My husband and I named our son [name]Luke[/name] [name]Franco[/name]. (I’m Italian and [name]Frank[/name] is a family name.) At the time, we had chosen [name]Francesca[/name] as a girl’s name.
We’re expecting again and still love the name [name]Francesca[/name] for a girl. (We love the nickname [name]Frankie[/name].)
But, frankly speaking, are we suffering from [name]Frank[/name] overdose here? Or, would the repetition ([name]Francesca[/name] as daughter’s first name, [name]Franco[/name] as son’s middle name) be a nice link between brother and sister? (After all, [name]Franco[/name] is only our son’s middle name, which we never use anyway…)
If we do go with the name [name]Francesca[/name], we’re considering the following middle names and would love some feedback. Our last name is Gilbertson (3 syllables), so we were considering a one-syllable middle name (or two syllables, tops).
Here’s our list:
[name]Francesca[/name] [name]Kate[/name] Gilbertson
[name]Francesca[/name] [name]Jill[/name] Gilbertson - Is the rhyming a bad idea?
[name]Francesca[/name] [name]Wren[/name] Gilbertson - Is [name]Wren[/name] becoming too trendy?
[name]Francesca[/name] [name]Ciel[/name] Gilbertson - [name]Ciel[/name] is a bit of a nod to my mother, whose name is [name]Cecile[/name]. Would people pronounce it “[name]Seal[/name],” though?
[name]Francesca[/name] [name]Brett[/name] Gilbertson
Frankly (darn it, there I go again!), we’re not convinced that any of these sounds great. We desperately need some advice!
If [name]Francesca[/name] isn’t a good idea, we would love some other first name suggestions. We particularly love the “-cesca” part of the name and would be interested in other names with a similar sound. I particularly like Italian female names.
I love the name [name]Francesca[/name] - definitely one of my favorites. Since your son’s first name is [name]Luke[/name] I don’t see a problem with having another “[name]Frank[/name]” name.
Another [name]Frank[/name] name seems a bit much to me, especially if there’s a chance you will have another child in future because then you have to either find ANOTHER [name]Frank[/name] name for them, or decide to leave them out of the naming connection between the first two. If you know this is your last child though then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but personally, I’d want my own name and not a variation of a siblings middle. I understand why you love [name]Francesca[/name] though, it’s so beautiful! Here are some other ideas based on the different elements of the name:
I don’t see any problem with it at all. [name]Francesca[/name] [name]Ciel[/name] is great. (Except, truth be told, I pronounce [name]Ciel[/name] as [name]Seal[/name]. Is there another way?)
I think [name]Francesca[/name] is great. I’ve always liked this name. Especially in the U.S., where it’s unusual and a bit edgy without being unheard of or strange. In [name]Italy[/name] it’s a bit overused. I don’t think it will be a problem at all with your son’s mn. After all, as you said, you don’t say their full names out that often, and as they get older, both full names will be said together less and less. [name]Even[/name] if they were, the last name will separate them:
[name]Luke[/name] [name]Franco[/name] Gilbertson and [name]Francesca[/name] ---- Gilbertson. I wouldn’t have even noticed there being anything unusual about that.
I like [name]Francesca[/name] [name]Kate[/name], and [name]Francesca[/name] [name]Ciel[/name] (I love family names!) but like the last poster, I’m not sure exactly how you mean to pronounce it if not [name]Seal[/name]. Cell? Chell?
I don’t like the other mn ideas; [name]Jill[/name] and [name]Wren[/name] are both cute but I don’t care for the flow. [name]Brett[/name] is still very much a boys’ name to me.
Yes there is only one way to say [name]Ciel[/name] and it is See [name]Elle[/name], not [name]Seal[/name], and that is why this is the only name I can think of where I would change the spelling (something I usually abhor, I believe the traditional spelling is always best).
I believe that Cielle makes it perfectly clear that the pronunciation is See [name]Elle[/name].
And I would not have siblings with the same name eg [name]Franco[/name] and [name]Francesca[/name] or [name]Mary[/name] [name]Jane[/name] and [name]Alyssa[/name] [name]Jane[/name] etc.
I live in New Zealand so it’s probably different here but [name]Frankie[/name] is one of the most popular names I know - in fact I know about seven different Frankies. A couple are [name]Frances[/name]’ - but the other names stand on there own. Thought you might be interested (I think it’s like this in [name]England[/name] too, because ‘Coronation [name]Street[/name]’ had a [name]Frankie[/name]).
