We are expecting our daughter to arrive in the middle of April. Our last name is Haid, as in Hyde... not Hey-d, and it is more likely mispronounced than pronounced correctly. I would love to have a name for my daughter that helps in the pronunciation, rather than makes it more difficult. Names like Aiden, for example, are terrible with our last name because of the German vowel pattern.
My name is Bethany, no nickname, and my husband is Daniel, nn Dan. Our son is also named Daniel, a family namesake that has been given to the first son for seven generations now. I have some remorse in naming him after this strong family tradition because I worry it will leave other children from feeling so connected or make them feel less important. I notice this trend in my husband's family's Dan's siblings. However, it was hard to justify not having Daniel Haid #7! Anyway, his full name is Daniel Henry Haid, a name I do appreciate because I think it sounds presidential, strong, and has a good flow. I do often call him by first and middle names, but I probably will never call him Dan, Danny, etc. So we need a name that sounds nice with Dan, Bethany, and Daniel.
If this girl were a boy, I would want a similar strong, presidential sounding name. Maybe Abraham or Solomon. Maybe named after MY father, David Douglas Haid. However, as for naming a girl, I feel really stuck! I don't feel especially compelled to use another family name, but it might be nice to have some sense of the namesake tradition, even if just middle names.
My husband has only mentioned that he likes two names: Elsa and Anna. He says he likes that they are shorter and doesn't mind that our last name is short, too.
I think these names are nice, but I don't love them. I do like longer names, ones that are frillier, with more consonants. I suggested Eliza, Elise, Elisa, Annelise/Anneliese, Joanna... and he likes them, but does not love those names. I worry that if we choose Elsa, the nickname Elsie will be dowdy and ugly sounding to my ears. I also don't really like the name Anna because of having a house with a Dan, Daniel, and Ann/Anna would be too much rhyming!
Names that I like (as well as the ones above) are: Vivian/Vivianne, Beatrice, Catherine, Elinor, Mirabelle (middle?). Alice (too short?), Elizabeth... some of these names are family names on my side, which might be nice as a family namesake tradition. Nice, but not necessary. He hasn't really endorsed OR vetoed these names, but when I told him this list all he said, "Oh, Catherine... Kate! That is a nice one." So another really short name!
We both don't want to choose a name JUST because its popular or JUST because its unusual. We both don't really love the top ten girls names right now. They are very nice, but we both were the only Bethanys or Daniels in our classes in elementary school in the 90s, and that was nice!
Names that are out are Ava (we named our first daughter lost in pregnancy this), Rebecca (I like, but its my mother in laws name, and it would be logistically ridiculous to have another set of Daniel and Rebeccas living in the same house... plus, I don't NEED to have a namesake), Charlotte and Emma (BFF just named her girls this in March), anything with a vowel pattern that doesn't really match Haid.
Other trends I noticed in our naming: It doesn't have to be Biblical or historic, but that is nice. We like both modern and traditional names. We want a good flow with first and middle, like our son's name... so a name with repeating first consonants is totally okay.
Can you help us think of a good name solution for our daughter? I am VERY open to totally different suggestions that we might not have thought about. We've been through the Baby Name Wizard (both editions) several times, and still we have the big question of "what shall we name the baby?".
I agree with you about Anna: it's such a great name, but I think it's too much with Dan and Daniel.
I think Elsa is a very pretty name. I'd never considered it until I heard it on a friend's niece: Elsa Jane. I immediately loved it and wanted everyone I knew to use it on THEIR babies. I don't think you'd need to use Elsie any more than you have to use Danny, and if you DID use Elsie I don't think it's ugly (which is not to say YOU won't find it ugly, but sometimes it helps to have other people saying they don't feel that way about it). You could call her Elsa Jane, just as you call your son Daniel Henry. The one downside of Jane as a middle name is that it works against (or at least not FOR) the correct pronunciation of your surname. I'm trying to think of a long-I middle name, but you know what's hard to find? Long-I middle names. There's Jane, Jean, Joan, and June---but no Jine. Elsa Adaline or Elsa Madeline might work.
I wonder if you'd like Amelia? Amelia Haid. I like Abigail Haid even better, but that has the -ai- problem.
Or Clara is similar in style to Anna: Clara Haid, Daniel and Clara.
In keeping with the presidential theme, I wonder if there are any First Lady names that would be pleasing? I like Hillary Haid. Daniel and Hillary. Your choice of Elinor/Eleanor works for this, too, and your husband might like the nickname Nora or Ellie.
I like Frances, too, and Helen, and Ellen, and goodness, I hardly knew ANY First Lady names before looking at this list. Did you know Lady Bird Johnson's real name was Claudia? Or that Pat Nixon's real name was Thelma? Or that Grover Cleveland was a grown-up when his future wife was born, and in fact he was the one who bought her baby carriage? Well, I am getting a little off track.
