Opinions on girls names as a sibling for Elias: Merida, Vivia or Verity?

[lulupeg]

Hello and a very Merry Christmas to all!

Following a very friendly and welcoming response to my boy's name thread (we are expecting a new baby next Spring) we have decisively chosen the name Inigo Gabriel if our yellow bump turns blue. I love it here's the thread if you're interested:

http://nameberry.com/nametalk/thread...lias?p=1706183

However now I feel sure that with this PERFECT boy's name ready to go, we will have a girl and we are in much more of a mess!!

Here are our ideas so far, to go with lovely son whose name I adore, Elias Michael (occasional nn Eli):

Merida Nell
Vivia Isis
Verity Meredith

Possibility but an outlier at present:
Romilly Josephine

Other names I like but not properly considering:
Ophelia (but too sad re: Hamlet)
Elodie (but don't want another E name)
Coraline (but Cora doesn't go with our surname which starts with an O)
Seraphina - something I'm not sure of for us but I do like it a lot!
Hermia - but too much like Hernia...
Hero - love but too much confusion re boy/girl name

I love Merida, and am at one with the Brave connection as I feel that film is not going to be the massive hit that something like The Little Mermaid was, so shouldn't be too much of an issue. Anyway, it's a sweet film and the character is a strong female lead which I like! There is something about the middle name we are not sure of and I think we could make Merida the winner if we could fix this! Originally we loved Meredith but we have decided Merida is more in keeping with Elias as it's very unusual as is Elias in the UK.

Vivia I love too - and love the nickname of Vivvi but not sure about Viv which I think I would have to be okay with as it might become inevitable post-teenage years! Again I love Isis and there is a connection (indirect) with where we met so the MN is good but not set in stone if something else could bring Vivia's best qualities out even better...

Verity is an old favourite and was what we thought we would call the first bump when it was briefly yellow! But since then my husband has gone off it a little and I've had my head turned by the above two names! Would love feedback on all three

Wow, what a ramble! Open to other lovely suggestions and have included a short list of other names I have a strong liking for to give ideas if anyone has any thoughts! One thing I don't like personally is unisex names...

Many thanks for reading and for any ideas you can offer

xx

[lulupeg]

Re: Merida and Verity, I also love the potential NNs of Meri and Veri

[blade]

I think each of your top three could pair well with brother Elias, but I agree with your analysis.

Merida: I agree, Nell really makes it fall flat. Why not pair it with some of your other favorites-- something long, elegant and ending on a consonant sound?

Merida Vivienne
Merida Josephine
Merida Coraline

As you seemed to like saints' names in your boys' post:

Merida Sylvaine
Merida Beatrix
Merida Bernadette
Merida Cecile
Merida Euphrosyne
Merida Endelyn
Merida Florentine
Merida Genevieve
Merida Helene
Merida Julianne
Merida Lucienne
Merida Petronille
Merida Sabine
Merida Therese

As Vivia shares the same phonetic qualities as Merida (three syllables, ending in -a, accent placed on first syllable) any of the above names would work well with it, too. You might also lengthen Isis into Isadora/e ("gift of Isis,") as Vivia Isadore seems a bit more polished.

I personally love the name Verity, too. You might consider the original Welsh female name Mererid as a middle, but I think that might repeat the -er sound too much. All of your "rejected" names ending with -a work well with Verity-- i.e.

Verity Seraphine / Seraphina
Verity Ophelia
Verity Elodia

[bailibsmum]

I like meridia and vivia, i like vidia too liek the fairy on tikerbell!

[amydomsmom]

Yay, I had been waiting for this post! =]

Merida Nell- I really, really love the name Merida. Generally speaking, this is my favorite name out of the 4 choices (especially because of Brave, though you're right I don't think it will ever become more popular than it was when it came out) and I think it would go pretty well with Elias. I'm not sure that it matches up perfectly, but they don't sound unusual together. I especially like that they both contain E-I-A in the same order, very cute! But yes, I do agree that Nell is not enough mn for Merida. Perhaps something longer? (Another thought is that an E middle might be cute to give the opposite initals of Elias Michael. Elodie shares a lot of the same sounds but could possibly still work? Eleanor, Elaine, Elizabeth, Evangeline, Evelyn... Merida Elaine is quite pretty if you ask me).

Verity Meredith- Verity has become one of my new favorities, it is such a rich name with different but equally strong vowel sounds, mirroring Elias. It has a great meaning and I like the idea of another middle name that starts with M, but Meredith is a little bit rhymey with Verity and sadly Merida would have the same issue. Do you happen to like any other feminine M names? Mirabel, Madison, Miriam, Magnolia, Mila, Marina, Melissa. Verity Matilda could be cute (I was trying to think mainly of names that had 7 letters...)

Vivia Isis- Vivia is great due to the 5 letter connection, but I am not the biggest fan of this one. I think it too may need "just a little more" to it. If you don't mind adding a letter, Vivian Isis flows a bit better due to breaking up the vowel sounds and makes it a bit easier to say. I also like the suggestion of Vivia Isadore, but again that might be kind of a mouthful. I was going to suggest a few more middle name options at the end, but looking through your other choices, Vivia Josephine would be great and Vivia Coraline sounds gorgeous to me, but you would have to judge it and see how it sounds with your last name. Maybe you'd like it with one of the great Saints names that Blade listed?

Romilly Josephine- Romilly is a beautiful name, and I really like this combo with Josephine, but I think the other names "match" Elias a little bit better. It is 7 letters long though, so it might be a nice choice for a middle. What about Vivia Romilly?

~My other thought was to find a few new mn options that you might not have considered that are Hebrew in origin like Michael. Let me know if you like any of these, or I can help you keep looking. A few of my favorites that I found were:
Naomi- meaning "my joy, my delight" (sounds great with either Merida or Vivia)
Odelia- an option that is less tragic than Ophelia... Hebrew for "I will praise the lord" (Verity Odelia would sound great)
Shira- gorgeous and means "my song" (Verity Shira is pretty and would have a wonderful meaning...Song of truth, how cool is that??)

[whirligig]

Hi. Firstly I LOVE Merida. You should choose that (fingers crossed) However I am not too keen on either Verity or Vivia.
Possible Middles for Merida:

Merida Coraline
Merida Josephine
Merida Hermione (a bit like Hermia but without the hernia connection)

Other suggestions:
Hermione (see reason as above)
Indigo (a bit like Inigo but for a girl) Use a girlish mn to balance it.
Nella (Like Nell)

I also like Ophelia and Hero as middle names for your child.

Hope that helps!

[edenlyla13]

I ADORE Merida ! I also think Vivia is sweet too. However I agree with some of the other comments that Merida Nell just kinda falls flat. I love whirligig's suggestion of Merida Hermione. Here are some suggestions...
Merida Hermione
Merida Coraline
Merida Josephine
Merida Hero
Merida Romilly
Merida Seraphine
Merida Isis
Merida Willow (my favourite combination of Merida)
Merida Isabeau
Merida Vivienne
Merida Estelle
Merida Bohème
Merida Imogen

[mischa]

Merida is pretty but it seems very trendy to me. I don't think it has the depth and dignity of Elias at all. Vivia seems like a nn for the Italian Viviana. I do think Verity is the best of your choices and would probably sound better with your "O" surname. Even though it sounds contemporary, it has a certain vintage charm that Elias has in spades. I love Meredith but not with Verity. Verity Josephine, Verity Blithe, Verity Niamh or Verity Louisa would be lovely.

[lulupeg]

Wow amazing ideas and responses, you guys are super inspiring! It's late on Christmas Eve, we have finally got everything ready fit our 2yr old tomorrow and made the cake etc and so I will sleep on the ideas and reply again soon - there are some coincidences with other names I love but didn't mention (like Elodie and Cecily) which is great, you guys seem very in tune with my tastes! Also think you are so right re Nell and Isis not helping the first names and I love the idea of an 'ine' ending to go with these choices...

I don't feel clear at all though... It's not so cut and dried with the girl choice, finding it much harder!

I did have another thought, if I'd come on here with no first name suggestions but you had seen the link to my boys' name taste what kind of things would you suggest up perfectly complement Elias Michael? I know some of you have part answered this with your great ideas but wondered if there are any ideas I haven't thought of that fit my pink brief of beautiful, rare, Elias-matching, elegant and classic/vintage rather than v modern.... Not asking for much huh??

Thanks again and merry Christmas to all x

[lulupeg]

OK can't stop thinking even though I'm tired so here's some more thoughts re the wonderful ideas provided above - I need to talk to DH first as he is confusing me with his preferences! I'm going to stick to Merida and Verity as I feel Vivia is becoming the poor relation of the three...

Merida Josephine
Merida Seraphine
(No Merida Coraline as feels very animated movie with that combo! Same issue kind of with Merida Hermione which also was vetoed by DH)
Merida Cecily - slightly tweaked - what do people think?

Verity Coraline
Verity Josephine

Ok now my eyes are closing as I type so I will finish here but thanks so much again for your expertise, you are all very talented!