Name regret w/ 7 week old, any advice?(LONG)

Girl Names
1

Sorry to repeat this saga for anyone:I am finding myself suffering from name regret: I named our 3rd daughter Rosalie Violet Kelley after much discussion, perusing of name lists/sites and books, and vetoing by my husband of almost every other first name I offered. I thought I liked it enough, but now I am starting to actually dislike it. She is now 7 weeks old.

To repeat, my other kids are from oldest down: Isabel, Schuyler, Saoirse, and Felix. Not worried about sibling matching, just want to avoid anything too matchy. I’ve had mild name regret at this post-partum time with all but Isabel, who I had regret with starting at about 3 years old and still wish I could change, but by 3-4 yrs it was too late. I love the 3 middle kids’ names now so clearly I do have some PP issues with this, but for some reason this last one is worse-for the following reasons:

  1. Four people have mispronounced it as Rosa-LEE (as if it is two names with the emphasis on the “lee”) This makes it sound super tacky to me and having grown up correcting people that my name is Caroline, not Carolyn, I don’t really want to deal with that again- (and I have to do it w/ Isabel too b/c people always call her Isabella). Plus I never imagined people would pronounce Rosalie that way and it just makes my stomach turn.
    2). It ends in “ee” and I generally like names that end in the “A” sound, as names that end in “ee” sound a bit cutesie to me. Problem is, DH vetoed almost all of my names ending in A. At the time, Rosalie seemed like a nice alternative that was still pretty w/o the A.

I know I have post-partum emotions still coarsing through me, but I also don’t want to live with severe name regret since I already deal with this with daughter #1, whom we named Isabel b/c my husband wanted a more traditional name and I was not as savvy about avoiding popular names and compromised.

My husband really likes the name Rosalie (which was my idea, btw, ack) he thinks I am totally unstable about the topic, but is marginally willing to entertain the idea of renaming her if I find something he likes as well or better and I set a time limit on the discussion.if I set a time limit on the discussion. I would like to at least search a little more to see if I can’t find something that suits my tastes better that he might like as well. Maybe I really liked Rosalie for a reason and I’ll get over this nauseating response I have to hearing her name mispronounced, or that it ends in “ee” but I would like to hunt a little more.

I’d like to keep Violet as her mn, didn’t use it as the first name due to gaining popularity.
Goal is to stay out of the top 200.

These are the names I preferred that he vetoed.
Electra: All time fave
Isis (he thought too close to Isabel)
Cleopatra
Sapphira
Pandora
Georgia (doesn’t like it or place names)
Gloria/Glory
Giselle
India ( he was semi OK with this- but again doesn’t like place names)
Indira
Calypso
Indigo
Serafina (too much like Saoirse)
Thalia ( we both thought a tad clunky and a few people commented it a little rhyming with failure)
Persephone (long and ends in “ee” and don’t want a nickname)
Katrina (I am leaning towards this but he doesn’t like it as he thinks it sounds too ethnic with Kelley, plus there’s the hurricane reference)

I like 2-3 syllable names that end in “a” or even other endings and probably should avoid their starting with “s”. Something unusual and/or exotic that can still work with Kelley, is feminine, and easy to say.
If you have any thoughts on name suggestions, or how I can get myself through this period of uncertainty, (or insanity) I’d appreciate it!

2

I’m sorry your going through a difficult time. I hate to say this, but I would have been in the camp of mispronouncing her name, in fact in Twilite isnt it pronounced with the lee? I could be wrong. As far as your list, can elaborate on [name]Thalia[/name] and failure rhyming? [name]How[/name] are you pronouncing [name]Thalia[/name]? I would assume its pronounced Thal (similiar with the sound [name]Val[/name]) and thee -ah. Is that the correct pronunciation?

3

The “lee” is right, it’s the emphasis on the last syllable that’s bothering me. People occasionally say “rosa-[name]LEE[/name]’” not [name]ROS[/name]’-a-lee" does that make sense? It’s a subtle difference but to me it’s the difference between it’s sounding tacky vs. attractive.

As for [name]Thalia[/name], there are numerous pronunciations-the one we liked was the American “THAIL’-ya”. so the “THAIL” might make it sound like “FAILYA” to some. [name]One[/name] can also pronounce it “Tha-[name]LEE[/name]’-ah” or "ta-lee’-a. or “[name]TAL[/name]’ ya”: [name]Hope[/name] that clarified it.

4

I don’t understand the pronunciation problem. I say [name]Rose[/name] ah lee or [name]Rose[/name] uh lee which seem the same to me. [name]How[/name] do you say it?

Guess what I am a [name]Caroline[/name] too, however the bain of my life was people calling me [name]Carol[/name] (ugh!!). And believe it or not I don’t see any issue between [name]Caroline[/name] and [name]Carolyn[/name]. I think it is fine to pronounce them the same. I can understand that you prefer the ‘line’ pronunciation but here in [name]Oz[/name] either pronunciation is perfectly normal.

If you like [name]Thalia[/name] then you may love [name]Talitha[/name] which is a soft, flowing and very pretty name.

I hope that the nameberries can help you find a name that makes you feel at peace.

Best wishes,

rollo

5

I love your daughters name but I will give you some ideas: My main idea would be to change the ending to [name]Rosalia[/name]- I love it. And not too much of a change! :slight_smile: Or [name]Rosa[/name].
[name]Ciara[/name]
[name]Mika[/name]
[name]Marinda[/name]
[name]Malia[/name]
[name]Leila[/name]
[name]Kerensa[/name]
[name]Kaia[/name]
[name]Indra[/name]
[name]Mirella[/name]

6

PS: Appears you like Ind names-[name]How[/name] about [name]Indie[/name]? Gorgeous name on its own!

7

I haven’t had kids so I can’t really advise on name regret, but I can offer a few names that came to mind that might match your criteria…

[name]Allegra[/name] (this name is #2 on my girls list. It ends in “a”, is easy to say, and is not highly popular!)
[name]Caterina[/name] (an alternative to [name]Katrina[/name])
[name]Anastasia[/name]/[name]Anastacia[/name]
[name]Danica[/name]
[name]Cordelia[/name]
[name]Cecilia[/name]

8

hi [name]Caroline[/name]/rollo,

The problem is the emphasis on the last syllable_i guess I should clarify, it’s not a pronunciation problem, it’s more of an emphasis issue that makes it sound like I named her [name]Rosa[/name] [name]Lee[/name],i.e. like [name]Brenda[/name] [name]Lee[/name], instead of the flowing, one-worded [name]ROSalie[/name] with the emphasis on the first syllable. It’s subtle but to me makes a huge difference. I hope this makes it clearer.

[name]ITA[/name] I don’t like [name]Carol[/name] either, but unlike you, I was/am bothered by [name]Carolyn[/name], it seemed worlds apart to me from the “line” ending, and did to my mother too.

9

I’m sorry to hear your having name regret! I remember reading your posts as you were deciding. I really think [name]Rosalie[/name] is pretty though!

I haven’t been there done that, but I think if your husband agrees, I’d go for it if its what you really want.

Of your list I really like [name]Gloria[/name] [name]Violet[/name] and [name]Katrina[/name] [name]Violet[/name]. You could always do [name]Corrina[/name] instead of [name]Katrina[/name] if you don’t like the hurrican thing. You could also do [name]Katarina[/name].

10

[name]Hi[/name] Ninanoo, I love [name]Katrina[/name],he thinks it is too European souinding w/ our last name. :frowning:
he absolutely said no to [name]Gloria[/name].

11

I’m sorry I don’t see how Thalia even remotely sounds like failure / failya. They sound different because [name]Thalia[/name] has the ah sound and failure has the a sound. But to the real issue at hand… As far as people putting the emphasis on the [name]LEE[/name], that is weird, I’m not sure why people are doing that other then they are trying to be cute because she is a baby… like “oh Rosa[name]LEE[/name] what a little cutie you are”. For what it worth Rosalie is a really nice name.

12

[name]Hi[/name] [name]Ella[/name], he offered for me to give her a nickname-but I don’t usually do that, and with this one I don’t care for [name]Rosa[/name], [name]Rose[/name], or [name]Sally[/name].
I know a dog named [name]Indie[/name], lol, but I do like [name]India[/name]. He liked that a little but seemed to like [name]Rosalie[/name] so much, it was really the only name he agreed on.

At least I am getting some reassurance that people like the name we did choose so maybe it is not as “tacky” as it has been sounding to me and I’ll find a way to move on.

13

I love the name [name]Rosalie[/name]. Very pretty!

14

I really like her name! I think it is beautiful and vastly prefer it over the other names you mentioned. I would hate for you to change it due to hormones and regret it later.

15

I too did the name regret thing with my now 9 month old. I loved what we named him, but it just wasn’t him. I changed it at 6 weeks, and I’m glad I did even though I have the reverse problem as you. The name we settled on is the one that people have pronunciation problems with (where I live anyway), and it does drive me crazy. But I still love his name. If I say his name to someone and they say it back the wrong way, I have his nickname at the ready and tell them to call him that, in a way that doesn’t say, hey dummy, did you not hear what I just said? Something like “You can just call him " Or "We just call him”. Most people that say it wrong are not those who have tons of contact with him anyway, and most just run with the nickname for whatever brief interaction we have. It has worked so far. If you love her name the way YOU pronounce it, just keep it, and tell the pronunciation impaired to call her [name]Rosie[/name] or [name]Rose[/name] or something, so you don’t have to keep cringing at them saying it incorrectly! :slight_smile:

16

If you regret all your kids names as you said in your post, then I think the names aren’t really the real issue. Some name regret is normal and common but the fact you had it with EVERY one of your kids make me want to advise you to wait it out a bit. Pregnancy and labor do a real number do your body and your hormones and our mental state and it takes longer than seven weeks to get back to normal. That said, I don’t think Isis is to close to Isabel (unless you call Isabel by Izzy) so that would get my vote from your list. I’m sorry your feeling this way-those first few months are hard enough without being bothered by your child’s name.

*Rosalie is a very pretty name whether it’s pronounced the way you prefer or the way you are saying is mispronouncing it that I’m pretty sure is the way I say it.

17

Thank you both, it’s helping to hear the endorsements and all of the advice! [name]Villette[/name], this is his BIG fear, that I am going to change it due to some wacky PPD/hormone issue only to regret the change later.

Right now, the name that I was leaning towards was [name]Katrina[/name], but he just isn’t sold on it at all. (I don’t like the nn [name]Trina[/name]).

It hasn’t helped that my oldest child has liked almost every name I talk about better than [name]Rosalie[/name].

18

nope, I don’t call my oldest [name]Izzy[/name]-but he really felt it was too close visually, plus his particular hang up was that he doesn’t care for goddess-oriented names. I’ll add it to my list of revisits (of which they’ll be few since he adamantly opposed most of my orginal names).

Yes, jersey grey. I think I suffer from a fixation with thinking I’ve made a mistake ever since my first, as she was the one where I reallly ended up not being happy with her name and I just didn’t want that to [name]EVER[/name] happen again, of course the sheer nature of reproduction and having to compromise has made it nearly impossible not to have some regret as I have only gotten my first choice names with my boys. girls the closest I came was with [name]Saoirse[/name]-the others have been 6th or 7th down on my list.

19

[name]Hi[/name] wootz, thanks for your post, I have yet to know anyone who has changed a first name afterwards, but appreciate this as it gives me some solace that it’s possible. RE: the pronunciation/emphasis issues I agree with you, that is what my husband says, just kindly correct the people and get over it!

20

I like a pp suggestion of having people call her by a nn to resolve the pronunciation issue. I would give it a year before changing her name. I don’t see changing a toddler’s name as a big deal. At that point you know it’s not hormones but that it truly is the wrong name. I wanted to change the spelling of my daughter’s name when she was two but my husband wouldn’t go for it. He did have a point though-we picked a name that half the time people will mispronounce but it’s a beautiful name and I don’t regret it.