Baby Boy or Girl Sherman, Sibling to Amelia and Norah

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Marcy writes:

My husband and I are elated to be expecting our third child, gender unknown, due in June.  This little one is a surprise, but one we welcome and anticipate with great joy!  My husband is still exhausted of the naming talk of a year ago (when we named our youngest), but I am already turning all the options over in my mind.  I need a sounding board, and some great ideas.  When my friend Amy and I were both pregnant with our second daughters last year, you helped her choose the name Eliza, and I have full confidence that Swistle is just the place for us to find our third child's name. We have a lot of time, but with 13 nieces and nephews and lots of friends with good name taste, many of my favorites are already taken (or a too-similar variant has been used).  We spend a LOT of time with our extended family.  So, while I'm sure others wouldn't worry a bit about similar cousin names, it would definitely cause concern for us.  Most of the cousins attend the same church and are engaged in regular playtime/activities together.  And of course Gram Gram would never figure out who's who with names too similiar! We would love your input for both boy and girl names!  We're wide open when it comes to boys' names, though something more classic/traditional likely suits us best.  For a girl, her middle name will be Louise, after my mother.  I could consider it for a first name as well, but right now I'm leaning towards Louise for the middle.  I don't like the idea of modifying Louise to Louisa or Elouise.  I want to keep it as is. My name is Marcy and my husband is Daniel. Our daughters are named Amelia Mae and Norah Lane.     Our last name sounds like Sherman.  Amelia's name rang in at #55 on the SSN list for her year (was #68 on the list when we chose it, and we had no idea it would see such a jump.  It was up to #30 by 2011!), and Norah at #263 with the H (#137 without it, so a bit higher than that combined).  Like most folks, I think we'd prefer something outside the top 100, but really we're open to even a very common name, if it really is the perfect one for our baby. A few of our "dont's":

• Rhyming with our names, with sibling names, or with the middle name or last name;  
• Name or nn too similar to Amelia's (Millie/Mil - and her sister calls her Mimi)
• Name or nn too similar to Norah's (Nor, Norrie, Noley - her sister's name for her before she could say it properly)
• Aything that would be nicknamed Ellie or Emmy or Addie (sooo common around here!);
• Anything that causes a lispy-ness in the transition from the end of the first or middle name to the last name this includes most names ending in s).  That SH sound can be rough!

I'll begin with girls, since we have it a little more together in that arena!  Currently under consideration for a girl are Vivian/Vivien/Vivienne (spelling preference, anyone?), to be called Viv/Vivy/Vivie and Josie.  Both seem to work with Louise so it's not a bad place to start.  I do like Josephine for the full name, to be called Josie, but my husband does not like it, preferring Josie as-is. I think I could get into Violet too, but I feel like it only flows with Louise if it's prnounced "Vie-let" instead of "Vi-o-let".  How would most folks pronounce it?

In light of our close family and heap of cousins, these favorites of mine are OFF the table:

• Clara (niece named Claire)
• Anna (niece named Hannah)
• Ada (niece named Ava)
• Julia (niece named Julia Elizabeth)
• Eliza (friend's daughter.)
• Celia (same friend's older daughter)
• Micah (we almost named our first Micah Marie, but changed late in the game to Amelia Mae afte rmy husband and I started swooning over Mae.  We now have very dear friends with a baby boy name Micah, so it's permanently nixed.
• Abigail (niece name) - Although I wouldn't choose this with Louise anyway becasue of the L at the end
• Chloe (friend's daughter)

We're struggling a little (okay, a LOT) more with a boy's name.  With our previous pregnancies, names considered for a boy were Cael Arthur (after my grandpa, Arthur), Grayson Paul (decided we really just like Gray, not Grayson or Grady as much), Charles (after my other grandpa) and Wilcox (my mother in law's maiden name).   Cael is out now due to nephews named both Kade and Caleb.  I liked the name, but it was really my husband's pick. And Wilcox is already used as well.  Gray is still in the mix, as well as Charles and Paul (Daniel's middle name).  Although I actually prefer to use Daniel over Paul if we use my husband's name.  I love the name Daniel!  :)  Of course I'm not sure what's best to pair it with.  If we use it, I'd like it as a middle name instead of a first, to avoid confusion.  We also like Henry.  I Iike Mac/Mack (a nod to my maiden name, which is an Irish Mc name), but it's so much more casual than most of the other names we like.  It's probably not for us. I have just as I sit and type decided I like Benjamin, too. But we just aren't LOVING anything yet, and the list of names we like doesn't seem to be producing any amazing combinations. I've listed a mix of my nephews' first and middle names below.  These are names we'd like to avoid. I think we can avoid the names on the Friends list too, though it's less of a priority:FAMILY: Kade, Reed, August, Wilcox, Shepard, Wiliam, Adam, Joel, Wade, Kenneth, Caleb FRIENDS: Micah, Jack, Christopher, Edison/Eddie, Isaac My husband has vetoed James (he's not sure why, since we both like the name, but he just knows that's not it!) and Benjamin (I just asked him - same as with James - it's just not THE name, even though it's a name he likes). Finneus/Finneas/Phineas. I suggested Finneus Gray - which he says sounds like a storybook character and not a real person. :)  We also would not likely choose anything like Cooper, Carter, Parker, Hudson, etc. I actually love August (a family name and one of the nephews' names).  It's obviously taken, but something with that vibe might be nice.  And I love Wiliam, as well as its nickname, Will.  It's nice to find a name that can sound both formal and a little serious (August/William) and also ornery (Gus/Will). I sincerely hope you can help us wade through this mire of names before our heads explode trying to work it through on our own! Thanks so much for your consideration!

and

I realize we're still a long way from our due date, and I'm really trying not to get all Shawshank Redemption on you by sending a new email every day/week/month, but as a quick update, I wanted you do know that my husband has now vetoed ALL of the girl names on our current list, save Josie.  Which I do like, but am not convinced enough to commit to.  EXHAUSTING.  You can see why we need to get an early start on this! :)  Anyway, I will do my best to restrain myself from begging/pleading/groveling for assistance (at least until we find out the gender :)).  I am having so much fun reading your site for inspiration in the meantime!