Hello everyone,
We are expecting baby number 3 in [name]August[/name] but do not yet know the sex. We already have 2 boys, [name]Louis[/name] [name]Peter[/name] and [name]Edouard[/name] ([name]Eddie[/name]) [name]Eric[/name], both of whom are named after close family relatives. If we have another boy he will be called [name]Simon[/name] [name]Felix[/name], also after 2 family members.
I recently posted a thread asking advice on our girls list, but now I would like to give one of our top names her very own thread…
[name]Anna[/name]…she fits all our criteria- bilingual (French/English), she is my hubbies late grandmother and she has a very special meaning to us. Her middle name would be [name]Judith[/name], after my mother.
[name]Anna[/name] feels right on so many levels…except…that I find her a little boring…especially next to [name]Louis[/name] and [name]Eddie[/name]. WDYT? Is she? We are surrounded by little [name]Adele[/name]'s, [name]Edith[/name]'s, [name]Viviane[/name]'s, [name]Celeste[/name]'s, and many other fabulous names. [name]Will[/name] [name]Anna[/name] be jealous of her class mates monikers? Is she as strong as [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]Catherine[/name]? Or as unremarkable as [name]John[/name] or [name]Mary[/name]?
Thanks in advance for your feed-back,
Lizab
I love [name]Anna[/name]…always have. I think its an underused classic that is graceful without being fussy. [name]Ann[/name] is a family name for me also, so [name]Anna[/name] in some form has always been a top contender. At the moment [name]Annabelle[/name] is the top contender though so that it has that truly feminine feel. That way she has options as she grows up. She can be [name]Anna[/name] or [name]Annabelle[/name], whatever suits her.
I personally have always loved the name [name]Anna[/name].
I’m bilingual English/French also, and it’s so true that [name]Anna[/name] is as beautiful in both languages.
She is a common name true, but far from boring I think. Classic and beautiful, rather.
Otherwise there is:
[name]Annabelle[/name]
The [name]Breton[/name] [name]Annaelle[/name] ( with the trema, but I don’t know how to do that on this keyboard)
Same for [name]Anais[/name]
The exotic [name]Anastasia[/name]
etc
But I love [name]Anna[/name], and she strikes me as strong, for sure ( and all the Annas I’ve known have been fabulous)
Thanks for the great replies! I too love [name]Annabelle[/name] (and [name]Anaelle[/name]- my hubby is actually [name]Breton[/name]!). Problem is that our last name is Bellec, so anything ending in ‘elle’ is out. Also, hubby refuses any double barrel names.
Keep 'em coming and thanks again!
Lizab
I love [name]Anna[/name]! I don’t think it’s boring. [name]Louis[/name] and [name]Eddie[/name] sound great with [name]Anna[/name]- they’re all quite classic. My usual style tends towards much more uncommon names-[name]Ariadne[/name] and [name]Charis[/name] and [name]Tamsin[/name] are all on my list of favorites- but I love [name]Anna[/name]!
If you aren’t crazy about it, there are zillions of -anna or -ana ending names. Personally, I like:
[name]Johanna[/name]
[name]Roxana[/name]
[name]Viviana[/name]
[name]Sanna[/name]
[name]Anna[/name] beginning names are great too. I love [name]Anais[/name] and [name]Anastasia[/name], as pp suggested, and there’s also Anneleise and [name]Anatola[/name].
I think [name]Anna[/name] is very sweet; I love the simplicity of it.
I love Anna. I think is a beautiful classic that is not boring. I think it seems perfectly matched to Louis and Eddie. We fully expected to call our daughter Anna when we named her Annabelle (which we did for family meaning), but Annabelle stuck. I still would love it if some day in school she chooses to shorten it to Anna.
Oh, how I love [name]Anna[/name]! I think it’s so versatile. I think with [name]Anna[/name], you wear the name, the name doesn’t wear you. I don’t think you can go wrong with it! Definitely equivalent to [name]Elizabeth[/name] and [name]Catherine[/name]!
Were I French I’d go [name]Ana[/name]ïs, which I’ve always found incredibly pretty and in your case well in keeping with [name]Louis[/name] and [name]Edouard[/name].
[name]Anna[/name] doesn’t do much for me but I don’t think it’s bad. It’s certainly culturally versatile across many European languages.
I have recently found myself very drawn to the nn. [name]Annie[/name]. [name]How[/name] do you pronounce [name]Anais[/name]? That seems like a lovely possibility.
a-na-EES. It’s often considered a variant of [name]Anna[/name]. I just really like it but since neither my DH or I are French it might be a little odd for us.
I always, always adore [name]Anna[/name]. It’s sweet, simple, beautiful, and elegant. [name]Anais[/name] is adorable too.
[name]Anna[/name] [name]Judith[/name] is such pretty combo. [name]Judith[/name] is a beautiful, substantial, and unexpected middle name to go with [name]Anna[/name]. It sounds like [name]Anna[/name] is very meaningful to you and your family. I fully endorse the use of [name]Anna[/name] [name]Judith[/name]!!
BTW, my 14-year-old daughter declares that [name]Anna[/name] is at the very top of her list of favorite names.
I think [name]Anna[/name] is a soft, sweet, almost whispery name that most little girls would like. British actor [name]Anna[/name] Popplewell looks EXACTLY like what I expect an [name]Anna[/name] to look like–feminine, pretty, sensitive. If you find the name [name]Anna[/name] boring, you could consider making it a double-barrel name. My grandma is [name]Anna[/name] [name]Mae[/name] (first and middle names, but always called by both), and I’ve liked the name [name]Anna[/name]-[name]Paulina[/name]. I recently heard the double-barrel name [name]Anna[/name]-[name]Rosa[/name] as well, which caught my attention as particularly beautiful. Good luck!
[name]Anna[/name] is beautiful, I think it’s one of the most beautiful names there is. It’s one of those names which feels warm and soul satisfying, like a really great soup or a nice mug of rich hot chocolate. It’s my sister’s name and she’s always been complimented on her name.
I like [name]Anna[/name] despite knowing one who is a little irritating at times, lol. [name]Love[/name] [name]Annie[/name] as a nickname after my kooky great great granny but I’d probably go with [name]Anwen[/name] as a full name.
Wow! Thanks for all the wonderful responses everyone! Clearly [name]Anna[/name] is a favourite among you…such positive and warm vibes about the name. As for [name]Anais[/name], I really like it too, hubby hates it 
He says it reminds him of a spoof commercial they had in [name]France[/name] as a teen ([name]Anais[/name]= Anus)… He won’t budge on this one. As for double barrel names, there are some I like, such as [name]Anna[/name]-[name]Simone[/name], but again, hubby doesn’t like them. You must all be asking, ‘well, what does hubby like?’… He likes [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Anna[/name], [name]Marion[/name], [name]Simone[/name], [name]Cecile[/name], [name]Maude[/name] and [name]Josephine[/name]. That’s it, that’s all. I also like his choices (except for [name]Marion[/name], I just can’t seem to like her), but none of them (except [name]Marion[/name] funnily enough) are family names…
Its funny, no one in my family cares that we use family names or not, except for me. This is because I am [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Mary[/name], after both Granny’s, and it has been so special to me.
3 Question for y’all: First, would you choose a family name that you ‘kinda like’, as I feel about [name]Anna[/name], over a name you just love, as I do for, say, [name]Josephine[/name]? Second, how important is it that no.3 has a family name considering no.1 and no.2 do? Lastly, and it relates to the latter question, what about using two family names as middles and choose a ‘love name’ for the first, for example [name]Josephine[/name] [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anna[/name]? Does it matter that the boys have one middle name and potential girl have two middles?
Have I confused you yet? I certainly am… 
Cheers,
Lizab
I absolutely love [name]Anna[/name]. It is so pretty for a little girl and will age well. It is definitely one of my favorites.
Family naming is very important to me as well. With our first, both her fn and mn have family meaning, and I am struggling with you as to do that again or just put the family meaning name in the middle with a first we like. For us, [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Louisa[/name], and [name]Eleanor[/name] would be family names. [name]Miriam[/name] and [name]Violet[/name] are just names we like. I don’t have an answer for you, as we don’t have one for ourselves yet.
As for the two middle name pattern, I don’t think boys typically care about names as much as girls. If you chose to keep the two mn pattern if you were to have another girl, I don’t think it would be an issue. Also, the bonus is the [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anna[/name] flow together to sound like one name, making it less of an issue if she is the only one with two mn.
I still don’t think you could go wrong with [name]Anna[/name], but I love [name]Josephine[/name] as well. Your DH has some great name choices. Good luck!
No, I wouldn’t choose a family name over a truly loved.
I think that it would be somewhat important for #3 to have some kind of family ties to their name, so I’d keep a middle name as a family name.
I think that choosing a ‘love’ name for the first name and 2 ‘like’ names for the middle name is an alright idea.
I don’t think that [name]Josephine[/name] [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anna[/name] flows well though.
I’d stick with some elaborated form of [name]Anna[/name].