My husband (David) and I are expecting our first child, a girl, on January 31st and felt absolutely no rush to come up with a name for her because 9 months feels like FOREVER and picking a name is SO HARD, and now here I am in my 8th month, still calling her babygirl. I was of the persuasion that we'd go in with some ideas, but that we should wait till we saw her face to make the final decision, but you've had all these name regret posts recently, and I'd really like to avoid that stress and hassle, so the time for procrastination has passed--we need to name this baby!
Her last name will be Pascale-Hague, since we both hyphenated when we got married and we are pretty set on using my late grandmother's name, Carmela, as the middle name. So, names that start with or contain el or that are too long are sort of ruled out. I love nicknames and feel strongly about some nickname options.
Names we like, with comments are:
Ruby nn bee - this is my favorite. It is short, but has a cute nickname and goes well with Carmela. My husband likes it, but is afraid to commit to it for some reason. My only concern is junior high "Ruby Boobie" teasing, but junior high sucks for everyone, regardless, so I'm okay with this. Final issue: my husband has bright red hair. If this baby inherits this trait, would a red-headed Ruby be ridiculous or adorable?
Magnolia nn Nola - I think this is my husband's favorite. While I love the nickname Nola,we both fear the nickname Maggie. Also, is Magnolia Carmela too much?
Juniper nn Junie - So cute, but I don't think the name Juniper will age well.
Eleanor nn Nora - I love this name, but it is a no go because Eleanor Carmela sounds funny to me.
Penelope nn Penny or Poppy - Same problems as Eleanor
For extra information, if this were a boy, we really liked the names Oliver, Ezra and Jude.
I am definitely open to new name suggestions and am excited to see what you and your readers come up with!
Thanks so much!
Ruby is my favorite, too, and I think a redheaded Ruby would be adorable. More possibilities: Lucy, Sadie, Olive, Rose, Molly, Alice.
Your mention of the nickname Bee makes me think of Beatrix.
I love Magnolia, but I think your fears of Maggie are justified. You could probably work with it early on ("This is Magnolia, we call her Nola"), but she might choose Maggie herself later on.
If you like Juniper but want something with less risk of aging poorly, the name June is lovely. Plus, it's nice and short! June Carmela Pascale-Hague is a very good name.
If you like Eleanor, I wonder if you'd like Eloise? I know you're avoiding names that start with El-, but I think that one might work with Carmela: Eloise Carmela. Maybe not, it's hard to tell---but the EL sound might tie it together.
Name update! Jillian writes:
We had our beautiful blonde (not red headed!) baby girl on 1/28 and, thanks to you and your very kind readers, we had settled on Ruby, but we decided to a middle name. Our plan was to use just my late grandmother's name, Carmella, but I got to thinking of how great it would have been if she were alive to enjoy her namesake and how fun it would have been to tell her we were naming our child for her. David is really close with his grandmother (who is still living), so we decided to also use her name, Lucille, as a middle name. So, now we have a child with five names, but I'm happy we did it, because David's grandmother was over the moon and it was meaningful to both of us to be able to share that with her. So, Ruby Lucille Carmella (affectionately Ruby Lu) it is.
Thanks again!
