Hi! For a while I’ve been developing quite an extensive name list (mostly girls) and after the first two accidentally matching in floral middles (Elli Violeta to get Evie and Melissa Rose as a kind-of honor) so I tried to kind-of keep the theme. For a while I’ve had Madalena on my list and she was Madalena Victoria (because of the vitória-régia waterlily in Brazil) but then I decided to give it to Diana Victoria instead (in the legend, the girl is turned into a waterlily by the moon long-story-short, and Diana was the Roman goddess of the moon, which is also a personal connection for me in many different ways). Now Madalena doesn’t have any flower middles—or middles I like at all, closest I got to was Madalena Sofia—and I’ve tried so many options that just don’t feel right. This isn’t urgent at all—I’m way too young to have kids—but I did wanna know if anyone had any ideas?
And also, I’ve recently been loving the nickname Dora (it just feels fit for all ages—baby Dora, little girl Dora, teen/tween Dora, mom’s friend Dora, grandma Dora) originally because of Dorothea (got to it through a Taylor Swift song). However, I’m agnostic and pretty much would never give a kid of mine a name that had “God” on it. Another reason I wouldn’t use it is that despite it being beautiful, it feels too English for a Brazilian. Then I came across Pandora and loved it—the Greek mythology, the same feel I love about Eve, Lilith and Cleopatra, the pretty sound—and thought it’d be perfect. But she also doesn’t have a middle. I LOVE Pandora Evelyn (or Evelyne) but it goes against the flower theme, so I’d like ideas. I pronounce Madalena mah-duh-LAY-nuh or mah-duh-LEN-nuh.
Floral middles I didn’t feel were right:
Azalea
Magnolia (still considering)
Liana
Camellia
Lis/Lise (still considering for Pandora)
Other names on my list:
Elli Violeta “Evie” “Liv”
Melissa Rose “Lissy” “Mel”
Juliano Lírio “Julian”
Leonora (considered Leonora Capucine, didn’t like it much—middles welcome) “Leah”
Diana Victoria “Di” “Didi”
Thank you!
Edit: I usually avoid nicknamey-names or names that sound made-up or too wordy (hence why Amaryllis isn’t on the middles, for example). And flower names I kinda like are Susannah and Lavanda.
Edit 2: Hebrew “Jewish” names are a tradition in my family. We stopped being Jewish generations ago, though. Susannah is seriously growing on me. Just looked it up and love the different origins and meanings. I was thinking of lotus-meaning names but disliked Ren. Love that Susannah’s an alternative for two different flowers.
Edit 3: Just found out there is an Eve rose so my Pandora’s settled. Should I do Eve or Evelyn? I like both. And Susannah is probably gonna be Madalena’s middle since it means ‘lily’ and ‘lotus’. I like that spelling best of all but I’m not sure if it flows well. Does anyone prefer Susan?
