I see a lot of talk about alliteration preferences (January Jones) and similar sounds in general (Emmeline Melisande), as well as syllable balance. What about rhyming endings?
Our last name ends in an -uh sound, so I generally rule out names that have the same ending – which is a LOT of feminine names (ending in -a and -e, primarily). Problem is, I’ve majorly fallen in love with a few and simply told myself I can love them from afar. But am I being too neurotic about it?
Is a 2-2 syllable name with rhyming ending worse than 3-2, or 3-3 for that matter (with more syllables to dilute the overall sound)?
Or alliterative AND 2-2 AND rhyming - like Maya Muna?
I think it depends on the name and how much the ends rhyme.
for instance, [name]Carter[/name] [name]Tucker[/name] does not sound that bad to me, but [name]Emerson[/name] [name]Anderson[/name] is awful.
In general I’m not a fan of rhyming endings, but I do think that different syllable length can help matters. For example, [name]Maya[/name] Muna is just rhymey to the point of distraction for me (along with [name]Carter[/name] [name]Tucker[/name] and [name]Emerson[/name] [name]Anderson[/name]) but [name]Amaya[/name] Muna or [name]Marissa[/name] Muna don’t sound bad at all to me.
Some times similar endings could help to unite a sibset so I’m not totally against them (i.e. [name]Cecily[/name] and [name]Emily[/name]). But, I agree that the different syllable count can help to separate the similar endings where it’s a fn/ln combination. Of course you may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt as my mother had a rhyming name after she married my father-- [name]Avis[/name] [name]Davis[/name]-- but I think it just made her more memorable!
I think it depends on how badly they rhyme.
[name]Both[/name] names ending in -a would be fine to me.
[name]Anna[/name] [name]Garcia[/name] wouldn’t bother me at all but [name]Felicia[/name] [name]Garcia[/name] and I’d probably do a mental eye roll.
I love -y/-i/-ie ending names but I try to mostly avoid them as our last name ends in y.
That said I find they flow better if it’s a different number of syllables than our last name - I can live with, for example, [name]Lily[/name] or [name]Xanthe[/name] M0R0NEE (replace ee with y) which is better than 3 syllables like [name]Emily[/name]/[name]Verity[/name]/[name]Rosemary[/name] but even those are better than the absolute worst which would be [name]Naomi[/name] or [name]Ione[/name] M0R0NEE, which are 3-3 true rhymes and are truly awful, which kills me because I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Ione[/name] and [name]Naomi[/name] as names.
I haven’t decided if 4 syllable -ee endings, as in [name]Penelope[/name] or [name]Iolanthe[/name], would be okay, but probably not as good as shorter. [name]Just[/name] because 4 + 3 is just a lot.
My personal bias is 3-3 rhyming is especially awful because its long and jangly. At least [name]Luke[/name] [name]Duke[/name] is over quickly? Haha.
Like the others have said, some rhymes don’t really bother me ([name]Clara[/name] [name]Garcia[/name]), but I think I’m particularly sensitive to flow because my first and last name (in my opinion) have similar endings that just aren’t as pleasant as they could be.
What about [name]Aya[/name] Muna, non-alliterative but rhyming and same syllable?
It’s always a first name/last name combination, isn’t it? I mean, it’s a person. They will be introducing themselves as Firstname Lastname. [name]Cecily[/name] is [name]Cecily[/name] [name]Jones[/name], not [name]Cecily[/name] and [name]Emily[/name].
I put no stock in sibsets beyond naming fairness (in interest, popularity).
I think it’s best to avoid rhyming 2 syllable names with a 2 syllable last name. Let’s say your last name really is Muna, [name]Aya[/name] and [name]Maya[/name] sound pretty distracting. As a previous poster said, [name]Amaya[/name], or even a 4 syllable name like [name]Amalia[/name], would sound much better.
I don’t see an issue with the names you’ve mentioned. It really just depends on the name, for me.
My biggest issue that comes to mind is actually with my husband’s name. His first and last name not only rhyme, they share the same 3 ending letters. It sounds pretty horrible when said together, but it’s a family name so I guess it’s somewhat allowable.
I know someone whose name is [name]Brett[/name] and the last name ends in -ette and it actually sounds amazing, but everyone ALWAYS calls him by his first and last name because it’s so much fun to say.
Yes, rhyming endings bother me! Our last name ends in -ey, so I didn’t want any names that ended that way. Also, I don’t want my kids names to have the same ending…So now, the -o and -a endings are out. This eliminates so many girls names!
I think alliteration of the first and last name can be really, really nice, and have a great ring to it. I’m a teacher, and whenever I have students whose first and last names have the same letter it makes me smile.
I don’t mind repeating sounds and I think alliteration has its perks, but as other posters have said, two syllable names with similar endings don’t sound good to me. Throw an extra syllable into the first name and suddenly it seems so much better.