[name]Hi[/name] guys (: I can only hope you all don’t mind offering suggestions through a filter?
Hubby and I, naturally, cannot agree on names. I like far-fetched names that sound good in literature and myth but fall short of being baby girl-appropriate. Hubby really frowns on Casimira and [name]Ophelia[/name] but does like names that were popular when we were born, like [name]Kimberley[/name] and [name]Jessica[/name]. Nothing inherently wrong with those if any of you are Kims or Jessies, just I know many and feel like the names have “been done” so to speak.
Our last name is the incredibly bland [name]Neil[/name] so I feel like a longer name, perhaps an offbeat one, would be a better compliment. Hubs was making fun of me the other day, asking if I wanted to call our kid Zimbabwe… I don’t think I’m THAT bad! He liked [name]Cadence[/name] and even though it seems to be on the rise, I liked it too until I realized when said in conjunction with our last name it makes a pretty ugly sound. Sneeeeel. Blah!
[name]Do[/name] any of you have some beautiful suggestions that are not a one syllable or super-common, preferably not ending in N or an S sound. I was thinking he and I might agree on unisex names, classic names, or ethnic versions of common American names (that way it’s different and not “made up”). I’ve used the name wizard to make lists that fit the criteria but I would like to know what actual name lovers who have children or experience in naming think!
[name]Penelope[/name] (this is apparently going to become more common though)
[name]Isadora[/name]
[name]Beatrix[/name]
[name]Annabel[/name]
[name]Felicity[/name]
[name]Helena[/name]
[name]Christabel[/name] (perhaps a bit tooo out there)
It seems like this is always the dynamic – mom wants something a little different and dad wants something familiar. Usually, the best compromise is to look somewhere in the middle — uncommon, yet familiar OR a classic name. Perhaps:
Some of these might still be too out there for your fellow. Roughly alphabetized:
[name]Arabella[/name]
[name]Antonia[/name]
[name]Amalia[/name] (a little off the beaten track from more traditional [name]Amelia[/name])
[name]Bryony[/name]
[name]Corinna[/name]
[name]Carolina[/name] (tad less classic than [name]Caroline[/name])
[name]Catriona[/name]
[name]Cecily[/name]
[name]Cynthia[/name]
[name]Dahlia[/name]
[name]Delaney[/name]
[name]Elisabet[/name]
[name]Eliza[/name]
[name]Embry[/name]
[name]Flannery[/name]
[name]Georgia[/name] or [name]Georgiana[/name]
[name]Gemma[/name]
[name]Isabetta[/name]
[name]Juniper[/name]
[name]Kerensa[/name]/[name]Kerenza[/name]
[name]Lavinia[/name]
[name]Lorena[/name]
[name]Lisette[/name]
[name]Michaela[/name]
[name]Maret[/name]/[name]Merritt[/name]
[name]Oriana[/name]
[name]Penrose[/name]
[name]Phoebe[/name]
[name]Romilly[/name]
[name]Rowena[/name]
[name]Rosalind[/name] or [name]Rosetta[/name]
[name]Spencer[/name]
[name]Sylvia[/name]/[name]Silvia[/name]
[name]Theresa[/name] or [name]Tessa[/name]
[name]Thalia[/name]
[name]Viola[/name]
When you mentioned [name]Cadence[/name] I thought of [name]Cadenza[/name]. That fixes the dilemma of the name ending in an “s” sound, but is still very similar to the initial idea. [name]Cadenza[/name] [name]Neil[/name] has a nice sound.
I happen to think [name]Jessica[/name] is a very beautiful name, and popular for a reason. I personally think of [name]Shakespeare[/name] when I hear it.
[name]Kerensa[/name] might solve your [name]Cadence[/name] slurring s-into-neil issue?
[name]Catherine[/name] is the sort of name that might feel normal to him but isn’t in the Top 20 or unspeakably '80s. [name]Cordelia[/name], [name]Coralie[/name]? Maybe [name]Caroline[/name], if that’s striking enough for you? I do like [name]Caroline[/name]. [name]Cassia[/name] is softer and maybe more approachable for him than Casimira, but pretty uncommon without being hard to say.
“ethnic versions of common American names” hmm well here’s a cross-range of a number of nations
[name]Karolina[/name]
[name]Katarina[/name]
[name]Annika[/name]
[name]Anais[/name]
[name]Marie[/name]
Miriamne
[name]Isabetta[/name]
[name]Elisheva[/name]
[name]Valeria[/name]
[name]Josefina[/name]
I want to thank everyone for all your efforts, and of course now I’m loving some names I didn’t know of before! But hubby came home suggesting [name]Aurora[/name] after talking names at work and I gently suggested [name]Aurelia[/name] (and tied it into the periodic symbol for gold – which of course, as a physicist, he became very excited about!) as an alternative to its more common cousin… And it’s the first name I’ve suggested that he didn’t immediately retch over. On to middle names now I think. YAY!
