I have always had a harder time coming up with boys names. I’m not expecting but we are talking about it, and it’s brought my attention back to the fact that I never really love any boys names.
It seems like it’s almost mandatory for me to use the name [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] in some way though. [name_f]My[/name_f] grandfather, brother, father in law, and favorite uncle are all [name_m]Daniel[/name_m]. It makes the most sense for me to use it in the middle spot, I know my brother and uncle probably wouldn’t be as happy about having another [name_m]Dan[/name_m]. [name_f]My[/name_f] partner joked we could use [name_m]Niel[/name_m] (pronouncing it like Neil) but I hate that.
If there is another way to honor [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] that would be cool, but I don’t want to go too far off script so that it isn’t clear what we’re doing. I also don’t like [name_f]Danielle[/name_f] or [name_f]Daniella[/name_f] so it’s not one I want to gender swap for a girl.
Right now the only names I’m loving are [name_m]Oisin[/name_m], [name_m]Tiernan[/name_m] and [name_m]Truett[/name_m]. I think they can all work okay with [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] as a middle name but it’s not making my heart sing.
[name_m]Oisin[/name_m] is such a handsome name!! I do think it sounds really nice with [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] as a middle name, but if it’s not the one it makes sense to consider other ideas.
Something that came to mind was [name_m]Duncan[/name_m]! It has the same “dan” sound at the start and is also 2 syllables. [name_m]Dante[/name_m] & [name_m]Dane[/name_m] work for the same reason. You could also use a variant of [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] from another language, such as [name_m]Danilo[/name_m], [name_m]Taneli[/name_m], [name_m]Daniil[/name_m], [name_m]Danko[/name_m], [name_m]Tanel[/name_m], etc! [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] could be another idea, since it has the “aniel” of [name_m]Daniel[/name_m]. And then, there are a lot of names with -dan as the ending sound! [name_m]Jordan[/name_m], [name_m]Aidan[/name_m], [name_m]Brendan[/name_m], [name_m]Riordan[/name_m], etcetera.
You could go with a name that has a similar meaning like [name_m]Jadon[/name_m] / Jadan (also has [name_m]Dan[/name_m] in it) or [name_m]Justice[/name_m]
A name with “Dan” in it like Lidan, [name_m]Avidan[/name_m] / [name_m]Abidan[/name_m] / Amidan, Jadan / [name_m]Jaydan[/name_m], [name_m]Aidan[/name_m], [name_m]Dane[/name_m], [name_m]Dante[/name_m], [name_m]Jordan[/name_m], [name_m]Edan[/name_m] / [name_m]Adan[/name_m], [name_m]Odan[/name_m], [name_m]Ardan[/name_m], Danidain, Dannan, Eridan / Eridanos, Maddan, or [name_m]Zaidan[/name_m] / [name_m]Zaydan[/name_m]
[name_m]Or[/name_m] a name that has “Niel” in it like [name_m]Othniel[/name_m] / Athniel, [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], Taniel, [name_m]Zephaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Hanniel[/name_m], [name_f]Raniel[/name_f] / Roniel, [name_f]Peniel[/name_f], Sethaniel, or [name_m]Ethaniel[/name_m]
You could also use two middle names and use [name_m]Dan[/name_m] / [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] as the second one, if you’re not opposed to two. There’s no reason you can’t choose a combo you do love and then just tack the honour name on the end if you want to use it
If you don’t like [name_f]Danielle[/name_f] or [name_f]Daniella[/name_f], maybe you’d like [name_f]Danica[/name_f], [name_f]Danae[/name_f], or [name_f]Dana[/name_f] as a gender-swapped version instead?
I think [name_f]Dana[/name_f] also works as a masculine middle name. [name_m]Or[/name_m] maybe [name_m]Danner[/name_m] or Danson?
I don’t have any other new ideas beyond what’s already been suggested.
If [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] doesn’t make your heart sing this probably won’t either, but I considered using [name_m]Davidson[/name_m] as a middle to honor my husband [name_m]David[/name_m] (he vetoed ), but for some reason I liked [name_m]Davidson[/name_m] more than [name_m]David[/name_m]. Would Danielson in a middle spot make any difference?
[name_m]Way[/name_m] out there and not sure it’s really a name? But Landie would be an anagram for [name_m]Daniel[/name_m].
Thanks so much for your suggestions! They’re making me think - Would Dannell be a silly name? [name_f]My[/name_f] grandpa went by [name_m]Dan[/name_m] and so does my brother, so my grandpa would call him Dan-el (He was always shortening things, he called me tweets instead of sweety for example).
I feel like [name_m]Oisin[/name_m] Dannell could be really cute (our last name is [name_m]Irish[/name_m] and I feel like Dannell feels almost [name_m]Irish[/name_m] too!)
Dannell would be a great middle in my opinion! It sounds very cool and I love the family connection!
A bonus is I think it would work well as a girls name too.
Other girls name options could be:
[name_f]Dana[/name_f]
Danica/Danika
Danalee/Danaley
[name_f]Danette[/name_f]
[name_f]Danise[/name_f]
It seems you are honing in on using [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] related names for a boy, at the present, but in case this changes [name_f]Nadine[/name_f] is almost an anagram of [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] - just another N instead of the L.
That’s tough because the name [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] has been used so often in your family it’s hard to veer in a different direction!
If you wanted to honor a specific [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] in your family you could do something more related to him instead of his name. His favorite color, favorite place, favorite vacation spot, favorite tv character, favorite hobby, etc. Then it would still be honoring them without using [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] again.
You could also do two middle names if it would flow better. Use [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] in the second middle name spot and it might change the flow of the name to something you liked more.
For what it’s worth, I like [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] a lot as a middle for your first names! I think most of the ideas I’d had have been mentioned, as well, but I did have two:
[name_m]Dansby[/name_m] (which I think sounds rather nice? I’m a sucker for -by names like [name_m]Ashby[/name_m], [name_m]Crosby[/name_m], [name_m]Dansby[/name_m], etc., though!)
Initials—could you use initials? Like if he is [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] Robert… [name_m]Desmond[/name_m] [name_m]Rhys[/name_m]? Although this would be hard if each of the Daniel’s have different middle names…
I do like the option of Dannell though, given the significance to you!
), but for some reason I liked [name_m]Davidson[/name_m] more than [name_m]David[/name_m]. Would Danielson in a middle spot make any difference?