Natalie and Nathaniel?

I’m expecting my first baby, a girl, in the end of december. We’re seriously considering naming her [name]Julia[/name] [name]Natalie[/name] (for those of you who’ve seen my posts in girl names). However, if I had a boy, I would name him [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name]. Of course, we might never have a boy, so I might have nothing to worry about. But just say we name her [name]Julia[/name] [name]Natalie[/name], and have a son next, would it be strange to call him [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name]? I don’t think [name]Natalie[/name] and [name]Nathaniel[/name] are related even though they sound similar. [name]Both[/name] names honor family members–[name]Nettie[/name] and [name]Nathan[/name]. Of course, if we do go with [name]Julia[/name] [name]Natalie[/name], we could always find a different middle name for a future, hypothetical [name]Henry[/name].

I personally like [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name] better than [name]Julia[/name] [name]Natalie[/name]. [name]Natalie[/name] isn’t as classic as the other three names, but [name]Julia[/name] and [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name] are perfect! Any other family members you can honor? Or, could you choose another name ending in -nette to honor [name]Nettie[/name]?

Some options:
[name]Annette[/name]
[name]Antoinette[/name]
[name]Jeanette[/name]
[name]Linette[/name]
[name]Lunette[/name]
[name]Mignonette[/name]
[name]Nanette[/name]

[name]Julia[/name] [name]Antoinette[/name], [name]Julia[/name] [name]Linette[/name], [name]Julia[/name] [name]Mignonette[/name], and [name]Julia[/name] [name]Nanette[/name] sound best in my opinion…

I love both names, but I think they are too similar. [name]Natalie[/name] has to do with [name]Christmas[/name]. It means born on [name]Christmas[/name] [name]Day[/name]. There are lots of girls’ names that have to do with [name]Christmas[/name]. One of my favorite [name]Christmas[/name] names for girls is [name]Clara[/name].
[name]Nathaniel[/name] means given by God. [name]Theodore[/name] has a similar meaning - it means gift of God.

I personally don’t see it as a huge issue. Yes, the names are very similar (you can find all the letters to spell [name]Natalie[/name] within [name]Nathaniel[/name]), but seeing as they honor family members and you’re only planning to use them in the middle, I don’t see a big problem. I think both combinations of first with middle are quite nice, so why not go for it with [name]Julia[/name] [name]Natalie[/name] (lovely, btw)? As you said, it’s not certain you’ll use [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name] anyway.
As a side note, I do see [name]Nathan[/name] as a little less similar to [name]Natalie[/name] than [name]Nathaniel[/name] is, probably because it doesn’t have an “L” in it.

Yes, this is probably true. It probably is fine to use both names in the middle. I’m contradicting what I said earlier but I just had rocky road ice cream, so I’m in a good mood. JK! What I really want to say is that when you’re honoring family members, the name rules can really relax.

I love [name]Henry[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name], and [name]Nathaniel[/name] [name]Henry[/name], too! :slight_smile: [name]Natalie[/name] and [name]Nathaniel[/name] would be too close for me to use as brother and sister middles, but if it doesn’t bother you, that’s what matters. Like someone already mentioned ([name]Ah[/name]! I can’t recall who!), they’ll be middle names, so it’s not as though you’ll be calling out [name]Nate[/name] and [name]Nattie[/name] nicknames.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

Thanks for all your helpful input. I guess the main thing I should keep in mind is who knows if I will have a boy next, if there will even be an opportunity to have a [name]Henry[/name]! I should probably just stay focused on what to name my daughter regardless of future siblings. I really need to figure out how important it is to my husband and m-i-l to give our daughter an “n” middle name. She will definitely have the Hebrew name of her great aunt whom we are naming her for.