Middle Names for Barbara

Girl Names
1

After much discussion and practice-calling/yelling at/etc, we’ve settled on naming our coming daughter [name_f]Barbara[/name_f]. Now, the middle names are an issue.

My husband wants to name the girl after his mother as one of the middle names, her name is [name_f]Marsha[/name_f].

If we name a girl after his mother, I feel like we should also name her after my mother. Her name is [name_f]Nancy[/name_f].

I kind of think [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] is cute, but my mother is fundamentally opposed and says it sounds really tacky and too sing-songy. My mother and I also mutually hate this spelling of [name_f]Marsha[/name_f], but the husband says it would be “disrespectful” to change it to [name_f]Marcia[/name_f].

The other option is to name her after our grandmothers, [name_f]Gladys[/name_f] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], making her [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Gladys[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. I also like this option, and I agree that it sounds more elegant - but the husband refuses to budge on naming a daughter after his mother, since his sister already has their grandmother’s name so “she’s taken care of.”

What do you guys think we should do?

Is [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] too tacky or sing-songy?

2

I don’t think that it’s at all tacky or sing-songy. It has a lovely flow and carries a significant meaning for your family. [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] is lovely. Besides, it’ll be very rare that anybody will have an occasion to use her full name anyway, she’ll mostly be known as [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] Surname.

3

I don’t think it’s tacky but I can kind of get the sing-songy thing. Really no budging? pp makes a good point though, it doesn’t matter too much in the end. [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] is cute btw, you don’t hear it too much these days! :slight_smile:

4

I don’t know where you’re from, but at least in the U.S., [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] sounds like a old lady born in the 50s. These are all three names that haven’t translated well to the vintage-name category for the western anglo world. If you are not in the western-anglo world (US, [name_f]Canada[/name_f], UK, and Western Europe) and [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] is a perfectly acceptable combination where you are, please ignore the rest of this post. I know [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] is in the top 100 in Portugal, so it may be high where you’re from too.

Otherwise, I think honor names would be best in this situation, although it sounds like your husband may oppose anything but [name_f]Marsha[/name_f]. Supposing you live in the English-speaking Western world, this name will get quite a few head turns on a baby girl. I hate to think how she might be teased going to school with people whose grandmothers or great-grandmothers are more likely to share her name than her peers–and not in a charming way like [name_f]Mabel[/name_f] or [name_f]Pearl[/name_f].

[name_f]Nancy[/name_f] means “[name_f]Grace[/name_f].” Would [name_f]Grace[/name_f] work better? It also comes from [name_f]Ann[/name_f]/[name_f]Anne[/name_f]/[name_f]Anna[/name_f]/[name_f]Ana[/name_f], so I would suggest one of these as a first name. If I can’t convince you of anything but [name_f]Barbara[/name_f], I would at least implore that you give the girl something more ageless she can go by in a middle name if she finds too much teasing from such an old-fashioned first name.

Now, if I haven’t completely offended you and your choice in [name_f]Barbara[/name_f], I’ll suggest a couple more alternatives:

[name_f]Marsha[/name_f] --> [name_f]Marcy[/name_f]/[name_f]Marcie[/name_f]. This is much more befitting a girl born in the 2010’s, and still carries the same namesake meaning.

This way, you could name her [name_f]Marcie[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], or [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Marcy[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. If you’re set on [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] for its meaning or anything like that, I suggest [name_f]Basia[/name_f], which is one of the variants for [name_f]Barbara[/name_f].

[name_f]Basia[/name_f] [name_f]Marcy[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is lovely.

To me, your Mother is right–mostly because of my biases with the names [name_f]Barbara[/name_f], [name_f]Nancy[/name_f], and [name_f]Marsha[/name_f]. [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] isn’t so bad if he really won’t budge on [name_f]Marsha[/name_f].

My favorite combo is [name_f]Marcie[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]!

5

To be honest, I think [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] [name_f]Marsha[/name_f] is incredibly clunky. Any one of the names could be made to feel current in the right combo, but as is the name sounds like a roll call for my grandmother’s [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] school class.

Since you’re set on [name_f]Barbara[/name_f], I would consider a variant of [name_f]Anne[/name_f] to update [name_f]Nancy[/name_f].

6

The only problem with “updating” [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] to [name_f]Anne[/name_f] is I don’t think naming a daughter [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] [name_f]Anne[/name_f] is the wisest move, considering the song. Not to mention, [name_f]Anne[/name_f] is a family name in my family - associated with my aunt, and not my mother.

7

[name_f]Grace[/name_f], then, since [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] means ‘grace’?