My husband and I found out last week we’re expecting a girl (our first). I should have known it was a girl when it took us two minutes to agree on a boy’s name prior to finding out.
Now we’re stuck. Our tastes seem to be all over the map (classic, hippie, super feminine, completely gender neutral), but we seem to overlap on the more gender neutral names. If possible, I would like to somehow use my grandmother’s name. Her first name is [name]Julia[/name] and her maiden name is Haverty. With this in mind, I suggested two first name options last night that seemed like they might work with both our tastes:
[name]Waverly[/name]
Haverty
DH loved [name]Waverly[/name] (and I love [name]Waverly[/name]; I associate it with The [name]Joy[/name] [name]Luck[/name] Club) and was lukewarm (but didn’t veto) Haverty. If we go this gender-neutral, less-common route, I’d like to stick with a classic and feminine middle name to give her an option about what she would like to go by as she gets older. If we went with [name]Waverly[/name], I’d love to use [name]Julia[/name] as a middle name, but it doesn’t seem to sound right. [name]Jules[/name] sounds better to me, but we’re back in gender neutral territory there. I’m not dead set on using part of my Grandmother’s name, though it would be nice, but I’d love to see if people have other thoughts.
For Haverty, [name]Grace[/name] immediately comes to mind as an option for a middle, but I’d love to hear other ideas as [name]Grace[/name] is so common now (again, not a deal-breaker, but I am just wondering if there’s a similar sounding name that might be slightly less popular). I actually love “[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Grace[/name]” but it’s too close to “[name]Waverly[/name] Place” from the area in NY/TV show.
Hmm, you really don’t care for [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Julia[/name]? i think it’s quite a pretty combo, although I guess it also depends on what your last name is.
I admit I just don’t care for Haverty as a first name at all. I’d be fine with it as a middle.
I also like [name]Julia[/name] for a first name very much. Another possibility might be [name]Juliet[/name], if you want something a little less common. [name]Juliet[/name] Haverty Lastname might work very nicely! Or, if you both do prefer the gender-neutral, maybe you could go with [name]Julian[/name], which was gender-neutral way back when (e.g. Dame [name]Julian[/name] of Norwich).
I like [name]Waverly[/name] much better than Haverty. Haverty sounds like Havarti to me, whereas [name]Waverly[/name] sounds more like a name. I also do like [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Julia[/name], or even [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Juliet[/name].
As far as other options with [name]Waverly[/name], floral names may work well. [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Rose[/name], [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Violet[/name], [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Iris[/name]… those all add a feminine touch to [name]Waverly[/name].
[name]How[/name] about [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Juliet[/name]? You get the best of both worlds!
Haverty is quite interesting, and love that its a maiden name from your family, but i cant seem to shake away the resemblance to Havarti cheese. So sorry! I think by using [name]Waverly[/name] though, you are subtly tying into Haverty with the -aver- being the tie between the two.
It seems you may also like the name [name]Avery[/name], which contains many letters in the same order as Haverty (and [name]Waverly[/name]), just taking away the cheese association!
[name]Avery[/name] [name]Juliette[/name] is a stunning, stunning name!
Great feedback! I had also made the Haverty/Havarti connection, but didn’t want to say anything to see if that’s what other people thought as well. I figure kids won’t pick up on that (i.e., won’t be fodder for teasing, at least not until later on), but it’s definitely there. [name]Juliet[/name] is a great option that I hadn’t considered and it does sound better with our last name. [name]Love[/name] the ideas! Keep 'em coming.
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Waverly[/name]! I, too, associate it with The [name]Joy[/name] [name]Luck[/name] Club in a positive way. I prefer [name]Waverly[/name] over Haverty but that’s because [name]Waverly[/name] is way more familiar to my ear. I think I could get used to Haverty very quickly & it has it’s own form of spunk & originality. My first instinct would be to go very feminine in the middle spot. I say explore some options & if you come back to [name]Julia[/name] or [name]Jules[/name] then it was meant to be. Here’s a bunch to sift through. I think [name]Waverly[/name] & Haverty are similar enough in sound that most of the options work for both (depending on your last name, of course).
[name]Waverly[/name] / Haverty middle name options:
I prefer [name]Waverly[/name]. Sorry to say, I too thought of Havarti cheese! I dont think its a real deal-breaker or anything, you might get the occasional cheese pronunciation from a grown up though.
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Jules[/name] isnt bad, but I agree [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Julia[/name] sounds off for some reason.
Other thoughts:
Keeping the J. initial:
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Jane[/name] (oh i adore this)
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Jude[/name]
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]June[/name]
Others:
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Gray[/name]
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Mae[/name]
[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Faye[/name] (I guess I like that -ay sound with [name]Waverly[/name])
[name]Love[/name] the [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Juliet[/name] combination that’s been mentioned a couple times. You can honour grandmother and still keep the name you want in the first spot. I agree that Haverty sounds like Havarti to me and is best kept in the middle spot.
I would definitely go with [name]Waverly[/name]. Haverty’s is a chain of tries-to-seem-upscale-but-is-really-on-the-discount-end furniture stores where I come from, though. [name]Waverly[/name] is graceful, more feminine, and affords prettier nicknames (Wavey, [name]Ava[/name] or [name]Avie[/name], [name]Vera[/name], [name]Lee[/name] vs… [name]Vera[/name] maybe?). I think [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Julia[/name] and [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Juliet[/name] are lovely!
I like [name]Waverley[/name] (it’s a street near me here in [name]Brooklyn[/name] and I have heard a mother calling for her daughter…I wouldn’t use it here so close to the street, but otherwise it’s a very pretty sounding name!) more than Haverty.
I think “[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Jane[/name]” is our new frontrunner with “[name]Waverly[/name] [name]Juliet[/name]” being a close second. I just love the sound of [name]Waverly[/name] [name]Jane[/name] together, though I’m shocked I’m leaning this way. I never would have guessed I’d be considering “[name]Jane[/name]” for any part of a name, but it feels right and it balances the gender-neutral and slightly off-beat feel of [name]Waverly[/name].
I ran it past DH, and he is in total agreement. We’ve even decided on the nickname “[name]Winnie[/name],” which isn’t an obvious choice, but uses letters from the first, middle and last name and, again, feels right. I think we’re going to sit with this one for awhile. Thanks for all the great suggestions!
