[name]Hi[/name] there. My name is [name]April[/name] and my husband [name]JR[/name] and I have two daughters, a son who is no longer with us, and are expecting our fourth in [name]October[/name]. We live in [name]California[/name] and my husband is a surf-nut so he loves any name having to do with surfing or the beach. I prefer to be a bit more subtle (so [name]Coral[/name], Sea, [name]Cove[/name] etc. are all out), but finding names we both like that have the right feel for us is difficult. THE name has to feel effortless and laid back but still playful and exotic- like a great day at the beach. My husband and I have thrown around a few names for number four but nothing is sticking so far. Our oldest daughter, age seven, is [name]Roxie[/name] [name]Adelaide[/name]. It was pretty easy to decide on [name]Roxie[/name] (it”s a surf brand, and it also comes from my favorite musical, Chicago) and [name]Adelaide[/name] is a nod to my DHs Aussie roots. Had she been a boy her name would have been [name]Knox[/name] [name]Alexander[/name], but we”ve eliminated that now because [name]Knox[/name] and [name]Roxie[/name] seem to close. Our second daughter, age four, is [name]Rio[/name] [name]Artemis[/name], [name]Rio[/name] was chosen partially because of it”s connection to water, partially because of the [name]Duran[/name] [name]Duran[/name] song (”Her name is [name]Rio[/name] and she dances on the sand”, my DH and I met in the summer we were ten- when the song was released). I”ll get to [name]Artemis[/name] in a second. [name]Rio[/name] was a twin, but her brother was only with us for a few days. Our son is named [name]Kai[/name] [name]Apollo[/name] [name]Malachi[/name]. We choose [name]Kai[/name] because of it”s oceanic connection (plus we love [name]Hawaii[/name]), [name]Apollo[/name] and [name]Artemis[/name] were the twin god/goddess and children of [name]Zeus[/name] and [name]Leta[/name] (one of our and [name]Roxie[/name]”s favorite myths) and [name]Malachi[/name] was chosen after he was born because it means ”My messenger” or ”my angel”, and though [name]Kai[/name] is no longer with us, he was our angel- he delivered a very special message to us. We are very blessed to be expecting again and choosing a name this time around is very difficult, especially because after loosing [name]Kai[/name], it’s hard to attach to another name. Actually the reason I’m posting here is because a friend who comes to this site mentioned other moms in a similar situation have found great advice here in the past.
A name we love is [name]Stella[/name], but it”s getting popular and I know more than a few babies in L.A. with the name (not to mention the star baby associations). Other than [name]Stella[/name] we don”t have a lot. We”d like to avoid other R names and nothing similar to [name]Kai[/name]- though he is no longer with us we talk about him often and his name is important to us. Our last name is Stevens. S names usually sound bad with it (another reason not to use [name]Stella[/name]” [name]Stella[/name] Stevens”ehh). We”d also love to use another A name in the middle, to connect this baby to their sisters and to [name]Kai[/name]. We need a short list of both boy and girl names, so lots of suggestions are needed!
The few names we”ve seriously considered:
Boy:
[name]Smith[/name] (an homage to the Smiths, our favorite band, but is [name]Smith[/name] Stevens bad?)
[name]Bodhi[/name] (seems to be popping up a lot in our area, more often spelled [name]Bode[/name] and Bodie)
[name]Dax[/name] (too much X with [name]Roxy[/name] we think, same reason we can”t use [name]Knox[/name])
Girl:
[name]Vida[/name]/[name]Vita[/name]/[name]Viva[/name] (love that these mean life, but I feel like we shouldn”t use another Spanish name because we”re not Spanish”)
[name]Lola[/name] (same as above)
[name]Vega[/name] ” love the astronomical connection, dislike that people will butcher the pronounciation.
[name]Lotus[/name] ” my favorite at the moment, DH likes it too, so it is at the top of our list. The only concern is that [name]Lotus[/name] Stevens kinds of runs into itself.
Any help, advice, and suggestions you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a ton!
- [name]April[/name]