I've been scouring the internet for a name for our 4th baby, due on July 10th. She will join 3 brothers: Samuel Elijah (Sam), Sean Matthew, and Gabriel Joseph (Gabe). For some reason, I'm very apathetic about all things girl! And no names sound "right". Our last name is Putzer, frequently mis-pronounced, but not any better than my maiden name was, so I'm used to it ;) My MIL used to tell her students this little sentence to help them pronounce it: Joan "puts her" shoes on.
Here is my list, that I've had buried list in my inbox since #2, even though we knew he and his younger brother were boys:
Caryn (neat spelling)
Nia (Irish)
Stella (maternal great grandma's name) - everyone I've mentioned this to has yelled out "STEEELLLLLAAAAAA", even my husband, so I'm leaning towards no
Olivia - this was to be #1's name if he was a girl, I think it is too popular now
Leah - meh
Morgan
Carina (beloved, in Latin) , I also like the sound of Cora
Mattea
Mira
Rachel
Renee
Harlow - husband thought this was absurd when I told him
Molly Philomena - seems to be more popular to me now, but Philomene was my grandmother's name
Newer names I've come up with are:
Eden Philomena - I loved this before we knew this baby is a girl... I came up with a boy's name and girl's name I liked to avoid being disappointed when we found out. The problem now with Eden is that the FEW people I've mentioned it to haven't been very enthusiastic. My husband seems fine with it and has come up with Edy (ee-dee) for a nickname), but did mention that he looked it up online and the meaning HE found was "place of pleasure", which to me is somewhat off-putting, but I know there are other meanings. Another person said they had only associated Eden with boys. To me, Eden sounds girl-ish.
Imogene
Jillian (I love the nn Jilly) - husband like this better than Jaqueline, but is still non-committal
Jaqueline (but neither of us like Madeline)
Ruby - I LOVE this, but is there a problem with the "u" sounds in this and our last name? I think it might encourage mis-pronunciation of our last name.
Generally, I am disliking popular names and names ending in -a and -ee sounds. I would like it to fit with the boys' names as in tending towards biblical/saint names. We'd appreciate any help you could give us!
Eden is a place name, usually referring to the garden of Eden in the Bible. "Place of pleasure" is off-putting to me, too, but I think definitions for place and other noun names are unnecessary. A name like Paris, for example, really means "Paris"---rather than "place of croissants and perfume." (There are some exceptions for names that sound pretty but refer to non-appealing places: for example, people usually prefer to combine the meanings of the names Brook and Lynn for the name Brooklyn.) You are right that Eden is widely considered a girl name, though not exclusively: in 2010, the Social Security Administration reports 1701 baby girls named Eden, and 222 boys.
If you like Caryn and Carina, I wonder if you would like Carys? Or Karenna? Or Corinne/Corinna?
And since you like Cora, I'll mention Clara.
Eden makes me think of Eve---not for the place-name/place-resident reason, but for the sound of it. Sam, Sean, Gabe, and Eve. I think that's my favorite.
Another biblical place name you might like is Bethany.
Would you like Genevieve? It appeals to me that then the kids' initials would be S, S, G, G. The nickname Evie is similar to the Edie nickname your husband liked for Eden.
Another of my favorite saint names is Josephine.
My favorite from your original list is Rachel. I like it with her brothers' names and with your surname.
I also like Philomena as a first name. She could go by Mena for short.
From your newer list, my favorite is Imogene (I like Imogen even better), and I also like Jillian.
