Baby Names!

[MamaBelle4]

Okay, so we have four little girls and are expecting our 5th (and last!) baby. We don't know what s/he will be and don't intend to find out. My girls are:

Kathryn Ann (middle name of my mom)
Elizabeth Kay (middle name of MIL)
Avelyn Marie (middle name of my grandma, first name pronounced like Evelyn but with an "A", like the letter A, inspired by gaelic name Aibhlinn).
Emily Michelle (middle name DH's name femininized).

DH has a tradition where the midle name of the oldest son is the first name of his father, hence using Michelle (Michael) for Emily.

If we have a girl, I was thinking of using the feminine versions of my father and FIL (Nathaniel and Andrew, respectively) and going with Natalie Andrea. Does that fit with the rest of the girls?

And if we have a boy, we've long had the name Charles picked out. Here's where things get tricky. If we have a son, DH still wants to give him Michael as a middle name even though we did Michelle with Emily. I don't. I think that makes Emily seem like a placeholder until a little boy comes along and gets the "rightful" name. I wanted to give him a double middle name (Nathaniel Andrew) to honor both of our fathers. I guess I could still give him a double middle name and make the second name a made up merge of their two names (Nathandrew), but that just seems weird. (EDITED to make it clear I'm joking about Nathandrew, I don't do made up names.)

So thoughts? We have until December, but I don't discuss baby names with family ever since Katie (MIL: "Ugh, KATHRYN, I don't like that name.")

 

[kimblebee]

Natalie Andrea is a nice name and it does fit with the others..they all have one vowel and one consonant at the start.

I don't think that using Michael as a male middle name takes away from your daughter having that name too.

It's your decision but I wouldn't go with Nathandrew.

Congratulations

 

[Wendy31]

Congratulations on the new baby!!

And I agree w/ you.

All of your girls have middle names that are family names. Emily has the feminized version of "Michael" after her father (your DH) for her middle name.

And, if you give a son the actual name of "Michael," I think it somehow lessens the significance of Emily's middle name. Other people (including your DH) may disagree w/ me.

Since your first 2 daughters have middle names after their grandmothers, if your new baby is a boy, I think I'd try to give a boy baby a middle name that somehow honors his grandfathers.

Ann & Kay are the middle names of your mother & MIL. Are Nathan & Andrew the middle names of the grandfathers? If so, are their first names somehow easier to combine?

W/ a boy baby, you can also consider that he will carry w/ him his last name which is also his grandfather's last name (your DH's father), so the middle name could just be after your father, & the baby still has a name that reflects & honors both families - Charles [middle name after your father] [last name which continues DH's father's last name]

I like your girl name & think it works well w/ your other girls. However, while your other girls have distinctive first names & only their middle names are family names, this girl will have both first & middle names that are family names.

If the baby is a girl, you might consider giving her a middle name that is somehow after you - like you did w/ Emily Michelle after your DH. But I also understand wanting to honor your fathers since you've honored your mothers.

(Our 3 children have family middle names as well.)

I love discussing baby names!!

 

[georgina]

I certainly wouldn't bat an eye at using Michael as a middle name, unless you made a really big deal about the Michelle among the family? Most people would not see a connection in my opinion. A couple of my sisters have the same middle name. I don't like Nathandrew at all! Too Twilight!

 

[Shanti]

Natalie Andrea is a nice name and it does fit with the others..they all have one vowel and one consonant at the start.

I don't think that using Michael as a male middle name takes away from your daughter having that name too.

It's your decision but I wouldn't go with Nathandrew.

Congratulations

Nix Nathandrew...please.

Natalia Andrea might work well- just a bit more musical than Natalie Andrea, though that is nice, too.

Nathaniel Andrew sounds good, as does the reverse.

 

[elphaba91]

Okay, so we have four little girls and are expecting our 5th (and last!) baby. We don't know what s/he will be and don't intend to find out. My girls are:

Kathryn Ann (middle name of my mom)
Elizabeth Kay (middle name of MIL)
Avelyn Marie (middle name of my grandma, first name pronounced like Evelyn but with an "A", like the letter A, inspired by gaelic name Aibhlinn).
Emily Michelle (middle name DH's name femininized).

DH has a tradition where the midle name of the oldest son is the first name of his father, hence using Michelle (Michael) for Emily.

If we have a girl, I was thinking of using the feminine versions of my father and FIL (Nathaniel and Andrew, respectively) and going with Natalie Andrea. Does that fit with the rest of the girls?

And if we have a boy, we've long had the name Charles picked out. Here's where things get tricky. If we have a son, DH still wants to give him Michael as a middle name even though we did Michelle with Emily. I don't. I think that makes Emily seem like a placeholder until a little boy comes along and gets the "rightful" name. I wanted to give him a double middle name (Nathaniel Andrew) to honor both of our fathers. I guess I could still give him a double middle name and make the second name a made up merge of their two names (Nathandrew), but that just seems weird.

So thoughts? We have until December, but I don't discuss baby names with family ever since Katie (MIL: "Ugh, KATHRYN, I don't like that name.")

I think Natalie Andrea is pretty. Perhaps slightly more modern than your other first names, but not jarringly so.

I agree with you about not wanting to use Michael when you've already got a Michelle; sorry to your DH, but he already got his namesake! (By the way, you don't want to use your name as a middle name? What about really breaking tradition and giving a boy a male version of your name?!) I mean, you could always change Emily's middle name (my mum's best friend did that when she wanted to use one of her twins' middle name as her new baby's first name!), but that seems even more unfair on poor Emily!

I like Nathaniel Andrew (not keen on Nathandrew at all, sorry!). It will be quite a mouthful compared to your girls', but I can understand that this would be your only chance at naming a boy so you want to fit both in!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Really, Nathandrew is more a joke than anything else, lol. As you all can see, I don't really do made up names

 

[Wendy31]

I think Natalie Andrea is pretty. Perhaps slightly more modern than your other first names, but not jarringly so.

I agree with you about not wanting to use Michael when you've already got a Michelle; sorry to your DH, but he already got his namesake! (By the way, you don't want to use your name as a middle name? What about really breaking tradition and giving a boy a male version of your name?!) I mean, you could always change Emily's middle name (my mum's best friend did that when she wanted to use one of her twins' middle name as her new baby's first name!), but that seems even more unfair on poor Emily!

I like Nathaniel Andrew (not keen on Nathandrew at all, sorry!). It will be quite a mouthful compared to your girls', but I can understand that this would be your only chance at naming a boy so you want to fit both in!

I kinda like that idea!

Emily Michelle has a feminized version of your DH's name. A boy could have a middle name that is a masculine version of either your first or middle name!

I also agree that Natalie is a bit more modern than the other 4 girls' names, but the "-ee" ending sound of Natalie works w/ the "-ee" ending sound of Emily.

In my sister's DH's family, there was a tradition that the oldest boy in the family had the same middle name as his father. Well, her DH's middle name was Ralph as was her FIL's middle name as was the grandfather's middle name. She didn't like the name Ralph AT. ALL. My sister & BIL had 2 girls first (& she didn't have to worry about "Ralph") but then they had their boy.

They decided to change Ralph to Rafe & make that the baby's middle name.

However, after giving him the middle name of Rafe & having it on his birth certificate, they decided when he was about 6 months old, that they didn't really like Rafe either. And, if the name wasn't actually Ralph, then it wasn't really carrying on the tradition anyway. So, they officially changed his middle name to Christopher. And the tradition of having "Ralph" as the middle name for the oldest son officially ended w/ my sister's DH.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Ann & Kay are the middle names of your mother & MIL. Are Nathan & Andrew the middle names of the grandfathers? If so, are their first names somehow easier to combine?

I'm not really a fan of either of their middle names (Eugene and Leonard, respectively) Lol, that combo would be fun.

By the way, you don't want to use your name as a middle name? What about really breaking tradition and giving a boy a male version of your name?!

My given name is Jessica Lynn. While I do like it, our last name begins with L as well, and I've never been crazy about Jesse.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I also agree that Natalie is a bit more modern than the other 4 girls' names, but the "-ee" ending sound of Natalie works w/ the "-ee" ending sound of Emily.

Oh, and as far as her name being more modern, which it definitely is, I'd probably nickname her Tilly (if it fits her personality), which is more of an older name in my opinion.

 

[Wendy31]

I'm not really a fan of either of their middle names (Eugene and Leonard, respectively) Lol, that combo would be fun.



My given name is Jessica Lynn. While I do like it, our last name begins with L as well, and I've never been crazy about Jesse.

I do like Eugene for a middle name! Gene also works as does Leo (instead of Leonard) -

Charles Eugene
Charles Gene
Charles Leo - I don't like this one as well as I like the first 2.

Is your Dad's middle name Eugene or Leonard?

I think Jessica would be a beautiful middle name for a little girl so that one of your girls' names reflects you.

However, I'm not sure I like Natalie Jessica. It's okay... it just doesn't flow as well as some of the other names.

And, while I don't like Jessie as a nickname for Jessica, there's something about Jesse for a little boy that is really cute - and I think it works w/ Charles for a middle name - Charles Jesse [last name].

Oh, & I like Tilly!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Is your Dad's middle name Eugene or Leonard?

My dad's is Eugene.

 

[Wendy31]

My dad's is Eugene.

Well, then I LOVE Charles Gene or Charles Eugene!!

His last name will be carrying on his father's & other grandfather's name!

I also really like Charles Jesse too... the more I say it out loud, the more I like it.

 

[rastahomie]

Girl:

Mary Jane

Boy:

Aaron Nicholas
Pope Tyrannosaurus Awesome

 

[wgeo]

I like all your name choices -Natalie Andrea is great.

For the boys - we also have the boys middle name be his fathers name. Some of the people in the family that have had more than one boy gave each of the boys their fathers name (so both boys have the same middle name) I've never thought it took away from anything, and really gave them a bond. So perhaps the daughter with Michelle will feel a small extra bond if the boy ends up with Michael?

I love all the thought you're putting into it, but if it were me, I wouldn't rule out Michael at all.

 

[Skywalker]

I think Natalie Andrea is a fine choice for the girl.

For the boy, I like traditions so I think if your husband wants to go with Michael, he should be able to do that (I think it takes nothing away from your daughter to have both the first born girl and the first born boy have the honour). Of course in fairness he should then eliminate his father's name (Andrew?) from contention as that would be two nods to the same family tree. One or the other lol. So you could do Charles Michael Nathaniel or Charles Andrew Nathaniel?

 

[Kitty 34]

Anna Nanette

 

[wenrob]

I think Natalie Andrea is a fine choice for the girl.

For the boy, I like traditions so I think if your husband wants to go with Michael, he should be able to do that (I think it takes nothing away from your daughter to have both the first born girl and the first born boy have the honour). Of course in fairness he should then eliminate his father's name (Andrew?) from contention as that would be two nods to the same family tree. One or the other lol. So you could do Charles Michael Nathaniel or Charles Andrew Nathaniel?

My thoughts are in line with this. My DH's family has the same tradition. All my kids have family names as middle names and part of youngest DD's first name is my middle name as DH felt one of them should be named after me as well. (Another Lynn here. ) Have you asked Emily how she would feel about it? Both of my girls would have been thrilled with the idea. If not that what about your DH's middle name?

And just have to say I'm not one for nicknames but I LOVE Tilly and it's fitting for your sibset.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Emily is only 2.

And DH's middle name is Andrew, lol.

I know it is important to him to have Michael as a middle name. When we were within a year of dating and talking about names, he brought it up. But, to me, that was already passed down to Emily. I really admire my father (and his father shared the same name) and my FIL. They are some of my favorite people, just good, kind, strong men. The kind I would like any hypothetical son to grow into (DH is included in that as well, of course). And they all have my style name, lol.

Ah, I shouldn't stress over it. Look at my track record, I'm 4-0 for girls, lol.

 

[spacemountainmom]

Naming a baby is so hard. My dh really wanted Leigh as the middle name for our dd. I said absolutely not as my aunt, my cousin, her three daughters and another cousin all have the middle name Lee. Lee is quite overdone regardless of the spelling. I won the battle since her first name was his grandma's middle name and I chose my grandma's middle name as dd's middle name.

I see no problem with using Michael for a boy. My son's middle name is Michael after his dad! I don't think it's so weird with having Michelle already.

The thing you need to remember is that you are never going to please everyone with your choice and that is okay. I personally find it rude to tell someone you don't like their choice. I have a cousin that has three kids. Two of the three have first names that sound awful with their last name. I honestly wonder what they were thinking. However it was their choice and none of my business.

Choose a name that makes you happy.