The Baby Name Wizard

Well, I guess I'm the first.
I like Elizabella but wouldn't immediately assume it was from Elizabeth and Isabella but more of a smush from Eliza and Bella. I say this because Eliza has a long I and when I say Elizabella it seems more natural to say it with a long I rather than the short I of Elizabeth. So if the mom's feeling is short I, then I think there might me a few pronunciation issues.
I don't care for Diamondnique for the reasons that Laura states above. The 2nd D is a stoppage and there is a familiar jewelry brand.

Jenny L3igh-I am having enough trouble helping hyz name HER chickens. I don't want 3 chickens of my own. Goldfish maybe but not chickens. Speaking of which, I had many fish in college. 2 at a time cause I kept killing them because I never cleaned their tank. Names were: Fred & Barney, Tom & Jerry, couples like that.

Interesting post! Last year in our local paper's "Babies of 2007" insert, there were two babies named GraceAnna. I actually sort of liked it, even though Grace and Anna by themselves are too popular for my taste. No surprise that other parents feel the same way...

I can actually see Elizabella jumping onto the top 1000 in the future, seeing as Annabelle, Annabella, Arabella, and Maribel are already on the list (along with, of course, Isabel, Isabella, Bella, and Ella). What else -- maybe Sarabella, Alexabella? Probably not Hannabelle...

all any of these make me think of at the moment is... Renesme in Breaking Dawn... so now compound names strike me as odd and hilarious, though thankfully most of them make more sense than combining Renee and Esme...

But seriously - will there be even more of this because of Stephenie Meyer - thats what I want to know?

"Elvendork! It's Unisex!" (sorry couldn't leave my first post on the name blog without quoting my favorite line from J.K.Rowling's little prequel to Harry Potter)

Immediately I pronounced Diamondnique... like Diamonique.. somehow not realizing or ignoring the second D.

I think Elizabella looks absolutely beautiful on paper but I have a hard time saying it and always second guess the way I have said it. I think it would be mispronounced alot.

Also what do you guys think of the Alora or Alaura... which spelling do you like better or why? I really like this name and I think it sounds nice with our daughter's name Chelsea.

saya: jk rowling wrote a prequel to harry potter?

You are right that the sounds in Elizabella complement each other (the uh-uh at the end of each syllable), but it doesn't flow like other uh-uh names like Annabella, I think, because it is too long by a syllable. Compare Elizabella's five to Annabella, Arabella, or Isabella's four syllables. The first syllable throws it off no matter if you pronounce it as a long E sound or as an Uh sound. Because of this the compound comes of sounding like separate names with a start-stop-start flow, like Johnpaul or Ruthann, instead of as one dynamically flowing entity.

Diamondnique, I think, is the better of the two IF the middle D is not pronounced. Though, then you have the problem of being named after a fake diamond.

also, i thought i'd weigh in by saying my sister's name is Annalisa, which i've always thought was a nice name and that it worked, despite the fact that seperately the names anna and lisa seem to come from very different eras. but of course i'm biased. :]

These Bella names make me groan. I know the Isabella trend started well before Twilight, but I can't disassociate the name (in all its variants) from that awful book.

Oh, and this reminds me of a woman I once worked with. Her name was Kimellisa, or Kim+Melissa. I don't like either the compound name or root names much, but the compound name isn't awkward or clumsy. It works.

OH, and i knew a girl named emberly. emily + kimberly. i didn't love the name, but i think it works in the sense that argolis was talking about--it is neither awkward or clumsy.

How DO you pronounce Renesme?

And why, oh why, could I not stop reading those @#&*@! Twilight books?

Thought I would take a look at the local listings for the old but new again names that were listed last thread:
Sophia-1 Sophie-1
Elizabeth-0 Emma/Emily-both 3
Amelia-0
Mary-0 though 3 diff spellings of Marley
Caroline-0 though i know 2 5yo
Charlotte-0
Eleanor-0 though i know a 2yo Evelyn
Anne-0
Louise-0
Augusta-0
Matilda-1

Also found interesting spelling- Lorren never seen that before.

Reminds me of a name of a baby on one of those TLC shows (either bringing home baby or a baby story):

Alexandru

NMS personally, but what a litany of nn possibilities!

Nice post. And it gives me an excuse to mention the ridiculous "spliced" name that my wife and I once used to refer to the proprietor of a B&B where we stayed: Bunnifer.

I knew a set of twins in high school named Melissa and Elizabeth that we collectively referred to as Melissabeth. I don’t particularly care for combined names, but some are kind of fun. I particularly dislike Diamondnique. I think it would work better as Diamondique, without the second N.

Don't forget the celebrity couple concoctions such as Bennifer and Brangelina. And how about Octomom? It seems like the tabloid press really likes to coin compound names.

When my sister-in-law was pregnant with her twins, we had great fun combining the babies' grandfathers' names: Chadbert Herwick! Hideous. My nieces are named Isabel and Lillian and we joked initially about calling them Isian and Lillibel--the latter name works better than the former!

My mother's name is Carol and MIL is Sharon. We've been toying with using Caron as a middle name for our impending delivery. I like that it is a legit name on its own, but still covers both sides of the family.

Elizabella works ok. How about dropping the 'e' to get just Lizabella with only 4 syllables? I'm not much for just Bella anyway - besides being popular for dogs, it's about as precious as I can stand. But the full length ones - Isabella, Arabella - are very pretty. Diamonique would be bling-y enough, without being spelled Diamondnique, which is sort of just an unfortunate accident.

There's also the young actress, AnnaSophia Robb. And I used to work with a woman named Mary Elizabeth who went by Ma'lis (pronounced Muh-liss).

@Melissa C -- Alora looks like it should be a word to me. Like "alora means hello in ..." But when you spell it Alaura, I want to say the /lau/ part to rhyme with bow (as in, take a bow).

Funny, I pronounced it Eee-liz-a-bel-la (with the short i) right away, like Elizabeth. I didn't even think of Eliza!

Guest: I think Caron would be an excellent way to honor both mothers-- I always worry about using a family members name (because I can see someone thinking "why did you choose one member's name, or from that side of the family rather than *mine*") and that gets around all my worries. Esp. as a mn.

Melissa C-- I know an Alora, approx age 8. Pretty, unique but without sounding made up, IMO. Her sister is Evelyn. I always thought they made a nice sib set.

I've always been partialto names like Mary Katherine, Mary Jane, Mary Kay and Marianne. The name Mary on it's own is NMS but when combined with a second name, it feels really different to me.

I was surprised to see that Laura included the name Annalise in her post. I see that it could be a combination of Anna and Elise, but I've always been under the impression that it is a "legitimate" name on it's own. Maybe spelling it Anneliese would make it seem more like its own name, rather than a compound name? This is particularly interesting to me b/c Anneliese is on my short list for our baby (due in less than 2 weeks!) if we have a girl. I've toyed with different spellings but haven't settled on one that I like best-- Annaliese, Anneliese, Annalise. We would use the nn Anna. Is there a spelling that is more accepted as "proper"? Different naming websites list multiple spellings so it's hard to say. I tend towards classic names so I wouldn't want something that looks made up or kre8tiv.

@Aybee - Alexandru is the Romanian form of Alexander. But the "dru" ending does open up a ton of interesting nickname options, doesn't it?

And Caron rocks in the middle spot! It's a clever compromise.

I think Elizabella works reasonably well, though five syllable names always seem a bit much. My eye trips over Diamondnique.

Prairie Dawn-If it were me I would ditch the Anneliese spelling. It does look pretty but since we are talking about combining names, to me that one looks more like a combo than the others. The one I like best is Annaliese.

Guest-Caron works for me. I remember in HS toying with the names of my mom and boyfriends's mom to get Carleen from Carol and Arleen.

Melissa C-Can I offer you yet a different spelling of Alora/Alaura? Would you be interested in Ellaura, or Elora? If not then I vote for Alaura.

@Jillc, Hannabelle cracks me up!

I know a young RaeAnna, which I think is a good compound name. Either Rae or Anna seem a bit like over-used middle names, but when you combine them they flow nicely. I also know a MaryJane, (and yes, it's from Spiderman...)

Oh, and I like the look of Alaura better than Alora, but I think I'd have to agree with zoerhenne's suggestions of 'E' at the beginning. I think my favorite would be Ellora, although Ellora's cave is a publisher of erotic romances, so there is that association for me. (But I do work in a bookstore....probably most people don't even notice publishers...)

I personally don't want to venture into the made-up names, modified spellings, or compounded names arena, but my sister came up with the combined name of "Annag@il" for our niece to honor two grandmas- Anne and Gail. I like it for the name connection and because it sounds like a legitimate name like Abigail. If she would have been a boy, she would have been "Jerred" after two grandpas, Jerry and Ed. I don't like that one as much because to others it just would appear to be a creative spelling of an existing name, if they didn't know the family connections.

prairie dawn-
it's interesting: i interpreted annalise as a combination of the names anna and lise as opposed to anna and elise. i definitely think annalise (and all spellings) is a "legitimate" name on its own. when i hear it, i don't think, "oh, you mashed two names together in an attempt to be creative." not there is anything wrong with doing that, but annalise seems whole in and of itself, in my opinion. i just assumed that laura included it because it's true that both anna and lise are names on their own; perhaps she wanted to show that some compound names are viewed as "out there" while others can become accepted as standard over time, which is how i feel about annalise. i definitely don't think people will view you as kre8ive if you use it. it has a classic, elegant feel to me. (and for the record, i like annalise best as far as spelling goes, but that's just me. it's the most common spelling according to name voyager and i generally prefer to stay close to the norm on spelling). but it's a beautiful name! i don't think you should be deterred if you really like it.

emberly reminded me that I went to school with an Amberly. Her sister was Tiffiney (yes, spelled like that). if i remember correctly, Tiffiney was older so maybe Amberly was named to match?

Oh and the combinations of family names: Jarand=Jan and Randall, Genelyn, Neff (I think it was Nelia and... Jeff?). It's very common in Filipino families especially. I'm sure there are more I've come across, just can't think of them right now.

Oh, there was also Rayanne Graff on the 1990s teen drama My So-Called Life. Loved her and wanted to use the name!

I once knew a Chrissa, named after parents Christopher and Melissa.

My name is a compound name, from my mom and aunt's names. Most people don't think of it as a compound, as it is a legitimate, if dated, name.

I looked at Laura's listed of compound names again, and was surprised to see "Julissa". I know a couple of Julissas, all Hispanic, who prounounce the name Hoo-lees-a, in the Spanish way. Maybe Anneliese/Annalise is along those lines--it doesn't feel like a compound in another language, but in English it feels like one?

I also remembered that I know a N@son, combination of Jason and Nancy. And I also know an Amberly! Or maybe it's Amberlee? Either way, I'm guessing the reason it sounds less 'made-up' is because of its similarity to Kimberly.

How about Julika? That one always sounded... lumpy to me.

And then there's Joylissa. That one sounds real to me, but it may be because I've known a Joylissa since I was little.

And I always imagined Renesme as Rehn-Ehs-Muh. Prettttty dumb, I'd say.

I did hear recently about parents named Megan and Laurence who called their child Logan - lucky him, that there was a ready made name waiting for him from their combination.

I thought Renesmee was Ren-ez-may (although I would prenounce Esme Esmee, it was Es-may in the film) Not sure how they managed to come up with Nessie as a nn but thought the scene in Breaking Dawn where Bela tries to kill Jacob for giving Renesmee the nn was quite funny for us NEs. Among many inadvertently funny moments in that particular book...I'm assuming Meyer didn;t write it for laughs.

Seems most compound names are for girls, but we have a friend who have a boy named Solyian, a compound of Sol- from Solomon and -yian from Yiannis, greek for John. Are there any other compound boys names that anyone has come across?

I too was surprised to see Annalise on the list. Prairie Dawn, I am biased towards the Anneliese spelling because it's my great aunt's name and one of my top girl choices. That is the legitimate German spelling, but the name can also be spelled Annelies in Dutch and Annelise in Danish. In fact, I tend to think of Annalise as the least traditional spelling since European versions use Anne- not Anna-.

That being said, the only other one I know (she is 6) is named after one of her father's Mennonite relations and spells it Annalise. I think it's perfectly legitimate and is certainly easiest for English spellers!

There are certainly many legitimate spellings of Annaliese. All are certainly pretty and its a nice name on its own. All I meant is that to me Anne is pronounced Ann and Anna would of course be An-nuh. So the spelling of Anne- in the beginning of that name (or really any name combo) changes the look/feel/pronunciation for me from An-nah-lees to just Ann-lees which is weird for me. I have to consciuosly remind myself that it would be pronounced An-nuh.

I shamefully admit to listening to the audiobooks of the twilight books, which usually have author's approval. The narrator pronounced Renesme as ren-EZZ-may. Completely NMS but I got used to hearing it really quickly.

i agree with zoerhenne; i have to remind myself that anne is in this case pronounced "an-nuh." it isn't an intuitive pronunciation (for me).

I am fine with Diamondnique, even with the difficult middle D. I appreciate people who aren't afraid to do confounding stuff that appeals to them, but may bug others.

^are you Diamondnique's parent?

all i hear is Die, Monique

i feel like Alora (any spelling) will always be misheard as Laura. There was an Ilona in my school, the Hungarian version of Helen.

i could have been a Tiffany as a smush of grandmas Theresa and Stephanie. My grandpas smushed--Stanjo (Stanley, Joseph) makes eye- and ear-sense (banjo), but my first instinct would be to read it as slavic "stahn yo."

I like Marijo (mary jo) but it looks like Spanish to me, "ma REE ho"

or dutch with the ij together (not quite sure how to pronounce that, "ma RYE o?"

The creation of Johnpaul was obviously made by parents looking to honor Pope John Paul II without having their childs name be just John, with the middle name Paul. I am also looking to honor JP II, but personally don't really feel the blended name for one of my own. I do however, really like the name Paul, so I am doing a reversal and have chosen Paul John.

My sister's name was composed by my mother in order to honour her brother, Allan, and her grandmother, Anna: Hence my sister became Alanna, which I've always found beautiful. Some compound names work, others definitely don't.

I'm doing a tiny little hijacking of this thread, but it's for good use! I wonder if any of you NE might know how the surname "Prisaznuk" should be pronounced. It is my boss' last name and I have never been entirely sure if I pronounce it correctly, since we generally go by first names. I always think it should be priss-az-nook. Yes? No? Anyone?

I just realized that my son Grady, is 'kind of' a smash up of my own parent's names, Greg and Sandy. Grandy would be more accurate though...

I also know of a couple Julissas. Both hispanic and both pronounced hoo-LEE-sa. I've never thought it was a combo name, just a hispanic name. Is Laura thinking it's a combo of Julie and Melissa?

The Duggars have a JoyAnna, which is a name I'm pretty fond of, though I do think it's too close to their other daughter Johanna.

Oh yeah I knew a Coby married to a Jason who was considering Jacob for their son. I was also going to bring up the Duggars' Joyanna. I think some of these compound names can come off like the Southern double-barreled names.

Though I had never really considered it, nikki's post made me think about my name (Joanna) being a combination name. Obviously, those with my name who spell it "JoAnna" or "Jo Anna" make it more obvious. I wonder if it came from a combining of two more disparate names, like Joy and Anna, as nikki said, or if it was just plain old Jo and Anna. My mil, who is from Kansas, is named Lana Jo, so maybe it's just a "country" name. (I am from Texas, after all ;) )

J repeated- my understanding is that Joanna is a variant of Johanna/Joan/all the other names that sprang originally from John.

Re: combined names, I'm noticing it a lot with Hispanic names. For example, I know a Maria Victoria who goes by Mavi, and a Maria Teresa who goes by Mate (Mah-teh). Unfortunately, the latter looks like the word 'mate' in English! Are there any others that you've come across? I think I've also heard Maite (My-teh), but I don't know if that comes from a combo.