Feedback on this name? « Back to Group Discussions

[abouttobe5]

Hi all, So we are testing some names (finally) and wondering what your feedback would be on these. My MIL is named Valerie and both my grandmothers were named Helen so we would like to use those as middle names. The first names we're looking at are:

Emma

Finley

Which would be:

Emma Valerie Helen

Finley Valerie Helen

OR would you switch the Valerie & Helen with either of them?

thanks!

andrea

PS If you can suggest another first name to go with Valerie & Helen, we're all ears.  This has been so stressful since we can't come up with many first names!!!

[Simonsez2u]

I'm not much help but I love both Finley and Emma.
 

[abouttobe5]

To be honest, it's nothing against my MIL but I can't stand the name Valerie. I wish it weren't even an issue but....my DH is set on it. Maybe if we have the baby without a name he'll back down. It's just a hard name to match with, I find.  I'd be willing to drop Helen if it meant dropping Valerie...but we do want to have some family namesake as the middle name.  Sigh.

[oikophile]

I like Emma better than Finley to go with Valerie, since Finley and Valerie both end in a long 'e' sound. (Our little one is getting both of our last names, which both end in the long 'e' sound, so we have wanted to avoid yet another such name for first/middle names. I guess I'm sensitive to this kind of thing )

[Thyme Mama]

I agree with oikophile about Emma. Also, if you hate the name Valerie, you might want to switch Helen to be the first middle name. Sometimes kids with two middle names only get called by the first one, so you may end up hearing "Emma Valerie" a lot more as opposed to "Emma Valerie Helen".
 

[TheDivineMrsM]

Originally Posted by Thyme Mama 

I agree with oikophile about Emma. Also, if you hate the name Valerie, you might want to switch Helen to be the first middle name. Sometimes kids with two middle names only get called by the first one, so you may end up hearing "Emma Valerie" a lot more as opposed to "Emma Valerie Helen".
 

Agreed. 

I like Emma better than Finley, and I like the sound of Emma Helen Valerie better than another order. 

[OceansEve]

I'm thinking.... Finley Helen Valerie (and mostly refer to her as Finley Helen) or Emma Valerie Helen. If we ever have a 5th (unlikely since DH says he really is going in for a V once DD4 is born) I'm going with Fiona Evelynn (which may sound odd but it flows with single syllable last name). I think my MIL always hoped we would use her middle name (another V name), but its an incredibly old name and she is the only person I've ever heard with it. I couldn't bring myself to use it :(

[wendelberry]

When I read Emma Helen Valerie I hear "I'm a hill and valley"!   But that's probably just me!  I agree with OceansEve that Finley Helen Valerie flows very well (unless you hear "finally hill and valley"!!)  

Aren't names difficult?!  We're trying so hard to find something that has family meaning and have finally (almost) settled on a girl's name, but just can't seem to come up with a boy's name that  has any connections at all, with the possible exception of using Leopold as a middle name since we're both biologists who love Aldo Leopold...but that seems kind of a remote connection compared with being named for your grandfather or something.  However, with being kid #4 and grandkid #16 in a small extended family, it just seems that most of the names have been taken!  

We may have to come to terms with just picking something we like.  After all, family names have to start somewhere, right?

Fiona Evelynn is nice!  I love Fiona and it goes with DH's last name, but he nixed it because of Fiona Apple (whoever that is).

Andrea, you're welcome to our original list of first names that were supposed to go with Annaliese (sorta similiar to Valerie in cadence) if you'd like... 

Jessica

Rebecca

Madeline

Katherine

Caroline

Fern

Laurel

Paige

Adrienne

Or have you considered using Helen Valerie or Valerie Helen, and then using a diminutive form of one of them?  Helen has some cute ones-- Ella, Lena, Ellie, Lennie...  Good luck!

[OceansEve]

lol Now I hear I'm a hill and valley!!

oooo I like the name Annaliese. I have an Annabelle and an Elysia (E-lee-see-a) so that would explain why I like that. This one is Lydia Jane. My 12 week loss last year was Madelynn Rose. We used a lot of family names, Elizabeth, Annabelle, Lucille, Marie, Lydia and Jane. They are all from my side of the family.....  so I do feel bad not using MIL's name... but DH has boy names that are nonnegotiable sooooo all's fair right, we just never had any boys..... Fiona is one I've kicked around for all of my kids, but we never ended up using it! That's why I told DH IF we have a #5 I have to use it! I only know two Fiona Apple songs and I like them :p but she is kind of an angry chic singer :) understandable for him not to like her.

[guen]

This baby could come any time now and we *still* haven't settled on a name if it's a girl!!!  Wendelberry, I like Annaliese. I might possibly steal that one.  It would work equally well in English as German!  And the nickname (all my girls have nicknames) could be Annie, which would be so cute.  Or Anne.  Yes, I'm warming to Annaliese.....  ;-)
 

[kateaton]

Originally Posted by wendelberry 
 

Or have you considered using Helen Valerie or Valerie Helen, and then using a diminutive form of one of them?  Helen has some cute ones-- Ella, Lena, Ellie, Lennie...  Good luc k!

My brother and sister in law recently named their daughter Helena- she is adorable so I have such a positive association with that name now.  (They pronounce it like Helen-a, but you could pronounce it softer like Hel-een-a or Hel-ain-a)  Helen is a family name for us too.  

[wendelberry]

Originally Posted by guen 

This baby could come any time now and we *still* haven't settled on a name if it's a girl!!!  Wendelberry, I like Annaliese. I might possibly steal that one.  It would work equally well in English as German!  And the nickname (all my girls have nicknames) could be Annie, which would be so cute.  Or Anne.  Yes, I'm warming to Annaliese.....  ;-)
 

You're welcome!  :)  I have a sister named Lisa Anne, so Annaliese would have been a nice way to name a baby after her.  But it doesn't go very well with the girl's name DH likes, and it's really his turn to choose.  Maybe if there's a #5 someday!

I thought it was kind of German-sounding... I also love Liesl but that is straight out of the Sound of Music!

[guen]

How exactly would you pronounce it in English?  In German, the "s" would be pronounced more like an english "z" and you would pronounce the final "e". 
 

[abouttobe5]

LOL, name threads are fun.  Thanks for the feedback!  I am just stuck on all names, all fronts.  :(  We always had a list with our first two so now to not have one drives me crazy!!!  I think I have 30 days in Ontario to name our child....maybe she'll just be nameless until the right one comes along?  I feel like I"m forcing it and I don't like that feeling....

And now I'm hearing "hills and valleys" regardless of either name!  :)

I like "Finn" for short so maybe that is an option to play with....

[abouttobe5]

Andrea, you're welcome to our original list of first names that were supposed to go with Annaliese (sorta similiar to Valerie in cadence) if you'd like... 

Jessica

Rebecca

Madeline

Katherine

Caroline

Fern

Laurel

Paige

Adrienne

Or have you considered using Helen Valerie or Valerie Helen, and then using a diminutive form of one of them?  Helen has some cute ones-- Ella, Lena, Ellie, Lennie...  Good luck!

Lovely names!  Madeline was on my short list but my DH vetoed it - bugger.  Between DH's BIG family and my smaller one but with lots of grandchildren, believe it or not many of those names have already been taken!  But I do appreciate it...Adrienne is free though.  :)

[MrsKoehn]

I'm terrible at putting names together so I don't have any suggestions. Hubby's good at it so that helps! I just try not to have names that sound similar together or the first and last name esp have the same # of syllables.

My Oma passed away this spring. In Germany, her name was Hannalore. When she came to America she shortened it to Lore. Hubby has always said he LOVES the name Ana (pron On-uh). So if this is a girl, she will be Ana Lore, which sounds much like Oma's birth name.