Hello! I’ve lurked around on Nameberry for years but this is my first post… We are having a hard time naming baby #3 and I’m down to asking for some outside perspective!
Our son is [name_m]Charles[/name_m] [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] and we call him [name_u]Charlie[/name_u]. We both loved [name_u]Charlie[/name_u] and all the men on my husband’s side have E as a middle initial. We also loved [name_u]Elliott[/name_u] as a middle name but enough to save it as a potential first name if we ever had another boy, and [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] is a family name.
Our daughter is [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. She was going to be [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] ([name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] is my late grandmothers maiden name) until we went to write it on the birth certificate and my husband decided he didn’t love [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] for a girl. [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is my mom’s middle name and my husband’s grandma’s middle name. It’s also the name my mother in law had picked out if she ever had a girl but she had 3 boys.
We are expecting baby number 3 (a girl) due [name_f]September[/name_f] 5. Since the other two have the same initials (CES) we sort of felt obligated to do a CE name but the only C names we like are too common (our last name is super common) and/or too similar to their names. If we had a boy we were going to use [name_u]Elliott[/name_u] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] because there were no C boy names we liked.
We like names that are southern or British, with a vintage feel. I think both of our kids’ names are friendly and sweet but also sophisticated and they will grow with them. I like the idea of a long pretty name that can be shortened to a sweet vintage-y nickname.
Since we honored my mom and his grandma with [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], I’d like to honor his mom with [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] (her middle name is [name_u]Jo[/name_u] which I don’t love). I’d love to honor my grandma who died when I was 6 weeks pregnant. Her name was [name_f]Babs[/name_f] which I think is darling but my husband doesn’t like it (or [name_f]Barbara[/name_f]) and her maiden name was [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u]. Her mother was named [name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Lillian[/name_f] which is pretty.
My husband is a professional musician who adores [name_m]Gram[/name_m] [name_m]Parsons[/name_m] (he discovered [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_m]Harris[/name_m]). So far the only name he likes is [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] (or [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] or [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] to flip flop the other kids’ initials). I love it but we have good friends with an [name_f]Emmy[/name_f] and we call our daughter [name_f]Lu[/name_f] as a nickname. My top pick is [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] and maybe call her [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] or [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] [name_u]Jo[/name_u]. I also adore [name_f]Evie[/name_f] but he doesn’t like [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] or [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]. We both kind of like [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] and [name_f]Evie[/name_f] for short but that doesn’t mesh with [name_f]Josephine[/name_f].
Here are some options and I’m open to suggestions. Sorry for the novel!!
[name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f]
[name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]
[name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f]
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u]
[name_f]Evie[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f]
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f]! 
I love [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], and [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u]. [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] only if you want the theme of a form of [name_m]Charles[/name_m] in each name. Otherwise one f the other two. My personal favorite is [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u], but [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] is very nice too.
My Favourite from the list is [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], Also I think if you wanted to honour [name_f]Babs[/name_f]/[name_f]Barbara[/name_f] you could use [name_f]Arabella[/name_f]? [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] is nice
If you wanted to stick with the C theme, maybe [name_f]Coralie[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f]? I don’t like [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] but maybe [name_f]Eloise[/name_f].
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]!! All your options are cute though. If you want to continue the C E theme:
[name_f]Cecelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_f]Camille[/name_f]
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]
[name_f]Cathleen[/name_f]
[name_f]Cora[/name_f]
[name_f]Catherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Christine[/name_f]
[name_f]Cynthia[/name_f]
[name_f]Cecile[/name_f]
[name_f]Corinne[/name_f]
[name_f]Clarissa[/name_f]
[name_f]Carys[/name_f]
[name_f]Cate[/name_f]
[name_f]Calista[/name_f]
While I love [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] [name_m]Harris[/name_m], the name is a little casual compared to [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] so I would only use [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] as a nn. From your list, I like [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], or [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] best.
If you wanted to use [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] as a nn, you could use [name_f]Emily[/name_f] [name_f]Louise[/name_f], [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] [name_f]Louise[/name_f], [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] [name_f]Lucy[/name_f], or even [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] [name_f]Louise[/name_f]/[name_f]Lucy[/name_f]. Or what about using [name_f]Harriet[/name_f] as a tribute to [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f]? Too bad he doesn’t like [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], as this is a song [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] has sung with The Band! You could also use [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] nn [name_f]Kitty[/name_f] as a tribute to [name_f]Kitty[/name_f] [name_m]Wells[/name_m]. Or maybe Bluebird as a mn? [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] Bluebird or [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] Bluebird? [name_u]Josie[/name_u] is an awfully cute nn and [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] fits well with [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and [name_f]Caroline[/name_f].
Some other possibilities:
[name_m]Charles[/name_m], [name_f]Caroline[/name_f], and
[name_f]Adelaide[/name_f]
[name_f]Beatrix[/name_f]
[name_f]Cassandra[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f]
[name_f]Frances[/name_f]
[name_f]Georgiana[/name_f]
[name_f]Helena[/name_f]
[name_f]Juliet[/name_f]
[name_f]Lavinia[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Lucinda[/name_f]
[name_f]Margaret[/name_f]
[name_f]Phoebe[/name_f]
[name_f]Priscilla[/name_f]
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Tabitha[/name_f]
[name_f]Veronica[/name_f]
I have a friend called [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Lisette[/name_f]. I think [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] is a beautiful name and I like [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] as a middle name. Perhaps you could consider [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] as well?
[name_f]Welcome[/name_f]!
Having read your post, I think [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] is my favourite of your choices. To me, [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] is kind of excessively cutesy and frilly-sounding - it doesn’t pass the President Or [name_m]ROck[/name_m] [name_f]Star[/name_f] Test like [name_m]Charles[/name_m]/[name_u]Charlie[/name_u] and [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] do. I like [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] OK, but [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] feels much more versatile to me - [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] always feels very prim and proper, if that makes sense, whereas [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] is livelier. [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] also has a thousand other great possible nicknames if [name_f]Evie[/name_f] didn’t fit ([name_f]Gen[/name_f], [name_f]Gennie[/name_f], [name_f]Neve[/name_f], [name_f]Vivi[/name_f], etc).
The middle name tends not to see the light of day all that much, so if you really want to use [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], I’d use it with any of the first names on your list - [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] is kind of weighty, but in the scheme of how important it is to you to honour your mother-in-law, and since usually she’d be called [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]/[name_f]Evie[/name_f] Surname, I don’t think that should stop you. Alternatively, though, [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] does work very well.
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f] is more usable
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] has an amazing flow to it Personally, I dislike the name [name_f]Emmylou[/name_f] because I dislike tagging -lou on the end of something that could work fine on it’s own, and because it seems too Southern.