Help me decide between our final two girl choices!

maureenmce

Hi all,

We're having a baby girl due in January.  (We've known the gender since week 12, believe it or not, thanks to chromosomal testing.)  Anyway, we are torn between two names that I feel have two totally different vibes.  I'm leaning toward one, my husband is leaning toward the other.  (We like both a lot, so it's not a contentious argument, necessarily, we're just trying to pick and would love a tiebreaker!)

Anyway, our last name sounds similar to McKeely, and here are our top two:

Tess Emmeline McKeely

Lyra Rose McKeely

I am leaning toward Tess and he's leaning toward Lyra.  Tess I think is a strong, feisty sounding name which is perfect for an oldest girl.  I know this sounds totally silly, but I also feel like it goes with our animal names, which are all kind of old West inspired (Clementine, Calamity Jane, etc.)

Lyra on the other hand is named for a constellation, which is named after a Greek myth (it's where Zeus sent an eagle to take Orpheus' lyre and bring it into the heavens after he died.)  My husband likes the meaning behind it because we met in Athens, we're both musicians and because he was a philosophy major with a huge interest in Greek mythology.  I like the meaning too!  But I just like the flow of Tess McKeely better than Lyra McKeely.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling explanation!  Thoughts?

Thanks!  

maureenmce

Oh, I should have mentioned, we would pronounce Lyra like lie-ra, not like leera.  This is another reason I don't like that choice as much, I would probably have to explain how to pronounce it fairly often.

magsugar13

Tess by default

too nnish but better than lyra which reminds me of lycra

nurse714

I don't Lyra at all, so my vote goes to Tess.

eliztheforrizz

I prefer Tessa, but would definitely choose Tess over Lyra.

parenthood4

I also prefer Tessa to Tess! I was going to say Lyra, but I was saying it Lee-ra in my head, not Lie-ra...so I vote Tess.

MamaWren919

I would choose Tess. I think Lyra will be pronounced wrong. I like Tessa much better though. Tessa is one of my favorites.

eileenmcgoo

Definitely Tess

CC.to.be

Tess by a landslide! I also prefer Tessa.

wassuphoes

Odd one out, I prefer Lyra. 

But I would do a different middle name. I mean, don't do Silvertongue either, but Rose is just too dainty for Lyra.

maureenmce

Thanks for the feedback, ladies!  

breezycat

I would go with Tess because Lyra is always going to get mispronounced and misspelled by people. I do think Tess is cute but I prefer Tessa with the nn Tess.

daystardreams

Love Lyra and I pronounced the way you wanted at first glance.

penelope4612

I would've pronounced Lyra "Lee-ra".  You could always use Tess as a first name and Lyra as a middle name.  However, I have to agree that I like Tessa better than Tess and Tessa Lyra is a bit much.

Ildri

daystardreams said:

Love Lyra and I pronounced the way you wanted at first glance.

Ditto.

ashleyandely

Lyra seems easy enough to pronounce to me. But in this case I have to agree with PP- Tessa NN Tess

gonetothesea

Loveeee Tess. Tessa is also nice as PP have suggested.

Knottie97536784

I was going to say Lyra, but then I realized I was pronouncing it differently in my head. I think she would always have to tell people how her name is pronounced and that's a pretty big downfall to it. (Although it is very pretty) 

I suppose that makes me about 50/50 between Lyra and Tess. Sorry that is not very helpful!

dragonfly321

Tess but also love Tessa!!!

YouHadMeAtMeatTornado

Tess, hands down. It's so sweet for a baby, and I think it'll age well. Lyra automatically came out "Leera" in my head, and it's just nms. I love Tess though.

flas

I pronounced Lyra more like Lir-ah so I would say Tess or Tessa in that case.

carolyn219

Tess/Tessa is a nn for Theresa.

holocene

Lycra was my first thought. Tess/Tessa is cute.  

maureenmce

I'm happy to show my husband this thread as our tiebreaker!    Thanks for all of the input - so many Tessa fans here!  We will consider that option as well, for sure.  We still have about 5 and a half months to pick out the perfect version of the name and find the right middle as well.

Thanks again!

VexedMommy

I like Lyra better.  Tess feels very hillbilly to me. 

Elsa1984

I prefer Tessa to Tess. Tess seems incomplete to me. Tessa Emmeline. 

And I thought that Lyra was pronounced Leera......so I would have been one of the ones that called out her name incorrectly if I had to say it. 

neverblushed

Go with your gut.  Tess is a winner.  

Lyra isn't a complete fail, but your child will forever be correcting the pronunciation and spelling.  Just don't go down that road.

Grace213

I prefer Lyra. To me it just sounds sweet. (and I definitely pronounce it like you would. I don't even SEE Lee-ra)

And Tess sounds like a nickname to me. If it were up to me I'd go with Tessa or maybe Teresa.

4N6s

Tess by default.