This is my 6th pregnancy, which will hopefully be my 4th living child. My 3 children all have names ending in ‘Y’. Whether you believe it or not, I didn’t plan it like that. It just happened that way, because I do seem to really like the sound of ‘Y’ ending names.
Another issue is that my husband and I have been married for 17 years and our oldest daughter will be 17 when this one decides to make an appearance. Our naming styles have changed since then! When we were younger, we liked more trendy names and now that we are older, we are leaning towards more classic names.
I’m having such a hard time telling myself that it is okay to break out of the pattern of ‘Y’ and to go with a different naming style as well. After all, it doesn’t really matter if all of your children’s names sound good together right?
Example: (These aren’t the real names of my children)
[name_f]Imagine[/name_f] that I have 3 daughters named…
[name_f]Bryony[/name_f]
[name_f]Molly[/name_f]
[name_f]Susy[/name_f]
Now I want to name my son…
[name_m]Norman[/name_m]
Or my daughter…
[name_f]Esther[/name_f]
Should I go ahead and take the plunge or keep exhaustively searching for a ‘Y’ ending name that I could love? Advice? Anyone in a similar situation or know someone who was?
What about [name_m]Berkley[/name_m] or [name_m]Brantley[/name_m] for a boy?
No, I don’t want actual name suggestions. I want to know if breaking the trend is stupid?
Is it possible for you to put the age of the last child?
From what you are saying there is a significant amount of time in between your 3 children and this one. So I think it is fine to break the pattern. Breaking a ‘trend’ or pattern after I would say 4 maybe even 3 or more years or a different gender is completely fine as personal name styles can change and trends change often and rapidly.
You as their mother need to be confident in what you are naming YOUR child
You can break the pattern if you want to, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Personally I enjoy a cohesive sibset, but if someone doesn’t care if the names of their children sound good together, it doesn’t bother me. It’s your family and your decision. Especially if there’s a big age difference it doesn’t matter all that much.
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] @crinkles, Congratulations and very best wishes for a healthy pregnancy and baby.
I am not all conservative and a ‘rules are only to be broken person’ -well when it suits me:-! and if it suited me to name my children [name_m]Lenny[/name_m] ,[name_u]Penny[/name_u], [name_f]Jenny[/name_f] and [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] - that’s what I’d do. Each is special and you know how much you love them. Seriously from the conservative, traditionalist me, i think its essential you give baby a name that reflects what you love now, what is genuine, rather than follow a pattern.
My family of origin is somewhat like your family. I am eldest of 4 girls, The first three all born close together and Maman, being a Danish born teacher of English Literature, gave us all very ‘Literary’ themed names; and then there was a longer but only 3+ year gap to our baby sister. She is different in so many ways, so tall, so blonde,
so cool - and like her name, a unique person. There is no angst for any of us. That Maman has what i consider good taste was helpful
I would really encourage you to leave a ‘coincidence’ be and go with a name you truly love - that will win out.
Best wishes.
I agree with the replies above. Whether you and your husband love the name is more important than the flow/style of a sibset. Each child is an individual and when they are out and about in the world they are likely going to spend long periods apart from their siblings so it’s not that important that the names go together anyway. If your newest addition does end up with a really ‘out there’ name compared to your other children and others question just explain that preferences change over the course of 17yrs. That’s perfectly reasonable in my opinion 
Go with a name you love over trying to fit into a certain sibset. If you end up loving a name that ends in a y, that’s okay too. It’s pretty normal for sisters and brothers to have different styles, so three sisters and a new brother or three brothers and a new sister wouldn’t phase me if they have a different style.
Additionally, I think it makes sense that your style/names you like may have changed in that time period. The people you have come across, including friends of your kids, and life experiences in that time frame could have an impact on name taste.
Ha, my mum’s pattern is similar to this. She didn’t have more than 3 though and the pattern was never broken.
I think it’s fine to break the pattern and go down any route with names, not only is it a large gap but I don’t think it ultimately really matters anyway.
I think it really depends on what you are okay with. If it’s annoying you even now, to think of [name_f]Carly[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_u]Kelly[/name_u], and [name_f]Alice[/name_f], then I’d definitely say exhaust your options before moving on to non-Y names. However, if you’re in love with [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], and it doesn’t bother you at all, then go for it. Most longer “classic” names end up with a shorter, Y-ending nickname anyway.
Also, if there is a big gap between child #3 and child #4, I think it would make a little more sense for that pattern to be broken, but if the gap is small, less than 6 years, seems like it would be a little more surprising.
Personally, I like cohesive sibsets, possibly due to my own experience with having a different type of name from my four sisters, but I also don’t see anything wrong with someone else breaking their own patterns.
One last thing - If you already have three girls, and you end up having a boy, I think it would be even more reasonable to break that pattern. People often like different styles of boys and girls names, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
P.S. [name_f]Do[/name_f] their names end in Y, or just the Y sound? Like [name_u]Josie[/name_u] or [name_f]Stephanie[/name_f]? The -IE ending or -EE could open some more doors for you.