So, my husband and I are stuck with naming a second boy, if we have one. Our first son’s name was so easy for us to come up with, and his middle name is after my father and is the classic, “[name]David[/name]”. We very much want to honor my husband’s father with a second son’s middle name as well. Unfortunately, his name is [name]Bruce[/name]. And his middle name is no better ([name]Leroy[/name]), so that’s not an option. We would just use “[name]Brice[/name]” or something like that for the middle name, but the baby’s first name will be [name]Caleb[/name]… so the double B sound is not good. I tried to think of a way to combine [name]Bruce[/name] and [name]Leroy[/name], and thought maybe [name]Luke[/name] was an option (I [name]LOVE[/name] that name), but wasn’t sure how the double L sound in [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Luke[/name] sounded to others. Here’s hoping you guys can come up with some creative suggestions : ). Thanks so much!
I actually really like [name]Bruce[/name]; I think it’s a great name! (I also think its MUCH BETTER than [name]Brice[/name], which sounds terribly feminine). Of course, if you don’t like it, that’s not terribly helpful. In the middle, though, I think it’s less about loving the name and more about loving the meaning and making it flow well. That said, I think the objective here is to find a first name that flows well with [name]Bruce[/name] and your last name. [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] really isn’t terrible at all, though I agree that the back to back b’s are less than ideal. [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Luke[/name] is also fine, but again the flow is less than ideal, and moreover, you’ve sort of lost the meaning - to most people, [name]Luke[/name] simply doesn’t do it in terms of honoring someone named [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Leroy[/name] - it’s really a very far stretch.
If it were me, I would either go with [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] or look for another first that I loved equally which didn’t have the b-ending.
You might do two middle names, and make [name]Bruce[/name] the second one. You might name him [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Caleb[/name], and call him [name]Caleb[/name]. Or you might tell your father-in-law that you’re thrilled to honor him by giving the baby his last name.
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]! Actually, I think it would go great with a two, three, or even four-syllable middle name. [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Elijah[/name], [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Dominic[/name], [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Campbell[/name], [name]Levi[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], [name]Eli[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Wyatt[/name], [name]Wyatt[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]. [name]Luca[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], I think, is a nice alternative to [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Luke[/name] or [name]Luke[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]. 
One-syllable names that could work: [name]James[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], [name]Roy[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Lee[/name] (haha, so maybe not that last one!!)
Good luck!
Ok, so I REALLLLYYY don’t like the name [name]Bruce[/name]. Like I would cringe everytime I would tell someone what my baby’s name was if we actually used that name. Can you think of any other way to honor someone with that name, without actually using that exact name? I love my first son’s name so much, I can’t imagine naming my second something that I wasn’t in love with.
What do you all think of [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Lee[/name] or [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name], as a way of using grandpa’s middle name instead of first name? Honest opinions, please!
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Lee[/name] was what first came to mind when I read this. I think [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Lee[/name] is a good idea, OR:
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Levi[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leander[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leonardo[/name]
I think [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Lee[/name] or [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name] are great options for honoring the baby’s grandpa, since you don’t like his first name. [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Roy[/name] would also be an option.
I think you have to go with [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name]. In my honest opinion [name]Bruce[/name] is much better then [name]Leroy[/name], However i think that when you try and find a variation of the name, [name]Bruce[/name] or [name]Leroy[/name], most people wont see the connection. Not to mention that i think having your first name with the exact name of your father and then a variation of you f-i-l’s name may hurt his feelings. Some things you just need to bite the bullet on in my opinion. I will have to do it for [name]Dale[/name] or [name]Winston[/name] (my f-i-l’s first and middle names) and neither of those have clear variations so i think its just better the use the exact name. [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name] sounds fine also, the L’s dont sound illiterate to me like [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] with the back to back B’s.
Good [name]Luck[/name]!
Thanks everybody for the opinions… I have thought about it so much all my ideas are kind of dull at the moment, so it’s nice to hear fresh thoughts!
Ok, so one more question. What do you think about giving the baby the same initials as the grandfather instead of using [name]Bruce[/name] as the middle name? We couldn’t use our favorite boy’s name ([name]Caleb[/name]), but we do like [name]Benjamin[/name] [name]Luke[/name], too. My only question there is whether [name]Ben[/name] and/or [name]Benjamin[/name] sound ok w/ our last name which is two syllables and ends in a similar "in"sound.
If I were you, I’d go with [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name].
[name]Just[/name] a suggestion but what about using your father-in-law’s fathers name? You will still be honoring him and he may be proud that you wanted to use his father’s name. Does your father-in-law even like his name? [name]Don[/name]'t use a name you don’t like. [name]Caleb[/name] is a lovely name and you should use it in the first spot if you like it.
I think [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] sounds really good, but you can’t use a name that makes you cringe. I do think, though, that if you want to honor someone, you can’t “sort of” use their name. It seems really unlikely that the person will think, “oh, they used a name that starts with “b”, how nice”. I would find it sort of offensive if someone said to me, “Oh, we don’t like your name, but we’re honoring you by giving our child a name that is not actually your name, but has this distant sort of relation to your name…” Maybe your relative doesn’t even like his name, and would prefer you use his father’s name, or the name of his hero, or something else.
namedame- Thanks for the honest input… the only problem is that my father-in-law is not around to ask about what he would prefer, as he passed away a couple years ago. I think I will just have to go with whatever my husband thinks is appropriate. So far he has never pushed me to use [name]Bruce[/name], he actually asked me about using [name]Lee[/name]. We’ll see what we end up with : ). Hopefully it will just be a girl and we won’t have to decide!!
I agree with namedame, when you make too many changes it’s sort of a stretch to say you are honoring someone with their name. I hope you use [name]Caleb[/name], since it is by far your favorite name. [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Leroy[/name] is a cool name, I think.
[name]Hi[/name]!
Names that contain a lot of [name]Bruce[/name]'s letters:
[name]Reuben[/name] (and if you use a middle like [name]Charles[/name], which takes care of the C, every letter is covered)
[name]Burke[/name]
[name]Bram[/name] (it doesn’t contain as many of [name]Bruce[/name]'s letters as the others, though)
Names the contain a lot of [name]Leroy[/name]'s letters:
[name]Leo[/name]
[name]Leopold[/name]
Names that begin with the BL initials:
[name]Blaise[/name]
[name]Blake[/name]
Names that contain a combination of letters from [name]Bruce[/name] and [name]Leroy[/name]:
[name]Bradley[/name] (Kind of dated to me as a first name, but I think it could work in the middle…Something along the lines of [name]Luke[/name] [name]Bradley[/name])
[name]Byron[/name]
Names that contain every letter in [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Leroy[/name]:
[name]Samuel[/name] [name]Byron[/name] [name]Charles[/name]
[name]Samuel[/name] [name]Robert[/name] [name]Cyrus[/name]
[name]Leo[/name] [name]Bradbury[/name] [name]Charles[/name]
I love your idea of using Bl/LB initials, too.
Good luck!
I would suggest thinking about the man your father-in-law was. Did he have any role models, interests, etc…? For example, if his favorite author was [name]Mark[/name] [name]Twain[/name], either name would be a good tribute.
[name]Queen[/name] [name]Victoria[/name] named her daughter [name]Alice[/name] for [name]Lord[/name] [name]Melbourne[/name] who observed that [name]Alice[/name] was his favorite name.
Personally, an option along these lines would honor your father in law more than an imperfect anagram.
One of my friend’s middle names is noble, the translation of a family name.
Thanks everybody, [name]LOVE[/name] hearing some unbiased opinions to help us make our choice. Currently we are thinking of using two middle names in order to be able to use “[name]Bruce[/name]” without it running into [name]Caleb[/name], and to give me the chance to “hide” it with another name I really like and give the child the option of middle names to use. What do you think?
Current thoughts are:
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Eli[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] (two syllable last name)
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Elijah[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name] [name]Josiah[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]
Anybody with other ideas or comments? Anyone with experience with double middles, and how has that gone for you?
[name]Hi[/name]! My favorites are [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Elijah[/name] [name]Bruce[/name] and [name]Caleb[/name] [name]Josiah[/name] [name]Bruce[/name]. I’m so happy you found a way to use [name]Bruce[/name] with [name]Caleb[/name]. 
Good luck!
The fact that you’re trying to “hide” the name seems a little disrespectful. I would either use the name or not.