I have a very short, chewy last name (lots of M’s and N’s) that ends in an “uh” sound. It’s led me to develop naming rules that I never saw coming!
Like…
Most names containing M’s and N’s are full-stop OUT, especially those that begin or end with those letters.
No name ending in an “uh” sound. I don’t want any sort of rhyming ending. …Though I admit I have one exception on my list - somehow it works.
With my two-syllable last name, two-syll first names are okay but ONLY with one- or three-syll middles. If the first name is only two-syll, it makes rules one and two that much more important.
Some of my favorite-names-since-forever have been ruled out since meeting my husband. Oh well.
Are my rules weird? Or do you think similarly?
What are YOUR rules?
My rules are similar to yours, only with different letters. We have 3 Ts in our name and it ends with an L sound. Plus the Ts in the middle sound more like Ds. So any name that ends in a D sound (like [name]Jude[/name]) or an L sound ([name]Abel[/name], [name]Mabel[/name], etc) would never work. And anything with multiple Ts, (like [name]Titus[/name]) would be terrible.
Because of our last name, I tend to avoid names that start with a ‘Wa’ sound. I like some alliteration, so I won’t elliminate all W names, but the ‘Wa’ sound would be cartoonish with our name.
I also avoid names that end with an ‘ak’ sound (like [name]Jack[/name]) because it would rhyme with our last name.
I had a speech impediment growing up, and still sometimes stumble on my words. For that reason, I tend to avoid names that have both an R and W in it (like [name]Rowen[/name]).
My last name rhymes with [name]March[/name], but starts with a B.
Since our name is only one syllable, I do not want to give a child a one syllable name. That just feels unfairly boring to me. (I grew up with 7 syllables ) So [name]Reed[/name] “Barch” and [name]Sloane[/name] “Barch” are out.
I’m absolutley in love with [name]Beckett[/name], but with “Barch” it sounds “cartoon-ish”. Therefore, B names are out.
I grew up with a nickname-less name. Because of this, I feel really weird using a name that doesn’t have a nickname. (I feel stronger about this for girl’s than I do boys.)
I really want a name to be gender specific. Our favorite boy name is [name]Rowan[/name], and I’m having a really hard time with the fact that its going to the girls.
Our last name starts with a D so I can’t use names that end in the D sound like [name]Wade[/name] or [name]Chad[/name] because the names run together. Our last name ends with “is” so I can’t use names that end in that sound either like [name]Fergus[/name] or [name]Nicholas[/name]. Other than that, I look for names with no nicknames, not too popular and no religious meaning or connotation.
They have to go to bed on time:
PAJAMAla (rather than Pamela)
ZenROBE-bia (an alternate to Zenobia)
They’re not allowed to loiter on the sidewalk:
GOmez
HURRY-et (instead of Harriet)
They have to clean their plate:
EATrice (as opposed to Beatrice)
CHOW-ie (instead of Howie) I know, I am silly! Maybe I will think of some more well-mannered names.
I know, I am silly! Maybe I will think of some more well-mannered names.