Opinions please!

General Name Discussion
1

The shortlist keeps getting shorter! :slight_smile:

Wondering which name(s) you would choose and why.

Big brother is [name_u]Owen[/name_u] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]. We’re not necessarily looking for a name that matches, but has the same general feel and meets the same(ish) criteria for things we loved about [name_u]Owen[/name_u] (traditional but modern feeling, not uncommon but not overly popular, soft but strong, can lend itself to a variety of different personalities, etc.)

[name_m]Alexander[/name_m] is my maiden name and while we aren’t set on using a family name as a middle for this one, if we can’t find anything else we like the overall sound and flow of better, we would prefer to go with more of an honour name. Problem is that the family names we are willing to consider are pretty slim pickings for the name itself as well as personal reasons.

So, here we go.

Boy name front runners:
[name_u]Tristan[/name_u]
[name_u]Reid[/name_u]

Boy name middle options (family):
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m]
[name_m]Bruce[/name_m]

Girl name front runners:
[name_f]Gwen[/name_f]
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]

Girl name middle options (family):
[name_f]Michelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Jeanne[/name_f]

We are both concerned [name_u]Reid[/name_u], although a very traditional name that meets our [name_u]Owen[/name_u] criteria, is a little too “cool guy” for us. And [name_f]Esme[/name_f] has a concern for pronunciation issues (I don’t want ez-mee and don’t want her to have to spend her life correcting people).

Also, [name_f]Gwenna[/name_f] popped up in conversation this morning as a possible alternate to [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] that might be a little more easily paired with middle names.

Thoughts?

Any suggestions for other names on this vein that we may have overlooked? Other names we have considered but have back-burnered are:
[name_m]Liam[/name_m]
[name_u]Rhys[/name_u]
[name_m]Miles[/name_m]
[name_m]Patrick[/name_m]
[name_u]James[/name_u]
[name_u]Elias[/name_u]
[name_f]Ailish[/name_f]
[name_f]Greer[/name_f]
[name_f]Carys[/name_f]
[name_f]Lauren[/name_f] or [name_f]Laurel[/name_f]
[name_f]Blythe[/name_f]

Last name is a hard k start and an n ending, so really not into similar (mainly the hard k) sounding alliterative names - [name_f]Carys[/name_f] was pushing it for me…

2

I think that [name_f]Esme[/name_f] wouldn’t cause problems. I love the name, but I think it would sound better with [name_f]Blythe[/name_f] or [name_f]Lauren[/name_f] in the middle than with [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f] or [name_f]Michelle[/name_f].
As for [name_f]Gwen[/name_f], I like longer versions such as [name_f]Gwenna[/name_f] and [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f] better. [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] would work as a middle name.

3

[name_u]Tristan[/name_u] [name_u]Rhys[/name_u] and [name_u]Reid[/name_u] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] are nice as well

4

And if you are okay using your “back-burnered” names for firsts,

[name_f]Lauren[/name_f] [name_f]Greer[/name_f]
[name_f]Blythe[/name_f] [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f]

[name_m]Miles[/name_m] Patrck
[name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Elias[/name_u]
[name_m]Liam[/name_m] [name_m]Bruce[/name_m]

5

[name_u]Owen[/name_u] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and:

[name_u]Reid[/name_u] [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m]

[name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f]

personal favorites:

[name_u]Reid[/name_u]
[name_u]Tristan[/name_u]
[name_m]Liam[/name_m]
[name_u]Rhys[/name_u]
[name_m]Miles[/name_m]
[name_u]Elias[/name_u]

6

I really like [name_u]Reid[/name_u] with [name_u]Owen[/name_u]. I think it could be any kind of guy. [name_u]Reid[/name_u] [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] sounds great! I definitely like the two combos together and think they match up well in style and sound.

As for girls, I prefer [name_f]Esme[/name_f] to [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] because [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] is basically [name_u]Owen[/name_u]. While I get your concerns about pronunciation, [name_f]Esme[/name_f] seems pretty mainstream these days so I don’t think she’d run into too many issues. I’m not sure I like [name_f]Esme[/name_f] with your honor names though. [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Laurel[/name_f] is nice.

7

Yes, that was another possible issue - [name_u]Owen[/name_u] and [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] are very similar when you see them written together and we aren’t certain how we feel about that. Pronunciation-wise we feel it’s much less of an issue. That’s also one of the reasons [name_f]Gwenna[/name_f] came up, but we are questioning if theres any point to using [name_f]Gwenna[/name_f] if we’re just going to call her [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] anyway…

Funnily enough [name_m]Liam[/name_m] [name_m]Bruce[/name_m] (my dad’s name) was a front runner for a while, but it lost its luster for me. [name_u]Reid[/name_u] [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] (hubby’s name) has been the combo of choice for quite a while until hubby decided that [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] is in fact a name he would seriously consider (it’s never spoken to him so it never officially made it on any lists until now). We like the combo of [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f] (my mum’s name) better than [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] (mum’s and my middle) but for some reason [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] just seems more “us” than [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. Decisions decisions!!!

8

i think i like [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u] the best

9

My favorites with [name_u]Owen[/name_u] are [name_u]Rhys[/name_u] and [name_m]Miles[/name_m], but [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] and [name_u]Reid[/name_u] are great too. For girls, I like [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] but I love [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. My personal picks having an [name_u]Owen[/name_u] would be [name_u]Rhys[/name_u] [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] and [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] or [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Laurel[/name_f]. funny how much overlap we have - [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] and [name_f]Jeanne[/name_f] (these spellings) are family names for me too!

I also saw in your other post that maybe you have settled on [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] [name_u]Rhys[/name_u] for a boy, which is incredibly handsome.

Good luck! If you need more middle name ideas for [name_f]Esme[/name_f], I’ve got lots!