Sebalek
- Name
Catrina
- About Me
I have two boys: Sebastian (5) and Alexander (3).
- My Favorite Names
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- My Recent Blog Comments
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Nice job. Milo James is a great name. Congrats!
I also agree with this comment.
Of the names you've listed, only Honor and Patience don't flow quite well, to me. I love Cecily Honor with your last name. Longer first names can help even out the shortness of Cook. As others have suggested, if you like the sound of Cecily, Felicity might work for you, too. I happen to be in love with Felicity, though I'm not sure my husband would get on board if our next is a girl.
I'll second the suggestions of: Rosalie, Eleanor, Eloise, Octavia, and Olympia (all on my list). And because is also looks like we have some stylistic overlap, I'll add: Penelope, Genevieve, Daphne, Gwendolyn, Imogen and Antonia.
Good luck!
I figured this might be the way the list went, though not the double whammy of alternate spellings so much.
For me Aria and Arya are NOT the same name. I read Aria as ahr-ee-ah and Arya as ahr-ya (like "are ya"), which is how it's intended to be pronounced, I believe.
Since Americans tend to use -ia and -ya interchangeably, I can see how the different endings might be conflated as alternative spellings, but b/c English isn't my only language, for me, these endings have subtle, but very different, sounds.
I LOVE Declan, but could never use it with our last name. Too Irish against our very Slavic surnames. Sigh...
Glad to see that my youngest's name has dropped, if only slightly and that my eldest's name is holding steady. All my top picks for a girl have gone up a bit, but still outside the top 100 (though, for the girls, it's less of a problem).
See, I would totally use Elinor, Marianne and Margaret. Or any combination of the Bennet sisters. Though maybe not Kitty for Katherine.
Agnes is a FANTASTIC name! Congrats on your little girl!
Well, if I don't have to worry about DH's opinion, to go with Sebastian and Alexander:
Girls:
Penelope Josephine
Coraline Marianne
Rosalie Adelaide
Felicity Eloise
Georgiana Louisa
Eleanore Charlotte
Boys:
Oliver William
Edward Spencer
Jolyon Thomas
Congrats and well done!
Natalia is pretty, but I like Ursula better (which I'd use if I didn't already have a Sebastian).
Natalia flows nicely with your last name and the two middle names you picked, if you'd be keeping those. Depending on where you live, as others have pointed out, by itself it'll screw towards Eastern European or Hispanic, though not together with your last name. I know 2 Natalias under 5 (SF Bay area) and it was more common a couple of years ago, but that seems to have fallen off in my area recently.
Natalia doesn't come across as frou-frou, a bit bubbly, but not frou-frou. Ursula is definitely the stronger sounding of the two, but it's one of those names that, as a teenager, if you daughter suddenly decides to hate it, will make her feel like she's walking around with a giant spotlight focused on her. Regardless, I'd still use it.
Good luck.
Can't wait to see where my boys' names fall on the list this year (and the names I'm holding on to for #3). I'm pretty sure the older one's name is still moving up the ranks while the other is falling down.
@AngelaAiea - We had until April 15 or 17th to enter the contest. The results/winners will be released after the SSA puts out the 2011 list and Laura has a chance to crunch the numbers.
Oh, and I signed the petition. My family is really lucky with our insurance provider, and while our hospital always has at least one pediatrician on staff in the emergency room, we've never had to use the ER when our boys were infants, though I've had to go in a few times when they were under 2.
I went to HS with an Asher and have always liked Amelia, though it seems to be picking up steam as an alternative to Emily and Emma in my area. Mason, Henry and Harper feel kind of "old news" to me. I remember the first time I heard Mason (the newborn twin of a Madison) was about 9 years ago (same with Henry), back with I did promotions for Babies R Us, so maybe that's why. Actually, b/c of that job, I got to speak with Laura W briefly right before the first BNW edition came out, which led me here and helped "feed the adiction," so to speak.
I love Anneliese, but the spelling would depend on your pronunciation.
If you want the more American 3 syllable pronunciation, go with Annelise. If you want it to sound more German, go with Anneliese (which would have 4 syllables instead of 3).
Anneliese Pearl is lovely.
oops post
Are you pronouncing Simeon like sim-ee-uhn or sim-ee-own?
From your original choices, Mat(t)hias could work fine. Of your new choices, I like Levi more than Jude b/c Jude has a different stylistic feel than Silas to me. Not far off from Eleanor, though. Maybe Judah? Though that doesn't really seem to feel right for me either.
What about Elias instead of Matthias? or Gideon instead of Simeon?
or Isaias? Isaias will still get the EYE-us sound you seem to prefer but spreads it a bit to keep it from being too similar or sing-song with Silas.
We had the same problem when naming our sons. My husband is Bulgarian and most of the names he liked didn't work well in the US (Hristo, Stoyan, Ivajlo), and the ones I was drawn to he nixed b/c they were too "village" or not Bulgarian (my family is Polish/Austrian). We ended up with Sebastian "Sebi" (which transliterates fine Себастиян and Alexander (I wanted Aleksandar, but he preferred the 'x' spelling). Alexander goes by Alek mostly (I really didn't want him to end up Alex K. at school), but we also call him Lex and Aleksi. We could have gone with Sashko (which is the BG version of Sasha) as a nn, but we already have a friend with this nn.
From your list, Alexander Michael and Nikolai Michael are my picks. Both of those names popped into my head while I was reading your post. Victor/Viktor or Peter might also work.
Other names we considered: Casimir/Kazimir, Vitaly, Vasili, Arkadi, Kiril, Maksim/Maxim, Dragan, Leonid, Roman, Genadi, Konstantin/Constantine
As for the popularity of Alexander, while it's a top 10 nationally, you should check your local stats and see where it actually sits if that's a concern. It turns out that in my area, Sebastian is much more common in Alexander and I never expected my Seb to have another one in his grade, but he does, while Alek doesn't.
From your list, I think Lena works best with Elsa. Pretty, short and softly feminine without being too frilly. Classic but not common.
Gwen and Tess are okay, but feel a bit abrupt. Elin is too close to Elsa for me, as is Lucy to Louise. Sloane seems to be the odd-one-out. It fits "not commonly used" and short, but not antique or German/Scandinavian (it's more WASP to me). I like Sylvie a lot, though it seems a bit too French with Elsa.
I like the suggestions of Cora and Anja/Anya.
Other thoughts: Margot, Mina, Alina, Liesl, Sofi/Sophie, Astrid, Maja/Maia/Maya, Thea
What great names your daugthers have! Both Milo and Ezra fit your sibset nicely, though I like Milo better personally. It has the same sort of vibe as your daughters' names (peppy and upbeat), whereas Ezra feels a bit more solemn. Of your additional names, Eli and Phinn fit the best stylistically, imo. I'd give the edge to Eli over Phinn, though it's close to Lia. You could go with Elias and shorten it to Eli, I suppose so that it's a bit more separate from Lia.
Have you considered: Theo, Enzo, Alec, Asa, Arlo, Hugo, Leo
I will say though, if Milo has been your favorite up till now, I'd caution making a change at this point when you're probably on an emotionally rollercoaster waiting for your son to make his debut. Taking your list and waiting to see your little boy for the first time might be your best option here.
Good luck!
Nathaniel and Solomon are great. If you don't like the nicknames you've found so far, how about Than for Nathaniel and Solly or maybe Sully for Solomon? Other ideas:
August (Gus), Everett (Rhett), Edmund/Edward (Ned), and Casper (Cass)
I LOVE all your girl choices! You can't go wrong with any of them, but I like Penelope (Penny, Nell(ie)) and Josephine (Posey) with Theodore (Theo). As far as alliteration goes, it really depends on the name combination, like the PP said. Some work, some don't. Is there an H name you like? Suggestions:
Elinor/Eleanor(e) (Ellie, Nora), Antonia (Annie, Nia), Millicent (Millie) and Henrietta (Henny, Hetty, Etta)