My husband’s last name is [name]Tay[/name], pronounced somewhat like [name]Taylor[/name] but without the second syllable. It’s a chinese surname and the baby will have a phonetic chinese middle name, selected by her grandfather. (her grandfather will give her a chinese name and we will use the hanyu pinyin of that for her middle name). We have no idea what the middle name is at the moment except that it will have 2 syllables.
Anyway, I’m not chinese and I want a name that reflects my heritage as well. I’m looking for a cool unusual name with lots of flexibility. Something that she can use no matter if she’s a investment banker, senator, or indie band member. To quote nameberry, “those that have deep roots, are attractive, and can fit into contemporary life, yet are not on the brink of widespread discovery”
I have a few I quite like and am open to other suggestions but [name]Tay[/name] is hard because the name always sounds clumsy on the tongue.
So far, I’ve only got:
[name]Tallulah[/name]
[name]Arissa[/name]
[name]Ezra[/name]
The first thing that popped into my head was [name]Elissa[/name] [name]Tay[/name] but then I started researching Chinese names and discovered that not a ot of them flow well with this. So(I am using theoretical middle names):
[name]Cassandra[/name] Lien [name]Tay[/name] (nn [name]Cassie[/name])
[name]Beatrix[/name] Yuan [name]Tay[/name] (nn [name]Bea[/name]/[name]Trixie[/name])
Here are just some names that come to the top of my head;
[name]Geneva[/name]
[name]Louisa[/name]
[name]Annabelle[/name]
[name]Regina[/name]
[name]Cleo[/name]
[name]Martha[/name]
[name]Victoria[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name]
[name]Margaret[/name] / [name]Margot[/name] /[name]Margo[/name]
[name]Natalie[/name]
[name]Freya[/name]
[name]Naomi[/name]
[name]Poppy[/name]
[name]Clementine[/name]
[name]Macy[/name]
[name]Phoebe[/name]
whirligig: [name]Elissa[/name] is such a lovely name! Unfortunately, there’s already an older cousin named [name]Eliza[/name] in the family. I was originally thinking of [name]Elsa[/name] or [name]Elza[/name] but unsure if it seems too kiddy. The open sound also goes well with the [name]Tay[/name]. Currently, the one that her grandfather favours more is Xing Jie (pronounced [name]Sing[/name] Chieh). Apparently, it means newness and purity which I find poetic. But damn, such a hard name to work with don’t you think?
Jojocastles: do you find the name too cute? I couldn’t decide on [name]Clarissa[/name], [name]Marissa[/name], or [name]Larissa[/name] so the dad suggested [name]Arissa[/name]. Which i find better than the three! My concern is, would [name]Arissa[/name] [name]Tay[/name] look weird on a name card if she chooses to be say, a corporate lawyer in the future?
[name]Emilie[/name] Xing Jie [name]Tay[/name] (nn [name]Emmy[/name])
That’s my only other suggestion becasue I find that Xing Jie [name]Tay[/name] is a mouthful to say even without a first name. Maybe he should choose a more flowy,short middle eg. [name]Mei[/name] so you can have more choice with the first. Sorry if this is no help but this has got be baffled!!!
