Help me choose a middle name for myself!

General Name Discussion
1

So, I never liked my own name, and always considered changing it or adding a middle name…
I’ve finally come to the decision of adding one middle name and decided to go all out, be eccentric and add two.
[name]Adelaide[/name] has been my first choice forever, and it still is for many intricate and personal reasons but when it came to it I felt just adding [name]Adelaide[/name] was a bit dull since I’ve considered it as my middle name for a [name]LONG[/name] time.

I really can’t decide on what name to put after/before [name]Adelaide[/name]! I’ve had longlists and shortlists and have been crowdsourcing every possible (Norwegian) crowd, but I can’t seem to really settle for one.

Right now, my name is ”shild, a Norwegian name, prn. AWE-sill. My last name starts with AWE as well and also has two syllables.
I’m adding [name]Adelaide[/name] in there somewhere as a first or second middle depending on what flows best, and here is the current shortlist (remember that these names sound somewhat different in Norwegian) :
[name]Elnora[/name] (old Norwegian form of [name]Eleanor[/name] I find very charming)
[name]Susanna[/name]
[name]Lucia[/name]
[name]Marlena[/name] (not dated here)
[name]Oleanna[/name] (my dad is [name]Olav[/name], so this would honour him)
[name]Antonia[/name]
[name]Rosalia[/name] (it sounds best in Norwegian spelled like this)
[name]Viola[/name]

on the longer list are also:
[name]Beatrice[/name]
[name]Francisca[/name] (prn. fran-SISS-kah, [name]Francesca[/name] doesn’t work in Norwegian)
[name]Josephine[/name]/[name]Josephina[/name]
[name]Margreta[/name]
[name]Flora[/name] (but sounds like a Norwegian word for ‘barn’)
Engeline
Engla

ANY comments, preferences and further suggestions are welcome, but I won’t use a name for me that I would like to give my own child, nor will all name suggestions be easily pronounced in Norwegian.
I realise this might be a tough one, but perhaps you’ll appreciate the challenge?

Thanks in advance!!!

(and just so you know, two middles is EXTREMELY rare in Norway, we stopped doing that when the 1800’s ended which is kind of why I like the idea of it…) ^^

2

I particularly like these…

”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Susanna[/name]
”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] Synneva (couldn’t resist this)
”shild [name]Marlena[/name] [name]Adelaide[/name]
”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Elnora[/name]
”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Lucia[/name]

3

[name]How[/name] exciting, Dearest! You have such wonderful taste in names; I am sure whichever middles you choose for yourself will be absolutely wonderful. I particularly like :
”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Elnora[/name]
”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Oleanna[/name].

I think that they have wonderful flow, and are both such pretty names.

4

[name]Adelaide[/name] Nouvelle is my two cents.
[name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Marsha[/name].

5

I’m in love with [name]Elnora[/name]!

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Thanks a bunch, all four of you :slight_smile: I’m having a real hard time with this, I just can’t seem to sway it in any direction! It’s also troubling that I can’t change my name more than once every TEN years so I have to be certain I get it right! :S

Everwaiteing: Of course you couldn’t resist Synneva! My great-grandmother on my father’s side was actually Synn”va, and my sister was almost Sunniva (ended up as [name]Siri[/name]) so it’s a name with family ties, but I want to avoid another Norwegian name since my own super-Norwegian first and last name have been bothering me all my life… If it wasn’t for that, she’d be on the list :slight_smile:

Twinkle - Thanks for your input, and it makes me really happy to hear you say I have wonderful taste in names! Thank you for that!

jls123 - Thanks for your input, unfortunately neither Nouvelle or [name]Marsha[/name] work in Norwegian, and I wouldn’t use names my entire family can’t pronounce, regardless of my anglophilia :slight_smile:

[name]Susan[/name] - [name]Elnora[/name] seems to be the name t get the most love so far! She is a beauty!

That said, I think [name]Antonia[/name] is out of the question since it would give an odd set of initials: Aa.A.A.Aa. XD I’m not sure Aa.A.E.Aa or any of my other options are any better, but that’s how it is :slight_smile:

If anyone else has anything to say, I’d much appreciate it!! ^^

7

That’s quite interesting considering almost everyone in [name]Sweden[/name] has at least two middle names, if not more.

I’m curious to know why you decided against changing your first name (if you don’t like it) and instead add middle names?

I quite like Engla as a middle - what do you think of [name]Evangeline[/name]?
Another one I like is [name]Liv[/name], so simple but so beautiful.

From your list I love [name]Lucia[/name]. [name]Oleanna[/name] and [name]Elnora[/name] are also nice.

Maybe

”shild [name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Oleanna[/name]
”shild [name]Elnora[/name] [name]Lucia[/name]
”shild [name]Evangeline[/name] [name]Liv[/name]

also

[name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Oleanna[/name] [name]Evangeline[/name]
[name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Lucia[/name] [name]Oleanna[/name]
[name]Adelaide[/name] [name]Liv[/name] [name]Elnora[/name]

(sorry, couldn’t resist :wink: )

8

pleinelune - The ‘name snobs’ of Norway think middle names is a new modern americanized trend that should be abandoned immediately, along with strange letters like C which have no place in the Norwegian language! [name]Constance[/name] should only be spelled Konstanse because that’s the Norwegian way! XD
One middle is fairly common, as well as double first names, but TWO middles is frowned upon and considered very unusual by most Norwegians. Maybe I should move to [name]Sweden[/name]!?

As for why I’m not changing my first name, I’m not quite sure. Although I don’t like ”shild, I’m named for both my grandmothers (”sbj”rg and Ragnhild) and both parts of the name are common on both sides of my family. I’m not trying to distance myself from my family, I just want to satisfy my Anglophile self with a name that’s actually pronounceable in my beloved [name]England[/name]! ^^ I also want a name that means something I can relate to rather than ‘God’s Warrior Maiden’ which is what ”shild means. I’m more splitting my personality than changing it if that makes sense. Opening up for the possibility of moving to [name]England[/name] without too much trouble while keeping the door open to staying in Norway as well without having everyone I know suddenly call me by a different name :slight_smile:

Engla is lovely, but I’m not sure it’s ‘me’ if you know what I mean. [name]Evangeline[/name] is a name I never really took a liking to, nor do I like it in Norwegian, so it’s not an option, but much in the style I’m going for so a good further suggestion ^^ [name]Liv[/name] as well always seemed boring in Norwegian. It’s awesome and exotic elsewhere but here it’s just mundane and ordinary, and if you haven’t caught on I want my middles to be eccentric XD

I’ve been leaning toward [name]Elnora[/name] for a while, but today I’ve been thinking it’s a bit boring. [name]Oleanna[/name] is second in line for now, but [name]Lucia[/name] is also high up there.

Thank you SO much for taking the time and voicing your opinion, I really, really appreciate it ^^
It’s just sooo hard to narrow it down to something that feels right!

9

Hello Dearest ^^

I have missed you.

As usual, I find your posts very readable and intriguing. I know what you mean about not feeling quite happy with your name - I don’t mind mine now ([name]Ailsa[/name]) but I really don’t like my middle name ([name]Joyce[/name]) although feel guilty as it is my mother’s name. I have often fantasised about changing it, but never had the guts to do it. So well done you for deciding to do it!

I like reading all about Norwegian names, (and would like to know more about Swedish ones too) and I like the name [name]Adelaide[/name]. I remember reading some old books of my mother’s years and years ago, called the Jalna series by [name]Mazo[/name] de la [name]Roche[/name], and the matriarch of the family was a formidable old lady called [name]Adelaide[/name]. It is strong yet feminine.

I love [name]Flora[/name] (which reminds me of [name]Flora[/name] [name]McDonald[/name], of [name]Bonnie[/name] [name]Prince[/name] [name]Charlie[/name] fame)

I love [name]Viola[/name]

And I am very interested to read about the Norwegian “name snobs”. And Norwegian having no C.

[name]Ailsa[/name] xxx

10

[name]Ah[/name], I see. In that case I still like [name]Lucia[/name] for you as a middle, so

”shild [name]Lucia[/name] [name]Adelaide[/name]

has a nice flow to it imo. Would you then go by [name]Adelaide[/name] in English speaking countries? I’ve always had a soft spot for [name]Adelaide[/name], it such a nice sounding name.
They also both have nice meanings to balance out the ‘warrior maiden’ bit :wink:

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@Pleinlune - Yes, I would go by [name]Adelaide[/name] in English speaking countries :slight_smile: It carries a lot of personal meaning to me so it’s an important addition…
One vote for [name]Lucia[/name] noted!

@[name]Ailsa[/name] - I have missed you too, I actually have a draft in my email thingie meant for you, but circumstances have been less than ideal lately so it’s still a (very short) draft…

I know what you mean, it’s not that I hate my name, I just think I’d prefer a different one, or in this case the option of a different one which is what my middles will be!

Strong yet feminine is what I think of when I see [name]Adelaide[/name] as well! I was at the [name]Tower[/name] of [name]London[/name] once and found out that there was a queen [name]Adelaide[/name] of [name]England[/name] once, and I thought ‘That’s the perfect name for a [name]Queen[/name]!’ and that regardless of the ‘noble’ meaning. ^^ I think I’ve ruled out [name]Flora[/name] for now, Norwegian reactions have been less than positive, and [name]Viola[/name] is the name my younger brother is voting for. I have NO idea why he just ignored the rest of the names, I had never imagined he’d have any kind of opinion at all, but he’s an important person for me so his vote weighs heavy.

And yes, the Norwegian name snobs. They’re dreadful. They’re few, but too too visible. Anything newly imported is death to them ([name]Isabella[/name], [name]Felicia[/name]), anything princessy or soft is bad ([name]Nathaniel[/name] and [name]Linnea[/name]), anything that doesn’t ‘sound’ Norwegian is unusable ([name]Beatrice[/name]) and so on and so on… It’s dreadfully annoying. Also, [name]Felicia[/name] and [name]Beatrice[/name] aren’t suitable in Norway by default because they have C’s in them and C is a letter one should avoid at all costs. I think the only exception I’ve seen so far is [name]Cecilia[/name], which is actually quite common as Sesilia regardless and [name]Cora[/name]…
Konstanse, [name]Kristian[/name], [name]Kamilla[/name], [name]Kristiane[/name], Kristense, [name]Karoline[/name], [name]Konrad[/name], Kornelius, [name]Kasper[/name], [name]Kornelia[/name], [name]Kordelia[/name], [name]Joakim[/name], [name]Klara[/name], nothing has C… They also HATE people who use ‘ph’ rather than ‘f’. [name]Filippa[/name] and [name]Filip[/name], no [name]Christopher[/name], it should be [name]Kristoffer[/name].
And God forbid you use H at the end of [name]Noah[/name] and [name]Hannah[/name] and [name]Elisabeth[/name] (which would never be allowed a zingy Z) or any other place for that matter, like in [name]Thelma[/name], [name]Thora[/name], [name]Katharina[/name] and [name]Theodor[/name] - [name]Telma[/name], [name]Tora[/name], [name]Katarina[/name] and [name]Teodor[/name] is the only acceptable way to spell it…

I’m ranting. they’re just so narrow-minded it drives me nuts! It’s like they’re completely unaware of things like globalisation and other things that’s bursting the Norwegian bubble. They might as well say ‘my child will never travel so it won’t be a problem’. ARGH! It’s already a problem!

‘We want the name to be as Norwegian as possible, but god forbid we use and actual Norwegian/Norse name! They’re so dated and ugly! We just change the spelling of a Greek or Hebrew one to make it ‘look’ more Norwegian and look down on all those who don’t instead!..’
Patriotism gone wrong if you ask me.