[name]Hi[/name] All-
This is my second post asking for guidance about a girl baby name. I really, really, really want to name our baby girl after either my mother ([name]Jan[/name] [name]Bertrice[/name],) or my grandmother ([name]Lillian[/name] DeMerle.) To those of you who replied, I appreciated your effort, but for various reasons, we have eliminated all previous suggestions from our list.
The critical information you need to know for this post is our baby girl will have an older brother the with name of [name]Harold[/name] [name]Jonathan[/name], who goes by the nn [name]Hal[/name]. (Please refrain from commenting on his name, as he is already here, and we love the name we selected.) Our last name is [name]German[/name] and has two syllables.
Lately I have come to appreciate the retro-simplicity of the name ‘[name]Janet[/name]’ (which would, obviously, be in honor of my mother, [name]Jan[/name].) We would pair it with a name from my husband’s side, so she would be [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name]. What do you think? Please, remember to be gentle. We have gone through both family trees numerous times and we are stuck. This is one of the very few ‘maybes’ remaining. The next best option would be to name her ‘[name]Claudia[/name].’ And while I love that name, it is not from my mother’s side of the family. Another hiccup is I like [name]Harold[/name] and [name]Claudia[/name] together, but not necessarily [name]Hal[/name] and [name]Claudia[/name]. Suggestions and/or advice is appreciated. Thank you for your help!
Previous Suggestions We Are Not Using Include:
[name]Lillian[/name]
[name]Lilly[/name]
[name]Lil[/name]
[name]Jillian[/name]
[name]Beatrice[/name] or [name]Beatrix[/name] or [name]Bea[/name]
[name]January[/name]
[name]Jana[/name]
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Janice[/name]
I think [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] nn [name]Jan[/name] is really lovely and goes very well with [name]Harold[/name] nn [name]Hal[/name]. I definitely prefer that to [name]Claudia[/name], though [name]Claudia[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] does flow very nicely. Laudy would be a cute nn as well, or [name]Dia[/name].
[name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] is lovely but I prefer [name]Valentine[/name] on a boy.
I don’t like [name]Claudia[/name] at all, sorry, especially because of the meaning. What about [name]Clara[/name]/[name]Claire[/name]/[name]Chiara[/name]? They all mean “light” and have the same feel. [name]Hal[/name] and [name]Claire[/name] would be lovely.
[name]Hal[/name] to me is a cool, modern but yet still retro nickname for [name]Harold[/name], and I absolutely love it. I don’t feel the same about [name]Janet[/name]/[name]Jan[/name]…it just feels dated to me. It clearly has a special meaning for you guys, so you should go with it if you love it!
I know you ruled out [name]Jillian[/name] already, but I do love that name. And, for what it’s worth, I also love [name]Jacqueline[/name], which could kinda be a tribute to both grandmothers?
[name]How[/name] about [name]Claudia Janet[/name]? [name]Harold Jonathan[/name], nn [name]Hal[/name] and [name]Claudia Janet[/name] go so nicely together.
Maybe [name]Claudia[/name] could go by the nn [name]Claire[/name] or [name]Clara[/name]?
I think [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] sounds pretty together, and to me at least [name]Valentine[/name] is a feminine name. [name]Jannie[/name] is a cute nickname too! I like [name]Jan[/name]/[name]Janet[/name]/[name]Jannie[/name] much better than [name]Claudia[/name] but that’s just my personal preference.
[name]Hal[/name] and [name]Janet[/name] seem to go together really well as a sibset too!
First off, I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Harold[/name]/[name]Hal[/name]! Great choice. I think neither “[name]Claudia[/name]” nor “[name]Janet[/name]” match [name]Hal[/name]'s retro-cool vibe so I’d go with a variation like
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Claudette[/name]
or some other combo of your desired names like
[name]Millie[/name]
[name]Merle[/name]
[name]Delia[/name]
[name]Maude[/name]
[name]Jill[/name]
[name]Clea[/name]
p.s. I’m confused as to why you’re so worried about us being “gentle”. Has someone been mean to you about names or something?
You shouldn’t ask for advice with too many strings attached if you truly want honest opinions
Who cares if some Internet-random says something you don’t like. Be confident in your lovely name choices. The world would be so boring if every baby were named [name]Sophia[/name] and [name]Jacob[/name]!
I think [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] sounds like a great option for you! [name]Harold[/name] and [name]Janet[/name] go very nicely together:)
I think [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] is a lovely name. [name]Janet[/name] is a good a solid name that has history and substance. It isn’t common anymore, but there is nothing wrong with it. It is easy to spell, easy to pronounce, has personal meaning and doesn’t have any negative associations. It goes well with [name]Harold[/name] too!
I do prefer [name]Claudia[/name], but I think [name]Janet[/name] would be the better choice because of personal meaning and because it matches better with [name]Harold[/name].
I really love [name]Janet[/name]! [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] is a great combo, too. [name]Claudia[/name] is a lovely name, but the meaning puts me off a bit.
PAW-
Thank you for sharing two nice positives we can focus on moving forward. That was the kind of concrete advice I was searching for! I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Thanks again for all the great replies. I know the meaning of ‘[name]Claudia[/name]’ leaves a lot to be desired, but as I said, we are desperate!
I’m thrilled that so many of you have had a positive reaction to ‘[name]Janet[/name].’ Thanks to svea, niamh749 (never considered [name]Jannie[/name], but it is cute too!), krismichelle, and uselesskitty. I think I just needed to know I wasn’t the only person alive to think of ‘[name]Janet[/name]’ as a cute and usable name. As one half of the name-selecting committee, I didn’t want to choose a name for my child that would make the majority of people cringe.
To mrshappytoes, your reply makes me think you haven’t yet had to go through the agony of deciding on a name, to then have that name be disliked by either friends, family, or random strangers. (I hope you never have to either!) We live in a very opinionated world now, and people from the cashier at the grocery store, to your next-door neighbor, or worse, a close friend or family member feel entitled to share their knee-jerk reaction with you. Their opinions did not matter enough to make us change our minds, however, I still remember every look of disappointment I got after sharing our choice of [name]Harold[/name]/nn [name]Hal[/name]. That is the purpose of discussing here first; a safe place where I can work out my true feelings, before facing (certain) disappointment from others later. Because lets get real, there is no such thing as a perfect name. As to the comment about not having so many parameters in order to get a ‘true’ opinion, I understand your point, however, I’m addressing a very specific problem, and I’m looking for a very specific answer. I’m not asking for new names, or new combinations, or your feelings about [name]Hal[/name], I’m simply looking for why or why not you like the names [name]Janet[/name], [name]Valentine[/name] or [name]Claudia[/name]. Thank you for your comments.
I think [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] is a lovely name and [name]Jannie[/name] or [name]Jan[/name] make darling nicknames. I like the sound-feel of [name]Janet[/name], if that makes any sense. It seems to balance little girl and adult - cute enough for a girl, grown enough for an adult.
I like [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] [name]Claudia[/name] is nice too but [name]Janet[/name] and [name]Hal[/name] sound good together.
Other suggestions based on your grandmothers name… [name]Merla[/name], [name]Emerald[/name], [name]Esmeralda[/name], [name]Demi[/name] or [name]Lilah[/name]?
Flamingo-
[name]Love[/name] your suggestion of [name]Janette[/name] with nn [name]Nettie[/name], however we have an [name]Eleanor[/name] in our family tree (again, not on my mom’s side) so we would use that with the nn of [name]Nell[/name] before we would use [name]Nettie[/name]. Thanks for being thoughtfully creative though.
I love [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name], what a lovely combination! (I also like the previous suggestion of [name]Claudia[/name] [name]Janet[/name] but I’m not sure if that’s honoring the people you wanted to). [name]Janet[/name] doesn’t read dated to me and [name]Valentine[/name] is just so endearing, I can imagine calling a sweet baby girl [name]Janet[/name] [name]Valentine[/name] all the time! I like the alliteration of L and N sounds too. I think [name]Janet[/name] and [name]Harold[/name], [name]Janet[/name] and [name]Hal[/name] are a great combo for siblings. Good luck!
