This is kind of long, but I’ve been thinking about it for some time.
My beloved great-grandmother was named [name]Jessie[/name] [name]Musetta[/name], and called Musie. Her mom named her after “[name]Musetta[/name]'s Waltz,” which she loved. She was a kind, gentle person who loved flowers and had two hands full of green thumbs. I was only six when she died, but she left a very strong impression on my life, and I would love to honor her someday. My cousin’s name is [name]Jessica[/name], so that part of her name is off the table. I’m more taken with the “[name]Musetta[/name]” anyway because I also love the song and La [name]Boheme[/name], but I don’t really like the long /u/ sound in Musie (which was pn more like Mew-see than [name]Muse[/name]-ee). Can I get some opinions on [name]Musette[/name]? I am thinking of it as a mn, but am open to considering it as a fn as well, but I’m not sure what kind of mn would go with that. I also don’t really like it with the names already on my list, so if anyone has any ideas for a fresh pairing, I’m open to that as well. Her birthday was in [name]May[/name] (which was also the month my paternal grandmother was born).
As for my paternal grandmother, her name was Adona [name]Jeanette[/name], and I’m not crazy about either name. However, she adored her fn and how she loved to tell about how she got her name (her siblings were the more traditional [name]Mary[/name] [name]Frances[/name] and [name]Phillip[/name]). Her father saw the name on a road sign and fell in love with it, and he insisted on having a daughter with that name. When she was an older adult, she even found the sign and had her picture taken with it! She always wanted a namesake, and someone outside the family actually did use her name for their child because of her, but no one in the family ever has. She was kind of a tough nut to crack, but I spent a lot of time with her and got to know her pretty well, and I think if anyone were to ever do this for her, it would have to be me. I have been thinking about how to use the name and am wondering if “Belladonna” would be a good way to honor her and make the name into something more my style. It would definitely be a mn, but I like the name much better, and I don’t care that it’s a poisonous flower and prefer to think of the Tolkien association anyway. I am very open to suggestions regarding this name or other possible twists I could use to honor her with her name in some way. I’m also open to suggestions for pairings; this grandmother was a Methodist preacher’s wife, and she loved to cook and knit.
Thanks!