Aster+Blythe+Lark= ??? updated

Hi again. Perhaps this should have just been added to my previous post, but it seems like a seperate question. (seriously, you all should charge for this! :) )

Here's where I'm at- you all have made quite an impact on my DD's naming and I was wondering if anyone had the creative juices to take one more stab at it...

You suggested (or at least talked me into) Blythe. I love Blythe, but DH is lukewarm.

You suggested Aster. We adore Aster, but have obvious hesitations.

My DD has been named a lot of names, but in my dreams, I'm still calling her Lark.

Someone suggested to me in a previous thread that perhaps the perfect name for my daughter doesn't exist, and that may indeed be true... but, the joy that we felt when we both 'clicked' with Aster made me feel like perhaps the name is out there. I think I would feel more like "giving up" if her delayed naming were related more to indecision, less to health problems (and perhaps the name IS Aster, but perhaps there is a less potentially cruel option out there.)

You may disagree, but Blythe, Aster and Lark are almost the same name to me, at least in the way they make me feel and in the way they fit my daughter. I was wondering if I might describe the qualities of Blythe, Aster and Lark that make me love them so and make them feel right for my daughter and see if you could come up with any other names that may 'click' for us.

Bascially, I'm wondering if you might suggest a less rigourous new list, based on just these qualities- a "feels like" list, as it were:
They are light and airy
They are happy
They are naturey
They are uncommon
They are soft
They are short but substantial
They communicate a feeling of joy and freedom of spirit
They non-frilly, but still communicate femininity

and this may be incidental, but I just noticed they are all 'word' names, of a sort, and are all of English origin. I certainly didn't intend that, just a thinking point.

----updated, copy from post at the end of the thread:
by babygrey on Wed Oct 07, 2009 4:42 pm

Just wanted to give you all an update and thank you again.
DH and I have decided that what we are going to do is go through this list you all have suggested of names that are reminiscent of Aster/Blythe/Lark and pick out the names we both like.

I'm coming to terms with the fact there is may be no happy agreement here- DH just can't love Blythe- he pronounces it like "Blye" and it sort of makes my hair stand on end.. and, even though we both like Aster, he is far more worried than I about the potential for teasing with Aster, thus making neither of these great choices, I suppose. He said he "will" name her Lark (my original first choice), but I think it is just out of shear frustration. and that's not how I want to name her. I'd rather it be semi-random that out of negativity.

So we will go through the names you listed, pick out our favorites and put them in a hat with Aster, Blythe and Lark and draw one. Probably Friday, given the insanity of this week...

and that will be her name. We have both agreed to live with it for good, but we do want to add other names to the pool given that there is unhappiness about all three of our current choices.

Any other suggestions you have on names or on approaches to working this out would be great.

For reference, here are the names I have personally picked from your suggestions to be added to our pool (he has not had time to go over them yet)

Freya
Juno*
Juniper*
Bryony
Gwyneth
Ara
Carys
Coral
Asha (*maybe.. I'm working on whether I love Asha enough to give up theoretic Asher)
Eliora

Welcome any more suggestions and will certainly owe some karma and credit to the person who suggests the name for my daughter :)

*as an edit, DH didn't like Juno/Juniper when I was pg, but actually LIKES them now, after seeing them on your lists of suggestions. I think possibly when I was suggesting them before, he thought I was making them up, but he said, knowing our DD now that they fit her as well as some of the other names we were talking about! We've talked about names enough that I know he's not making it up or just saying to make me happy, so YAY!

The name I immediately thought of was Aspen.

Aspen Miriam - Penny

It conjures all those feelings that you just described to me. nn Penny which I think is adorable. Aster, its ashame, but I do hear the unfortunate connotations previously discussed.

dotsmom wrote:The name I immediately thought of was Aspen.

Aspen Miriam - Penny

It conjures all those feelings that you just described to me. nn Penny which I think is adorable. Aster, its ashame, but I do hear the unfortunate connotations previously discussed.

Thank you, Aspen does have the same feeling, you're spot on. Penny is cute, I hadn't thought of that... we live in the area of the US where Aspen is less of a tree and more of a pretentious ski resort, and I haven't been able to let go of those feelings, but I might try again... (I've tried A LOT, I just can't get rid of the snobby feeling that Aspen gives me, try as I might- it may actually have more to do with the little playmate my DS has- named Aspynne. ugh.)

as a side note, I've been totally mulling over the Aspen/Aster teasing question- it seems to me that Aspen does not immediately have the 'a$$' connotation that Aster does... but I wonder why not, after all, they both being with the same sound.

babygrey wrote:

dotsmom wrote:The name I immediately thought of was Aspen.

Aspen Miriam - Penny

It conjures all those feelings that you just described to me. nn Penny which I think is adorable. Aster, its ashame, but I do hear the unfortunate connotations previously discussed.

Thank you, Aspen does have the same feeling, you're spot on. Penny is cute, I hadn't thought of that... we live in the area of the US where Aspen is less of a tree and more of a pretentious ski resort, and I haven't been able to let go of those feelings, but I might try again... (I've tried A LOT, I just can't get rid of the snobby feeling that Aspen gives me, try as I might- it may actually have more to do with the little playmate my DS has- named Aspynne. ugh.)

as a side note, I've been totally mulling over the Aspen/Aster teasing question- it seems to me that Aspen does not immediately have the 'a$$' connotation that Aster does... but I wonder why not, after all, they both being with the same sound.

Aspen... the pen is a lot softer than the ter. When you have a harder sounding second syllable like "ter", you pause to annunciate the first syllable more so than you would with something softer, like Asher, Aspen, Astra, even Astrid. Astrid, I do have that memory of the Office episode, but the association makes even more sense with Aster to me. What about Astel? Aselle? Asel (artist?). Astelle

Why don't you do a test run of Aster? Go out and introduce strangers to your daughter... take her to a place with children and test her name out. If after a week or so, you still love it, hate it, feel comfortable/uncomfortable, you will know which name to pick! I know this is ridiculously silly, but I was really hesitant to give my first daughter her name. I actually babysat my sisters baby for a week and introduced her to strangers when we were out and about as the name that I was testing out. It ended up eliminating one name (because I started feeling ridiculous) and led me to name her what I did. Just a suggestion. It helped for me.

Ok how about Skylar, Isla, Aspen (very nice dotsmom!), Clara or Lily?

I seriously think Blythe is the one that matches everything you want the most.

Other ideas: Bryony, Briar and Juniper. They have all probably been suggested before. But I am trying to just go by the criteria you mentioned above. :-)

Some of these may not fit the whole criteria like being a word name but all felt right to me.

Serra - Italian and Portuguese means "ridge".
Constance nn Connie
Brie/Bree
Daphne
Phoebe
Emerald
Felicity
Gwyneth
Hollis
Naomi
Rhea

I wrote a post in your other thread about Aster. I will repost my suggestion: Abra, prn Ay-bruh.

I think it fits most of the criteria - except it's not a nature name, and not an English word name. It's also susceptible to teasing, which I wrote some of the obvious ones, as well as a a bit about a woman named Abra I had met. I don't think having a teasable name is really a recipe for regrets and misery for you and your child. It might be, but I don't like to be overly fretful about things like this.

A couple weekends ago, I spent a couple hours looking at all the nature names I could find in the search function. Unfortunately, a lot of the ones I wrote down are quite a bit heavy and unusual, like Pelagia, Cerelia, Kelda, Pavati, or they are quite a bit over-used and dated, like Marisa or Merrill. None of them are English, well, except the English ones like Arden and Marsden.

My favorite long name of the bunch is Araceli - it is Spanish and means "altar of the sky." Kind of a big name. It is probably the closest to Aster that I have written also.

Something else may appeal to you here.***All definitions and origins courtesy of nameberry. Please note any inaccuracies.:

Livana - Hebrew - "the moon, white"
Glynis - Welsh - "small glen, valley"
Dusana - Slavic - "spirit or soul"
Sidra - Latin - "like a star"


I still think Aster is a hit, and I like Blythe a lot as well. I'm not sure my suggestions will fly, I just tried to pick the more usable names that I had scribbled down, which I happened to have handy. If I think of anything else, I will add to the thread later.

Take care!

I actually grew up with a lovely Lark. :-)

I think these have been suggested, but these make me feel happy and light:

Belle (the opposite of a nature theme, though) :-)
Calla
Elodie
Willa
Wren

Of all the names in the world, I most associate happiness and lightness with Blythe.

Good luck! :-)