We’re 12 weeks (give or take) away from welcoming our 3rd child into the world. Naming this one has been challenging. [name]Both[/name] our children have family names as their middle name, Our son’s middle name being my husbands fathers name and my daughters middle name being my mothers name. Fair to say, this could quite possibly be our last child and we could not agree on a middle name related to family, especially since both families are already honoured - and Hubby got to chose the first name, which I grew to like and it’s stuck thanks to a 2yo and a 4yo talking to their baby brother through my belly - adorable!. So we decided to start from scratch and simply use a name we both like without the added burden of who will ‘win the honour of middle name’ (so to speak). Which led us to… [name]Pilot[/name].
So, our third child and second son will be [name]Arlo[/name] [name]Pilot[/name]. Sibling to [name]Mason[/name] [name]Brett[/name] and [name]Harper[/name] [name]Maree[/name]
I don’t feel like [name]Mason[/name], [name]Harper[/name] and [name]Arlo[/name] are an odd combination… but I’ve had months of saying it over and over in my head…and whilst [name]Mason[/name] and [name]Harper[/name] are VERY popular elsewhere, they aren’t really here, which doesn’t make the name [name]Arlo[/name] stand out too much in the Sibset
When I told my mother she laughed at first (while still being supportive),I guess it’s probably a reaction we’d need to get use to.
It’s not like we’d always call him [name]Arlo[/name] [name]Pilot[/name]…despite him already gaining the inutero nickname of Pie haha.
If I had my way his name would be [name]Pilot[/name] [name]Arlo[/name], but that’s not going to happen.
Is [name]Pilot[/name] REALLY that crazy, even just as a middle name?
My first thought was that [name]Arlo[/name] and [name]Harper[/name] are very similar in my opinion - both 2 syllable, with the ‘ar’ sound being the most prominent. I can’t help but think think that might be an issue when calling them for dinner, or at a park etc. With regard to the middle name [name]Pilot[/name], I don’t think it’s an issue at all. The son of [name]Jason[/name] [name]Lee[/name] is called [name]Pilot[/name] Inspektor, so it’s not entirely unheard of. I used to like the name [name]Pilot[/name] when I was a teen, actually. I’ve heard a lot crazier, and since it’s in the middle name slot I think it works well enough
Thanks for the feed back. Maybe it’s my ‘accent’ but I don’t find them similar in the slightest,Interesting to know that they are seen as similar, as it’s something I was trying to avoid… [name]Hunter[/name] was a favourite of my husbands, but I vito’d because I didn’t want a [name]Harper[/name] and a [name]Hunter[/name].
Well I’m from [name]London[/name] (UK) so that might be why they sound similar to me. I think as long as they don’t sound similar when you say them, then they’d be fine together. Aside from that, I think they fit together fairly well.
Name taste often evolves with time and it almost universally goes from popular to less popular as one ages. There are many families where the first is given a mega-popular name ([name]Mason[/name], #2, 20,000 babies last year), the second is given a merely trendy name ([name]Harper[/name]), and the third is given something more unusual. So I think the general idea of [name]Mason[/name] - [name]Harper[/name] - [name]Arlo[/name] is perfectly fine.
However, I’m from the US and I too think [name]Arlo[/name] and [name]Harper[/name] are very close in sound. Obviously the ending sound is quite different, but it’s that initial sound that causes us to perk up our ears. If your family and children are already attached to baby brother [name]Arlo[/name] then it’s not an insurmountable problem, but if not, I’d keep looking. There are lots of -o names which are coming into usage now if that’s what’s drawing you to the name.
Lastly [name]Pilot[/name]. That’s the sort of name a 4-yr-old boy will doubtless think is awesome. It could even make him jealous, since his middle name is [name]Brett[/name]. If you and your husband really love it, and if you think it will wear well into adulthood, then go for it, but I would expect a little sibling rivalry (which will go both ways-- when the desperate-to-fit-in 11 yo [name]Arlo[/name] is jealous of big brother [name]Mason[/name]'s very popular name).
I think [name]Arlo[/name] and [name]Harper[/name] sounds very much alike. The ar-sound is very heavy in both names. [name]Pilot[/name] is a funky middle name, but I agree with blade, it could be some jealousy and rivalry over it (my sister and I had this problem, her names are very classic and quite popular, any my names are a bit more obscure and difficult. We’ve both been jealous of each others names at some point).
I like it as a combo but it kind of sounds like Auto-[name]Pilot[/name]! I thought I would point that out in case no one else did. That was the first thing I heard when I said it out loud.
I like [name]Arlo[/name] well enough but [name]Arlo[/name] [name]Pilot[/name] does sound like “auto pilot”. Since mn’s are rarely used nowadays, I don’t think that would be a big issue.
Can you believe I never thought of Auto-[name]Pilot[/name] and the connection this entire time, haha! [name]Even[/name] so, I don’t see it as too much of an issue seeing that we’d rarely call him by first and middle name as a daily thing. Being Australian I’m struggling to hear the similarity to [name]Harper[/name] and [name]Arlo[/name], when I say them together, but of course, being that I am Australian and we are lazy with pronunciation it’s probably just how we say the words haha!
The 4 year old is moreso upset that we haven’t put the name ‘[name]Buzz[/name]’ somewhere in there, he really wanted an [name]Arlo[/name] [name]Buzz[/name] ([name]Toy[/name] story fan!). But I can definitly see where we might run into issues as time wears on, [name]Mason[/name] certainly isn’t as popular around these parts as it is in the US, but it is a well-known name, around here we still get eyebrows raised when we mention our daughters name is [name]Harper[/name] (which I find incredibly odd, because it is quite a popular ‘fad’ name that people should be use to by now). I being a [name]Katherine[/name] [name]Ann[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] definitly had moments in my teen years where I wished my name was something more exotic, and I’m sure there are moments where I was glad I blended in. [name]Arlo[/name], has definitly stuck, it would be weird to call him anything else at this point in time and the siblings adore little bro [name]Arlo[/name],in all honesty I wasn’t a huge fan of [name]Arlo[/name], but the husband wore me down, I was voting for [name]Silas[/name], but alas, the child is well and truly an [name]Arlo[/name] to us now. I think a child of ours could pull off the ‘pilot’ quite well throughout his life, maybe we’ll just tell him we ran out of ‘working’ names and really wanted him to be a pilot when he got older
Thank you everyone, certainly raised issues I hadn’t even considered.
