short names.

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

i am deadset on using jane as my first daughter's middle name. the problem is..basically all of my favorite girls names are just one syllable. i thought about using 2 middle names, so it'd be a short first name, a 2 or 3 syllable middle name, jane, and then the last name. but jane is really really special to me and i don't want an additional middle name taking away it's "specialness" for lack of a better word. you know? so, what would you do in this situation? just go with something short like kate jane for example? use two middle names? do something else?

also, would your decision change if the last name was only one syllable too? for example: kate jane fox or something?

Comments

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

I just wouldn't do it. The one-syllable pattern is choppy, and as a result, very few same-syllable names sound great, especially when the middle name is included. I would find a lengthy name I like that would still allow for the original choice- Kate into Katharina, for example; Katharina Jane Fox sounds better than Kate Jane Fox.

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

yeah. i'm thinking of just saying "screw it" and picking a first name i really like. unfortunately, kate was just an example. all of the names i like don't really have longer versions. oh well. i agree with you. i'll probably never really say her full name. thanks for the advice. :]

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

i really do love cecilia, but i'm so stuck on certain names and most of them happen to be one syllable. :(

[mrandmrschippy.livejournal.com]

There is beauty in simplicity, and monosyllables have often been used in English poetry to great effect. In short, it's fine, go for it.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Well, I have two middle names, and I feel that they are both equally important to me. My first middle was my grandmother's name (she died when I was 3) and my second middle is my mom's maiden name. I don't think 2 middles takes away from the significance/importance.

[tunknut.livejournal.com]

I don't think the number of syllables matters in a name. What matters for me is how well a name "flows", and it's possible to have two one-syllable names flow. I would never use a combination such as Kate Jane because, although I love both names by themselves and in combination with other names, they just sound ugly together. If I were set on having a daughter with the middle name Jane and calling her Kate, I would just name her something else and call her Kate for short. Katherine Jane, Caitlin Jane, Kathleen Jane, Katie Jane, and Katharina Jane all sound fine, just to name a few. If you raise her always calling her Kate, she'll probably go by that when she grows up, and if she decides she dislikes it she'll appreciate the flexibility of multiple nickname options.

Back to the idea of "flow":

I think names flow as long as they're not too repetitive and the last sound of the first name sounds good with the first sound of the middle name. "Kate Jane" doesn't work on either of those grounds. It's way too repetitive because both names start and end with hard consonant sounds and have a long a as the vowel sound, in addition to their both being one syllable.

Secondly, the t-sound and the j-sound do not flow. An easy way to tell if two sounds flow is to think if any common English words combine those sounds. I can't think of any with a "tj" sound, and besides, it just sounds odd, like it should be a "tch" sound. Kate Jane sounds kind of like "Kate Chain" to me. Also, names that end in the same sound that the middle name begins with don't sound good because they sort of blend together, i.e. Paige Jane sounds kind of like "Pay Jane"

Here are some sounds/random one-syllable names I think do flow with j/Jane.

Most vowel sounds (age, liege, huge, oblige) - Leigh Jane, Kay Jane, Flo Jane
D-sounds (edge) - Maude Jane
Hard G-sounds (suggest) - Meg Jane
L-sounds (bulge) - Belle Jane
N-sounds (ingest) (although with another 1-syllable name I think this would be too repetitive to use with Jane) - Lynn Jane, Fern Jane
R-sounds (urgent) - Cher Jane

Weird examples, I know, but there are lots more multi-syllable names that end in these sounds than one-syllable names. It all depends on what specific names you want to combine, not the number of syllables.

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

oh, i wasn't planning on using kate. haha. i don't think they sound nice together at all. it was just an example.

[tunknut.livejournal.com]

that's good haha. Jane is one of my all-time favorites by the way.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I think it makes a difference depending on the last name. Kate Jane Fox is too staccato for my liking.. but Kate Jane Enchelmeier is ok (just a random long surname that came to mind lol)