Name to honor Suzanne?

Girl Names
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] Berries,

I’ve always wanted to give a future daughter a name honoring my mother. My mom’s name is [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] and I wanted [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] for a daughter. However, in my partner’s family/culture it is considered very bad luck to name a baby after a living relative. We nixed [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] and [name_f]Susannah[/name_f].

I am trying now to think of a name that honors [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] more indirectly. One option is [name_f]Shoshana[/name_f], the Hebrew form of [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f]. I like the name but it doesn’t really remind me of my mom.

My mom loves math/science/space. She’s a mathematician. A more indirect route to honoring her would be to choose the name of a female mathematician. Oddly enough, [name_f]Ada[/name_f] (for [name_f]Ada[/name_f] Lovelace) reminds me of my mom more than [name_f]Shoshana[/name_f] does. She likes strong, classic names and so do I.

I don’t know I’m sort of grasping for straws thinking of a name that makes sense! My other favorite non-honor names are [name_f]Octavia[/name_f], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f], [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], [name_f]Sylvia[/name_f], [name_f]Estelle[/name_f], and [name_f]Rose[/name_f]. Any advice would be appreciated!

2

First of all, both [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] and [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] are beautiful names.

I looked up some of the variants of [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] apart from [name_f]Shoshana[/name_f] in case any of them interest you: [name_f]Susan[/name_f], [name_f]Suzette[/name_f], [name_f]Susette[/name_f], [name_f]Sanne[/name_f], [name_f]Sanna[/name_f], [name_f]Zanne[/name_f], Zsuzana, Zsuzannah, [name_f]Shanna[/name_f], [name_f]Sosana[/name_f], [name_f]Susanka[/name_f], [name_f]Sosannah[/name_f], Sousana. I personally find some of them a bit out-there, but they might give you some inspiration as well. Another thing I looked into was nicknames or diminutives of [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f]. Although I would think some of these are only nicknames that doesn’t mean you couldn’t use them. Here’s the list: [name_f]Sue[/name_f], [name_f]Susie[/name_f], [name_f]Sosie[/name_f], [name_f]Sookie[/name_f], [name_f]Sukie[/name_f], [name_f]Sukey[/name_f], [name_u]Sunny[/name_u], Susa, [name_f]Sun[/name_f], [name_f]Sana[/name_f], [name_f]Hanna/name_f, [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Anne[/name_f], [name_f]Nana[/name_f], [name_f]Nan[/name_f], [name_f]Zuzu[/name_f], Zsu Zsu. In fact, I think you could easily honor mother just with a nickname. Did she have any nicknames maybe?

[name_f]Savannah[/name_f] is a name that I just thought of sounded similar. You could also use the meaning of [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] and Susuannah which is “lily”. I adore the name [name_f]Lily[/name_f], but if it’s too short there are many variants of this name as well: [name_f]Cecily[/name_f], [name_f]Delilah[/name_f], [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Lila[/name_f], [name_f]Lilac[/name_f], Lilana, [name_f]Lilas[/name_f], [name_f]Lilia[/name_f], [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], [name_f]Lilibeth[/name_f], [name_f]Lilike[/name_f], [name_f]Lilith[/name_f], [name_f]Liliosa[/name_f], [name_f]Lilium[/name_f], [name_f]Lillian[/name_f], [name_f]Lilo[/name_f], [name_f]Lilou[/name_f], [name_f]Romilly[/name_f], and [name_f]Sicily[/name_f].

I also found a really long list of female mathematicians and there is such a great variety of names there. Though some of the most famous female mathematicians include [name_f]Hypatia[/name_f] (I find this uniquely appealing), [name_f]Mary[/name_f] Somerville, [name_f]Florence[/name_f] Nightingale, [name_f]Maryam[/name_f] Mirzakhani ([name_f]Miriam[/name_f] maybe?), and [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] [name_m]Germain[/name_m] (or [name_f]Sophia[/name_f]).

As for space, there a so many astrological and space associated names. Britsh [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Names has a Astronomical Names list that I find very interesting. Other than that there is a thread on Nameberry as well that has lovely names: Celestial/space inspired names. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps!

3

Not to dismiss the partner, but I would still use [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]. You don’t indicate that it is bad luck in your culture. [name_f]Ada[/name_f] is a great choice of you nix [name_f]Susannah[/name_f].

4

Here are some ideas:

  • [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f] - [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] was derived from [name_f]Susan[/name_f]
  • [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Lily[/name_f] - [name_f]Susan[/name_f]/[name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] mean “lily” so you could use [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a first or middle name
  • [name_f]Stella[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f] - Going off of the space theme
  • [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] - [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] is a moon of [name_m]Saturn[/name_m]
  • [name_f]Augusta[/name_f] [name_f]Susie[/name_f] - [name_f]Ada[/name_f] Lovelace started life as [name_f]Augusta[/name_f] [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_m]Byron[/name_m], so [name_f]Augusta[/name_f] could be an option if it’s a name you love (I happen to like [name_f]Ada[/name_f] much more myself though).

Other names of famous female mathemticians you could use:
[name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_f]Emmy[/name_f], [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f], [name_f]Vera[/name_f], [name_f]Olga[/name_f], [name_f]Winifred[/name_f], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_f]Bernadette[/name_f], [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Etta[/name_f] or [name_f]Maria[/name_f].

Personally, I adore [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] especially because it connects you to your mother in so many ways and its a gorgeous name. Good luck, it’s so sweet of you to want to honor your mother. Such a lovely connection between generations of strong women.

5

[name_f]Ada[/name_f] is a fabulous name - strong, historical, a name with gravity, and it honors your mom without stepping on a cultural no-no.

Some combos either from your list or inspired by female mathematicians/scientists…

[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Estelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Estella[/name_f]
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Sophia[/name_f]
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Maria[/name_f]

6

If you and your partner want to respect his cultural tradition, isn’t using [name_f]Shoshana[/name_f] after your mother the same thing? Is it that [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is too close? What if you moved it to the middle name spot? [name_f]Ada[/name_f] sounds like an excellent idea. Not sure how you feel about two a endings, but [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is pretty cute [name_f]IMO[/name_f]. [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is another great idea, going off meaning. [name_f]Calla[/name_f] is another thought. Good luck!