#3

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Just found out last week that we're expecting our third baby in November! We already have a boy's name we'll probably go with -- Josiah Birch -- that we had planned if our last daughter had been a boy.

We have two daughters:
Ezra Grace -- nn Ez, Ezzie, Ezzie Grace
Elspeth Dove -- nn Elsie, Elie, Elspie

Some names we like/love but wouldn't use, for various reasons:
Moira
Brigid
Prairie
Bethany (we have two little Bethanys in our church!)
Tabitha
Selah
Mercy (too sing-song-y with our last name, I think)
Leda (love the name, not the story!!)

I've been liking Jane a lot lately -- it's close to my mom's name (Joan), and we're fans of Jane Austen & Jane Eyre.

I also love the name Margaret, though I'm having trouble winning my husband over to it. We like Evangeline, and Armistice (probably Armistice as a middle name -- having trouble thinking of good nicknames for it!)

We like classic names, Biblical names, Jewish and Irish names. We are NOT set on beginning all our kid's names with "E" (runner-up to Elspeth was Liesl), but we do like naming after friends in creative ways -- ex: we have an elderly family friend named Grace, and Elspeth's middle name is after my Grandpa Dave (Dove = Dovid).

Our last name is Irish, starts with a "G," rhymes with "Malachy" (the Irish saint, not the OT book), and has the same rhythm.

Comments

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

I actually love Leisl, you should go with that one. All same letter names don't really make a difference to me, probably won't to the kids either.

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

I like Liesl a lot, but it's the same meaning as Elspeth (both are forms of Elizabeth)...

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

Shhh! No one needs to know! Lol

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I know a guy named Evan John. :-\

[nobodynomore.livejournal.com]

Oh I love Ezra. I've never heard of it used for a girl and I LIKE it. Even moreso because my husband thinks it sounds feminine anyway. I have really no suggestions (sorry :/) but I love all of your name choices!

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we get some weird looks for it -- and we usually call her Ezzie, so I think on the playground she's usually mistaken for Izzy = Isabella. I always loved it for a girl, less for a boy.

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

I know an Ezri but I think Ezra is nicer :)

I really quite like a lot of biblical names despite not being a practicing Christian anymore :p

I'm really bad at girls names for some reason. Well I'm not terrible but I tend to find boys names a lot easier. Some older fashioned/Biblical girls names I like are:

Anna
Charlotte
Rachel
Irene
Alice
Norah
Elizabeth
Lillian/Lily

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

Ezra for a girl? That's a new one on me. What made you go with such a masculine first name and such a feminine middle, if you don't mind me asking?

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

First heard of it for a girl when I was in high school -- a friend of a friend. Always stuck, and I always loved it for a girl. My husband suggested Grace for a middle -- that way, I figure, if she doesn't want to go by Ezra any longer when she's older, she has a very classic, feminine name to go by.

[purplefog.livejournal.com]

Good call - nice to see parents giving their kids options, lovely as the original choice is :)

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- while I have a top-ten name for my birth year, my husband has an extremely unusual first (and middle) name (for either gender), that is often mistaken in print as feminine. So it was good to have him to run it by! And good to have a backup there...

[starcrossed.livejournal.com]

Susanna/Susana
Joanna
Mahala
Lina
Charlotte
Sarah
Elizabeth
Abigail
Adina
Tabitha
Tamsin
Anna

[so-there.livejournal.com]

Jane and Margaret seem awfully plain next to the other two. Josiah works with them, but I think a girls name would need to fit as well. most of the ones on your canned list seem to fit better with Jane or Margaret than with Ezra or Elspeth. I don't know how many kids you plan to have. if 3 is it, you can go either way with beginning or not beginning with an E. but if you think you might have more after that, I'd avoid the E or you'll end up locked into it forever.

sorry I'm drawing a blank on suggestions, though. :P

[so-there.livejournal.com]

oh, but going on the trend of male-biblical-names-on-girls, I know a girl named Asa. but it's probably a bit too similar to Ezra.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Armistice could go by Misti/Misty.

I think Jane goes better with Ezra and Elspeth than Margaret does. Jane Margaret would be nice.

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

If you wanted to keep with the E theme, I think Esther would be cute.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I really like Margaret, Jane, and Evangeline. Armistice means a temporary military truce. Something to consider when thinking about a noun-name.

Naomi
Mary
Fiona
Ruth
Levana (Hebrew: "moon; white"; Latin: risen; Mythology: the goddess of newborns).
Siobhan
Martha
Dierdre
Katrina
Aoife
Rebecca
Darcy
Cassidy
Junia
Miriam
Fionnula
Maeve

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

We have talked about Aoife in the past -- spelling could be hard, though, I could imagine we'd always be spelling it for people... (especially great-grandparents -- who already have a lot of trouble pronouncing Elspeth!)

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

Butting in here to say I think Aoife sounds wonderful with the Ezra and Elspeth :)

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say that I love, love, love your children's names!

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

I'd stick with the E theme if I was you.

Otherwise you might end up with a third girl who wonders why she's the only one who got a different first initial.

For a boy, not such a big deal.

I like Evangeline. Really pretty name.

I also like Emma, Ella (recently saw it with the spelling Ellah), Edwina, Eilish (which is Irish) , Eleanor, Emilia, Emmaline, Erin, Eva.

I think Eva Margaret or Emilia Margaret sound nice.

If the other half doesn't like Margaret, you could try Marguerite. Or a name derived from Margaret like Meg or Peggy or Pearl.

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Nah -- we may end up having quite a few children, and I don't want to be limited by the "e." I don't think they'd feel "left out" -- my husband is one of four children, three have "S" names and one has a "C" name, and no one ever mentions it.

Sounds like he's coming around to Margaret! Enough to put it on the List, anyway.

[jadedinnocent.livejournal.com]

If you want to stick with the E theme, I think Eilidh (Ay-lee) flows very well with Ezra & Elspeth but doesn't have the same starting sound. It is Scottish Gaelic rather than Irish Gaelic though (Scottish version of Eileen)

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

I love Margaret and I like Jane, but with the names of your children, I prefer Jane to Margaret.

Other ideas:
Ever (I think Ever Jane would be pretty, but then, you'd have all E's.)
Juniper
Rose
Orla
Penelope
Cora
Clara
Charlotte
Felicity

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I love Ever.

[purplefog.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous names, all of them. What about Missy/Missie for Armistice? Or possibly Tiss/Tissa? Amma? Ammy?

[x-twinkle-x.livejournal.com]

I love Ezra for a girl!

Ava
Cora
Lily
Niamh
Imogen
Amelia

[queer-kitten.livejournal.com]

Emeri (Emory, emery) Would give you ezzie, Ellie, emmy?