We would like to name our daughter [name_f]Louisa[/name_f], but are having a lot of trouble coming to consensus about her middle name. Our last name is one syllable and starts with a K/C sound (like “coin” or “kind”). Here’s what we’ve thought of so far… we’d love your feedback on these options and your suggestions for other middle names!
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliette[/name_f], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] are my favourites.
My favorite combo from your list is [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f].
Or…
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Diane[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Frances[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_u]Marian[/name_u]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f]
My favorite of your list is [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and I like the suggestion of [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f].
From your list I like [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliette[/name_f]. I’ve always liked the combo [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Blythe[/name_f].
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] - [name_f]Lovely[/name_f]. Would probably flow best with your surname.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] - Also great. I like that [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] is unexpected in the middle spot, especially compared to choices like [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], and [name_f]Jane[/name_f].
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] - Nice but unexciting.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliette[/name_f] - Very pretty.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Hazel[/name_f] - I don’t like that [name_f]Hazel[/name_f] has similar sounds in it to [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] (L and Z sound). It’s nothing too terrible, but isn’t ideal to me.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] - Same problem as [name_f]Hazel[/name_f].
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m] - Cool family name! I really like this.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] - Nice.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] - Sweet and simple.
Ooh, all your options sound great! I’ve always thought [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] made a wonderful combination, but the fact that they’re both P&P characters makes me pause- love the book, but is that a bit much? Same thing with [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Hazel[/name_f] is sweet but I don’t like the repeating “eez”/“az” sounds. [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] sounds lovely but I don’t like [name_f]Grace[/name_f] much in general. [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] is still a bit fusty for my taste. [name_f]Juliette[/name_f] seems a bit too frilly for [name_f]Louisa[/name_f], maybe [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliet[/name_f]? [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m] sounds beautiful but I know of a girl who has her mother’s maiden name as a middle and hates it, she wishes she had a “real” middle name.
But in terms of sound and flow alone, my favourites are [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]!
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] is beautiful. I’m honestly not loving the flow with any of them except for [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], which is gorgeous by the way. I don’t think you should use a one syllable middle name if your last name is one syllable.
Thanks, guys! We really appreciate this feedback. I think we can eliminate [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] and [name_f]Hazel[/name_f]. We liked a lot of your suggestions, but we can’t use [name_f]Margaret[/name_f], [name_f]Caroline[/name_f], or [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]. Here’s what we think about the ones that are left:
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] - this is my husband’s favorite. He likes the idea of a nickname of LC/[name_f]Elsie[/name_f], but I think we already have good nicknames for [name_f]Louisa[/name_f]. I wonder if the name [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is too overdone.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m]* - this is my husband’s other favorite. The middle name is from my family. I just worry that it’s too surname-y and make the whole name less pretty. Thoughts?
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] - I think this is a really interesting, beautiful name. Husband doesn’t want this name because of a current pet named [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] (we call her [name_u]Penny[/name_u])… but that pet is going to die in the next 5-10 years and our daughter will live sooo much longer! He doesn’t want it to seem like we are naming our daughter after the pet.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] - I love the way this name sounds, but think [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is overused as a middle name.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliet/name_f - very pretty, but probably too pretentious to actually use
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]* - would like to name after a family member, but agree that it’s not ideal with the Z sound in both names. [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is also overdone as a middle name, so it feels unoriginal.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] - never liked [name_f]Jane[/name_f] on its own, but I think it grounds [name_f]Louisa[/name_f]. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t love both middle and last name being one syllable.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] - this is interesting. We like the idea of the name, but need some more time with it.
We would love more input and suggestions! Thank you!
I really like [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m]! It really stands out in a good way from the others on your list as original and special. I find [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m] very pretty for a family name. It reminds me of the [name_u]Robin[/name_u] Hood legends which is positive and also uncommon. [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m] also reads as a nature name which is nice.
If I were to give some more unusual but similar suggestions for middles how about…
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlize[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elspeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elodie[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Evadne[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Julienne[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Garnet[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Gracie[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Glory[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Greer[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] Peresephone
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Primrose[/name_f]
Thank you so much for this feedback! It’s really nice to hear your thoughts about [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m]. We have only really shared that name idea with people in the family, and they’re biased.
These are really good suggestions! My husband really likes [name_u]Jean[/name_u]/[name_f]Jeanne[/name_f], which is a grandmother’s name (or middle name) in both his family and mine. He thinks that if we like [name_f]Jane[/name_f], we might as well go one more step to [name_u]Jean[/name_u] for the family connection. [name_u]Jean[/name_u] just sounds too old timey for me.
I love [name_f]Elodie[/name_f], but I don’t think it flows well with [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] and our last name. Husband likes [name_f]Greer[/name_f], but I don’t like it for a girl. I think [name_f]Garnet[/name_f] is pretty, but I don’t really have a connection to it.
I wonder if we might just need to wait until the baby is born and then see what seems to fit, but he wants to have it settled. [name_m]How[/name_m] do you decide?
favorites from your list: [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Hazel[/name_f], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
These suggestions have been so helpful! I just cannot get excited about the middle names on our original list. I think it’s because some of them just seem so expected ([name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]) and not fresh to me. [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Juliet[/name_f] have something special, but I can’t get my husband on board with either. I need a good alternative to [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m] that both of us agree on so that we have two really strong options that we would actually use.
The suggestion that one or more of you had of [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] is speaking to me today! My husband is warming up to it, but he wants to hear more names like it. I think it matches what we’re looking for… it’s unexpected and a little bit offbeat. Maybe that it’s a flower/word? We like [name_f]Clementine[/name_f], but it’s a little too much for us.
Can you help us think of more names like [name_f]Violet[/name_f] and [name_f]Clementine[/name_f] to go with [name_f]Louisa[/name_f]? We would like for it to feel rooted in history but with a touch of whimsy. Any ideas?
They all sound nice! [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] is one of the best names I can think of. So, these are only the ones where I feel like I have something to add:
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] - On one hand, it flows well, on the other, sometimes [name_f]Grace[/name_f] feels sort of like a “default middle name”
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]* - Feels sing-songy when people pronounce the first name as Louiza instead of [name_f]Louisa[/name_f].
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_m]Sherwood[/name_m]* - YES. [name_f]Love[/name_f] it! There’s something so timeless and dignified about surnames paired with a traditional female first name. But, not just any surname! As peach said, my first thought was [name_u]Robin[/name_u] Hood, so it has a sort of fairy tale quality.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] - I wish more people would use [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f]! [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] is all black [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Janes[/name_f] and braided pigtails and pies cooling on the windowsill – or, as an adult, an ace reporter in a smart tweed suit.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] - I have such a fondness for [name_f]Jane[/name_f].