first and middle name help

[chaichilaquiles.livejournal.com]

I am torn on what order I like this name:

Carmen Nicole 

or 

Nicole Carmen 

Reasonings..... 
My son is Dominic Elías We wanted to give him an "American" name and a "Mexican" name, to reflect his heritage. My husband likes the sound of Carmen Nicole better, but I kind of want to keep the pattern American name, Mexican name. I also secretly like that both names have "nic" in them, though that isn't really a deciding factor. 
Nicole is his name choice and Carmen is mine. The interesting thing is that in general, Mexicans love the name Nicole and don't like Carmen. Americans seem to prefer Carmen more.. I think perhaps it's because the "other" name sounds more exotic?
The other issue is that my MIL is Carmen. I like her, but I am not in it for the namesake at all. 
Also, I am not in love with the name Nicole, but I like the nickname Nikki, though I am peeved at my spouse because he said we can't call her that because he had a dog named Nikki. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR! Who names their dog Nikki? 
Though I like Nicole because I had a dream that she wanted to have a "k" sound in the middle of her name. I scoured the internet for names, might've even asked here, but never saw one I liked. It's meaningful that this would be her daddy's #1 choice. And I am ok with it, (though I might secretly call her Nikki anyway!)

Thoughts?