My mother’s name is [name]Lynn[/name]. It used to be my middle name before marriage, but I dropped it and used my maiden name in its place.
My mother hates her name. She has always insisted that she did NOT name me after herself by using [name]Lynn[/name] as my middle name. It was just the only thing she could think of at the time.
Here’s the thing though, I adore my Mom. She’s a great person. She’s the only person I would want to be honor in some way by using some form of her name as a middle name. But I don’t like hardly anything [name]Lynn[/name] related. No [name]Lin[/name], [name]Linnea[/name], [name]Linden[/name], [name]Lindsay[/name], [name]Lynnette[/name], [name]Linnet[/name], or [name]Linda[/name].
I’m stuck. I’ve thought of trying to find something in a foreign language that means the same as [name]Lynn[/name] - “waterfall.” I haven’t gotten very far with that though. I thought of using her favorite name as a middle name instead, but my husband strongly dislikes the name [name]Amaryllis[/name]. (My Mom says she’s loved that name ever since she saw the musical [name]Music[/name] [name]Man[/name].)
Her middle name is [name]Carol[/name], which doesn’t seem to help me either. I don’t like [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Carolynn[/name], [name]Carlotta[/name] or [name]Charlotte[/name].
I’ve also thought of using her favorite flower [name]Iris[/name] as a middle name. Problem is, my Mom hates that name. I can’t see using it if she hates it since it’s to honor her.
I am so totally stuck. My last thought was to use the name [name]Wren[/name] since it kind of sound like [name]Lynn[/name]… but is that going too far away from the original intent?
We are in the trying to get pregnant stage and I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hmmm… That’s quite a dilemma. [name]How[/name] about a name starting with ‘L’ if there is nothing else you like or you could use her initials and have an ‘L’ ‘C’ combo. Another thing, nameberry says [name]Lynn[/name] means ‘lake’. Some other names meaning ‘lake’:
The Norwegian name for waterfall is Foss, but that’s no good as a girls’ name…
Maybe a future alternative to [name]Finn[/name] or something…
I think [name]Lake[/name] would work as a girl’s name…
[name]Evelyn[/name], [name]Marilyn[/name], [name]Jocelyn[/name] and such might interest you? [name]Evelyn[/name] is adorable!
[name]Lynwen[/name] and [name]Lydia[/name] might also work… I only found out about [name]Lynwen[/name] when looking for a name starting with [name]Lyn[/name], but I actually really like it! It’s Welsh though…
Hmmm…
Water names could do it, but that’s probably stretching it… [name]Undine[/name] is a nice one that kind of sounds like [name]Lynn[/name]?
[name]Carola[/name] is a version of [name]Carol[/name] that’s slightly better in my opinion, and I always preferred [name]Carolina[/name] over [name]Caroline[/name]!
[name]Caron[/name] is a Welsh name meaning ‘loving’ so it might be a good one… It sounds like [name]Karen[/name] though which is a downside…
I’ll research some water names for you and post them later!
Let me know which direction you’re leaning towards!!
So, Water names…
the most interesting I found was [name]Aeronwy[/name] (welsh)… [name]Aeron[/name] means ‘berry’ and the -wy suffix means ‘river’… trying to look for more names ending in -wy got me nowhere since the ones I found were just modern forms of [name]Olivia[/name] ([name]Liwy[/name]) and welsh but comprised of different elements to get a different meaning… [name]Myfanwy[/name] was that one, means ‘my woman’…
Afon also means 'river in Welsh according to behindthename.com
[name]Maris[/name] means ‘of the sea’, which makes me think of [name]Marina[/name] which I kind of like as well…
The Hebrew [name]Maya[/name] means ‘water’, and her original form [name]Mayim[/name] is very intriguing!
[name]Mira[/name] means ‘sea or ocean’ in Sanskrit and Moana means ‘sea’ in Maori…
Also, a search for names related to [name]Lynn[/name] gave me [name]Celinda[/name] which isn’t [name]Linda[/name] even though it contains it… I actually like [name]Celinda[/name]!!
And silly me didn’t realise until now that all names ending with ‘linda’ will somehow be related to [name]Lynn[/name], since [name]Lynn[/name] is in some cases considered a short form of [name]Linda[/name]…
Names ending in -linda:
[name]Arlinda[/name]
[name]Belinda[/name]
[name]Calinda[/name]
[name]Carlinda[/name]
[name]Carolinda[/name] (don’t like it too much, but has both [name]Carol[/name] and [name]Lynn[/name])
[name]Melinda[/name]
[name]Rosalinda[/name]
Also, all names ending in -line/-lyn will suffice:
[name]Adeline[/name]
[name]Apolline[/name]
[name]Aveline[/name]
[name]Coraline[/name]
[name]Cymbeline[/name]
[name]Edeline[/name]
[name]Emmaline[/name]
[name]Evangeline[/name]
[name]Gwendoline[/name]
[name]Isaline[/name]
[name]Jacqueline[/name]
[name]Madeline[/name]
[name]Maraline[/name]
[name]Noeline[/name]
[name]Rosaline[/name]
Also, I didn’t know about these ones, but I really like them:
[name]Leoline[/name]
[name]Wendeline[/name]
[name]Yveline[/name]
This also counts for names ending in -lyn and -leen I guess…
[name]Coraline[/name] and [name]Coral[/name] are very close to [name]Carol[/name] and [name]Lynn[/name], just in case you didn’t notice that… And [name]Coral[/name] is also a water name!
I hope I helped a bit at least! Best of [name]Luck[/name]!
I agree with the idea of using a name with [name]Lynn[/name] as the second part of the name, how about [name]Ashlyn[/name] or [name]Caitlyn[/name]/lin? Then there is also some good nick names ([name]Ash[/name], [name]Cait[/name]) there that don’t use [name]Lynn[/name] at all seeing as your mum dislikes it…
As others have said above [name]Lynn[/name] is more specifically “lake” from the Welsh llyn. So [name]Lake[/name] would be an idea. Or you could use the name of an actual lake:
I really like the idea of [name]Emmaline[/name] or [name]Coraline[/name]! My husband really liked the [name]Coraline[/name] suggestion. He’s a huge [name]Neil[/name] Gaiman fan (the guy who wrote the children’s book.) And it does sound a lot like [name]Lynn[/name] and [name]Carol[/name].
[name]Emmaline[/name] would work too. My Grandma’s middle name is [name]Emma[/name], so it would be a very efficient way to incorporate both [name]Lynn[/name] and [name]Emma[/name].
Anything ending with [name]Linda[/name] is right out. Husband hates all things attached to that name for some reason.
I had actually considered Ayame but decided it might be too difficult to pronounce since Japanese vowels are pretty different from English. (I’m a huge anime and manga fan - been trying to learn Japanese on my own for a year now. That’s a challenge.)
I considered using [name]Elsie[/name] at one point since it sounds just like her initials L. C. but Mom nixed that too because they used to make fun of her as a kid by calling her [name]Elsie[/name] the Cow.
I guess I should have mentioned that the first name we like is [name]Phoebe[/name]. [name]Do[/name] you think [name]Phoebe[/name] [name]Coraline[/name] and [name]Phoebe[/name] [name]Emmaline[/name] work? Only problem with [name]Emmeline[/name] is that the initials would be P.E.W. Bad?
Similar meanings to ‘waterfall’ (Although I’ve found places saying [name]Lynn[/name] means [name]Lake[/name])
[name]Tallulah[/name] - Leaping water
[name]Odette[/name] - The good fairy in Swan [name]Lake[/name]
[name]Vivien[/name]/[name]Vivienne[/name] - The lady of the lake in Arthurian legend
[name]Breena[/name] - [name]River[/name]
[name]Delta[/name] - [name]River[/name] mouth
[name]Monroe[/name] - [name]River[/name] mouth
[name]Kenda[/name]/[name]Kendall[/name] - valley of the river
[name]Sabrina[/name] - A welsh river name
[name]Brooke[/name] - [name]Brooke[/name]/stream
[name]Beverley[/name] - Beaver stream
Vari - Stream
[name]India[/name] - Body of water (which is what a lake is)
[name]Kyla[/name] - Straight of water/beautiful
[name]Talise[/name] ([name]Tah[/name] LEES) - beautiful water
[name]Cleone[/name] - Daughter of a river god
[name]Romney[/name] - Winding river
[name]Shannon[/name] - An Irish river
I’m glad you like [name]Coraline[/name], the book makes it a nice namesake as well! I prefer it over [name]Emmeline[/name] to be honest… [name]Emmeline[/name] would drown in all the girls named [name]Emma[/name] out there, so [name]Coraline[/name] is the way to go if you ask me!
I’m sure your husband will enjoy reading the book to her as well hen she reaches that age, and I felt really special as a child when I found out there was a book with my name in the title! I felt so important, even if the book was really bad
[name]Phoebe[/name] [name]Coraline[/name] sounds wonderful! [name]Phoebe[/name] is another one I really love…
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Coraline[/name]! It would make a lovely and very unique choice in my opinion. You could use your first name as her mn and that would also honour your mother as I’m guessing she chose your name so she probably really likes it. [name]Just[/name] an idea.
Thank you everyone for such wonderful ideas. I’m really happy I posted this. It’s given me some new names to consider, and some old names to consider in a new light.
My husband suggested [name]Coraline[/name] last week but I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to it (something he was too nice to point out) or thinking of it in a way that it sounds like [name]Lynn[/name] and [name]Carol[/name]. And I’d never really thought of using a variation of my own name to honor my Mom. I’ve thought of using a variation of my own name as a middle name but always looked at it as a self indulgence and not really anything more. It’s a new way to look at it.
