I am not currently pregnant, but my husband and I are already talking about names. If our first child is a girl, we would like to honor both of our mothers with her name. Hubby’s mother is [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f], and some close friends call her [name_f]Jenny[/name_f]. My mother is [name_f]Susan[/name_f].
Let me just say up front that I know some people feel really strongly that it’s insulting or not really honoring someone to use a variation of their name. I don’t feel that way and neither do my mother and mother-in-law. We have had conversations about it, and they would both feel honored for us to use any type of variation of their name.
For a first name, we love [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f], nickname [name_f]Ginny[/name_f], which is obviously a nod to my [name_f]MIL[/name_f]. For the middle name to honor my mom, I have several ideas, but I’m not sure which works best. Here are the options I came up with:
[name_f]Susanna[/name_f]
[name_f]Suzanne[/name_f]
[name_f]Lily[/name_f] (the meaning of [name_f]Susan[/name_f])
[name_u]Leigh[/name_u] (my mom’s middle name)
Which one works best with [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]? Is there a different option that I’m missing? If it helps, potential name combos for her siblings include [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] [name_u]Grey[/name_u], [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] [name_f]Gayle[/name_f], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_u]Robin[/name_u], and [name_m]Charles[/name_m] [name_m]Allan[/name_m] (all family names/variations).
I love it too! I probably should have noted this in my original post: Stylistically, I like [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Lily[/name_f] the best, but [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is also the most distant from my mom’s actual name. So I’m on the fence and trying to decide if I like any of the other options enough to use them over [name_f]Lily[/name_f].
[name_f]Sukie[/name_f] is another nickname for [name_f]Susan[/name_f]/[name_f]Susannah[/name_f]: I actually just learned that today on here! [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Sukie[/name_f] is cute.
I would just use [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f] as it’s knockout pretty. Second option [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Lily[/name_f]. I thought of [name_u]Sunny[/name_u] as a middle, as a sort of mash-up between [name_f]Susan[/name_f] and [name_f]Jenny[/name_f].
I love [name_f]Sanna[/name_f] which is a Scandinavian nickname of [name_f]Susanna[/name_f]. [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Sanna[/name_f] is cute :).
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] is lovely. I am also keen on [name_f]Guinevere[/name_f], which I believe is the Welsh for [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f]? [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] and [name_f]Vera[/name_f] are two lovely nicknames for that. [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] and [name_f]Ginevra[/name_f] are cool too and follow along with honoring a [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f], as might [name_f]Jessamine[/name_f]/[name_f]Jessamyn[/name_f].
Going with [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] though, I like [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] a lot. [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] is an elegant name that got lost in past overuse but feels fresh to me now.
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] w/ nn [name_f]Ginny[/name_f] is one of my favourite names, @sgm728! It’s so beautiful, isn’t it? I also adore the nn [name_f]Ivie[/name_f] or [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] for it. I love njbaker’s suggestion of [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Sanna[/name_f], so lovely!
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f] would be my choice. I love [name_f]Susannah[/name_f], but it’s too long with [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]. [name_f]Lily[/name_f] would be my second choice.
