I'd love to get some help with baby girl names. We have a son, Eliot Lee, and our baby girl will be born on the 27th (as in NEXT THURSDAY!) We had settled on two possibilities if the baby was a boy (Graham or Tobin) but are somewhat at a loss now that we know she's a girl. Our last name is two syllables and starts with Jen--.
When we were first married my husband and I agreed that we both liked the nickname Winnie. My husband really liked the name Winsome but it seems to fanciful to me. We though Winifred was a better option to keep Winnie but now I find myself unsure if it's too stuffy. It would solve a lot of problems if I was 100% sure of Winifred but I'm not. The problem is that I'm not 100% on any other name either and we have less than a week (eep!)
I find myself being drawn to 3-syllable names but it's not a deal-breaker. In general I like classic but not super popular names that have the option of cute nicknames. My husband suggested naming her after me (Faith Margaret) which I think is sweet but don't really want to do but I think Faith for a middle name might be nice.
The two names at the top of my list were Vivian and Naomi. My husband's name starts with N and I kind of think it might be nice for her to have her own initial. But if we went with Naomi I'd like to find a middle name that starts with R so the two of them have the exact same initials as a way of honoring him.
Some other names we've discussed include:
Rosalie (husband thinks it's too frou-frou)
Louisa (husband thinks it's too frou-frou)
Evangeline (Too long and too matchy-matchy with Eliot)
Eliza (LOVE it but it feels too matchy-matchy with Eliot)
Alice
Pauline
Ada
Adeline
Matilda
Imogen (the alliteration with our last name seems too cute. Also, it seems like a lot of people here in the States would mispronounce it)
Mae
More possibilities for Winnie are Gwendolyn and Gwyneth and Guinevere. They do tend to produce something more like Gwinnie/Gwennie, but I think you could make it Winnie---or maybe you'd also like Gwinnie?
Or there's Winter, which is not as fanciful as Winsome and not as formal as Winifred. Or my favorite might be Wynn/Wynne: it's a good grown-up name that passes the "Would it work on a doctor or a lawyer?" test, but also goes easily to Wynnie. ...No, my favorite is still Winifred, but my SECOND favorite is Wynne.
If you go with Naomi, I like the repeating O-sound of Rose: Eliot Lee and Naomi Rose. Naomi Rachel would be pretty, too, or Naomi Rae, or Naomi Rain, or Naomi Reese, or Naomi Robin. Or Rosalie might be too frilly for your husband as the first name, but maybe he'd like it better as a middle name: Naomi Rosalie. Or perhaps Naomi Faith to honor both father and mother?
Name update! Faith writes:
I wanted to drop you a line and update you on our baby girl!
We decided to name her Naomi Catherine with Catherine being in honor of my MIL. Objectively speaking I might not have picked the name Catherine since it seems a little long to follow Naomi but I have a wonderful MIL and love that our daughter shares this connection with her. We actually find that we call the baby Nomi most often which is what my three year-old christened her. :)
Thank you again for all of your input and for the input of your readers. I loved reading your feedback and all the comments!
