Hi Swistle, my name is Renee and my 5th (and final!) child is due on the 28th of April. One of my favourite things about having children is naming them, however I'm not having so much fun naming this baby.
My kids names are Emerson "Emmie" Louisa, Rose Susanna, Liam Davis and Noah James. All middle names honour family members, but for this baby I would just like a middle name that ends in 'a' so that it fits in with Emmie and Rose's middle names. I have step-sisters named Jennifer and Rebecca, so if you could think of a name that honours both of them I would consider that, but I don't want to honour one of them, but not the other.
Anyway, as you can see we have an Emerson and a Rose - names that are completely different in style! So honestly, I am feeling a bit lost and I don't really know what name I want. I would like to steer clear of names starting with E, R, L and N, but if I fell in love with a name I would use it, except for E names as we also have a niece named Elli. Emmie and Elli are very similar names, so we would not only like to steer clear of E names, but steer clear of names ending with an 'ee' sound as we also call Rose, Rosie, sometimes too. We also have a niece named Nala, so that is off-limits to us too.
Here is our name list, though none of the names feel like 'the one' or we can't use them:
Mila - I would use this, but my husband isn't as keen on it.
Scarlett - Both like, but don't love.
Grace - I love this, but I would end up calling her Gracie. Emmie, Rosie and Gracie with a cousin Elli is no good!
Ava - We know a couple of little Ava's, so no good for us.
Isabella - Like this, but don't really love.
Sophia - This is my favourite name (apart from my girls names), but Emmie has a best friend named Sophia, and we are very close with her family.
So there you have it. One big mess!!!
I hope you can help us :-)
My sense of order and consistency itches at the idea of giving the first four children family middle names and then not doing the same for the fifth. But I also dislike the idea of trying to honor more than one person with a single name: I think it ends up honoring neither one. This second opinion is at odds with what I have for you, which is a combination name to attempt to honor both Jennifer and Rebecca: Jennica. This is a name I think is cute ANYWAY---a good alternative for someone who loves the name Jessica but felt it got worn out in the 1980s and 1990s. AND it ends in an A.
Rose, Liam, and Noah all have a similar style; since you call Emerson "Emmie," I think that fits right in with the others.
Since you like-but-don't-love Scarlett, would you like Charlotte? It goes well with the style of the other names. Charlotte Jennica Campbell.
If you like-but-don't-love Isabella, I'd suggest Annabella and Arabella---except I don't like the repeating -bell sound with Campbell.
If you love Grace (or any other name with a natural -ie nickname), I think you could reframe the situation: an Emerson, a Rose, and a Grace with a cousin Elli. Only the nicknames repeat the -ie ending, and MANY (most?) nicknames end in that sound.
Along those lines, I suggest Molly. I know, it makes it even worse by repeating not only the -ie sound but the -llie sound! But---Elli is a cousin, not a sister, and Molly seems like such a different name.
If you love the name Sophia, I think you could reconsider using it: I think it's sweet that it's the name of Emmie's best friend, and it's not likely to cause MUCH confusion even if you're good friends with the family. Or you could use it as a middle name, since it ends in A. Charlotte Sophia, Molly Sophia, etc.
Ava and Mila make me think of Amelia. Amelia Campbell is wonderful, and it doesn't have a natural -ie nickname. But because it ends in -a, it's trickier to find a middle name to match the first two girls'. MUST it match the first two girls' names? Amelia Grace Campbell would be so nice. But perhaps Amelia shares too many sounds with Liam anyway.
Clara or Cora would be pretty, and they don't end in -ie or have a nickname with an -ie. But they end in -a, so again with the middle name problem.
In short, I recommend dropping at least one (and maybe both) of your optional restrictions (the "not ending in an -ie sound, either in name or in nickname" one and the "middle name ending with -a" one). I think that combining those (and the problem they create in combination with each other) with the difficulties already inherent in choosing a name to go four sibling names AND avoiding repeating initials AND avoiding any similarities to cousin or friend names, is what's making this so difficult---more like doing a complicated logic puzzle than choosing a baby name. But since I'm also advocating adding an ADDITIONAL optional restriction (giving a family middle name), you know I will be completely on your side if you keep the other restrictions as well. In which case I suggest Charlotte Jennica or Charlotte Ava or Charlotte Sophia---but the -ie thing means you can't call her either Charlie or Lottie. So let's see if anyone else has ideas!
Name update! Renee writes:
First of all, thanks to Swistle and all the comentors (?) for your help naming our baby girl.
A week early, on the 21st of April, Amelia Renna Campbell was born. To the person that suggested Renna - thanks, we love it and so do my sisters - and thanks Swistle and everybody else who suggested Amelia! We weren't 100% on the name before Amelia was born, but once she was here we quickly decided that she was an Amelia. We (mostly me and the kids) have been calling her Mila and sometimes I call her Mila Ren as we sometimes call Emmie, Emmie Lou. We are all in love with her!
(I will attach a picture of Amelia from her newborn photo's!)
