Middle name ' Lake', help us with selecting the first!

[a-team]

Greetings!

My wife and I are expecting our first daughter in mid-September and are seeking some thoughts on names. We love the middle name 'Lake' for sentimental reasons and our last name has two syllables, several consonants and ends in -er.

We are thinking of:

Winona Lake
Corrine Lake
Katherine Lake
Susanna(h) Lake
Cecily Lake

Winona was our first choice until we discovered a few potential problems....1. Winona Lake is a place in Indiana. Is that weird? 2. Winona means 'first born daughter' in Lakota, which is especially meaningful to us. However, we were concerned that it may be disrespectful to the Lakota people to take their name since we are not Native American. 3. We are unsure that it is nicely paired with our German-sounding last name.

We welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions!

Best,

A-Team

[mischa]

Hi A-Team, congrats and welcome to Nameberry.

1 Susanna Lake - I think I like Susanna with no "h" in this case. Very pretty.

2 Winona Lake - This sounds very soft and peaceful. I don't think the place or the Lakota people would mind too much. The meaning is the main attraction.

3 Corrine Lake - How are you pronouncing this name, "cor- een" or "cor-in"? I prefer the Corinne spelling myself and the "cor-in" pronunciation.

4 Katherine Lake - a fine combo but I find the top two names have a little more "pop" to them.

5 Cecily Lake - my favourite name of all is Cecily but Cecily Lake is heavy on the l's.

[namelover77]

I think that it's fine to use Winona, unless it truly sounds bad with your last name. Other ideas are...

Emelia Lake
Geneva Lake
Paloma Lake
Teresa Lake
Flora Lake
Felicity Lake
Emmeline Lake

But I think Winona Lake is gorgeous!

[flick]

I think Winona is fine. My only issue with people using Native American names is when it's the name of a tribe. Using a name thats actually a "name" from a native american tribe doesn't bother me.

[a-team]

Thanks so much Mischa!

One quick question....what do you think of the first name 'Coralie'?

Best,

A-Team!

[a-team]

Thank you for all the suggestions 'namelover'! We love Emelia & Felicity!

[onelove19]

I really like Winona (also having a September baby -sex unknown but would be our second daughter so I think it might be out). I also really like Susannah (but because love nn's Sunny, Sosie and Sukie/Sukey) so I guess it depends on what you plan on calling her. So I think:

1. Winona Lake
2. Susannah Lake
3. Catherine (I like it spelled with a C) I like timeless, traditional Catherine paired with the unexpected/non-traditional Lake
4. Cecily

Best of luck!

[senoritashan]

I really like Susanna and Cecily, but I agree that Cecily Lake runs the l's together a little bit too much.

I really like Coralie, but Coralie Lake is to l-heavy for me as well. What about just Cora?

[davisellu]

If you love Winona, I think you should use it and Winona Lake is a lovely combination. Win or Winnie would be a very cute nn. My other favorites from your list are Susanna(h) Lake and Corrine Lake. Some other possibilities are:

Cressida Lake
Dorothea Lake
Isadora Lake
Miranda Lake
Tabitha Lake

[meyers2408]

I like Cecily Lake the best. I like the idea behind Winona but I live in a town right next to a reservation and the name just sounds too Native to me. In fact I know a Winona (native of course). Sorry. Living some where else you may have a totally differect association so it may not matter. On the other hand it is a very pretty name nd I can assure you very few Native Americans would find the name offensive or feel that you do not have the right to use it.