Help with Middle Names

[sayga.livejournal.com]

Middle names:
Maelle _______ Paulson.
Maelle is pronounced my-EL. I generally don't like when someone wants to name their kid something with an unclear pronunciation and they have to clarify in parentheses, but in this case, we like the name enough to overlook that. Never thought I'd hear myself say (or type) that. (And we figure she has lots of nickname options: Maya, Elle, Ellie... if she hates the confusion over Maelle).

Our other daughter is Kira Jade. We are thinking a one syllable middle name would be good (although please suggest anything you think sounds good), and something easy to pronounce. I don't want her to have a crazy name that no one can pronounce, and her sister to have the name no one EVER gets wrong.

Because of the last name and rhyming factor, preferably nothing ending in "en" like Wren, etc. And because of all the other Ls in both names, probably nothing with an L, although if you think it sounds okay, go ahead and suggest it.

Oh, one more "problem" I thought of: since the first name begins with the sound, "My," I don't want a middle name that makes her name sound like a possessive phrase, like "my elephant." Not that I think someone would suggest Ephant as a middle name.

Comments

[hacketts-girl.livejournal.com]

Still working on thinking of a middle name for this one, but I just wanted to make mention that when pronounced correctly, I love this name! I have always worried about picking names that are unclear of how to pronounce according to their spelling, but I reeeeeally like this name. Is there a reason you chose this spelling? I mean, I have never actually heard of the name before and I'm guessing this is the proper way to spell it...and I suppose Myelle wouldn't be as flattering and Mielle might get pronunciations such as Me-elle or Meal...but it's too bad such a pretty name will get so many mistakes...

[sayga.livejournal.com]

from everything i could find out (not much!), Maelle is the traditional spelling. my husband and i met a couple from France whose little girl was named Maele, and we thought she was the cutest thing ever, and we loved her name too. but it's not as common in France/Breton to use just one L, so we added in the other L to get to the most traditional spelling possible (it is such an unusual name here that it hardly matters, though).

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=mae12l

According to this, Maelle is the feminine form of Mael. If you want to discourage mispronunciation, you might try using the umlaut over the first 'e', like the site shows.

I've always thought Miel might be a pretty name and I like the meaning, honey, but I don't think it's ever actually used as a name.

[hacketts-girl.livejournal.com]

And just to add, it's too bad your other daughter's middle name is Jade, because that's one of the first middle names I thought of to go with this name, lol.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

haha, us too. my husband said, well what about Jay or Jane? but then it'd look like we don't know how to give a kid a middle name... :P

[hacketts-girl.livejournal.com]

lol yeah - i saw this news report about this guy who got beat by his two sons because he wouldnt give them a share of some family money he got when a family member died - both their middle names were Lee. I thought that part was fairly funny. I'm horrible, lol.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

I thought Jane would look nice as well, but would be weird juxtiposed with the Jade. I dunno..my brother and I both has similar middle names, well not too similar-- Christopher and Catherine-- and we turned out okay.

[septembergrrl.livejournal.com]

Maelle Kathleen Paulson
Maelle Catherine Paulson
Maelle Diane Paulson
Maelle Adrienne Paulson
Maelle Blythe Paulson

[mandyjalo.livejournal.com]

A few I thought of:
Jane
Kaye
Raye
Anne
Rain
Claire
Blaire
Grace
Faith
Blake
Dawn

[sayga.livejournal.com]

Claire and Rae are on our "maybe" list too. I like your spelling of Raye better. otherwise she'd be Maelle Rae, both names starting with _ae, but the ae would make a different sound in each name. linguistically, that idea bothered me.

maelle dawn. that is a nice one. i'd never considered that before.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

What about Clara instead of Claire? I love that, but hate Claire. Of course, what I like doesn't matter. ;)

I hate Dawn for some reason, I guess because I always think Don.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

i wanted Clara as a first name, but my name is Sarah, so we'd have Kira, Clara and Sarah. haha. not gonna happen!

i think Don/Dawn too. we have a friend named Dawn and my husband calls her Donald. :P but as a middle name, i think it sounds a lot better.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Really? To me Dawn and Don sound very different.

[decembermalice.livejournal.com]

I like that name! Just a thought though, I would read that as Mayelle or Mah - elle. I know you mentioned pronunciation problems, so what about Maielle? Even as Maelle I like it! I love also that it has a lot of nicknames.

Middle names...hmm... (This is tough! A lot of names that match well end in N sounds!)
Maelle Ariana
Maelle Celestina
Maelle Sophia
Maelle Adeline
Maelle Alexandra

[sayga.livejournal.com]

i'm glad i'm not the only one having trouble with this! my husband and i are pretty much stumped.

i think Mayelle would get pronounced "may" instead of "my." maielle is probably better, but i think i'd still have to ask if i saw that name written. i know she's going to get may-lee, may-el-lee, mile, may-ella, etc. i don't like thinking about all the mispronunciations and misspellings she's going to get, but we've been sitting with this name for 4 years and still like it, so i guess it holds for us.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

oh, wait. i see you were saying that if you saw "maelle" you would think it was Mayelle. i'm pregnant and tired and clearly not paying enough attention!

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

A couple of names you listed could sound French. That's another concern, having the first name be French or pronounced as it would be in French and not having it so for the second name.. like with Genevieve or Bridget (Bridgette).
Maelle Genevieve (pronounced jhon vi ev) would be very pretty.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

MAP wouldn't be bad initials. my dad's a geologist, my FIL works for the forest service, and my husband is map/GPS crazy; they'd love it.

with a last name P, there aren't too many bad initial combinations. i would avoid SAP and PAP, but other than that...

[poespretty.livejournal.com]

Maelle Cassandra Paulson
Maelle Cecelia Paulson
Maelle Clarissa Paulson
Maelle Danae Paulson
Maelle Delilah Paulson
Maelle Felicia Paulson
Maelle Gwen Paulson
Maelle Kassia Paulson
Maelle Rhiannon Paulson

I was tempted to do the same thing with picking out a mn for this baby too (as in my first daughter's mn is Drew and I thought I should stick with another one syllable mn for the next) but well, everything is pretty much up in the air with the names period right now. but yeah, I liked the way these particular names (from a list of names I like that you may not) sounded with Maelle.

glad I'm not the only one this close and still deciding. ;p

[tokossel.livejournal.com]

maelle lys (pronounced lee but means lily in french)
maelle jude
maelle kate