our second daughter, quinn, is scheduled to arrive 7/7 and we still need a middle name for her. both our girls will have androgynous first names (she'll be little sister to deven) with more feminine middle names so that, if they end up hating the first, they'll have an option.
SO, middle name needs to be stand-alone as a feminine name - and by stand-alone, i mean a less unusual choice...deven's middle name is elise.
the other complicating factor is that we have a long last name - licon (hyphen) conner - and so we think the middle name shouldn't be more than 3 syllables...but not a monosyllable because it kind of clunks after quinn.
i could be persuaded to go longer for a name i really love but anything beyond 3 syllables starts sounding very princess-y to me. (alexandria, gabriela, etc)
lastly, while we love quinn as a first name - and love deven & quinn as sibling names - quinn starts sounding like "queen" when paired with certain middle names, like elizabeth.
the other officially vetoed names have been sophia, caroline, mirabelle, corinne and madeline.
we sort of like these names but none sound like The Name...
gabrielle - too princess?
kathleen - too dated? (plus a friend's name)
caprice - not stand-alone enough?
therese - too plain to be a first name option?
olivia - too popular? (plus, a family members middle name)
(sidenote: olivia is deven's middle name suggestion.)
we also want to stay away from family names since deven doesn't have one...that rules out:
alice
danielle
justine
elena
eleanor
margaret
linda
stephanie
pamela
alexis
ariana
carole
elizabeth
jessica
holly
angela
erin
shannon
nora
katherine
good grief, we're picky.
help?
Since Deven and Quinn are such perfectly-coordinated sibling names, one exercise we could try is coordinating the middle names just as if they were the first names. That is, we could play the game "Sister Names for Elise," and see if it yields any names that fit the bill for the actual situation.
The Baby Name Wizard suggests these sister names for Elise: Camille, Elena, Hope, Celeste, and Noelle. And right off the bat we have a definite possibility in Camille: it sounds similar to Caprice but is more common and standalone; it's two syllables; it sounds great with Quinn; it sounds great with your surname. Quinn Camille Licon (hyphen) Connor. Devan Elise and Quinn Camille. I feel tempted to pressure you into using this, so let's move on to finding some more options.
Quinn Adele
Quinn Audrey
Quinn Beatrix
Quinn Bethany
Quinn Bridget
Quinn Camille
Quinn Cassidy
Quinn Charlotte
Quinn Clarisse
Quinn Claudia
Quinn Estelle
Quinn Felicity
Quinn Frances
Quinn Giselle
Quinn Joanne
Quinn Joelle
Quinn Juliet
Quinn Lucy
Quinn Miranda
Quinn Ruby
Quinn Penelope
Quinn Shelby
Quinn Simone
Quinn Stella
Quinn Sylvia
Quinn Willow
Quinn Winifred
Quinn Felicity and Quinn Penelope both exceed the ideal syllable count, but I love both of them so much. I wanted to start this next sentence "Other favorites are:" and make a list, but I like too many of them. Quinn Miranda stands out to me, though.
