Henrietta, Sylvia, or Norma

mm&es · May 2013

Right now, my top three girls names are Henrietta, Sylvia, and Norma.

Sylvia would probably be #1, except that I am concerned that it will get too popular, and LO's last name will start with Sh-, and I'm not sure about all those S's. Norma is a family name, and I love Henrietta.

What is your top pick out of those three? I don't have any possible MN's for them. I would love to combine two of them for a FN and MN, but I don't think they go well together, since they all end in -a. Do any of those combinations sound good to you? What are some possible MN's?

Helenahhandbasket · May 2013

Henrietta or Sylvia.

I do like the idea of Norma, and I have a really great personal association with it, but I put it in the same category as Bertha and Gertrude (old sounding, in a bad way).

EDIT- Sylvia Irene or Henrietta Faye

--halo-- · May 2013

Sylvia was our top choice for a girl. Our last name starts with a Sh sound as well, I think it sounds nice. A Sh first name would sound ridiculous though. lol

bumpuser5823822 · May 2013

Definetely Sylvia!

Norma and Henrietta are just old lady bad in my opinion.

I think Sylvia Shoemaker sounds find so I would imagine that another Sh- name would be okay too.

I also don't think that Sylvia will get too popular. It was #525 last year. It has been at least 400+ since 1994.

bobcee · May 2013

Definitely Sylvia. I am just not a fan of the other two at all.

candrew05 · May 2013

Sylvia is my favourite. I wouldn't worry about popularity.

Mochadoodle · May 2013

I agree that Sylvia Sh- might be too much of the letter S. I also would not combine two names that end in the letter A. I'm picky, I know.

I would probably use Norma as MN (because I love to use family names!) and keep searching for a FN. Suggestions: Grace, Ivy, Mabel, Violet, Genevieve, Hazel, Iris, Phoebe, Adelaide, Beatrice, Ruby, Alice, Belle, Eleanor, Florence, Lulu, Millie, Pearl

Favorite combos:

Grace Norma

Violet Norma

Genevieve Norma

Adelaide Norma

Beatrice Norma

Eleanor Norma

Pearl Norma

Zimger · May 2013

I like Sylvia.

LittleLMom · May 2013

I'm not a big fan of any of these names, but my overall choice would be Sylvia. II do like the nickname Etta though, so I would pick Etta (Henrietta) over Sylvia

notapastasauce · May 2013

Sylvia. I agree that you wouldn't want to choose a middle name ending in -a.

Kate070 · May 2013

I love Sylvia! It's on our list as well, and we steer way clear of the top 100 at least... I think Sylvia would be okay. We can't say how trends will go in the future, of course, but it seems safe for now.

Let's see what middle names come to mind... I think it should be short, without an a at the end, and beginning with a consonant:

Sylvia Jane

Sylvia Leigh

Sylvia Rose

Sylvia Blythe

Sylvia Claire

Sylvia Gail

Sylvia Quinn

oops34 · May 2013

Definitely Sylvia. I don't care for the other two and can't picture them on little girls at all.

kaswanson · May 2013

I really like "Etta," which some of the PPs mentioned. That might be my first choice with Sylvia as a second. It's pretty popular, but I don't think it's out of control. I would still pick it if I liked it!