family names

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

I know that some people don't like using family names.. I didn't use to care for it much myself, but it's grown on me. Problem is, I love my family's names, but don't care at all for my husband's family's names! ;)

So three names we like and I've mentioned before are Lily, Elizabeth, and Catherine (lol, these are our tamer names). My mn is Catherine and my mother's name is Catherine Elizabeth. Catherine and Elizabeth are also the names of my maternal great-grandmothers. My MIL's name is Susan, which I really do not care for, but Susan means Lily. My mom also used to call me her 'blackeyed susan' (type of flower, black/brown center, yellowish-orange petals). Anyway.. so I'm thinking of a combo of Lily and Elizabeth or Lily and Catherine. Could also be Lilian or Eliza. Combo ideas? WDYT? *edit* What do you guys think of Elizabeth Catherine or Lillian Catherine with 'Lily Cate' as a nn? Too much of a mouthful? Also, I came up with Edith Catrine (a play on my name, Meredith Catherine) during my first pregnancy, but noone liked Edith. Okay, so no Edith, but what do you guys think of Eliza Catrine?
 
Also, as I've said before, we're probably going to use my husband's middle name, Edward, as a mn for a son. My husband is a third and we want to carry on at least part of his name. We've liked Edward, but lately have been liking Ashley for a boy and we'd be able to carry on the same first initial that way. What do you guys think of  Ashley Edward?  *edit* for comparison-- our other name idea, which we've been fond of for awhile, is Jonah Edward. If we do use Ashley, we'd probably nn to Ash. Yes, I totally love this name because of the Evil Dead reference. ;)

Do you think it's weird when siblings share a first initial? I've never liked that my husband and his sister had the same first initial We might use Alice as well so that would give us multiple A- names as well. :( Hopefully we'll have more than two children, though. FWIW, my husband goes by Ted, not Albert. 

Comments

[tammihayne.livejournal.com]

My sister's kids are Rogan (boy), Rylan (girl) and Riston (boy). Pretty much has ruled out any "R" names for us and I can tell you when the third one was coming she had a hard time trying to find something unique that she liked. It also was also hard not to name the 3rd an "R" name so as not to stand apart from the first two children seeing as the newest addition is by her second husband (first two are from previous marriage).

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I know that Ashley is a unisex name, but I only ever think girl. Kids will probably only ever think girl too. It's a name that's just not really my style. I do think that Edward Ashley sounds a lot better; it sounds like a famous author or something.

I don't think that it's weird when siblings share a first initial; I do, however, think that it's insanely tacky. It's something that I don't like at all.

Even though I cannot stand the name Lily, I do think that Catherine Lily sounds the nicest.

[sleepy-tears7.livejournal.com]

What about Lilian Beth? I like that way.

Or, and this is moderately tacky, even in my opinion and its my idea: Catherine Lilian Elizabeth... I have too middle names, as does my sister, and its actually pretty neat.


I DESPISE with a passion the name Ashley for a boy. Sorry. I can't lie. IMO Ashley is a girls name,and you are opening that poor kid up to relentless teasing when he's in school... Kids can be cruel anyway, but naming your kid Ashley??


I think its cute when siblings have the same first initial, as long as theres not like ten of them. Then people run out of names, or they don't fit the same "pattern" as the other names.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Eliza Lillian
Catherine Eliza

I love Ashley Edward. I really hate the name Edward on its own but Ashley is so nice that it makes up for it.

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

Edward Ashley, as another poster said, sounds very sophisticated, but I think he needs to not actually be called Ashley under any circumstances. Edward, Ed, Ash, etc could work, but "Ashley" will be teased, IMO. Now that I think about it, I could get behind "Ash" as a nn and be okay with Ashley as long as he doesn't have to go by that at school, etc.

It's like Lesley nowadays; yes, it used to be unisex, but it's way too much a girls' name now for a boy to not be teased mercilessly.

I love Lillian (spelled this way; Lilian looks incomplete) and Catherine/Katherine. Elizabeth is kind of plain, but the nickname potential is good. I like Lily Catherine, Alice Lillian or Susan Elizabeth, myself. I don't think Lily and Elizabeth should be used together, since you can get "Lily" out of Elizabeth.

I think it's a little awkward when sibs share a first initial if you're planning to have more kids -- because then you're either locked into a first initial for the next child or faced with making the third an "odd one out." But if you like names that start with the same letter, as long as it's not insanely matchy like Taylor and Tyler, I wouldn't worry about using them together.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Yeah, luckily it's just my husband and his sister. I don't even know if it was on purpose.. I hope it wasn't. I think part of my dislike of it is that I just don't like either of their names anyway.

Thanks for the ideas. Our daughter had two first names, one middle name and we have thought of doing that with the rest of our children.

Lol, I feel completely the opposite about Ashley! :) I think it's tacky and stale as a girl's name, but seems fresh and and interesting as a boy's name. Also, it was a boy's name first and I do like older names. There are a few names like that that I hate on girls but love on boys, like Stacy and Tracy.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Hey thanks. It seems to be like Ashley is moving more towards beings a unisex name again. If we do use it, yes we will probably use the nn Ash.


I prefer the double-l as well, but that makes me a little sad because then Lily doesn't mean the same thing.. lol. I'm weird.

I'm wondering if Lily Cate would be too much of a mouthful as a full name? WDYT? It could be short for Lily Catherein or Elizabeth Catherine.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I know Ashley was originally a boy's name, but Ashley Edward looks so confusing to me..

I think it's fine if siblings share the same initials. I would try not to do it, but then I know if I loved both names, I wouldn't be too bothered with it.
I'm kind of against using the same initials in the family, because there's a handful of situations where the two people could be mixed up, especially if they're the same gender.

I love Alice! :) oh, but wait, I've already told you that!

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Yay! Someone who likes Ashley. And you're a local (taking by your icon, anyway), so more in my demographic. ;)

I really like Catherine Eliza and Lillian Eliza.

thanks!

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

:)

Is it confusing just because you think it looks like a girl's name with a boy's name?


Go Alice! :D

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think of Ashley as a girl's name, or as a very feminine name anyway.

[in-the-starlite.livejournal.com]

Liliana Katherine was actually number one on my list for a long time, after both of my grandmothers.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

I think Eliza Catrin is gorgeous.

Eliza Catrine is too sing songy, as they both and in -A. Also most people would assume it was Katrina..

Lily Catrin is also lovely, but Lily is getting a little overused lately.

Alice Eliza/Elizabeth both sound good.

I really dislike Ashley, male or female. It just seems to dated.
Edward, nn Ned is something that's been growing on me for a while, though if your husband is a Ted I guess that wouldn't work.

Jonah Edward doesn't flow too well, and with that critique 'll try and be helpful with some suggestions :-)

Lucas Edward
James Edward
Miles Edward
Henry Edward
Benjamin Edward
Isaac Edward
Leo Edward
Felix Edward

[anapology.livejournal.com]

No offence, but your sister has displayed some absolutely awful naming skills..

[tammihayne.livejournal.com]

Hehe...no offense to me...she's the one who named them :P
"Unique" is usually the word we hear a lot :)

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Kids with such androgenous made-up names that you can't tell if they're male or female, two syllables and ending in a -n..
She couldn't really have been less unique as far as hitting the trend goes!

[tammihayne.livejournal.com]

Actually Rogan and Rylan aren't made up. Rylan however is typically a boy's name and is sometimes spelled Ryland. Riston actually shows up in a name dictionary too believe it or not but ya...we get some looks most of the time when people hear them...especially all starting with R and ending with N :P

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestions. :)

Glad you like Eliza Catrin(a). :)
Tell me how you pronounce it. To me Catrine = Kuh-treen(like Catrina without the a) and Catrin would = Kah 9like the ca in cat)-trihn. I agree that the double -a sounding would be bad.

[amspeck-myworld.livejournal.com]

Girls: Susan is from Shoshannah which could be a lily or a rose. Just giving you more options (I love Shoshanna/Shanna)

I think Ashley Edward flows really well (though I prefer Asher nn Ash). Jonah Edward is also really nice, I'm not sure which one I like better :)

[tunknut.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth and Catherine are great, and I think Lily's a cute nickname for Elizabeth. I don't really care for Lillian or Lily by itself though. I'm not a big fan of Susan, but I love Susannah. I actually looove the name Edith, not that my opinion counts for much haha. And I like Eliza, either by itself or as a nickname for Elizabeth. No Catrine please, it looks/sounds almost exactly like Latrine. There are lots of much better variations of Catherine out there. Lily Cate looks/sounds odd to me, how about Elizabeth Katherine nn Lily Kay or Elizabeth Susannah nn Lily Sue? That way if Lily becomes too popular for her taste (which it very well might) she could go by Eliza :).

And please don't name your son Ashley. Regardless of how much you love the name, he'll be teased for it/mistaken for a girl alll the time. I've never met a male Ashley, but I've known hordes of female Ashleys and the name is still really popular for baby girls. Asher nn Ash would be a good alternative if you really like Ash on a boy. Jonah Edward is decent.

I don't think it's weird when two siblings share first initials, as long as the names aren't too similar, and I don't think you'd be obligated to keep up the matchy trend for a third child. I've known sibsets in which two siblings have had the same first initial and the other sibling(s) have different initials. With two kids with the same first initial, it could be coincidental I think, but with three or more I think it begins to look tacky and the younger kids are often stuck with crappy names.

[sballik.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same situation. I love the idea of using family names as middle names -- one from each of our families -- but my fiance's family has slim pickings when it comes to women.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Try looking further back in the family tree! Lol, I know I posted this say there's no family names of his we like, but we actually found out after naming our daughter that her second first name was his great-grandmother's name. :)

[sballik.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I've been trying! The thing is, it's a very male-dominated family, and pickings are still slim, even if you go back 3 or 4 generations.

I've resorted to coming up with female alternatives to the male names in his family, eg. Danielle in honour of his brother, Dan.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I actually only like Ashley on men/boys, not women/girls. I certainly like it more than Asher, although Asher is mercifully free of the long A sound in the first syllable and the N end consonant (so to me one of the less evil of the trendy boy names).

I suspect that the peers of a baby boy now named Ashley wouldn't bat an eye. The PARENTS of the peers might well do, but they have less to do with Future Child's social life!

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

Holly Kate is kind of a guilty pleasure name for me, so I don't personally think Lily Cate would be too long (although I much prefer 'Kate'). I think that'd be a beautiful name. =)

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Shoshanna is my Hebrew name!

[anapology.livejournal.com]

I prounounce Catrin the same as you, Catrine would be the same as Catrina- it's dutch I think.

I guess it also could be kuh-treen, but that I'm not sure it's an actual name.

Sort of reminds me of latrine..

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

The form I'm using is actually Irish and is pronounced the way I described. An alternative spelling is Catrione. Both are just a variant of Catherine. I get the latrine criticism a lot.

Catrin is kind of interesting.

[sunleap.livejournal.com]

Ashley is a boys name. The girls just took it over. Along with Robin and Darcy! I think it would be cute and the nn Ash.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I think Lily Cate is fine as a full name - it's gorgeous. It's not a mouthful. How is it different to Brenna Rose as a full name? (which is also a beautiful name)