Help with a name combination

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

Someone very dear to me died 7 months ago from Alzheimer's and I want to honor her somehow in my children's name.  No matter what, the first child I have will be named after her in someway.  If I have a boy, the middle name will be her last name, Manning.  If I have a girl, I'm stuck.  Her name was Linda Susan (first and middle) and I don't know how to combine or use those names in a middle name.  I guess I'm looking for variants of those names too.  I'm not particularly fond of the name Linda, but I would use it for her.

Here are some of my favorite girl names:
Ada
Aurelia
Esme
Esther
Katherine
Liesl
Louisa
Violet

Comments

[unboundvoice.livejournal.com]

Susanna(h) is one of my favorite guilty pleasure names and would work well with some of your list as a middle.

[jaydestarlight.livejournal.com]

I enjoy Liesel, Esther, Louisa and Violet from your list!

[pirahan.livejournal.com]

What month was she born? If it is May or another common name month, you could use that. Birthstones too, like Pearl, Ruby, Opal.

Or you could use the meaning of the name, and find one with something similar thats more to your taste.

[lil-cherub.livejournal.com]

How about Leisl Susanna? Keeps initials the same.

[halliwell66.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond of Linda or Susan/Susannah for first name but I like Lydia. I was put off by Pride & Prejudice but my cousin had it for her first choice for a girl, she's had 3 boys so don't think she'll get to use it.

I like the idea of using the same initials. Liesl or Lousia are also very nice choices & Susannah as middle name.

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

My husband's mother died last year and was also named Linda. We used Linden as a middle name to honor her.

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

I love this idea. Susannah Linden or Linden Susannah is also beautiful.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Belinda or Melinda

Personally I have come round to Susan, it was on my list for my baby (who ended up named Mary-Alice). Naming a kid Susan at this point is so aggressively anti-cool that it's cool. Plus, Susie/Suzy is as cute as it gets for a nickname.

[allie-sheppard.livejournal.com]

At work I came across the name Lindita... I like it better than Linda :)

[chillinbabejodi.livejournal.com]

I also like the idea of using the same initials.

Alternatively, how about using a name with a "Lin/Lyn" sound. Maybe Evelyn, Lina, Caroline/Carolyn/Carolina, Lucinda, India

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

One idea is to use another name that has similar sounds. Like for Linda, you could use Lynn, Linden, Linnea, Lindsay (hypothesized to be a related name), Melinda, Belinda, or Kalinda. Or for Susan you can go with Susanna or Susannah. I like Susanna as a middle name for Ada, Esther, Liesl, Violet, and Katherine. The Hebrew version of Susanna is Shoshana.

You could also go for a meaning thing. Susan means "lily", so you could go for Lily. It also could refer to lotus flowers or "joy of life/to be joyful, bright or cheery." You could go with other names that mean lotus; they tend to be from non-European languages (like Sadira and Padma). Or you can go with names that refer to joy, like Rena ("joyous melody") and Letitia ("joy, gladness"). Linda has a lot of potential meanings (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_%28name%29).

You could also pick a name that has a meaning that refers to your friend...like strength, grace, courage, etc. That would need to be explained, though, and nobody would immediately get it.