For lovers of offbeat/contemporary names only

HopesDiamond · January 2011

We are (surprise!) pregnant with our first child and it is a sweet little girl. The problem is we only had boys names decided and we cannot agree on a girls names--and neither of us is so in love with any one name that we are vehemently trying to impose it on the other.

For a little background, husby is British dark blonde with freckles and hazel green eyes and I am Mediterranean/French/Scot, with natural brown hair, light brown eyes and fair olive-ish skin. He has a less common but very cute family name (think Sebastian) and my name is very, very unusual. It has roots in my Mediterranean decent, but even in that land it is an antiquated name and unheard of, but it has a very feminine sound (think Amelie) and some really new names emerging in America sound mildly similar. Our last name is two syllables, very common, and is frequently a first name (think Morgan). Also, she is a spring/summer baby due in May

So, now that you know a little about our family unit and the child?s ancestry and potential appearance (which I think is key in naming), here are the candidates:

London

Cadence

Isla (eye-la)

Avalina (ahh-vah-lee-na)

Middle Name Candidates ONLY (ruled out as firsts for various reasons)

Rose

Arden

Mirielle

Harlow

I don't know how to make a poll, so let me know which combo is your favorite for our daughter Smile

wkfouts · January 2011

I really like....

Avalina Rose

or

London Harlow

elisbu · January 2011

Isla Rose

catahoulatte · January 2011

I like London and Isla Mirielle. I've never met anyone named Mirielle and I really like it!

Mrs.Leah.Maria · January 2011

My first choice for fn: Avalina

My first choice for mn: Mirielle

That said, I don't like the combo. I love Isla Mirielle and Avalina Rose.

hollyberry3333 · January 2011

London Mirielle

Isla Harlow

Avalina Arden

Cadence Rose

magnoliablossom00 · January 2011

Isla Mirielle or Avalina Mirielle.

London might be fun for a middle name! It could honor your husband's background.

plunderb · January 2011

Mrs.Leah.Maria:
My first choice for fn: Avalina
My first choice for mn: Mirielle
That said, I don't like the combo. I love Isla Mirielle and Avalina Rose.

ditto

sweetep15 · January 2011

For FN I like Avalina adn Isla the best. London and Cadence are fine. For MN I love Mirielle and I like Arden. Rose is overused and boring IMO and I'm not on the Harlow bandwagon. My favorite combos are Avaline Mirielle, Isla Mirielle, and Isla Arden.

tarynkim · January 2011

Avalina Rose or Cadence Harlow. All of your name choices are beautiful!!!

My husband and I are expecting a boy and we both love the style of names you've chosen. What were your boy names if you don't mind me asking?

PS-I'm 37 weeks with no name...yikes!!!

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@tarynkim: Congratulations! It's funny you ask, one of our top choices was actually Sebastian because it is similar to my husband's and although I love his name for a jr., he doesn't like So-and-so the second, so that name was a good compromise.

I loved Riordan (pronounced reer-dan) to pay homage to a relative past. Also, Bridger, Greyson, Roman, Brighton, Reid, Dorian, Ronan, Hudson, Nolan, and Beckett. I could just name a football team of little boys

I hope this was helpful, good luck!

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@wkfouts: These may be the two combos I contemplate the most. Thanks for your feedback!

alliejo725 · January 2011

Isla wins hands-down from your FN list. And it sounds lovely with all of your MN options.

brookelynpaisley · January 2011

I like Cadence Rose. Not a fan of Londa, Avalina reminds me of javalina, and Isla is pretty trendy.

mlf625 · January 2011

Avalina Rose or Isla Rose. I like Arden the best of ALL of the names, but don't think it flows well as a MN with the FNs you've chosen.

andrea922 · January 2011

Isla or Avalina.

If your dh is British I would not use London. My dh is British and I think it would be silly to use that as a name.

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@andrea922: MIL, is that you? Lol. I suppose it's the same way Americans felt when posh named her son Brooklyn. Although I agree if we lived in the UK, it would be an odd choice.

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@ mlf625: Rose just makes everything sound sweeter, doesn't it? That name will never fade away. I do love Arden quite a bit, but as a FN it sounds hard and redundant with our last name, like the name of a brand of wrenches or something, so I've squeeked it in a a MN choice. With a softer first name, I can make it work Wink

StrawberryAlarmClock · January 2011

I love the mn Mireille but no one will be able to do the French "r" and will pronounce it "Meer..el" or worse "murelly" LOL

But, then again, it's a mn so who is really going to have to pronounce it? I like London Rose but it sounds like a rockstar. I like Cadence but not with the mns you have ... Cadence Grace, maybe?

GL. Cute list.

andrea922 · January 2011

HopesDiamond:
@andrea922: MIL, is that you? Lol. I suppose it's the same way Americans felt when posh named her son Brooklyn. Although I agree if we lived in the UK, it would be an odd choice.

Sorry! I just think it would be really odd. But I am not a fan of city names at all, regardless. I would just think if someone met your dh, and knew he was British and he said this is my daughter London, they may think that was a little too much trying for the Britishness, if that makes sense.

I'mAcrossThePond · January 2011

Please don't do London Harlow...sounds too much like London Heathrow (the MAJOR airport in London).

elyshaswedding · January 2011

I love Avalina Mirelle. It sounds very musical and feminine.

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@i'macrossthepond: Haha! Thankfully that is a combo we aren't considering.

eta: For clarity, I adore the sound of "London Harlow ____" BUT DH only likes London with "Rose". In fact, that's the only middle name he's expressed interest in (gave it a 5 out of 10)

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@mkd00: Thanks! Those are sweet choices.

HopesDiamond · January 2011

@alyshawed: I love that combo, too. I think DH is turned off by the femininity of it.

metzy144 · January 2011

I like Cadence Rose or Avalina Rose.

noradrenalineRN · January 2011

The only one I like is Isla. Great name! Isla Rose or Isla Mirielle.

A maybe to Avalina.

Cadence and London get a big thumbs down. Definite no to London.

UOduckBride2be · January 2011

I'mAcrossThePond:
Please don't do London Harlow...sounds too much like London Heathrow (the MAJOR airport in London).

THIS is exactly what I was going to post. Any of the other combos are great!

MaddysMama07 · January 2011

I love Isla. I like Isla Rose the best.

onelittlemonkey · January 2011

wkfouts:
I really like....
Avalina Rose
or
London Harlow

London Harlow sounds like London-Heathrow, the airport! Don't do that.

onelittlemonkey · January 2011

HopesDiamond:
@tarynkim: Congratulations! It's funny you ask, one of our top choices was actually Sebastian because it is similar to my husband's and although I love his name for a jr., he doesn't like So-and-so the second, so that name was a good compromise.

I loved Riordan (pronounced reer-dan) to pay homage to a relative past. Also, Bridger, Greyson, Roman, Brighton, Reid, Dorian, Ronan, Hudson, Nolan, and Beckett. I could just name a football team of little boys I hope this was helpful, good luck!

I could name a football team of boys, too. We're so bad at finding girl names. We have two boys, but we waited until delivery for gender, so we had to sort through girl names, too. Beckett (love the playwright) and Ronan were on our first list a looong time ago.