In a previous post, I shared our difficulty in naming our now 39 week daughter, likely an only child, in a way that honors her grandmothers ([name]Angie[/name] [name]Lynn[/name], [name]Ophelia[/name] [name]Leslie[/name], [name]Annette[/name], [name]Freida[/name], [name]Nola[/name] [name]Mae[/name], [name]Jane[/name] [name]Saxe[/name]) and received many good suggestions.
Since then we’ve learned that grandmother [name]Jane[/name] (apparently sniffing us out!) has said that she doesn’t feel comfortable with a namesake while living and dear husband prefers to honor [name]Freida[/name] directly, not with a variation or intial.
We’re finding that [name]Freida[/name] is a challenging name to work with, especially since [name]Nola[/name] is our front runner first name, and we tend to be attracted to names ending in A. One idea is to have three middles to try to ease the [name]Freida[/name] in and balance all the A endings. Here are some preliminary ideas:
I’m in two minds about three middle names …
I went to a fee-paying school (I live in [name]England[/name]) and there were some people with very bizarre names there, including people who had five or so middle names. When we found this out (which wasn’t until we took public exams, at which point our full names would be written on our papers and things), those with very long names were often made fun of (not in a nasty way, just light teasing). However, most people I know have two middle names, and I think you could possible get away with three. As she will probably be an only child, I think people will understand that you wanted to use all of the names you loved, or honour all of the relatives.
Also, you very rarely say the whole name, only when family and friends after she’s born, so people who don’t know you very well, and therefore won’t know your reasoning, won’t know that she has three mns. They can be abbreviated to initials on forms as well, for ease, and if she was very embarassed by it (which I’m sure she wouldn’t be if they were pretty names) then she could always leave one out if classmates asked.
Of course, three mns doesn’t do much for flow, but as long as it is not ridiculously bad then I don’t think it matters too much.
I absolutely adore [name]Nola[/name]!
[name]Nola[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Freida[/name] [name]Saxe[/name] Goodman - quite nice.
[name]Nola[/name] [name]Beatrix[/name] [name]Freida[/name] [name]Lynn[/name] Goodman - [name]Freida[/name] and [name]Lynn[/name] blend together.
[name]Nola[/name] [name]Theodora[/name] [name]Freida[/name] [name]Bay[/name] Goodman - flows surprisingly well.
[name]Nola[/name] [name]Peridot[/name] [name]Freida[/name] [name]Theodora[/name] Goodman - I bit of a mouthful, but lovely.
[name]Nola[/name] [name]August[/name] [name]Freida[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name] Goodman - all very lovely names.
…[name]Freida[/name] [name]Anne[/name] Goodman - [name]Freida[/name] and [name]Anne[/name] run together.
…[name]Freida[/name] [name]Grace[/name] Goodman - [name]Grace[/name] is getting very popular as a mn, but is still nice.
…[name]Freida[/name] [name]Jade[/name] - [name]Jade[/name] is nice, but I prefer your other options.
…[name]Freida[/name] [name]Indigo[/name] - [name]Indigo[/name] is very unusual and I like it, but I wouldn’t use it as one of three mns, as it might make it seem hippy-ish, if you see what I mean.
…[name]Freida[/name] [name]Traveller[/name] - I’m not so fond of the [name]Traveller[/name] style of names, and as above I don’t think it would work as one of three mns.
Please stop discussing names with family just decide between yourself and your husband. You will not be able to please everyone so go with the name that is firmly planted in your heart.
I think that you are choosing too many names for your baby. My husband is an only child and his first name is the surname of his mother, [name]Raymond[/name], and his middle name is the first name of his father [name]Cecil[/name].
I think three is simply too many. It’s nice that you want to honor as many people as possible, but at this point it’s starting to become slightly impractical. You won’t be able to get everyone. Somewhere a compromise has to be made - amending [name]Freida[/name] to a different name, not using it, or having [name]Nola[/name] — [name]Freida[/name] Goodman as your name of choice. When you find something you and your husband can agree on, don’t tell anyone until AFTER the fact.