What’s your favorite name pattern?
Is it 2-2-2 such as [name]Dexter[/name] [name]Dashiell[/name] [name]Collins[/name]?
Is it 1-3-2 such as [name]Blythe[/name] [name]Cambria[/name] [name]Murphy[/name]?
Is it 3-2-4 such as [name]Oliver[/name] [name]Bernard[/name] [name]Maximillian[/name]?
Let us know your fave name pattern and then think of boys’ and girls’ names that are like your fave pattern.
Let us know your fave name pattern and then think of boys’ and girls’ names that are like your fave pattern.
3-1-2 (i.e. [name]Caroline[/name] [name]Grace[/name] [name]Doyle[/name], [name]Donovan[/name] [name]James[/name] [name]Riley[/name])
1-4-2 (i.e. [name]Rose[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Doyle[/name], [name]Jack[/name] [name]Alexander[/name] [name]Riley[/name])
2-2-3 (i.e. [name]Anna[/name] [name]Catherine[/name] [name]Sullivan[/name], [name]Kyle[/name] [name]Patrick[/name] [name]Donnelly[/name])
1-2-3 (i.e. [name]Paige[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Sullivan[/name], [name]John[/name] [name]Daniel[/name] [name]Donnelly[/name])
What matters to me is how the names sound when said aloud, and how they look on paper.
My own name is actually 2-3-2. 
I don’t know that I have a favorite pattern; it’s just not that important. For instance, my favorite boy name is [name]Alfred[/name] [name]Edward[/name] Lastname, which is clunky because of the 2-2-2 sound, the fact that the first and middle names both end with D… but, I love it all the same.
I also like [name]Matilda[/name] [name]Christina[/name] Lastname (3-3-2), [name]Mae[/name] [name]Evangeline[/name] Lastname (1-4-2), [name]Ulysses[/name] [name]Worth[/name] Lastname (3-1-2)… the list goes on. I guess if I had to pick a favorite, it would be something like 2-3-2 or 1-3-2… I have a two-syllable surname, so no experience with anything else, really.
I think it’s fun to have a one-syllable last name. [name]Edgar[/name] [name]Allan[/name] [name]Poe[/name] sounds cool. But I think that I would make the middle name have three syllables. Or maybe I would choose a two-syllable first name to go with a three syllable middle name and a one-syllable last name. [name]Jessamyn[/name] [name]Alice[/name] [name]Hawes[/name], [name]Oliver[/name] [name]Kenneth[/name] [name]Clarke[/name]
Since I have a two-syllable last name, I love to put a two-syllable name first and then add a longer middle name.
[name]Peter[/name] [name]Sebastian[/name] [name]Chesney[/name], [name]Laura[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Chesney[/name]. I love a two-syllable first name with a two-syllable last name. Sounds so cozy and down-to-earth!
If I had a three-syllable last name or a last name that was even longer than that, I would use a two syllable first name and a one syllable middle name. [name]Alfred[/name] [name]James[/name] [name]Montgomery[/name], [name]Daphne[/name] [name]Jane[/name] [name]Petunia[/name]
I tend to be drawn to longer names, but I don’t think I have a favorite pattern. My boys are 4-3-2 and 3-2-2. My name before I got married was 2-2-2 and I never really liked how it sounded. My top choices for girls names are 3-2-2 and 3-4-2.
Most of my favorite first names have 2 syllables and occasionally 3. Very few 4 syllables+ (?) or 1 syllable.
I don’t like 1-syllable middle names at all. I realize they make everyone’s lives easier, but to me, there are no family names I have 1-syllable, most of the time, they just seem too throw-away, e-z-bake, garanimals kind of name.
I guess I don’t really have a favorite pattern. I am really also bad at haikus also, for example, I do not have the ability to count syllables while I’m talking or reading, so I don’t hear any balance or imbalance except in the total sound or look. I think a powerful 1-1-1 is as interesting as a 4-2-1 and nothing at all to get worked up over on a 2-2-2. If my child ended up with a 2-2-2, I think it would still sound good. I think sticking to any formula rather than choosing names you like is the wrong way to bestow a name on someone. Formulas are like a mold, and I always love to hear great names that break the mold. That has as much as anything to do with naming someone. Choosing names with character, choosing patterns that really set them apart.
1-1-1 - [name]James[/name] [name]Earl[/name] [name]Jones[/name] - tell me that’s a name that needs more syllabic asymmetry and formula to be ok! Try and tell me it’s too short and needs to be longer.
My name is 1-1-1. Boring.
I really like 3-3-2 ([name]Eliza[/name] [name]Josephine[/name] [name]Louise[/name]), or 3-2-1 ([name]Julia[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Claire[/name], not a fave but a good example).
I don’t see anything wrong with matching numbers of syllables:
[name]Thomas[/name] [name]Woodrow[/name] [name]Wilson[/name] (2-2-2). I think most you will agree at least on that one.
From a thread not long ago:
[name]Tuesday[/name] [name]Rachel[/name] Smallman (2-2-2)
[name]Tuesday[/name] [name]Claire[/name] Smallman (2-1-2)
[name]Penelope[/name] [name]Claire[/name] Smallman (4-1-2)
all work. My main concern is avoiding individual sounds that don’t go well together.
[name]Lillian[/name] [name]Claire[/name] Smallman (3-1-2) isn’t so good, but mostly due to the repeated -an.
Many people envy short last names, but really, a longer one works just as well:
[name]William[/name] [name]Topaz[/name] McGonagall (2-2-4)
All short names can work:
[name]Tommy[/name] [name]Lee[/name] [name]Jones[/name] (2-1-1)
If I think about it, he very much needs that 2. Maybe there is something to patterns, since
[name]Roxana[/name] [name]Camille[/name] [name]Carlsen[/name] (3-2-2) works better than
[name]Roxanne[/name] [name]Camille[/name] [name]Carlsen[/name] (2-2-2)
With the latter, I get the strange feeling that [name]Roxanne[/name] and [name]Camille[/name] end the same. Well, they do, but it’s a silent E, so they shouldn’t sound like it!