "Abby M." -- especially since Abby/Abbie is also being used as a stand-alone name, so there are even more of them out there I hadn't counted on. LOL The only way I felt comfortable using it was to settle on a less-common nn beforehand. We went with Aila, which I love, but you might like Gail, Gaila, Aggie (love this too, btw), Allie, or perhaps something I haven't even thought of. ;) Anyway, just an idea, because I totally know where you're coming from regarding the popularity issue, especially since it is a family name for you.
Some more that might work for you (many of which have Danish ties):
Agathe/Agatha -- there is the A ln problem, of course, but I'll leave a few As anyway, especially since some might work fine depending on the actual sound of your ln
Agnete/Agnes
Anika -- this seems great with Karoline ;)
Annelise -- ditto the Anika comment. I like this a lot for you.
Beatrix/Beata
Birgit(ta)
Dorothea/Dorothy/Thea
Edith
Elisabeth/Else
Elva
Freya/Freja -- this is a nice option
Heidi
Henriette
Ida
Ingrid
Irene -- I'd go with the ee-RE-nu pronunciation ;)
Julia
Laurel -- avoids the LHOTP "theme," and is much less expected.
Liselotte/Lotte -- different enough to stand out, yet fits in nicely with all the Charlottes out there, has Danish ties AND works wonderfully with Karoline
Magdalone/Magdalena -- might seem a fresher alternative to Margaret for your dh, and the similar sound might appeal to you. NN Lone for the first form, Lena for the second (Lena also honors Helen, of course) or Maggie for either.
Maren -- very "in" right now, though not overly-popular in the least, and it could be a way to loosely honor Mary if the Biblical association seems too obvious ;)
Nora
Rosemary -- again, for Mary
Sofie -- fits with the trends, given the popularity of Sophia, but Sofie itself (or, rather, the more common spelling of Sophie) is at 134 ... even less popular than Caroline at 83. I actually think it's a great match, since both Karoline and Sofie are the Danish forms of familiar, traditional names, completely recognizable and only slightly different than the common spellings, KWIM? They definitely work for sisters. ;)
Sylvia
Teresa/Theresa
Thora
Viola
Virginia
HTH (and enjoy)
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I love the name Laura. It is far and away my favorite of the names you've mentioned.
Laura Margaret, Laura Helen and Laura Mary are all very nice!
I love the idea of Margaret... but you could use a more spunky nn. How about naming her Margaret, but calling her Greta? Or Maisie? Or Meg?
I do agree that Abigail is waay too popular, but I have never met an Eva before. Josephine is adorable, especially with nn Josie. I think you could use nn's to your advantage to get rid of the old lady association.
Lillian is definitely too popular, but I had to laugh at your reasoning for not using Laura. Come on... because Laura was a character on Little House on the Prairie is NOT a reason not to use it! That sounds kinda silly to me...
I would use Margaret and call her by a nickname personally.
-Nikki
I'm loving the feedback. I have been a reader over here for a long while, but never post because I never seem to have the ideas everyone else does.
One thing I didn't say previously because I forgot to mention it is that my DH has a nickname aversion. He's not against them totally, but he things a person should be able to choose their own. He is Phillip John and he's fine going by Phil, but it's because he got to choose to be Phil when he was older. His parents call him P.J. and he HATES it. I think that's where the aversion comes from.
That's why fullnames matter to him, and it's hard to make the "old lady" names work with him because he's not thinking of nicknames. He doesn't plan to use nicknames until the child decides to choose one.
Laura isn't a problem just because she is a character/person from LHOTP, but because she and Karoline would BOTH be from the family/book/TV show. It's not totally out. I'm probably the only one who notices that right away (especially with the K spelling), since I'm such a Little House GEEK!
I liked Margaret because of the nickname Meg (and other reasons). My grandmother, who I would like to honor with this child was Mary Eleanor G___. She went by Meg her whole life long because of her initials. I thought I would have a Margaret (because I like the name) and get to call her Meg, and then in a way be naming her for my grandmother.
Anyway, I'm loving the options. Maybe I can keep Abigail in the picture even with it's popularity since she wouldn't be an Abby anyway. Maybe the full name would help it stand out. Until she picks her nn anyway. Nevermind.
I like the Gretchen idea, too. I'm also a big fan of The Sound of Music so there's a Greta connection there!!!! We'll see!
Keep 'em coming if you can!
Peace,
Stephanie
Karoline 5/12/05
EDD #2 6/12/07 (hoping for a boy so we don't even have to worry about this!!)
Laura Margaret is a lovely combo.
Here are some more girl names:
Avis
Chelsea
Felicity - I love this with Karoline!
Leah
Maeve
Phoebe
Rachel
Sarah
Camille
Danica
Jocelyn
Marina
Teresa
Good luck,
Brooke
What about Eleanor? You said that was the middle name of the grandmother you were hoping to honor, and it sounds great as either a fn or a mn with all of the other names you've listed. What about:
Eleanor Margaret
Lauren Margaret
If you can't sell DH on
<<>>
Pardon me if I misunderstood, but I thought it was worth mentioning that Margaret and Rita are the same name. ;) Rita is quite literally a shortening of Margarita. So while Margaret Rita would seem redundant (again, I may have misunderstood), Margarita or even simply Margaret, nn Rita to honor your grandmother, would be wonderful!
Just had to chime in, in case you weren't already aware. ;)
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I have to say I kind of giggled when I read Margaret Rita, not because I noticed or thought of them as the same name, but because it automatically sounded liked margarita-the-drink to me. For some reason the full name Margarita doesn't make me think of the drink as much as hearing the two names next to each other does. Don't ask me why. You've seen by my posts I'm already a little weird with my name associations.
Anyway, thanks to all for your input. It's been helpful for sure. I was a little MIA yesterday as they were coming in because we had a bit of a cat crisis at home. One of the cats was paralyzed in his back legs when I came down for breakfast, so my 21 month old DD and I had to take him to the vet where he was put to sleep. Added a bit of stress to the day to say the least.
BTW - the other cat is Sophie, so while I love that suggestion, we'll have to count it out!!!
The more I run new name options by DH the more I think I see he really likes Lauren. I like it (and Laura) too. He participates in the naming activity in a weird sort of way. He doesn't like to declare that he really likes something, although he has no problem telling me he really hates something (like my beloved Margaret for a first name), but as a man of few words I have to read between the lines. He's pretty stuck on Lauren/Laura, so maybe I'll stop looking for something else. I like those, too. I have been aware of the -en/-n trend in naming and that's the main reason I was resisting Lauren. Another baby in our church was just recently named Laura, so that's why I've been hesitant about that, too, and my LHOTHP worry. I think I just need to get over that. I don't think the sisters' names jump out to anyone else but me because of my love for the books, history, etc.
However, I think DH is really in his strange silent way pulling for Lauren/Laura, and that's OK. I like those. So I think I'll work with that and try to find the family name to put in the middle name:
Lauren Margaret (Margaret itself is not a family name, but we LOVE the sound of the whole name)
Lauren Mary
Laura Eleanor (don't know about those almost rhyme-y vowel sounds, but I think it's smooth)
Lauren Eleanor (again with the almost rhyme-y factor)
Laura Evelyn
Anyway, thanks for your input. I'd still take more if it's out there because maybe there's one last name we haven't heard yet that might be coming. You never know!!! I'll try to get in on the suggesting one of these days, but I never feel like I have new things to add! Most of you know WAY more names than I do! (Maybe I should get a book!)
Peace,
Stephanie
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