The middle name [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is definitely a tradition in my family. My mother, both grandmothers, and I all share it as our middle name. I don’t want to be the one that ends this tradition, but at the same time, it is just so common. Growing up if people asked what my middle name was I could just tell them to guess and 9/10 times they would say [name_f]Marie[/name_f]. Another problem I have is that it doesn’t flow well with my last name, which is also two syllables I’m so torn between using the name [name_f]Marie[/name_f], or doing something completely different. I thought about using a variation of the name, but I haven’t found anything i love enough to make it worth not just sticking with [name_f]Marie[/name_f]. If anyone has any advice, or suggestions for a different mn, it would be appreciated!
[name_m]Just[/name_m] for reference the names we are considering are
[name_f]Elowen[/name_f]
[name_f]Eloise[/name_f]
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f]
[name_f]Cordelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Marjorie[/name_f]
I dont think [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is as commonly used as a middle name as it once was. So I don’t think it would be as easily guessed. If you do end up using [name_f]Marie[/name_f], I would then nix [name_f]Delphine[/name_f] and that way you dont have 2 syllables for the first, middle and last name.
You could also used other [name_f]Marie[/name_f] variants. Like [name_f]Maria[/name_f], [name_f]Marielle[/name_f], [name_f]Marianne[/name_f], [name_f]Marietta[/name_f], [name_f]Marin[/name_f], [name_f]Molly[/name_f] etc.
Like the previous poster, I was going to suggest [name_f]Maria[/name_f]. I also like [name_f]Marielle[/name_f] and [name_f]Marianne[/name_f] that she mentioned. I was thinking, maybe a hyphenated middle name. -[name_f]Marie[/name_f] or [name_f]Marie[/name_f]- ?
I sort of think that using [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f] would cover you if [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is important - it’s [name_f]Marie[/name_f] with a syllable in the middle, and [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] feels almost repetitive to me. I also love [name_f]Maria[/name_f], and there are lots of [name_f]Mary[/name_f] variants if you’d be open to branching out a bit.
To me, [name_f]Delphine[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] actually sounds a lot better rhythm-wise than the others on your list - I know people tend to stay away from 2-2-2 syllables, but honestly I think it’s fine and I doubt I’d notice it on a child in the real world. [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] and [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] and [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] feel trickier - saying them out loud, I want to rush through the last two syllables of each of them to get to [name_f]Marie[/name_f], if that makes sense. (I don’t have that sense as strongly with [name_f]Mary[/name_f] in [name_f]Marie[/name_f]'s place - [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f]; [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f]; [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f]?) This isn’t to say they’d be bad in real life so long as each first name works with the surname, since the middle name rarely sees the light of day anyway. If using [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is important to you and it doesn’t clash terribly, I vote that you use it.
I come from the exact same tradition and am having a similar problem. While I am not considering changing the middle name (my mom would be so sad if I didn’t use it and I don’t think a [name_f]Marie[/name_f]-variant would be good enough) I’m thinking about adding a second middle name. Something like [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Delphine[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] or [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] sound lovely!
Personally, I think tradition trumps flow every time.
If you change the name to something that is related to [name_f]Marie[/name_f], you would still be breaking the tradition enough that future generations would feel no need to carry it on. Not that that is awful, but I love tradition names and sincerely wish we had them in my family.
Your middle name doesn’t have to flow with your last name, really. My middle name was [name_f]Joy[/name_f] and my last name was [name_f]Gioia[/name_f] (pronounce kinda like joy-uh)… and though it was funny to have two names that were basically the same… not once did I consider the flow growing up. Parents are really the only ones that consider flow. The random stranger or family member just looks at the names individually.
Plus, I think [name_f]Marie[/name_f] sounds great with all the names on your list, saving possibly [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f] because of the repeated sound. My favorites would be [name_f]Delphine[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] and [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f].
If you are really torn about this, use two middle names. That bumps up the boring status of [name_f]Marie[/name_f] and gives you a way to “flow” with your last name better.
Besides [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is only marginally boring in the middle spot, since it is such a pretty name. In the first name spot, it is gorgeous.
My middle name is [name_f]Marie[/name_f], and most peope I meet with my first name also have the same middle name, which drove me nuts. I think [name_f]Marie[/name_f] is a beautiful name and not nearly as common today as it was in the 80s (when I was born).
With that being said, I think [name_f]Elowen[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] sounds nice. You should go with your gut. I completely agree with previous poster that mn doesn’t need to flow with first and last name, especially for females. It is likely that, if she marries, she’ll move her last name to the middle name spot anyway.