Since finding out we are having a girl we reviewed our list of girls names only to discover they are all in the top 10 here in NZ. I have nothing against popular names, only our last name is [name_m]Smith[/name_m] so I would like her to have something a little different.
The only two names we have are [name_f]Esme[/name_f] and [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]. DH does not like [name_f]Esme[/name_f] and I’m not completely sold on it either, so [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] is our front runner. I have since discovered it is more popular than I thought, and I had no idea about [name_f]Beyonce[/name_f] using [name_u]Blue[/name_u] [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] which worries me as it might set the name [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] to become ‘trendy’!
We are fed up though with searching for names and feel we might just have to make a compromise - the name [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] is number 39 over here so that’s not to bad - hard to know if it will climb much higher…
In the meantime we are stuck on middle names for it. We feel we need something longer than one syllable and it has to flow with [name_m]Smith[/name_m]. We don’t want another nature or botanical inspired name.
If you look at my signature you’ll see that I’m biased towards [name_f]Esme[/name_f]… but [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] is an adorable name.
With the surname [name_m]Smith[/name_m], I’d go for something out of the top 100, at least, or hyphenate two names you like to get a more distinctive name, like [name_f]Ava[/name_f]-[name_f]Sophia[/name_f]…[name_f]Ayla[/name_f], [name_f]Ivetta[/name_f] (nn [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]), [name_f]Renata[/name_f], [name_f]Liesl[/name_f], [name_u]Lyric[/name_u], [name_f]Samira[/name_f], just anything uncommon. I have a common surname and it’s a hassle with other people’s credit issues affecting me. Once my sweet, innocent young cousin got arrested because someone w/legal issues shared his name.
We are NZ, european descent. Our other option was [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f], only we worry it might sounded out of place with our names as a group (DH is Jo and I am Je - not that we want another J though!) I tend to like more vintage names/classic names, unfortunately a lot of them cross over into trendy at the moment which is hard with [name_m]Smith[/name_m]. We wondered about doing [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]-[name_f]Mae[/name_f] as a first name then doing a second name to add to that… Hard though as we have friends who have a wee daughter who is name-[name_f]Mae[/name_f]. Thank you for the suggestions so far
Edited to add; less common names we have considered are Xanthe and Brielle. Breille we liked a lot but the initials would be BS (this matters right?) and Xanthe I was worried about the pronunciation for her in life and the repeating ‘th’ in Xanthe Smith.
I like [name_f]Ivy[/name_f], but if you arent completely sold perhaps other ‘I’ names?
[name_f]Ingrid[/name_f]
[name_f]Isadora[/name_f]
[name_f]Isobel[/name_f]- depending on how common it is where you live
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
Isola
[name_f]Isla[/name_f]
[name_f]Imogen[/name_f] -again with the popularity
or as [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] is a little vintage perhaps; [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] nn [name_f]Cora[/name_f], [name_f]Clover[/name_f], [name_f]Felicity[/name_f], [name_f]Edith[/name_f] or [name_f]Enid[/name_f], [name_f]Margaret[/name_f], [name_f]Martha[/name_f], [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f], [name_f]Harriet[/name_f] nn [name_f]Hattie[/name_f]?
I went to school with a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m]… and this is recently!!
I personally really like ‘common’ names, probably because I’m always spelling my name out for everyone. And I think it just has something so carefree about it and I can’t understand why… Being carefree and not having to worry about people misspelling your name? I just cant explain how much I like simple, easy to remember, easy to pronounce, easy to spell names!!
[name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_u]Blue[/name_u] [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] has just turned two I believe, so I can’t imagine [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] going any higher in the charts.
I totally, totally agree with a longer middle name! I love it when people with ‘normal’ or ‘regular’ names have wild, totally unexpected middle names!
Someone has already posted [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] and [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], which I adore. Although they do have the same long e sounds as [name_f]Ivy[/name_f], [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] not as much.
I like [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] but I find it hard to say - funny [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Amara[/name_f] should be mentioned as I was looking at that one last night in a name book
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Marielle[/name_f] is okay too.
We could go [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] for a grandmother, not sure that I like [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] though - at least with [name_f]Ivy[/name_f].
Other option is [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] for another granny. [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] sounds to me in this combo like it would flow better as the first name though, which sort of defeats the purpose. We don’t want it as a first name as [name_f]Isobel[/name_f]/[name_f]Isabelle[/name_f] etc are VERY popular over here, right up there in the top 10’s with Sophies/Sophias [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] was another first name we had to rule out, lol.
I was thinking of [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Celeste[/name_f]. My only concern with this is the flow from [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] to [name_m]Smith[/name_m]. It’s not too bad though, just wondered how others find it to say?
What about [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m]? You could call her [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]-[name_f]Mae[/name_f] even since [name_f]Mae[/name_f] is a nn for [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f], without it feeling as much like a copycat -[name_f]Mae[/name_f] name since it’s not a true double-barrel.
Dh has decided he doesn’t want a double barreled first name, so I don’t think we will be doing that now. We were considering [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] Madeliene yesterday - however its one of those ones to me where it sounds like Madeliene should be the first name - good suggestion though
[name_f]Doe[/name_f] anyone have any thoughts on the flow of [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m]?
Edited to add; we do like [name_f]Isla[/name_f], only it is in the top 10 over here, very popular!
[name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] does flow very smoothly, but [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] is equally pretty in my opinion.
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] is a lot of S sounds. [name_f]Kinda[/name_f] hard to say.
What about [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Celine[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m]? A little smoother.
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Camilla[/name_f]
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Priscilla[/name_f]
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Adela[/name_f]
Yeah, there are a lot of S sounds. [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] does flow better. Oh the joy of having [name_m]Smith[/name_m] for a last name - a lot of people think it will easy for choosing first names for! We haven’t found it very easy at all though so far, for various reasons. It would be better of course if it wasn’t so common.
With [name_f]Ivy[/name_f], any thoughts on the following? :
Does it sound more like a middle name, or should it hold its own as a first name still?
I wonder how much of a concern any Poison [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] association might be, perhaps we should be avoiding a name for potential teasing - although kids will always find something to tease about anyway?
We have been though hundreds of names not in the top 100 baby girls names over here, we just can’t find anything suitable for us. Names that aren’t in the top 100 probably were in the 1990’s, or could become popular in the next few years anyway, its hard to know how naming trends will go. I had no idea choosing a name would be so hard, it feels like a huge responsibility too (which it is really). [name_f]Glad[/name_f] we are not having twins, lol!
I think [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] can stand on her own.
It may be short and have a y ending, but I don’t think it’s insubstantial. I’d put it right there with [name_f]Mary[/name_f] and [name_f]Molly[/name_f], [name_f]Zoe[/name_f], and [name_f]Eva[/name_f] as being short but powerful.
I worked with a woman named [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]. She was in her 30’s and very confident and respected.
I can’t imagine Poison [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] being a real issue. Unless they have a new (another!) movie with the character, and even then, it’s not really that negative a connotation. I mean people are naming their kids [name_f]Briar[/name_f] and [name_f]Clover[/name_f], [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] is tame–even the poison variety!
but [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] is an adorable name.
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f] was another first name we had to rule out, lol.