Twins Help Please =)
Were expecting twins in late OCTOBER. We already have 2 beautiful daughters Zoë Alessandra(5) & Maïa Isabella (4). My husband & I don't want to find out the sexes of the babies. We want to keep it a surprise. We picked out some names we like:
FOR BOYS: Noah Christopher (after my husband Christopher) & Mateo Sebastian
GIRLS: Eva(prn Eh-Vah) Sofia or Eva Lorena, Aubrey Sofia or Aubrey Lorena, Leila(prn Lay-LA) Sofia or Leila Lorena
The boy names are all set and not changing. We are open to more suggestions on names for girls; but it must be short. No more than 6 letters, we have a very long last time. We want to keep the middle names either Sofia or Lorena named after aunts in our family. THANK YOU SO MUCH PLEASE HELP
By tiannarae
Mon, 07/30/2012 - 11:40am
Mon, 07/30/2012 - 11:40am
Replies
Pretty names! I'm guessing you or your husband have some Italian heritage? My picks for the girls would probably be Eva Lorena and Leila Sofia (Leila Lorena trips me up a bit, which is why I've paired the middles like so). I do quite like Aubrey, but it's skyrocketing in popularity these days, along with other "bree" names. It also has a more androgynous feel to it, as historically it's been used more for boys than girls (though it does have history as a girls' name). Eva and Leila match your other girls nicely in that they're sweet and clearly feminine, yet simple and unfussy.
If you have boy/girl twins, I would vote for Mateo Sebastian and Eva Sofia. The only concern I'd raise about your boy twins is that Noah would be the only sibling without an Italian part to his name. Have you considered Noah Cristoforo? N.B. Noah in Italian would be Noè.
yes i know but my husband loves Noah so much its hard for him to like a name...we also like the name Lucas or Luca
I don't think it's a big deal that he would have no Italian name. I like Noah Christopher a lot.
Of the girl names, I like Eva Lorena or Leila Sofia. However, depending on where you live, she may get called Ee-Vah and Ay-Vah much more than Eh-Vah.
I would have exactly the same picks as EVie does here. :-)
Be careful of Eva (prn Eh-Vah) if you're in the United States. The name Ava pronounced that way has taken off like wildfire in the past few years, and many people are not accustomed to the Spanish pronunciation of Eva. To these masses, Ava is "Eh-Vah" and Eva is "EEEE-Vah," which is extremely annoying!
Ava to me is Ay-vuh. To me Eva is Ee-vuh, but I could see Ay-vuh in Spanish.
I actually have a hard time trying to say Eh-vah as it would be a strange sound to my ear. Both the eh- and the -ah don't fit to my ear with these names. (I'm in the PNW)
I agree 100%, and I'm actually shocked to hear that Ava would be anything other than with the long a at the front.
I think Eva would be constantly pronounced ee-vuh, but I'm also in the Pacific Northwest, so perhaps we have an accent I didn't realize!
in spanish & italian ava = eva...its eve in the bible so where we live everyone would pronounce it right
Which part of the US? I have never heard Ava pronounced as Eh-Vah where I am (East Coast).
"Eh" as in "That movie sucked, eh?"
Eh-Vuh = the same has Ay-Vuh, in this thread thus far, right?
Ay-Vuh/Eh-Vuh as opposed to "EEE-Vuh" (A B C D E-Vuh)
I actually took "EH" in this case to mean the same vowel as in "bed," with Eva sounding like the last two syllables of the phrase "best friends foreva" (when it's pronounced with the r dropped, of course). As far as I understand it, this is the Spanish/Italian pronunciation—I went to high school with a Latina Eva who says her name that way, and no one ever got it wrong. Eva pronounced like Ava, which I would render as AY-va, is the German pronunciation (like Eva Braun). There was also one of these in my high school class, and she was more likely to get the Spanish pronunciation than vice versa. No one called either of them EE-va. So, it can be done.
I've never heard Eva as in "Foreva" but I like it.
Spanish pronunciation is "Eva = Ava" in the regions of Spanish-speaking countries I've visited (Argentina, Mexico, Spain).
Think Eva Peron (Evita).
Congratulations on twins - how exciting!
I had the same thought about Noah not having an Italian heritage name - but maybe that gets balanced out by the fact that he'd have dad's name for a middle. You don't have to address this here, of course, but when one kid gets a parent's or other close family member's name it makes me hope for the sake of parity that the siblings all have equally meaningful namesakes. If your husband likes the idea of another Italian name for Noah's middle rather than his own, I think Noah Lucas makes a nice combination. Or you could do Noah Sebastian and Mateo Christopher, which gives each boy an Italian-heritage name, assuming that doesn't upset something with namesakes/associations for you. I think the flow works equally well as with your original combinations.
Out of curiosity, if you have a boy and a girl, which names would you lean toward?
For two girls, I'd go with the same picks as EVie, for the same reasons. Aubrey is a nice enough name but would really feel like the odd one out, in terms of both heritage (the others collectively have a pan-European feel) and popularity profile. Leila I know as a Persian name meaning "night," which makes a nice subtle counterpart to Eva; I admit I don't know whether the Persian name has the same pronunciation as what you have in mind. It doesn't stick out as Persian though, rather seems to fit right in with similar-sounding L-names of a variety of origins.
You'll also want to think about how much you care about having to clarify pronunciation and spelling for both your babies' names, should you have two more daughters. It sounds like you're at least somewhat prepared for this. As has already been pointed out, Eva being an international name has a lot of different pronunciations, one of which could be confused with the spelling Ava. I've encountered the Eh-vuh pronunciation, but it wouldn't be my first guess. Leila I've seen pronounced LIE-luh, LAY-luh and LEE-luh, and for the LAY-luh pronunciation I've seen a variety of spellings, including Laila and Layla. You should be aware that the whole Lila/Lily/Leila family of names are on the rise, so it's likely that one or more of these variants will be reference points (and thus points of possible confusion) for many people who encounter your daughter's name. Of course, both names are short and the spellings and pronunciations are not at all difficult, so clarifying isn't necessarily a big deal.
Other short and sweet girls' names that might be of interest: Ada, Alanna, Amara, Anna/Anya, Aria, Ariel/Arielle, Bella, Calla, Cara, Celia, Cora, Dora, Elena, Elise, Elsa, Emma, Flora, Gemma, Gianna, Hailey, Hedy, Holly, Hanna/Hannah, Ina, Iris, Julia/Juliet, Katia, Lara, Lena, Laura, Lucia/Lucy, Luna, Lydia, Lyra, (Miriam - not with Mateo; Nadia, Nina, Nora - not with Noah), Olivia, Phoebe, Pia, Pippa, Reina, Romy, Rosa/Rose, Sara/Sarah, Sasha, Silvia, Stella, Talia, Tara, Tess/Tessa, Trina, Vera, Willa ...
Off topic, I notice that your older girls both have diacritics in their names. I'm curious if you encounter any difficulty in getting people to use those. Periodically posters here are contemplating names with diacritics and are a little wary of potential problems, but I've rarely seen anyone address this from actual experience. If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'm sure a lot of us would find it interesting and helpful.
My family has cultural ties to Iran and I have a once-removed cousin named Leila, so I can confirm that LAY-la is the Persian pronunciation. The name Leila is actually of Semitic origin (Arabic/Hebrew); Persian (also called Farsi) is not a Semitic language, but it has a ton of loanwords from Arabic due to the influence of Islam, including a lot of names. Leila is one that has been wildly popular in Iran, so is often listed as a "Persian" name even though it has a different origin. I believe that the "Lila" pronunciation (along with Lila itself) is the Hebrew variant. I have no idea where Leela comes from (though I know one who is Jewish, so maybe that is also Hebrew?)
It's also worth noting that Leila pronounced LAY-la follows the very strict rules of Italian pronunciation, so that spelling/pronunciation combo is a great choice for an Italian family, even if the name isn't Italian. NB By Italian rules, Laila would be LY-la, Lila would be LEE-la, Lela would be LELL-a.
Oh—I should also note that the Italian version of Matthew is actually Matteo, with two ts. Mateo is Spanish. Not sure that it makes a difference for you. I assumed you were going for Italian because you used the spelling Alessandra, but maybe I guessed wrong.
Lila/Lyla (LIE-la) is the Hebrew word for night. (I also know a baby Laila, pronounced LIE-la, which confused me a lot at the beginning, but I am getting used to it.)
I have no clue about Leela and have not encountered it personally, but it makes me think of the Futurama character.
Leela may be an attempt at a European pronunciation of Lila, which is one of many nicknames of Elizabeth originally. (Lila is "purple" in Hungarian, but people do use Lilla.)
Lila (pronounced Leela) is also a German word for purple--compare lilac.
Leela was also the name of one of Doctor Who's companions (just writing that made me waste an hour of time...).
Yep... I noted above that "LEE-la" is also the Italian pronunciation of Lila. That doesn't explain to me, though, where Leila pronounced "Lee-la" comes from, as well as the phonetic Leela and Lela. Are they just creative spellings of the Continental Lila?