*Rosmerta [name_f]Cornelia[/name_f] [name_u]Hero[/name_u]
I am not usually a fan of [name_f]Cornelia[/name_f] but in this combo it sounds stunning. [name_f]Rosmerta[/name_f] sounds beautiful, regal and charming. It also gives me a wonderful image in my head. [name_u]Hero[/name_u] is strong but still feels feminine. I’d give this combo a 9/10!
I posted about this today but your comment really drove home to me the idea that it could be the best name in the world but if he doesn’t love it, too, what is it all for? I’m giving up [name_f]Rosmerta[/name_f], [name_f]Twila[/name_f], [name_f]Cassiopeia[/name_f], and a bunch of other favorite first names in favor of only considering the first names I know he is absolutely giddy over, too.
Thankfully, [name_f]Petra[/name_f] is one of those.
I love that you see this, too. Rocks are solid, nearly everlasting, and constant. They also fit the “metal ox” thing, too. They are stoic, solid, strong-willed.
What a beautiful Herodotus quote, thank you for sharing it. Beautiful imagery of the eagle in the overhanging rocks.
I was really excited to see you “like” the posts the other day and then follow that up the next day with these awesome analyses of the names. I really appreciate it.
I’m really excited to have some more clarity this week with my revelation that my partner must absolutely LOVE the first name we choose. We now have a shortlist:
[name_f]Petra[/name_f]
[name_f]Thisbe[/name_f]
[name_u]Tempest[/name_u]
[name_f]Minerva[/name_f]
[name_f]Octavia[/name_f]
[name_f]Perpetua[/name_f], “[name_f]Petra[/name_f]”
Olympias
So excited about this. I have many more excellent combos I’ll be mulling over. I’m going to round out this week fleshing out completely the revised top 24 that I will continue here. [name_u]New[/name_u] combo on [name_f]Sunday[/name_f]!
I’m so excited to see [name_f]Thisbe[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] and [name_f]Petra[/name_f] make the list
It is so exciting to narrow down to a short list! I’m eager to hear your revised combinations, especially any combinations with one name shining in the the middle slot.
If I integrate my perception of your naming criteria and style with my own feelings, I get three groupings on a sliding scale from most preferred to least; (1) [name_f]Petra[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] and [name_f]Octavia[/name_f], (2) [name_f]Thisbe[/name_f] and Olympias, and (3) [name_u]Tempest[/name_u] and [name_f]Perpetua[/name_f].
Looking forward to your next post.
I’m disappointed that [name_f]Rosmerta[/name_f] doesn’t make the cut, but I absolutely agree that your partner should love the first name as well. I’ve found that when my husband is totally on board with a name, it makes me love it more; even if it’s not the name I would’ve chosen on my own, I end up loving it more than any other option because of our shared admiration.
A different kind of quiz for this week. 
How important do you feel each of these criteria is for my naming of this baby:
It is important to include an o somewhere.
0 voters
It is important to include an -ia feminization.
0 voters
It is important to include a t in the first name.
0 voters
It is important to have a vowel other than o, a, i (the only ones my sons share for first names).
0 voters
It is important to stick to the o, a, i with the first name vowels.
0 voters
It is important to include a spiky end-of-alphabet letter in the middle slot (v, w, x, y, z) to match the brothers.
0 voters
It is important to have a “happy” meaning.
0 voters
It is important to have a “time/event” meaning.
0 voters
It is important to have a beautiful meaning to me across all the names.
0 voters
It is important to honor MIL’s side (Tam).
0 voters
It is important to honor Genevieve “Jule.”
0 voters
It is important to honor the matrilineal line.
0 voters
It is important to include an honor name.
0 voters
It is important that my husband love every individual name and the overall combination just as much as I do.
0 voters
It is important that the first names themselves work across English and French and have a good Japanese nickname.
0 voters
It is important that I have in mind cute French and Japanese nicknames, but don’t need to worry about the full first name.
0 voters
It is ideal to keep the full name (including surname) between 7 and 10 syllables like brothers.
0 voters
It is important to stick to a 4- (the 5- was eliminated) syllable first name.
0 voters
It is important to go for a 2-3 syllable first name to round out the sibset and not be quite so long this time.
0 voters
Thanks, Berries!
I’m honestly neutral on most of these - to me, a lot of the criteria seem like things that could be nice to have but not really deal breakers if you otherwise love a name. The ones that sound important is that you both love the name, the meaning feels right to you, and that it works across all the languages you use (whether that be the full name or a nickname).
@QuirkFlower and @kachenka, I was thinking when we narrowed to the 7 that there are three distinct frontrunners if I let them be based on mutual level of passion between me and my partner: [name_f]Petra[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f], and Olympias. So your lists are not far off. But I’m not willing to cut it down so much so quickly. We will see how I feel in a month or so.
I think that’s totally fair to hold back from narrowing things down any further at this point. Feelings can and do change, and there’s still so much fun to be had exploring your list.
I am warming up to Olympias. I thought she was a bit of a stranger at first, a lesser-known alternative to [name_f]Olympia[/name_f]. But as I was thinking about your seven names more holistically, I realised the familiarity of the [name_f]Olympia[/name_f] and the Olympics could be an advantage. The sibilance adds something slinky and the unexpected.
Week 6
[name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]
As I say it:
As my husband would say it:
[name_f]Petra[/name_f] is definitely a frontrunner in our new first name shortlist. As name for name sake goes, she is the favorite for both of us, but of course with me there is always more to the story.
[name_f]Apolline[/name_f] is such a bright and sunshiny name with so much depth about her. Often the sweeter names don’t feel right to me somehow. They come off as vapid or saccharine or else they just seem too much a mismatch with my soul (is that a thing?). I’m a person quick to smile and have a childlike lightness about me, but I’m far too serious for a good many bright, sweet names that would otherwise suit my adventurous taste, and I married a man with this exact temperament as well. [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] is one that strikes the perfect balance between playfulness and gravitas.
[name_f]Apolline[/name_f] would honor the many Pauls and Paulines in my family, beginning (as far as I know) with my 3rd great grandmother, “Granny [name_f]Pauline[/name_f],” who is the most recent immigrant in my lineage, having come to the states as a teenager from the [name_m]Kingdom[/name_m] of [name_m]Saxony[/name_m] (now part if [name_m]Germany[/name_m]).
[name_f]My[/name_f] partner has never been on board with with any [name_m]Paul[/name_m] or [name_f]Pauline[/name_f] variations, but he does love [name_f]Apolline[/name_f], which in my book is a splendid substitute. [name_f]My[/name_f] great-grandmother (married to one of the Pauls) used to joke about our family tree: “We’ve got so many Pauls, it’s appalling!” Tongue and cheek, I’d love to say: “We’ve got so many Pauls, it’s [name_f]Apolline[/name_f]!” 
[@UnderTheRainbow, here is a real-life American use in context of the “have got” construct you were asking about the other day… This was my great-grandma born in 1917. It feels archaic nowadays].
As for the pronunciation, only in that “appalling/Apolline” context would I pronounce them similarly (like [name_m]Apollo[/name_m] with an -een). I say it the [name_u]French[/name_u] way, more alike to apple-een but that’s not it either (see the soundbyte for clarification presently).
[name_f]Joy[/name_f] has never gotten particularly far up my favorites list in general. It is rather unadorned and a fair bit too common and that smidge dated, but she just sings so joyously in this combo.
Things I love about [name_f]Joy[/name_f]:
Along that line, the historical fiction novels by [name_u]Lisa[/name_u] See are some of my favorites, and her Dreams of [name_f]Joy[/name_f] in particular I found to be very moving (exploring Mao’s Great Leap Forward).
Obviously… I still consider [name_u]Jule[/name_u] as a possibility here. I prefer the sound of [name_f]Joy[/name_f] to the heavier l sound following [name_f]Apolline[/name_f], but it is by no means a bad option, but this combo is just perfection with [name_f]Joy[/name_f], imo.
The perfect combo of sunny names with heavy sounds and a touch of solemnity about them (don’t ask me why [name_f]Joy[/name_f] is solemn, it just is). This is the most bubbly combo I could possibly think of that also still sounds 100% like a “metal ox” child of 2021.
I can also tolerate a lot more alliteration and assonance than this name, but I feel like to another’s ear, the repetition of the P here is just right. Not over the top at all, but hopefully pleasing and fun.
And [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] and [name_f]Joy[/name_f] bring in the O that [name_f]Petra[/name_f] lacks.
I went with an old favorite for this week who could not slip by unnoticed, but overall I’m feeling very ho-hum about most of the names on my list this week. I’ll need to tweak some things, I think, before next week.
All your thoughts appreciated, as always!
I’m a bit blown away by [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]! What a jubilant, sparky name
I love [name_f]Petra[/name_f]. I really love [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] (and your reasons for using it)! I’m less excited about [name_f]Joy[/name_f], but I do see how it works perfectly in this combo. And I like the shared meaning with your boys’ middles.
It does seem lighter and happier than [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Antigone[/name_f] [name_u]Jule[/name_u].
You can’t help but smile when you say it. 
I honestly can’t decide yet which [name_f]Petra[/name_f] pairing I prefer because they feel so different.
I suppose the deciding factor will be whether to honor the Pauls and Paulines or whether to honor [name_u]Jule[/name_u].
I agree that [name_u]Jule[/name_u] goes better with [name_f]Antigone[/name_f] than [name_f]Apolline[/name_f].
My favorite [name_f]Petra[/name_f] combo so far! It does have gravitas, no doubt, but it doesn’t feel as weighed down when you say it as some of the other combos. The commonalities in sound make the name feel rhythmic, so it feels joyous when you speak it <3
The name is perhaps not as meaning-heavy as some of your others, but that may be an opportunity to let your daughter flourish on her own. It has enough thought to feel impactful without being overshadowed by association. Besides, the memories and values you pass down will strengthen her, even if they’re not all present in the name itself.
I don’t know how I missed this thread! But I’ve been reading through it. I love [name_f]Rosmerta[/name_f] [name_f]Cornelia[/name_f] [name_u]Hero[/name_u] and [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] – by far my favorites of your list so far. Simply gorgeous. <3
Petra [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]
This name flows really nicely and goes really well with her big brother’s names, H0r@t!0 and An@$t@$!0! I give this combo an 8/10!
Petra [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] is absolutely my favorite name combo you’re shared so far on here, it’s so beautiful!
I’m just seconding what everyone else has said, really - [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] is a beautiful combo. I can see [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_u]Jule[/name_u] working equally well but agree with you that [name_f]Joy[/name_f] seems to fit here perfectly. [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] sounds adventurous to me and befitting of an explorer, inventor, or travel writer.
I love [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]! Definitely my favorite in this thread so far. [name_f]Petra[/name_f] [name_f]Antigone[/name_f] [name_u]Jule[/name_u] is a runner up, but [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] seems to fit in better with big brothers’ names. Also, I just love [name_f]Apolline[/name_f] and it gives me a thrill to see someone considering it.