Baby Girl, Sister to Henry and Juliet

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G. writes:

I have been following your blog and love your suggestions.  I am hoping you might be able to help us. 

In 3 weeks, we are expecting our third child, a girl.  We are having a terrible time with her name.  Our first two are Henry and Juliet.  Both middle names honor family. For this baby, both my husband and I would like to include some version of the name Fran as a tribute to my late grandmother.  Her full name was Francella, and we are open to using any form of Fran - examples include Francine, Frances, Francie, etc.  I do love the nickname Frannie as well.  In addition, I am open to this being a first or a middle name.  My husband does not like Francesca though.

Additional names that we have narrowed down so far include:

• Mary - this was her name for several months but then I started to second guess when my husband mentioned that the middle name Frances has a very old catholic ring to it
• Ruth - my husbands favorite though I am not too sure about
• June - I love this name though I fear it is too close to Juliet
• Elizabeth - another top favorite but I fear it may be too high on the charts - I like the full name only...and I wonder how often the full name "Elizabeth" is actually used verses one of the nicknames.

I am not a huge fan of names starting with the letter "A".  If this baby was a boy, James, George or Louis would be the front runners.  Unfortunately, one of my friends named her daughter Louisa so I wouldn't feel comfortable picking that name.  We have considered Jamey for a girl. Georgia / Georgianna isn't a favorite though.

My intuition is telling me based on her movements that this baby is going to have some spunk.  I would love a name that is fresh and youthful but will age well with her - and I fear our list doesn't quite capture that...would love input / suggestions as we are quickly closing in on delivery.

Thank you!

I suggest Frances Ella.

I also encourage you to reconsider Mary. There was a Mary in my son's class a few years ago, and I was startled by how fresh the name seemed. Mary Frances does have a bit of a Catholic schoolgirl sound to it, but to me it's a very appealing sound. A Mary Frances could be a two-shoes or a sassy-boots or both, and I can picture getting quite a bit of happiness out of calling her both names together. I really love it, and I think with so many biblical/religious names going mainstream, it will work beautifully.  Plus, it sounds like this was the name you really wanted.

For something with a similar sound but less Catholic, Mary Ruth would be great as a double first name. Mary Ruth Frances.

Or Mary Francella would hardly sound Catholic at all.

It's certainly quite common for an Elizabeth to go by Elizabeth right now, though I too wish we could know HOW common; despite the reported popularity, I've only encountered two Elizabeths in the school system so far (and none going by Liz, Beth, Libby, etc.), so that's not much of a sample. One way to make sure it's never nicknamed is to use it as the middle name. Frances Elizabeth.

Or one of my current favorites is Eliza. It's less common than Elizabeth, and less often nicknamed.  And it's just FULL of sass. Eliza Frances. I would like to have that name for myself. Or Eliza Francella is perhaps even prettier.

If you like Louisa but a friend's daughter has the name already, I suggest Eloise. I think it's wonderful with Henry and Juliet, and it works well with the middle name Frances or Francella.