What do you think of our sibset so far? Help us complete it. Thanks

First of all, thank you everyone in the Nameberry community who have been so helpful (and patient) in giving us feedback on names this year. We don’t have any children yet, but we are now TTC and if all things go according to plan, we would eventually like between 2-4 children. We finally found two girl names and two boy names we both can agree upon. Please tell us what you think and/or suggest new possibilities. You should know that I am Irish and he is Chinese, so it is a plus when a name honors both sides. We also have a common, one-syllable Chinese surname. Another thing is that for a while I was attached to doing a “[name_m]Little[/name_m] Women” themed sibset for the girls, but now I would be fine if that didn’t work. Naming a child is a complicated business. Thank you in advance!

We both like:
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f], nn. [name_f]Eliza[/name_f]
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] honors me and my mom. [name_f]Mae[/name_f] honors his grandmother, and means plum in Chinese. DH LOVES this, and I do too, but I would prefer [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]. [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] is one of my favorite girl names, but DH doesn’t like the sound. For a while we had [name_f]Megan[/name_f] picked out for our first girl, but it began to sound dated to me.

[name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] [or [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] or [name_f]Jade[/name_f] as mns]
An Irish name that means honor or light. [name_f]Honor[/name_f] is an important value in Chinese culture. While we both like [name_f]Nora[/name_f], I’m not sure about using two “a” ending names in a sibset. thoughts?

[name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m]
This is one of the few boy names that DH liked immediately because it is manly and uncomplicated. [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] honors some of my favorite authors. [name_m]Graham[/name_m] is less ideal with our surname though.

[name_m]Colton[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u]
[name_m]Colton[/name_m] means “[name_m]Coal[/name_m] Town,” and DH loves trains and the old west theme. [name_u]James[/name_u] is my favorite name, ever. I would use [name_u]James[/name_u] as a first name, but DH is starting to think it is just too common with our very common surname.

[name_f]Eliza[/name_f], [name_f]Nora[/name_f], [name_m]Graham[/name_m] and [name_m]Colton[/name_m] are not in the top 100 where we live, which is a plus for us. Although, for us, popularity is less important than over all significance.

Maybes:
What do you think of [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], with the nickname [name_u]Mattie[/name_u]? I think [name_u]Mattie[/name_u] goes nicely with [name_f]Eliza[/name_f].
I just decided to add this today, but haven’t run it by DH yet.

[name_m]William[/name_m], nn. [name_m]Liam[/name_m]. We both liked this (bc [name_m]William[/name_m] is a family name on my side and [name_m]Liam[/name_m] is Irish). That is, until the numbers were published by the S.S. admin. this year. [name_m]Liam[/name_m] is number 2, and [name_m]William[/name_m] is number 5. They are slightly less popular where we live, but still both in the top 30. Normally popularity doesn’t bother me much, but the 2 and 5 thing does.

[name_m]Solomon[/name_m]. This has the same meaning (peace) as DH’s American name. We also like that it is Biblical and less common, but is it too serious and “bearded” sounding?

[name_m]Joshua[/name_m]. DH really liked this for its sound and Biblical meaning and I was OK with it, until we found out that it was in the top 10 for 30 years. I leave it on here because we like the overall feel of the name.

[name_m]Milo[/name_m]. DH has no negative associations with this name. I love it, but the only thing that stops me is the “[name_m]Milo[/name_m] and [name_m]Otis[/name_m]” connection, and that [name_m]SIL[/name_m]'s dog is named [name_u]Shiloh[/name_u]. What names are like [name_m]Milo[/name_m], without those problems? Maybe these maybes can help people suggest other names.

Sorry for length of this. Thanks again!

I think that you could get away with [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] and [name_f]Nora[/name_f], nothing sounds wrong about having to -a names together. I like your sibset! [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] would make a good addition, and so would [name_m]William[/name_m]/[name_m]Liam[/name_m] but I understand about the popularity issue.

[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f] ‘[name_f]Eliza[/name_f]’ – This is really nice, though I’d prefer [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f] (which I also think would make a good compromise being that you seem to prefer just [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] to [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and he prefers [name_f]Mae[/name_f] to [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]).
[name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f]/[name_f]Katherine[/name_f]/[name_f]Jade[/name_f] – I like [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] best of the three. I also think two -a ending names are totally fine in a sibset - [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] & [name_f]Nora[/name_f] sound great together.
[name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] – Although I’m not a fan of either name, they do work together nicely.
[name_m]Colton[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] – I quite like it, though [name_m]Colton[/name_m] does feel very different in style to [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]/[name_f]Eliza[/name_f], [name_f]Nora[/name_f] & [name_m]Graham[/name_m].

Of your maybes, I like (and think would work with your favourites) [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_m]William[/name_m] ‘[name_m]Liam[/name_m]’ & [name_m]Milo[/name_m].

[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f] – Is pretty but like the previous poster I prefer [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f] and think it’s a great compromise for you guys.
[name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] – [name_f]Lovely[/name_f]! Goes well with [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f]. [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] is cute too. I would not personally choose [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Jade[/name_f] because like [name_f]Megan[/name_f], [name_f]Jade[/name_f] sounds dated to me a bit.
[name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] – I actually like the name [name_m]Graham[/name_m], although not [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] so much. I’m on the fence on this name.
[name_m]Colton[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] --[name_m]Colton[/name_m] is very different in style from all these other names. I would prefer the name reversed: [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Colton[/name_m]. [name_u]James[/name_u] goes perfectly with [name_f]Nora[/name_f] & [name_f]Eliza[/name_f].

[name_f]Matilda[/name_f] - great name but I don’t care for the nn “[name_u]Mattie[/name_u].” Would much prefer nn of [name_f]Mila[/name_f] or [name_f]Millie[/name_f] etc.
[name_m]William[/name_m] - perfect as is. Wish it didn’t get shortened to [name_m]Liam[/name_m] so often! If it has to have a nickname I do like “[name_m]Will[/name_m].”
[name_m]Solomon[/name_m] - so unique and far less dated/popular than [name_m]Joshua[/name_m]. Nicknames if needed: [name_m]Solly[/name_m], Solo, [name_u]Sonny[/name_u]. [name_u]Pax[/name_u]. :wink:
[name_m]Milo[/name_m] - if problematic for reasons you mentioned, how about [name_m]Miles[/name_m]? It has that distinguished sound to it that [name_m]Graham[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u] & [name_m]William[/name_m] have.

My picks for you guys would be:

[name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f] or [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f]
[name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] or [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Katherine[/name_f]
[name_m]Solomon[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] or [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Coltrane[/name_m]
[name_m]Miles[/name_m] [name_m]Graham[/name_m] or [name_m]Miles[/name_m] [name_m]William[/name_m]

Thank you for the feedback so far, and keep it coming! A few things stand out as most helpful:

  1. I am so glad to hear that people like [name_f]Nora[/name_f] with [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] :slight_smile:
  2. Also helpful to hear that [name_m]Colton[/name_m] is a different style from the other names.
  3. So far people seem to be “on the fence” (as Peanut put it) about [name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m].

So…it seems we are still having trouble with boy names. I wish I loved [name_m]Miles[/name_m] as much as [name_m]Milo[/name_m] and [name_m]Solomon[/name_m] hasn’t quite grown on me. [name_m]William[/name_m] is great, but we still have reservations about using it as a first name. I think it might be time for more suggestions for boy names in the same style as names already mentioned above. DH already vetoed many of my top choices because they were too long and melodramatic sounding (i.e. [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m], [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] and the like). The names should be easy enough to say, but not overly common. [name_m]Long[/name_m] “a” names such as [name_u]James[/name_u] do not flow well with our surname. Thoughts??? Thanks!

I think [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] and [name_f]Nora[/name_f] are beautiful together, though I like [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Jade[/name_f] better than [name_f]Nora[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f].

Personally, I love [name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] and think it is a great name! I also like how it fits with [name_f]Nora[/name_f] and [name_f]Eliza[/name_f].

I like [name_m]Colton[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] but agree it doesn’t sit as nicely with the others.

As far as your maybes go, I think [name_m]Milo[/name_m] would be fine to use but think [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Joshua[/name_m] are very popular right now.

Some suggestions based on what you like would be: [name_m]Leo[/name_m], [name_m]Abel[/name_m], [name_m]Joachim[/name_m], [name_m]Jonah[/name_m], [name_m]Silas[/name_m], and [name_m]Holden[/name_m]

Thank you for your suggestions, Squidly. I am warming up to [name_m]Leo[/name_m] and [name_m]Jonah[/name_m], and maybe DH will too. Currently he thinks [name_m]Jonah[/name_m] is too boyish and had no comment for [name_m]Leo[/name_m].

Ok, so I’m not worried about my girl names anymore (Thanks!) and I have some new maybes.

Simon Geoffrey (DH prefers this to Solomon James. It figures, since he likes simple names.)
Caleb
Timothy
Jeremy
Joseph
Micah

What do you think???