Identify Assistance is a sequence at Appellation Mountain. Each week, one reader’s identify questions will likely be mentioned. We’re counting on considerate feedback from the group to assist expectant dad and mom slender down their identify selections. Thanks prematurely for sharing your perception!
A VERY LONG SHORT LIST
Bri writes:
Our first daughter will likely be right here in a matter of weeks, and due to household obligations, she has to get a passport just about instantly. If we have now her identify set prematurely, there’s a a lot better probability we’ll have the ability to truly make all this loopy work and go to our household abroad at Christmas.
Or possibly I’m fooling myself, however because the solely factor I can management is selecting her identify, I need to put my power there, as an alternative of worrying concerning the dozens of issues that would derail our plans!
Proper now, although, it seems like we will solely add names to our ever-growing listing. We began out with:
- Bijou – I like this, husband isn’t bought
- Indie – Really feel like I’m listening to this so much
- Soleil – Too arduous to pronounce possibly?
- Tru/True – Was our prime identify however three completely different individuals have stated “just like the Kardashians” and I’d quite that not be the factor that everybody says
- Vida/Vita – Husband’s favourite, I feel it’s giving Ricky Martin (had such a crush on him in center college, so …)
Since we didn’t agree on any of those, we added to our listing:
- Dove – might be nice, however possibly bizarre to be a chicken
- Ever – love this, however we all know a 2 y.o. Ever so seems like we’re stealing
- Fia – we’re not Irish, does it matter
- Io – seems prefer it disappears once I write it and seems like a tech abbreviation
- Lilo – received it from the Disney film – is that bizarre
- Lyric – really feel like that is extra well-liked than different names
- Nyx – too darkish possibly
- Rey – too Star Wars (possibly)
- Siri – possibly my favourite, however a no as a result of how bizarre would that be
- Ziva – love this, however my mother says it feels like a granny
- Zuri – however is it cultural appropriation
So yeah. We are able to give you plenty of names, however we’re simply pretty much as good with considering up the reason why they’re an issue.
This child’s final identify would be the tremendous unusual M!ller, which makes us each agree that names like Ava/Lucy/Mary are out.
Open to center identify strategies, too, as a result of proper now it seems like we’ve received nothing …
Please learn on for my response and depart your considerate strategies within the feedback.
TIME TO NARROW UP
Abby replies:
Congratulations in your daughter!
I utterly get your battle.
(It’s just like the week Dealer Joe’s opened in our neighborhood – ultimately! We’re wandering down the aisles, including fascinating factor after fascinating factor to the cart, however not likely getting any nearer to an affordable meal plan for the week. I imply … cauliflower rice + Joe Joes + marinated artichokes doesn’t dinner make.)
However again to your query. As the marvelous Swistle says, sooner or later it’s a must to slender UP. Determine what you like most and why, and let these qualities inform your selection.
Let’s take a look at the frequent threads shared by the names in your listing:
- They’re quick and full. Not that you simply couldn’t name Bijou Bebe or shorten Vida to Vee, however this isn’t precisely Anastasia territory, the place a shorter model feels inevitable.
- They’re uncommon, if not distinctive. I’m guessing you reside in some pocket the place less-common names are the norm, if solely as a result of Indie feels such as you’re listening to a whole lot of it. (Indie ranked #579 for ladies, with Indy at #918. It doesn’t crack the US High 1000 for boys, however I’ve come throughout kids named Indiana, Indigo, and so forth.) Even so, the names you’re contemplating will probably be one-of-one in your quick circle.
- They’re fashionable. Even a reputation like Vida/Vita, which had an excellent run within the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries and has historical past stretching even farther again, feels very very like a 2020s form of selection. And plenty of of those simply plain weren’t names till this second.
I’m additionally listening to plenty of vibrant, robust vowel sounds – the OO of Bijou and True, the OH of Lilo, Io, and Soleil. The names are clean, robust, and memorable.
Let’s take a look at your present listing – each the unique and the addition – and select a number of that I feel deserve nearer consideration, based mostly on the factors I’ve listed above.
TOP CHOICES FROM THE CURRENT LIST
BIJOU
In case your husband was on board, this may be The Identify, proper? What I like about it: it’s the French phrase for jewel, so it matches with Ruby and Pearl. It feels a little bit artwork deco, form of bohemian, very trendy. Possibly a few of that’s all the way down to Bijou Phillips, daughter of Nineteen Sixties folks rock star John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. Whereas the previous mannequin, singer, and actress has had a tumultuous life, I don’t suppose it detracts from her identify. Why I adore it for your loved ones: it seems like names with a contemporary really feel however some classic enchantment actually converse to you. Bijou has this high quality in spades.
DOVE
Richly significant, properly unusual, and straightforward to put on, Dove is a standout selection. Is it bizarre that Dove is a chicken? Nope. We’ve had a technology (or extra) reply to Robin and Raven. And now favorites like River, Willow, and Wren are on prime. Dove matches proper in.
FIA
I hear your considerations about cultural appropriation with names like Zuri, and I share your hesitation. However Irish? Numerous kids have been named Erin and Ryan, Liam and Riley, with out the thinnest connection to the Emerald Isle. Fia, particularly, feels properly pan-European. I adore it for the entire wild vibe, however it may also come from Italian names (suppose fiery Fiamma) or the so-popular Sophia and even be invented from names like Religion, Faye, and Mia cobbled collectively. It seems like a midpoint between Vita and Io – temporary, however nonetheless substantial, pan-European, however with a terrific that means, too.
SIRI
Okay, I agree – Siri actually is out of the query. It’s simply too, too irritating to share your identify with a ubiquitous AI. However the type feels very a lot on level, so though I can see why you’re not going to call your daughter Siri, I feel we will search for extra names with that glossy, compact, and simply on-the-right-side-of-feminine sound.
VIDA
I imply … “Livin’ La Vida Loca” is an infectious pop hit, even all these years later, however it’s not precisely the form of anthem I’d think about inspiring a baby’s identify. However Vida and Vita have been names for years. Typically nicknames – Vita for Victoria, for instance. And, usually, we like Spanish-language phrases as names, like Luna and Alma. So Vida matches in lots of, some ways. It’s like Zoe crossed with Valentina and a touch of Clara, too.
MIDDLE NAME OPTIONS
A number of of your present favorites strike me as excellent middles:
- Dove, as a result of it’s a powerful, quick sound that works effectively with an extended first
- Rey, as a result of sure, it’s fairly Star Wars, however it’s a go-to center, particularly spelled Rae, that may steadiness a extra uncommon first
- Soleil, as a result of it’s much less a pronunciation difficulty when it’s seldom used
- Tru or True, as a result of the Kardashian connection gained’t matter practically as a lot within the center spot
FRESH IDEAS
I’m unsure you actually need any concepts, however … I do suppose generally recent concepts will help us fall extra in love with the names we’re presently contemplating!
ALOE
We all know that Aloe is a plant, but when Willow and Lily are women’ names, then Aloe is perhaps, too. Or it might be unisex – in any case, the singer Aloe Blacc is a he. (Delivery identify: Egbert!) It’s uncommon, however wearable.
CLEA
Cleo is trending, climbing within the US High 1000 as we converse. Clea, pronounced extra like Clay-uh, stays far much less frequent. But it surely seems like a potential substitute for Vida.
ELKE
In our Chloe period, I believe most individuals will say Elke like Elkie – rhymes with selkie. However elk-ah is another choice, extra like Elsa with a Okay. It’s initially a nickname for Adelaide in northern European languages (suppose German and Dutch), however it seems like an impartial possibility in English right now.
LILAC
Lyric meets Violet for a far much less well-liked identify that wears properly now.
LULA
Initially a Louise/Louisa nickname, Lula feels just like the midpoint between Bijou and Vida, a lot much less Disney than Lilo. The French Lilou – typically thought-about a type of Lily – is an identical possibility, however I feel Lula would possibly really feel just like the extra interesting selection.
RIVA
In Italian, Riva can imply riverbank. It’s a logical risk in our age of River and Rio, however I’d put Riva extra in the identical class as Vida … with out the Ricky Martin vibes.
SUVI
It’s surprisingly arduous to search out nice substitutes for Siri. However Suvi would possibly simply work. It’s the Finnish phrase for summer time and is taken into account a given identify in Scandinavia, although it’s removed from frequent. Because it sounds such as you’re welcoming a summer time child, Suvi has double the enchantment.
YARROW
Relating to identify size, there are two elements: sound and spelling. Io is 2 syllables, however simply two letters. Yarrow is 2 syllables … however visually fairly a bit longer. One other nature identify, Yarrow has been utilized in small numbers because the early Nineteen Seventies, a nature identify embraced by counterculture dad and mom. It seems like a substitute for Bijou, each bit as uncommon, however just a bit bit completely different.
General, my favourite mixture might be Bijou Vida. It’s daring and intriguing, a reputation that’s nearly two phrase names however not likely, both. Plus you each get your prime selections! Loads of mixtures come to thoughts after that. Fia Soleil, Lula Dove, Riva True, Vida Rey. I do suppose a few of these really feel a little bit bit like phrases. (Vida Rey makes me suppose “residing king” however then … I’m clearly into overthinking names.)
Let’s open it as much as the readers as a result of I do know they’ll have some superb concepts.
