Okay, so I know I’ve posted about this before, but I’ve pretty much thrown out all ideas we’ve come up with for middle names and want to start anew!
Our first daughter’s name will be [name]Calla[/name] (family name and flower name like me!).
Without any restrictions what would you consider a good middle name for [name]Calla[/name]? (I love unusual names so it’s all fair game.)
These suggestions are kind of all over the place, but I think they all sound pretty:
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Amelia[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Lucille[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Grace[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Marina[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Belle[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Eileen[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Irene[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Michaela[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Penelope[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] Avelina
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]May[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Evangeline[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Delphina[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Josefina[/name]
Oh, I love [name]Calla[/name]! So pretty.
I don’t know what your previous ideas were, so I apologise for repeats.
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Juliet[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Penelope[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Genevieve[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Felicity[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Hermione[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Sabine[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Scarlett[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Aurelia[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Miranda[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Jessamine[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Mireille[/name] (mir-AY)
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Francesca[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Dominique[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Georgette[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Vivienne[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Madeleine[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] Magdelena
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Marguerite[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Beatrice[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Victoria[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Seraphine[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Euphemia[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Imogen[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Imogene[/name] (with the french inflection)
[name]Calla[/name] Evageline
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Eugenie[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Sylvie[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Theresa[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Beatrix[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Beatriz[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Rosalind[/name]
More rare/uncoventional (but still lovely)
[name]Calla[/name] Merewen
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Persephone[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Evadne[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Xanthe[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Benedetta[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Berenike[/name] (be-[name]REN[/name]-ee-kay)
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Eleni[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Guinevere[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] Ailith
[name]Calla[/name] Elaria
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Danae[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Sarai[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Sephora[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Ariadne[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Mireia[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Bethia/name
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Alethea[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Damaris[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Cassandra[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] Briseis (bree-[name]SAY[/name]-iss)
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Elettra[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Iphigenia[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Phaedra[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Saoirse[/name] (sair-sha/seer-sha)
[name]Calla[/name] Mererid
[name]Calla[/name] Meiriona (may-ree-OH-na)
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Fenella[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Eluned[/name] (el-EE-ned)
These are all very different styles, but I think they all work, depending on your last name and what feel you’re going for:
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Muriel[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Magdalen[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Simone[/name] (this one is my favorite)
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Gabrielle[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] is a very pretty name!
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Elodie[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Ophelie[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Elise[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Winifred[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] Soliel
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Raquel[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Eleanor[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Faye[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Ursuline[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Lenore[/name]
just a few!
[name]Hi[/name] [name]Dove[/name]! I love [name]Calla[/name], and [name]Calla[/name] [name]Genevieve[/name] has always been my favorite combination.
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Delphine[/name] (floral theme, though)
[name]Calla[/name] Jospehine
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Jessamine[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Mirabelle[/name]
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Rosalie[/name] (floral theme, though)
Best wishes to you! 
Thank you all! I look forward to running your suggestions by my hubby!
[name]Elea[/name]-- thank you for the unusual name suggestions! I’ve never heard of most of them and am excited to consider some new territory!
My pleasure! 
If you need any more info on any of them (origin/pronunciation) just let me know.
[name]Elea[/name]-- my favorite from your list is Merewen/[name]Mairwen[/name] ([name]MARE[/name]-win). At behindthename.com it said it meant “white, fair, blessed”. Here at nameberry they say it’s a variation of [name]Miriam[/name] (“wished-for child”). [name]Do[/name] you have a different definition/pronunciation?
Here’s a couple more I’d love origin/meaning/pronunciation info on!:
Ailith
Elaria
[name]Mireia[/name]
[name]Bethia/name
[name]Alethea[/name] (I’ve heard several different pronunciations of this and was wondering which you ascribed to)
[name]Eluned[/name] (likewise)
Mererid --I know it’s the Welsh version of [name]Margaret[/name] but I am unsure of the pronunciation.
I’m loving on the Welsh names lately. Another I found and love is Ceridwin (“blessed poetry”).
I’m not Welsh but I am Irish, Scottish, English, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian (and a couple more). Does that disqualify me from legitimately using Welsh names?
I [name]LOVE[/name] Merewen!! Actually Merewen and [name]Mairwen[/name] are slightly different in origin. [name]Mairwen[/name] is definitely [name]MARE[/name]-wen, but I actually say ‘MEH-reh-wen’ for Merewen. Given it’s origin I don’t think there is a ‘set’ pronunciation for it though.
[name]Mairwen[/name] is Welsh from [name]Mair[/name] (Welsh form of [name]Mary[/name]) + gwen ‘white, fair, blessed’. So both meanings are correct in a way (just not fully) as it is both from [name]Mary[/name]/[name]Miriam[/name] and [name]Gwen[/name]
Merewen is a Medieval name found in the 13 century as Merewen, Merewina & Merewenna.
According to my trusty copy of ‘[name]Oxford[/name] Dictionary of English Surnames’ by Reaney and [name]Wilson[/name], it’s from the Old English name Maerwynn.
Ailith and Elaria are also medieval (from the same source).
Ailith, Aileth, Ayleth, Aillith, Ailid are 11th/12th century spellings of the Old English name ”elg” from ”el ‘noble’ and gy” ‘war/warrior’ – same element as in [name]Edith[/name].
Elaria, Eilaria, Illaria, Eularia – according to Reaney and [name]Wilson[/name], this was quite common in [name]France[/name] and well known in [name]England[/name] and was from the latinization of the Greek eulalos ‘sweet-speaking’/‘fair-speach’
[name]Mireia[/name] – I love this one. [name]Mireya[/name] is the more common spelling in Spain, I believe, and [name]Mireia[/name] is the Catalan spelling. They are the spanish forms of [name]Mireille[/name] which come from mirar ‘to admire’. I like it personally because it ties to my sisters name, [name]Miranda[/name].
[name]Alethea[/name] – The Greeks (both ancient and modern) say a-[name]LEE[/name]-thee-a. It’s also how I’ve heard it said in this country as well.
[name]Bethia[/name]/Bethiah are variant spellings of the Hebrew Bithiah which means ‘daughter of Yahweh’. I’ve seen the [name]Bethia[/name] spelling a lot in particular in 18th/19th century baptism records (as apposed to the Bithiah spelling).
[name]Eluned[/name] – you can hear a Welsh person say it here: BBC Wales - Living in Wales - Names
They’ve got the meaning wrong though – confusing it with the protagonist in the ‘Lady of the Funtain’. It’s from eilun ‘image’
Mererid is ‘me-REH-rid’ with the stress on the second syllable.
[name]Ceridwen[/name] – I’ve always like this. Great mythology to it. It’s ‘ke-RID-wen’ (the stress is always on the penultimate syllable in Welsh).
Not at all! If that was true there would be no Megans or Dylans 
Plus, the Welsh are like the Irish. They’ve immigrated everywhere. Most people in [name]England[/name] have some Welsh in there somewhere. Plus [name]Ireland[/name] has always had close links with [name]Wales[/name] going back to Celtic times.
elea~
Thank you so much for your thorough reply! You are a refreshingly intelligent source of name knowledge!
I now have a new item for a wishlist too: [name]Oxford[/name] Dictionary of English Surnames’ by Reaney and [name]Wilson[/name]!
I haven’t heard the word penultimate for a long time and it made me smile! (I learned it well from my college choir professor).
[name]Do[/name] you know of any other online sources for medieval names? They are so rich! [name]Love[/name] them!
I’m also relieved to be justified in considering Welsh names. I figured my ancestors were kind of all over the map (pun intended) since I have about 8 or so nationalities in me. I’ve got the English, the Scottish and the Irish… so maybe there really is some Welsh ancestry further down the line!
By the by, how do you pronounce your screen name? – it’s beautiful too!
You’re very welcome, dear. I’m a complete etymology geek, and I just love Celtic and Medieval names especially.
A great, and etymologically reliable (a rare thing these days – even nameberry gets misled sometimes) is Page Redirection
It is designed to help historical re-enactors use legitimate medieval names and includes tons of essays and lists from all different countries.
In fact, some kind soul on there has collected all the feminine given names found in Reaney & [name]Wilson[/name] and put them together and made them into lists:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/
I’m not saying you shouldn’t get the book if you don’t want to though. Personally, I find it invaluable, especially with all the names that come from surnames these days
Um…well I’m a bit weird. I pronounce it like “[name]Ella[/name]”. Because I’m [name]Eleanor[/name] (prn [name]Ella[/name]-na / [name]Ellen[/name]-a in [name]Britain[/name]) I just took the -nor off as a child and was left with [name]Elea[/name] ([name]Ella[/name]). My parents also spelt it that way. I just prefer how [name]Elea[/name] looks to [name]Ella[/name].
I know there are other [name]Eleanor[/name]/Eleas but I don’t know how they say [name]Elea[/name].
There is an ancient Greek island of this name ([name]Zeno[/name] of [name]Elea[/name] was a famous philosopher), now called [name]Velia[/name]. Apparently it’s prn EE-lee-a.
I also know two girls called [name]Ellia[/name] ([name]EL[/name]-ee-a) and I guess you could use [name]Elea[/name] as a spelling as well.
elea~
Thank you again! I’m so looking forward to checking out the sites! (Maybe once my boy is napping!)
I’m a bit of a linguaphile too! Word-a-[name]Day[/name] from wordsmith.org is one of my favorite things!
behindthename.com is the other name website that seems pretty etymologically sound; I always go there to double check meanings and origins. It’s hard to find namesites that are more scholarly, so thank you again for those links!
Newsflash!
I had an epiphany in the shower this morning: we can give [name]Calla[/name] two middle names!
When considering all your suggestions, I kept being drawn to J names, but wanted to avoid them due to the fact that our next son will have the initials CJ as well (family tradition), and I realized if we give her more than one middle name, their initials won’t be identical!
Here’s the name that popped into my head directly after this revelation:
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] [name]Lucia[/name]
I’m kind of in love with it. ([name]Lucia[/name] = loo-SEE-ah) What do you think?
A bonus with this particular combo is that if we end up not having another son, my hubby will still have a “CJL” to carry on the tradition (our last name starts with L) even after she gets married!
Let me know what you think!
I guess I arrived a bit late, but I think that’s a great idea! [name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] [name]Lucia[/name] is very pretty, and it seems so nice that you want to carry on your tradition. [name]Joy[/name] is a beautiful and underused middle name, and [name]Lucia[/name] works perfectly, especially the way you would pronounce it.
Good [name]Luck[/name]!
Thank you, mariaj09! My husband – who is difficult to please when it comes to names – likes it too! We may have a winner!
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] [name]Lucia[/name] is lovely!
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] has such a good flow that you could really put any name after it. [name]Joy[/name] is very nice and unexpected
I have 2 mns myself so I personally quite like the practice. A word of caution though. If you use 2 mns on one child, make sure any subsequent children (girls really) also get 2. My younger sister only got 1 mn and it really annoys her that she doesn’t have a 2nd middle name like me. It probably isn’t so much of an issue with boys, but I think it is for girls.
elea~
Agreed! I actually said the same thing to my husband last night: all our successive girls will have to have two middle names! I know I would feel slighted if I had a sister with two middle names and I only had one!
Of course DH thinks it’s normal not to continue the trend since out of four boys, only one of his brothers has two middle names.
I’m debating if I should continue to search for names to go after [name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] ([name]LOVE[/name] that flow too-- hence why I kept going back to it!), but [name]Lucia[/name] is in honor of my Swedish heritage and I just love the name!
What do you think? I suppose it’s inevitable that I’ll keep looking, consciously or not! I’m just too fascinated by names!
I think [name]Lucia[/name] is a great choice – and it has meaning for you which is lovely.
It doesn’t hurt to keep the spot open for a while though. You never know what name you might stumble upon that seems even more perfect 
You could even have a few alternatives for [name]Calla[/name] [name]Joy[/name] ____ and see which fits her better when you see her.
[name]Calla[/name] [name]Lucia[/name] [name]Joy[/name] flows better, change it around!
Sorry for being so bossy but I like the flow better this way.
Did you know that [name]Calla[/name] can be a nn for [name]Caroline[/name]?
I really like [name]Calla[/name] but if you want to change [name]Caroline[/name] [name]Lucia[/name] [name]Joy[/name] nn [name]Calla[/name].