The Baby Name Wizard

Re: nicknames, I would never use a nn that either the parents or the kid wasn't already using. As an example, a friend named her son Samuel, and I thought how great it would be to call him Sam. She didn't shorten it, though, until he went to school so I called him Samuel until then.

Re: the spelling of Corrie, I've known male Coreys and a female Cori. If you'd rather people use the Corrie spelling (if they insist on nicknaming), then I'd think it would make sense to use that spelling yourselves to set the expectation early. But it's a shame to have to do that when you're not keen on nicknaming to start with.

Just recently, while looking through a box of my husband's old family photos, I found a handwritten list of baby names that my mother-in-law had made in 1965 while trying to name my sister-in-law. I was estatic about finding this "historic record," if you will, of our family's baby naming! I carried the paper in to where my husband was working as if it were the Magna Carta. The first thing I thought of was that I had to share it with all of the NEs here! So with my mother-in-law's blessing, here is the list:

Shannon Dale
Shannan Dale
Shanondale
Shannondale
Shannodale Janeen
Shannon Janeen
Shannondale Janeen
Gloria Grace
Kirsten Janeen
Allegra
Amber
Amanda
Anastasia
Jessica
Koren
Darcie
Erica
Felicia
Gloria - nickname Glory
Iya

Right before the baby was born a neighbor suggested the name Tamara and it clicked for my mother-in-law. Shannon Tamara was the final choice. I love that my mother-in-law was just as excited to share her naming story as I was to hear it!

Very cool Gemma, thanks to you and MIL for sharing!

What a fantastic find Gemma! And such a variety of names - so interesting. I especially love Gloria Grace.

Anonymous - I think your experience with other people imposing nicknames on your children is a common one. Not that this makes it any less irritating! As for the spelling of Cori/Corey - I totally understand how that could be another frustrating element. My first name is Jane and I don't like being called Janey/Janie, BUT if people are going to do it (a few of my close friends and family members do it and I'm ok with them doing it, just not people I don't know really well) then I can only handle it spelled "Janey" -I have an irrational hatred of "Janie". I have specifically told 2 people who write it as "Janie" that I really loathe this spelling and asked them to spell it "Janey" instead - and I sign off to these people (in emails, texts) as "Janey" - but they STILL write "Janie". I could scream. But there is no way to prevent it, it seems. I just keep writing Jane/Janey and try to ignore them!! I guess you can only do the same.

Congratulations on your 2 new baby girls, by the way - what a wonderful gift they must be. I feel warm and happy just thinking about it! :)

I have a question. I would like to name my next daughter after her father, Elliot, and am looking for some good female options. Elliot itself is out as I'm not into androgynous names. Eleanor and Ellie are out as that has an inappropriate association for me--it's my oldest daughter's stepmother's name. Ella seems pretty close to that and is pretty popular. Ellen is out because our last name ends in with an en and has two syllables and five letters and that just seems clunky--plus I only associate that name with the comedian, and while not a negative association, she's very funny--just seems weird anyway. Any ideas?? Hubby's first name is Jame$ but I just hate Jamie and can't do much else with that for a female. Jamima will always be the syrup lady to me. He goes by Elliot though and I think that's where I can get some of my prettier options--I'm just coming up blank. Elise is beautiful but stylistically much "fancier" than my oldest daughter's name. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Guest#255-The first thought I have is Ellery. I'm not sure what historical/literary or other background it make have. It sounds made up but I know I've seen and heard it before. The only 2 associations I have are Ellery Queen and the fact that it rhymes with celery which may give way to teasing. I will look further and post again.

Gemma, what a great find! Thanks for sharing it.

Re: Gloria Grace, I know a girl (7 yrs old) with this very name. :)

Guest#255-Okay here's more:
Helen
Ellison
Celeste
Elaine
Eliza
Janelle
Ainsley
Nellie
Brielle

Amy3 - I had been wondering about your dd's nn quest. It seems to have resolved on its own, then! :-)

Gemma - that is a great list. It's fun to read through - I wish I kept my lists in a more organized place, instead of just random scraps of paper. Actually, I'd love to find my mil's list because she is constantly changing her story and telling us all what names she was going to give her kids. We tease her all the time because supposedly my husband was going to be Andrea if he was a girl and her daughter was going to be named the same name as her dh if she'd been a boy! But it'll change in the next conversation. HA!

Guest - I think Ellery sounds very pretty. How does it go with your older daugther's name?

Lastly, I am pretty excited because last night I got the most enthusiastic response from my husband about a name that I've gotten in a very long time. I am afraid to share it, for fear of jinxing it, but I am thinking it could really be it!

Guest#255 - I wonder if a name ending int -ot would work as a subtle tribute to Elliot? A quick search yielded the following:
Annot
Charlot (really?)
Dot
Margot

I'm pretty sure I've also seen Harriot, which has the advantage of the same rhythm as Elliot.

Anon - love the names of your twins! Shame about the nicknaming problem, but keep insisting on what you want and most people will eventually follow. There are always a few who won't but hopefully they will be in the minority.

Guest #255 - I really like the Elise suggestion you made, even if it doesn't fit with your older daughter's name. I guess it depends on what the name is as to how 'out' it is, and whether this bothers you. If you want other suggestions:

to go with the 'el' part of Elliot how about:
Adeline
Elisabeth/Elizabeth
Amelia (or other 'elia' names like Cordelia)
Penelope

Or a nickname type name of Elliot for a girl could be 'Lottie' or 'Lotte' maybe Charlotte as a full name if it's too nicknamey.

Back with more Elliot suggestions:
Lieselotte (nn Liesel or Lotte)
Amelie
Anneliese
Aurelia
Cecelia/Celia
Eliana
Eliora
Emelia/Emelie
Eveline
Eliza
Felice/Felicia/Felicity
Jacqueline
Joseline
Madeline
Odelia
Roselie
Selina
Mellissa
Ellia
Ellis
Nellie

Maybe one of these will appeal?

I'm glad that you all enjoyed the list as much as I did! Part of the joy of it I couldn't really do justice to, since the way that they are written down really tells the story of her thought process. The list really is all over the place style wise, which reflects my MIL's personality to a T. :) Andrea R... I can relate to your experience in so many ways...

Leafy- Count me in on the people who love the name Theodora nn Thea. It has a grand sound and there just aren't enough little girls with this name yet.

For names that honor an Elliot, perhaps Elena or Helena so to avoid the repetition of -en at the end of the first and last name. I really like the suggestion of Lottie too.

Sorry to write such a book, but I have a lot of catching up to do!

Leafy, I love Theodora with Leaf. I think it's really nice to have a first name with a little weight and strength paired Leaf...Aven Leaf seemed like it might threaten to be Kreative or too fey sounding, to me. I admit that Thea Leaf does sometimes make you take a second look to not see Tea Leaf, but I don't really know how much of a big problem that would pose. I know many of the Shakespearean names you like were already taken, but did you mention a problem with Olivia? I can't remember where you live, and I know it's more common now, but Olivia Leaf is really nice to my ear...not that you need new suggestions now...and Olivia Violet Edith Leaf or Olivia Edith Leaf have a great repetition of sounds, I think.

Re: Choosing names...ugh. My husband has limited patience for it. If he doesn't absolutely hate a name I suggest he'll say "put it on the list" and that ends the conversation -- no fun back and forth and riffing. He's not much of a planner by nature, so no doubt he'll weigh in more heavily once a real, live baby is here (but maybe not until then). It's tough for me, though, because I've now gotten so used to my favorite names (Anya and Simon) that it'll probably be really hard for me to switch if he decides to be violently opposed to them. Right now he seems pretty tractable, but that's probably because he doesn't think it matters yet.

Re: last names...I never once considered changing my name, but I don't LOVE my last name, either, so I don't mind using my husband's for our children. Also, while my last name is Jewish, I wasn't brought up Jewish and am a huge mutt, while my husband, being Cajun and from a small town, has very strong cultural ties with his last name. Our Jewish-Cajun last names hyphenated would be cumbersome at the very least, so that didn't seem an option to me. I think if I had a last name I liked more (like the earlier poster with the name Noble) I'd have discussed options more with my husband, and would use my last name as middle name at least. I do think that it's a little bit of a concession to him, though, and not something that's a given. In the bargaining game of naming, it does seem to me that if we're using his last name, my votes about first names should count a LITTLE more than his. The middle names are also likely either favorites of his or his family names, too, but it's worth it to me to give him that in order to have the first names that seem "right" to me and names that sound great as a whole. I hope that logic works, at least. We'll see what happens when we get down to it, though. Wish me luck, because he has a will of iron.

Wow, cannot believe the number of responses to the post...but then again every one of us has negotiated/navigated the naming process. So first of my input on coming up with a name: my husband definitely put off any serious discussion of names with out first born, a girl, because he knew how "into" names I was and knew that I liked to try on a new names for our unborn everyday. When we did finally sit down to decide, he came with his top three and I came with my top three. Lucky me, he liked my number one pick and we went with it (Josie). Before we knew the sex of the baby, I couldn't come up with any boy's names that I liked...and then it occured to me...girls might be better at coming up with girls names and men might be better at boys names. It was true in our case. I was so afraid of making a mis-step in naming a boy, because I felt like I had to stay closer inside the traditional tastes, whereas I felt more freedom, more range in naming a girl. So when we had a boy as #2, I let him take the lead.

As for Elliot names:

Lior
Liat
Effie
Leah
Lia

Guest looking for an Elliot-inspired name - I love the suggestions of Ella, Ellery and Ellea/Ellia - all of them could easily pass as diminuitives of Elliot, and are gorgeous names to boot. Do any of them appeal? And do they work well with the last name?

Mirnada - thanks for the suggestion of Olivia but my sister-in-law is about to use it for her soon-to-be-born daughter!

Anonymous,

While I can understand it's annoying to have your carefully chosen names disregarded for a nn, I really think that you can't control what other people do--a nickname is generally a term of affection, and I think that if the girls really dislike them when they get older, they can broach it with their grandparents, aunts etc. You can try to influence others' decisions by introducing your daughters as their beautiful full names, but I agree with the posters above that especially with newborns, such formal names will be hard to coo.

Now, I would make an exception for a child who really objected about a nickname, or a teacher (or other professional person--as they should respect what is legally in place unless told otherwise) creating a nickname for a child, but close family and friends---well, I think you might be fighting a losing battle.

That's what he came up with off the top of his head -- in 5 minutes? He's a closet name freak! I say go with Jedidiah & Bryony -- too cool.

To: jenmn

A baby sister for Elise (no E, P, or T names):

From your list, I rather like Linnea, and think it goes quite well with Elise. I do agree about the other names though, and why they won't quite work for your new baby.

What about:

Christine, Ivy, Anne (common, but totally unused and goes well with Elise, imo).

Good luck!

Annee (surprise!)

Leafy --

What about:

Sybylla

I think it's a cool take on the oh-so-popular Isabella, but distinctly different.

(This was the name of the heroine in the movie "My Brilliant Career," which is why I like the name; and it has been on my never-to-be-used list since 1980!)

Good luck!

Annee

Leafy,

Oh dear, it never occured to me that your lastname was actually Leaf! So, I'm guessing Ivy Leaf won't work either, huh?

P.S. I actually have a great-great-great-aunt whose first name was Leafy. Also, a great-great-great-uncle named Forest (but they weren't in the exact same line, thankfully ...)

Annee

WOW. Only a week from having named our second child, this certainly hits close to home! Particularly the discussion about Theodora. :-(

I actually just wrote about our own tug of war with the name.

Talked names with a 8-mo.-pregnant friend yesterday, and it was interesting to see what she and her boyfriend's process was like, because he had obviously suggested several of the ones they're considering. -- He's a huge soccer fan and kind of a hippie-type guy, and several of the names were reflective of some of that, i.e. Henri, Hejduk, etc. They haven't outright told anyone what they picked, but they're running a sort of pool on Facebook, which published their entire list.

Name meaning ended up being really important to the mom, which I must admit is something I rarely consider myself. If I get really attached to one, I'll look it up, but I don't know that it would ever be a deal-breaker. But I have known couples that fell in love with a name and then -- usually it's the hubsand with a boy's name -- one of them finds out the name means something like "small" or "diminutive" or something else and it kills the name for them.

Do name meanings come into play for a lot of you? Your partners?

This is my first time posting on here but I just had to throw my two cents in on the nickname thing.

Anon, I think it's definitely within your rights as parents to insist that family and friends call your daughters by their full names. You named them that for a reason, right? When I was a baby, apparently my mom was pretty unimpressed to learn that Missy is a common nickname for my name (Melissa) and she was adamant that I never be called that. Apparently she used to constantly correct people (most of whom probably were bestowing the nickname pretty innocently on me) that my name was Melissa, not Missy. Frankly, I'm glad she did. All that said, once your girls start school, you'll probably have to accept that their peers will make up nicknames for them and they might prefer them. When I was in high school, I was called Lissa a lot. My mom wasn't crazy about it, but she figured there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Me, on the other hand? I absolutely hate being called Mel. Anytime someone tries to call me Mel I pretty much fly into a blind rage. Haha. I don't know why, but I've always felt like Mel is short for Melanie, not Melissa (crazy, I know), and since my name is not Melanie, it drives me nuts. Someone calling me Mel is, to me, kind of like calling someone named Bob, Fred.

Does anyone else feel this way about their own nicknames?

Guest looking for a tribute to Dad. How about Elodie? Or if that is too close to Elliot- what about Gemma Elodie-it sort of echoes James Elliot, but is distinctive. And speaking of Gemma. Thank you for your m-i-l's list-a treasure from the past! Also, I suggested Mairead to PPPhd-as a mn. Someone wondered if it was Scottish. I looked it up in the Oxford Dictionary of Names and they list it under Irish. Perhaps it is Scottish as well given the common Gaelic background?

I second MW re: the nickname issue. I think that it's perfectly fine as a parent to ask people to call your children by the lovely first name that you've given them--even to insist (in the nicest way you can)--but that, when they go to school, what their friends choose to call them and what they want to be called themselves is out of your range of control. Hopefully, most of the worst ones will fade away. (Thanks to the influence of the "Peanut and Jilly" books, as a third-grader I really wanted my nickname to incorporate food and tried--unsuccessfully--to merge my first name into some form of "Lasagna." Mercifully, it didn't stick.)

Wowee, I just plowed through 275 comments. So:

Leafy, I was so relieved to hear that Theodora had won. I actually know a 3-year-old Theodora out here in SF, but even the mom's Bay Area friends were taken aback by its edginess. Turns out it's a very Southern name, and the other Theodora I once knew (aged 50 or so) was a Southern belle. In any case, it is both beautiful and cool. May it stay under the radar.

My name story: my partner's female, and when we got me pregnant I approached her with great trepidation about the name Caroline, which is a name handed down every other generation (alternating with Elizabeth) for 10 generations. I hated the idea of breaking the chain, but didn't want to force the issue. To my great relief, she liked the name, and since it's my mother's name we chose a middle name to honor her mother (Jane), and decided that if we had a boy, it could be named after her father and favorite uncle (William Jack). The last name for our daughter was harder. We reluctantly went with a hyphenated last name because my partner's last name alone didn't sound great with Caroline, and I wanted her parentage visible in our daughter's last name. I do think heteros don't have to deal with this particular issue -- having people refuse to acknowledge the "other" female parent (non-birthmom).

Nicknames: I am so with "Melissa-not-Mel," as people seem to think it's just fine to call me Liz. Not. The. Same. Nickname. As. Beth. OK? It's like randomly calling a Catherine Cathy when her nickname is Kate.

For Elliot: Is Elodie too fancy? With or without Gemma, as the poster above suggests, I think it's lovely.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Eloise as an Elliot-ish name! That's my favorite, although it may also be a bit "fancy". Do you mind telling us your other daughter's name? I can't guess!

interesting names in my local listings:
AUREANA
SADEY LIYA
BLU
KINGSTON-MCKEE RHEMA: Googled "Rhema" and found it is a Biblical thing. Can't decide if this is a boy's or girl's name. Kingston reads boy to me, but McKey was the name of the (female) winner of America's Next Top Model and Rhema reads sort of female to me.

Jenmn, if you're still reading along...

You seem to have very similar taste in girls names as I do. How about Charlotte? (Charlotte Elise was my very favorite girl name for a long time.)

Other suggestions: Lenore, Sabrina, Sheridan, Rosalyn, Wren, Calista, Morgan, Sienna.

Annee - thanks for the suggestion of Sybylla - it's a fantastic name! However I do think it runs into Leaf with a bit of a stutter, unfortunately. And besides, I am still infatuated with Theodora :)
(Btw, I can't believe you have an ancestor with the first name Leafy. Too funny!)

Rhanda - I am the same as you in that if I like a name, I will look up its meaning, just out of interest, but I can't imagine it ever being a deal-breaker for me. A friend of mine decided not to use her long-time favourite boy's name, Finn, just because it said "Fair-headed" in her baby name book - as she and her partner are dark-haired and would probably have a dark-haired baby, she decided she couldn't use it. I wouldn't have cared at all!

Elisabeth - WOW is right!! I am blown away by this. I love your taste in names, so I am thrilled that you like Theodora enough to consider it for your own child. (Your blog and this blog are the best 2 I have come across and I am addicted to them!) I am intrigued to read that you didn't go with it because it seemed too strong for your little girl (congratulations on baby Eulalie!!!! What a gorgeous name!) - personally I can't imagine any small baby with the name Theodora, hence I love the softer "Thea" as a nickname. I am hoping that if we name her Theodora, she will grow into it when she's older. Hmmmm now I am wondering if I might feel differently on d-day!! Guess I will have to wait and see...

Beth the original,
I'm with you! I can be called Liz, but feel very disconnected and confused when people call me Beth.

Leafy, how are you going to pronounce Thea? I know a little girl with this name who pronounces it Tay-uh. I am assuming you pronounce it with a "th" sound.

Elizabeth T. - we like "Thee-ah", and it seems the most natural pronunciation as a nn for Theodora.

I really like "Gemma Elise" as a nod to James Elliot! I think Gemma Eloise is nice too though.

Completely off-topic, on the show Battlestar Galactica (which we talked about a few posts back) there is a character nicknamed Helo. My dh and I were talking about how much we like Helo, and how it sounds like a cute nickname for a little boy, but we couldn't think of an actualy name that Helo could be short for, except maybe Julio, which we don't like. Any suggestions?

What IS it with grandparents and obstinate nicknaming?

An older relative was presented with a new grandson: Joshua Joseph (ln). The first words out of her mouth? "OH, I'm going to call him J.J."

The parents put their feet down over that. "NO, you won't, his name is Joshua. Josh is fine, too."

Cranky that she was being thwarted, she started calling him "Joshua Joseph." A decade later, and she still calls that poor boy Joshua Joseph.

When we decided to use family names for our twins, we called to tell the grandmas. (We've - probably - settled on Thomas Elmer and Edward James, but at the time we were looking at Gabriel James.) First my husband called his mother.

"One will be Thomas Elmer..."

"OOH, are you going to call him T.E.?"

"What? Why on earth would we call him T. E.?!"

"Well, I thought -"

"No. No, we will not be calling him T.E."

"Okay. Well, what about the other one?"

"Gabriel James."

"And are you going to call him G.J.?"

"What the - NO, we are not going to call him G.J.!"

"I think G.J. sounds cute."

"Mom, G.J. sounds like vagina." (You know, the whole 'vajayjay' thing...)

"Well...what WILL you call him?"

"Probably just 'Gabe,' mom."

"Oh."

Even my mom, who is usually much more sensible than this, had peculiar nickname suggestions when we told her. When I told her about Thomas Elmer her reaction was,

"Oh, you could call him Tim!"

"...TIM?"

"Well, spelled T.E.M., you know, for his initials. Tim!"

"...Mom, why would I invent an elaborate method to call him Tim when I could just call him TOM?"

Sheesh. Grandparents. (Of course, my mom was on a lot of medication at the time, so I'm pretty sure it was a single-batch of crazy. I hope.)

Helo for a boy - that is a tough one. I'm afraid the best I can do is Helios, Greek god of the sun.

A girl would be easier, with something like Heloise, but I can see how the appeal of the nickname is much more fore a little boy.

Was at Father's Day parties today and a boomer family member said with a chuckle- a friend's daughter just named her son Phinaeus Ulysses! She was incredible about this name. I thought that all you NEs would actually go crazy for it.

On the nn issue, my daughter is Isabel, but we call her Izzy. I hate when people try to call her Belle, as I see Izzy as a more tomboyish name. I also don't like when they call her Isabella as that's not her name. Strangely, I also get a little perturbed in my head when they call her Isabel. That one I can't explain. LOL.

regarding helo,
the baby name finder pulls up several names with "hel" in them, such as:
helmer
sheldon
othello
thelonius
however, i think you could do nn helo with any boys' name starting with he, such as henry. i mean chuck only has its first two letters in common with charles. i see no reason why helo couldn't be the same.

regarding elliot,
there have been many good suggestions so far...my favorite are probably elodie, eloise, ellery. i still really like ella and elise despite the objections against them. if that could be overcome, i think either would be a good fit. also, this isn't my style at all, but i know a little girl named elliette. or you could tweak it a bit and have ellietta. as i say, this isn't my style, but the elliette i know pulls it off quite well and it really suits her.

MelissaM-WAY TOO FUNNY!! I knew where the story would go the minute you started it though. T.E and G.J. are just not natural nn's, now E.J. on the other hand I have heard of. Tommy and Eddie sound okay too but whatever you tell me since you aren't family LOL!

On a related note, has anyone ever PURPOSELY picked names so they COULD have initials for the nn like BJ, or DJ??

Anne with an E-Yes, I agree with MelissaM. It does seem to be easier to use the nn Helo for some girls names like Heloise, Helena, or such. It also reminds me of Helio Castroneves who is a race car driver. Also, Hero could be a nn for Heronymus.

I know a family that used Travis John so they could call him T.J...

Grandparents being determined to use a nickname of their own choosing is an amusing but irritating phenomenon, isn't it! I really laughed at MelissaM's story but I also could imagine myself becoming quite agitated if my mother kept suggesting nicknames like that. I know one grandmother who insisted on calling her grandchild by his first and middle name as if it were one name. She would even write it with a hyphen between the two, although she knew full well that the second name was a separate middle name. Talk about stubborn! Her daughter eventually persuaded her to stop doing it.
My father insists on calling my friend's son Thomas, even though his name is Tommy on his birth certificate and his parents only ever call him Tommy. Dad tried to tell me that he MUST be Thomas on his birth certificate, and even when I explained that this actually isn't the case, he proclaimed it "ridiculous" and still calls Tommy "Thomas". I have apologised to my friend, but she seems to find it quite amusing, thank God!!

And what about B.J. as a nickname given its other "adult" connotations? Do you know any former B.J.s who now go by Benjamin or Brian or whatever as a way to avoid that association, or B.J.s who are waiting it out/ignoring it?

Whoops! Double post. Sorry!

Thanks for all the great name suggestions to go with my daughter's name Elis3 G3nevieve (which BTW we pronounce the Genevieve part the French way and not the typical butchered American version).

To the poster (sorry, I can't remember who) who suggested a three syllable name such as Cynthia, you pretty much got the style right, except I don't like the nicknames for Cynthia. We are a very nickname-y family and I don't see that changing.

So the names we previous had on the list that got crossed off were: Linnea, Malia, Arwen, Julia, Violet, Adele/Adeline/Adelaide, Leila.

I still like Linnea but have trouble with getting past the pronunciation issue and I'm not sure how well it really goes with Elise (Lisey). Plus I've received some crummy feedback IRL on the name from people I thought would at least like it.

I love Violet, but we can't do *any* flower names with my husband's last name. Violet could be a contender for a middle name though since I don't think it would be as big of a deal in that position.

New names that are possibilities:
* Vivienne, although my husband is a bit stuck on the Vivian spelling while I love the -enne spelling
* Serena, but seems nickname-proof which I admit I'm not thrilled about
* Megan, but might be too popular
* Juliet, but I'm worried about the Romeo and Juliet association and don't know if I could do that to my daughter

I have to say that I think I am figuring out a bit more about what I am looking for in a name and this is what I have come up with...
* Easily pronounced pretty much at first glance
* Not as important to be easy to spell
* Nothing super popular, not in top 100 or so in SSA list (which rules out many many names I love)
* Nothing too unique, crazy, made-up or off-the-wall (so maybe the name or something similar is actually on the top 1000 SSA list)
* Something very feminine, sophisticated, somewhat fancy, classic and/or elegant
* Has nickname possibilities that don't start with Ad-, Ab-, El-, Lis-, Liz-
* Doesn't start with an E, P or T
* Doesn't contain ana, anna, anne due to overload of family member names and pet names
* Is not associated with one prominent person or celebrity (my husband rejects each and every one of these names)
* Is not a flower/plant name (due to last name)
* Is not androgynous, is not a girls name that was recently considered a boys name
* Looks pretty when written
* We seem to like French and German names, although my husband would love something Celtic or Gaelic even, but it seems all of the more common/acceptable names are really common (for example my husband loves the name Caitlyn!)
* We seem to like vowel heavy names
* Goes well with Elise (obviously!)

I'd so appreciate name suggestions and feedback! It is so much harder this time around.

Back to the topic at hand. I did not change my name when we got married. More than a feminism thing, I just liked my name. I liked it more than my husbands name (and still do!). My husband even likes my name more than his, but his greatly traditional family would pretty much disown us if he did anything to his name. All of our children will have a first name, middle name, my last name as a second middle name and my husband's last name. It gets long but it was better than what our hyphenating options would have been.

My husband has gotten a bit more involved in the naming discussions, if only out of seeing my panic. I'll read him lists and he'll tell me anything that remotely interests him. I got stuck on Cora for about a day until he vetoed straight out once I mentioned it to him. I think he thinks the pregnancy hormones are causing me to come up with crazy ides for names! :)

Thanks again for the advice!

I like the echo of Gemma Elodie or something for James Elliot. Maybe Jemma would look more the part. Even Jenna if Gemma is too fancy. How about dropping the E and using Liette? Eliora?

For a full name for the nn Helo:
Helmut
Mikhail
Michael
Phelps or even Philip?
Havelock
Helix
Heiko
Sherlock
Hyppolite (sp??)
Hugo
Hilario

Also because of the old r's turning into l's thing (Mary -> Molly) you could use any 'Her' name: Herbert, Herschel, Heron, Theron, Horatio..

Oh and I really think that I have worn out Nymbler by now!

Anyone have info on the new book edition? I think I mentioned before that my old one is really on its last legs, in about six pieces! And I can't wait to see how things have changed in it given the four years that have elapsed.

Re: Elliot

Possibly Elettra - the Italian form of Electra? If you can ignore the "daddy issue" connotations of the latter (which, btw, more people now associate with the Jennifer Garner film anyway), it's quite pretty and soft. Isabella Rossellini used it for her daughter.

Wow, was that a lot of catching up to do. I'm usually so much more on top of this board.

Leafy-- like many, I think Theodora is lovely. Like Isadora, it's just a breath of fresh air (well--more like a breath of pressed rose petals when you open an old trunk full of grandma's girlhood clothes-- but that's fresh air to me!).

Anonymous-- Cordelia and Eleanor are positively delightful.

And they make me think of my new favorite girl's name, Cornelia! In the last week, this name has completely burrowed into my skull and I just adore it, particularly with the nickname Nell. I'm going to become as fixated with it as EO is with Augusta! I don't think I could ever get my husband to go for it, but give me time (and enough kids to wear him down with) and I'll try.

My husband is not an NE by nature, but after almost a decade of knowing me he's become one by association. He now saves up interesting baby names he hears to report to me. And he's willing to play the hypothetical children name game much more than formerly. We're almost to the children having stage, so I suppose the whole enterprise feels more relevant than it did when we were in college. We've already chosen our first girl and first boy's names, and it was a genuinely collaborative process and we both love both names, so that's good. The only problem is that the actual process of naming will be much less exciting once we finally get pregnant.

Anne with an E: How about Helo for Henry Leo, Henry Elliot, or something like that? Harold Elliot?

The only BJ I know (of) is the mixed-martial artist. BJ Penn. I guess people don't give a fighter a hard time about that sort of thing.

jenmn:
-What about Rena or Sissy for Serena? Nina? Sena? Ena?

-I love the name Megan--well actually, loved it before, then felt it was too popular, but I bet it is one of those names that is no longer as popular as it once was. Like all the Megans are now in their teens or twenties maybe; a baby Megan would be unique?

-I agree with you about the spelling Vivienne, but the other might be nice to get away from the Angelina spelling. Or Viviane as a compromise? although the Vivian spelling would probably be easiest for folks.