The baby’s gender is going to be a surprise, so I have to do twice the work and find two perfect names! We like names that are not too common, but that will not get massacred ( I spent my whole life having people mispronounce my name and I’d like to spare my children that annoyance…) If it is a girl we are pretty set on [name]Elsa[/name] as a first name and [name]Valentine[/name] ad the middle name. We like the way they sound together and the meanings ([name]Noble[/name], strong and healthy). We liked [name]Elsa[/name] and [name]Esther[/name] but felt [name]Elsa[/name] was more international. [name]Valentine[/name] has an artistic charm and prettiness to it and is the name of a character in my husband’s favourite book. By the way, the last name is short (one syllable) and starts with D. What do you think of that name? Other options we considered were [name]Abigail[/name], [name]Catherine[/name], Tahirih (for middle name).
The boy name is proving to be harder. The names we happen to like are all names of our grandfathers, without necessarily wanting to name him AFTER them. These are [name]Nathan[/name], [name]Edward[/name], and [name]Conrad[/name]. I have this issue with names in the top 10, and as much as I like [name]Nathan[/name] I’m afraid it might be too popular right now. I also like [name]Alexander[/name] but do not like the nickname [name]Alex[/name], and it has the same issue with popularity. We are leaning towards [name]Conrad[/name] [name]Alexander[/name]. Having [name]Alexander[/name] as the middle name makes it unlikely it will be reduced to its shorter version. [name]Conrad[/name] is such a strong male name in my mind, with a vintage flair, but is it too serious for a little boy? I don’t know what nicknames he could have - I wouldn’t want people calling him [name]Con[/name] or [name]Connie[/name]. Maybe [name]Rad[/name]? Also, we live in a bilingual (English-French) area of [name]Canada[/name] and I don’t think [name]Conrad[/name] sound very nice in other languages than [name]German[/name] and English. [name]How[/name] much should I factor this in?
I have to second that opinion. [name]Conrad[/name] [name]Alexander[/name] sounds so strong. I struggled myself over the name [name]Conrad[/name] and decided if we went with that name for any of our children, the nickname would be [name]Rad[/name]. Many Alexanders go by [name]Xander[/name] so I don’t see anything wrong with using the last part of the name.
On the other hand, [name]Edward[/name] is a really fine name too, and if it sounds better out of the mouths of people in your neck of the woods who will be pronouncing your little boy’s name, I think it is just as fine as [name]Conrad[/name], and just as strong, but with better nickname possibilities ([name]Teddy[/name], [name]Eddy[/name], [name]Ed[/name], [name]Ted[/name]). [name]Edward[/name] [name]Alexander[/name] is a really great name.
I love [name]Elsa[/name] but I prefer [name]Abigail[/name] as a middle name choice. The styles of [name]Elsa[/name] and [name]Abigail[/name] seem to fit better for me than [name]Elsa[/name] and [name]Valentine[/name]. Also, [name]Elsa[/name] is pretty unusual and I would think [name]Abigail[/name] would bring the name a little closer to home than [name]Valentine[/name].
I think [name]Elsa[/name] is really pretty, but for some reason, [name]Elsa[/name] and [name]Valentine[/name] don’t work together for me. I think [name]Elsa[/name] [name]Catherine[/name] is gorgeous, though!
I really, really love [name]Conrad[/name] and [name]Edward[/name], and think they’re great with [name]Alexander[/name].
