We could use some help. Our due date is February 7th but I will most likely be induced up to two weeks before that date. Our last name sounds like Castle. I have two sons, Conrad and Nolan. We are not finding out the baby's sex so we'll need names for both a boy and a girl. My husband and I have different tastes for names, and it's been really hard coming up with something we both like.
For boys he likes old, common names and the one,s he likes are usually associated within his family somewhere. Examples: Jack (his grandpa), Henry (another grandpa) and Max (great grandpa!). My favorite name by a long shot this time around is Beckett. Hubby thinks it doesn't sound like a 'real' name. I thought it was perfect because his give name is 'Buck' and since I refuse to do a junior Beckett has three of the same letters. Anway, some others on my list are Atticus, Arthur, Magnus, Mathias, Abel and Hendrik. I also considered naming him Hendrik and having Henry as the nn. The middle name will be after my husband's father who has passed away, David.
As for girls I like Harper, Hazel, Briar, Everly, Verity and Vanora. I want to honor one or two people with her middle name. My dear friend that passed, Sheryl, for sure. And possibly hubby's mother Janis. I'd like to go with either Sheryl or a combination of the two. I was thinking Sheris. I'm concerned about Hazel Castle with the same sound at the end of each name. And I don't want anything that's up and coming with popularity so that might cut out Harper. (Nolan became waaay more popular than I ever thought it would.) My husband has only suggested one girl name that really surprised me-Basil. We were cooking and he said it sounds like a nice name. I think he's more open to unusual girl names.
I'm on the same boat with the idea that thinking since baby is getting his last name I should get a strong say in baby's name. Especially with the boy name since the mn is after his dad too. I would highly appreciate your expertise.
Thanks!
And:
I wrote to you a few months back in need of help for baby names. Since then, we have evolved a bit and I wanted to update you.
For a boy, we will take Hendrik, Beckett and Arthur to the hospital with us and decide from there. We are both satisfied with all three of these options if we have a little boy, and the middle name will either be David or Henry.
Our main problem is with girls' names. We've finally come up with a middle name, thank goodness. My options for people to honor are named Sheryl, Mary Lou and Janis, so I came up with Meryl Jane. I've decided that two middle names is okay with me and if we have another girl in the future I will do the same for her.
For first names my favorite was Harper...but I took if off the list due to popularity rising (esp. in our state). I prefer uncommon names, and I learned with Nolan's name how fast some can rise. He's six years old and it wasn't very common then...but there are quite a few around now. I hardly ever hear Conrad's name, which is something I love about his name.
On our narrowed down/reinvented list consists of:
Juniper
Penelope
Albany
Matilda
Hermione
My husband and I like all five of these names, but his favorite is Albany while mine is Juniper. I still have tiny reservations with each of these names though. Does Albany Castle sound too much like a place? Can you see Juniper on a grown woman? Is Penelope getting too popular? Will people be able to say/spell Hermione? And is Matilda going to be associated with the movie/Heath Ledger's daughter constantly?
I'd love your opinion on these and maybe some new suggestions that fit our style. I don't like repeating initials so C and N names are out. Also, I like there to be a natural nickname that goes with name that doesn't fall into the popular category....for example, we would call Matilda "Tillie" instead of "Mattie" or "Maddie". Someone had suggested Felicity for us but the only nickname I can come up with is Fliss which we wouldn't be able to use (last name of an ex) and I don't like Lissy. I also think I prefer the three syllable names over the four syllable names which might be making me a little more hesitant about Penelope.
I look forward to reading your suggestions!
Thanks~
And:
I see that you're getting into February and I'm getting so excited to see what you have to say.
Just thought I'd send over a few more names that we've been considering though DH is not overly excited about them....yet. It usually takes a couple weeks of repeatedly hearing a name before it sounds 'normal' to him.
Oh and I thought I had the middle name narrowed down to Meryl Jane but have since changed my mind...the middle names will now be Meryl Lane...not a huge difference but something to note.
Added to our girls list are:
Winslet
Galway
Ottilie
Verbena
Gweneira
I think the front runners are Matilda, Albany and Winslet for me....Albany for DH.
I hope this is not too confusing and you can seem this together with my last emails :)
Thanks Again!
I think with a surname that sounds like Castle, I would eliminate all place names and surnames: Albany Castle, Galway Castle, Winslet Castle all sound exactly like tourist attractions to me. I would in fact suggest going as far as you're willing to go on the side of established, easily-recognizable-as-names names: a name like Margaret Castle clues us that we may be looking at a person's name in a way Verbena Castle does not.
From your list my favorite candidates are Verity, Juniper, Matilda, and Penelope. Right now it's difficult to picture Juniper on a grown woman, but that's only because it's a new name this generation: names like Madison and Caden are difficult to picture on grown-ups, too, but when this generation of kids grows up those'll be perfectly ordinary mom and dad names.
The Harry Potter books/movies have dramatically improved the general population's ability to spell and pronounce the name Hermione---but I think Hermione is far more associated with Harry Potter than Matilda is with the movie or with Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger's daughter. I think the same of Winslet: the association with Kate Winslet is the ONLY association most of us have with that name, unlike the name Matilda which has a variety of associations.
I recommend the Social Security baby names site for monitoring popularity, since that aspect is important to you. The names we've used for our children "catch our ears" the way other names don't---so using a name can make it seem as if the name is suddenly EVERYWHERE, when it didn't seem that way before. The name Nolan is a perfect example: it's made only a slow and small increase in popularity (#175 in 2003; #122 in 2009), but it feels to you as if it's skyrocketed. Looking at the actual rate of popularity increase (nationally and by state) can be reassuring ("Oh, I'm just noticing it more because it's on our list") or can give you a heads up ("Holy cow, apparently everyone else likes Penelope too!!").
And indeed, everyone else does like Penelope, so I'm taking that off my finalist list of four: I think the increasing popularity will bother you. That leaves Verity, Juniper, and Matilda, and I think Matilda is the most recognizable as a name, so that makes it my first choice. Matilda Meryl Lane Castle. I would also vote for returning to Jane instead of Lane, to cut down on the noun problem.
I'm trying to make a list of other candidates to consider, but here's the problem I'm running into: the names I think would go well with your style (names like Avalon, Azalea, Clover, Emerald, Fable, Harlowe, Langston, Magnolia, Padgett, Paisley, Story, Tilden, Winslow, Yeardley) are names I don't want to pair with Castle. And so then I'm inclined to look for more "established-name-y names" like Matilda, but I'm not sure those names (Adelaide, Alice, Eloise, Frances, Henrietta, Ramona) are ones you'd necessarily like. In short, I see the problem you're facing!
Maybe Lorelei? It's uncommon, yet recognizable as a name. It's nice with Castle. It's nice with Conrad and Nolan. Lorelei Meryl Lane Castle.
Or Imogen: Imogen Meryl Lane Castle; Conrad, Nolan, and Imogen.
Name update! Lindsay writes:
Baby Castle has arrived! And she's a GIRL!
She was born on Wednesday at 3:40 a.m. during our massive snowstorm leaving no way to make it to the hospital on time. She was delivered by her daddy and grandma in our bathroom!
When it came down to it, our mutual favorites ended up being Albany and Juniper. Since we decided to definitely use Jane in the middle (in honor of the grandma that helped bring her into this world!) we decided on Juniper because we liked the alliteration and the nicknames to boot. Loryl after my mom and dear friend. Jane after my mother-in-law.
Thanks to everyone here who gave me feedback and helped me through the naming process! I appreciated everyone's comments.
Here is our sweet baby, Juniper Loryl Jane:
