I don't want to tell friends/family - but I'll tell you!!

Names that have some traction with myself and my husband

Boy
Satchel -- Absolutely favorite. I'm a HUGE baseball fan and greatly respect Satchel Paige. I also like it has a classic english sound w/o being stuck up. Pretty set on this for a boy.
Shane
Finn - becoming quite popular (ie trendy?)
Jack - too bad our friends have a little boy named Jack?
Axel
Niall
Sky or Skye

Girl:
Segolene -- gorgeous french name with a nice flow
Isis -- my all time favorite Bob Dylan song
Dylan -- see reason above
Signe
Briar
Estelle
Ico (pronounced "I - co")
Ciel (pronounced "seal")
Tirzah (pronounced "teerza")

Did you need pronunciation guides for those above? If so I like them MUCH less.

Some guidelines:
1) Last name Kelly
2) I want to honor my danish heritage (could do w/ mn). We also like irish (husband's heritage) and I like french names in general.
3) Meaning IS important to me - but not always literally if it has a strong historical importance (like Satchel technically meaning "bag")

For middle names, I am very set on honoring family names from my side (husband gets the last name, I get the first two!):

Marie
Haagen (pronounced "Hone" like bone)
Larsen
Melville
Robinson

Melville & Haagen are frontrunners. Plus, I always thought middle names SHOULD be something a child grows in to and never thought having a "dorky" middle name made you stand out (at least not when I was a kid).

Phineas (Finn) & Isis are the leaders for me :)

Boy
Satchel -- Sounds too much like a bag to me. But then I'm English and am probably missing the sporting allusion. Isn't one of the Moore/Willis children called Satchel?
Finn - Good name, getting very popular. Phinneas perhaps? With Finn as a nickname?
Jack - VERY popular in England, too popular? Very solid name with a boysy feel.
Axel - Axel Rose? Sounds quite 'rocker' as a result? Interesting though.
Niall - Like the spelling, but Neil (which it will sound like won't it? or is it Nile? ) is far more widespread a name than I think you're after?
Sky or Skye - This sounds quite hippy for a boy to my English ears.

Girl:
Segolene -- Never heard this and love it.
Isis -- Like this one the best - unusual but not weird and looks good written down.
Dylan -- This is very boysy for me. Not for a girl.
Signe - no idea how to pronounce without the guide.
Briar - Interesting.
Estelle - Like this, for me I prefer Estella which might flow a little more easily into the surname?
Ico - Hmmm looks like a logo to me and might be pronounced Ick-o. How about Echo instead? Or too depressing a myth to saddle a girl with?
Ciel - I'd pronounce this Cee - el like the French?
Tirzah - never seen this, don't know what it means, but like the sound.

Boy

Satchel: I think it's great that this name has meaning to you, but keep in mind that most people will likely first think of a bag or purse, as opposed to the baseball player, when hearing this name. (If you add an "n" after the "S," the first syllable of the name quickly morphs into a nasty slang word, which is something you may want to consider in terms of potential teasing.) :-(

Shane: Shane is starting to feel pretty dated, and is much more popular than Finn. (You're concerned about Finn's popularity.) What about a fresher Irish name? (You can read about names and their popularity ranking by typing a name in the "check out a name" box on the left.)

Finn: I think Finn is great. Yes, it's becoming more and more popular, as are Finnegan and Finnian. What about Phineas, nn Finn?

Jack: Jack is very, very popular, but I think it's a great name. :-)

Axel:

Niall: I'd worry about spelling and pronunciation issues with Niall...

Sky or Skye: I'd worry about a male Sky being mistaken for a girl, but I think the Sky spelling is definitely more masculine than Skye.


Girl:
Segolene: I'd worry about pronunciation issues, as people unfamiliar with French are likely to mispronounce the name Seg-oh-leen, instead of the intended Seg-oh-lehn.

Isis:
Dylan: Dylan is 100% trendy boys' name to me...
Signe: I actually know a lovely Signe, but would definitely worry about pronunciation issues.

Briar:

Estelle: I really like Estelle...

Ico (pronounced "I - co"): You can bet she'll be teased with "Ick"...

Ciel (pronounced "seal"): I pronounce this French name "see-el," like the previous poster.

Tirzah (pronounced "teerza")

My votes go to Finn and Estelle, but Estelle doesn't flow that well with Kelly. Hmm...

Marie
Haagen (pronounced "Hone" like bone): I think it's safe to say that most people will pronounce Haagen as "hog-in," like Haagen Dazs ice cream.
Larsen
Melville
Robinson

Other ideas (Irish names are starred):

Boys:

Archer Kelly
Dexter Kelly
Declan Kelly *
Dashiell Kelly
Everett Kelly
Finnian Kelly *
Finnegan Kelly*
Flynn Kelly *
Gulliver Kelly*
Harrison Kelly
Jasper Kelly
Liam Kelly*
McNeil Kelly *
Oliver Kelly
Phineas Kelly
Quinlan Kelly*
Quinn Kelly*
Roman Kelly
Roan Kelly*
Sullivan Kelly*
Sawyer Kelly
Tolliver Kelly
Xavier Kelly

Girls:
Aurora Kelly
Aveline Kelly *
Bridget Kelly*
Bronwyn Kelly*
Clementine Kelly
Charlotte Kelly
Caroline Kelly
Catherine Kelly
Claudia Kelly
Cordelia Kelly
Emmeline Kelly
Eliza Kelly
Evangeline Kelly
Fiona Kelly *
Finola Kelly*
Genevieve Kelly
Isla Kelly
Josephine Kelly
Kathleen Kelly*
Laura Kelly
Maeve Kelly *
Nora Kelly
Petra Kelly
Quinn Kelly*
Rosaleen Kelly*
Rowan Kelly*
Simone Kelly
Tamsin Kelly

Best wishes to you! :-)

Hi all -

thanks so much for the replies and for taking the time. I guess I should have been more explicit - I was hoping for advice as to what middle names would go best with what first names.

But a few comments:

I don't really care if "Haagen" is pronounced like the ice cream. It's the meaning behind it that's important and the child can easily leave the middle name out growing up.

Niall is pronounced like Nile not Neil but totally agree on misspelling issues. This one is fading from our list anyway....

Finn is a top name for us b/c it is BOTH a very danish and a very irish name, so we're not looking for just any irish name.

In terms of bad nicknames (re: the satchell: snatch reference), I'll obviously avoid the worst offenders but at a certain point I think you just need to let go b/c kids are creative and having sat around bandying names about with my friends, you can come up with bad slang for just about ANY name.

Some mispronunciation is inherent in all but the most common names. I know a couple girls named Eva -- drives me crazy because is it A-va or Eeee-va? The girls each use a different pronunciation. Once you know the person, you know the person.

I mean, my name is Nicole -- a super super common name and yet to this day 1/2 the people I meet misspell it Nichole. What are you gonna do?

I, too, prefer Estella over Estelle but I think "Estella Kelly" doesn't sound right.

It's interesting to me that your names veer between the extremely distinctive (Satchel and Isis, Briar) and the very popular, like Jack. It is hard to tell whether popularity or lack thereof is really an issue for you at all, or whether you're most interested in choosing names with family/ethnic meaning. I too love the name Finn and think it's great that it offers the Scandinavian/Irish crossover, but I would say this is heading toward the top of the popularity list, and I'd bet that in ten years Finn is at least in the top 20, even the top 10. Jack in terms of popularity, totally forget it. Top name throughout Europe and Australia and heading there in the U.S.

I love Satchel, Isis, Briar. Niall I actually thought WAS pronounced as Neil. On the middle names, I think you should choose them for significance and not flow.

It's interesting to me that your names veer between the extremely distinctive (Satchel and Isis, Briar) and the very popular, like Jack. It is hard to tell whether popularity or lack thereof is really an issue for you at all, or whether you're most interested in choosing names with family/ethnic meaning. I too love the name Finn and think it's great that it offers the Scandinavian/Irish crossover, but I would say this is heading toward the top of the popularity list, and I'd bet that in ten years Finn is at least in the top 20, even the top 10. Jack in terms of popularity, totally forget it. Top name throughout Europe and Australia and heading there in the U.S.

I love Satchel, Isis, Briar. Niall I actually thought WAS pronounced as Neil. On the middle names, I think you should choose them for significance and not flow.

Boy
Satchel -- Because I know about Woody Allen's son Satchel, I know that this name honors the baseball player. But would a lot of people think of a little suitcase?
Shane -- To me, this is dated.
Finn - becoming quite popular (ie trendy?) -- I think this is trendy, but it is very cute. Great as a NN for Phineas or Finnian and I like it very much with your last name.
Jack - too bad our friends have a little boy named Jack? You could just ask them if they would mind. I love the name Jack even though it is popular.
Axel - sorry, I don't like this name at all. Makes me think of an axel on a car.
Niall - I kind of like this. I prefer Neil, but it isn't popular right now at all.
Sky or Skye - Sorry, I don't like it.

Girl:
Segolene -- this is beautiful, but be prepared to help people including me to know how to pronounce it.
Isis -- my all time favorite Bob Dylan song - Very pretty! I know exactly how to pronounce it.
Dylan -- see reason above. Very trendy and dated for me.
Signe - don't know how to pronounce it. Have you thought of Freya?
Briar - feel so-so about it.
Estelle - love, but don't like with your last name. A few minutes later - you know Estelle Kelly doesn't sound bad to me now. I kind of like it. But then I'm from the melting pot of L.A. so you have to take what I say with a grain of salt. I do think Estelle Kelly flows, and I like the matching "el" sounds in both the first and last names.
Ico (pronounced "I - co") - We had a cat named Aiko. Means "dance" in Japanese.
Ciel (pronounced "seal") I love Ceil as a NN for Cecilia or Cecily.
Tirzah (pronounced "teerza") - This might grow on me. But this minute I don't like it that much and would need help pronouncing it.


Some guidelines:
1) Last name Kelly
2) I want to honor my danish heritage (could do w/ mn). We also like irish (husband's heritage) and I like french names in general.
3) Meaning IS important to me - but not always literally if it has a strong historical importance (like Satchel technically meaning "bag")

For middle names, I am very set on honoring family names from my side (husband gets the last name, I get the first two!):

Once you have a better idea of the first name, then it will be easier to pick a middle name.

Marie
Haagen (pronounced "Hone" like bone)
Larsen
Melville
Robinson

Melville & Haagen are frontrunners. Plus, I always thought middle names SHOULD be something a child grows in to and never thought having a "dorky" middle name made you stand out (at least not when I was a kid).[/quote]

thanks for you thoughts! Popularity isn't as much an issue as trendiness (ie Elizabeth vs Bella) so I worry about Finn but not Jack -- does that make sense?

As for Jack, I just love saying it! but it has no familial or ethnic/historical meaning for us so it slips off the list. (But it's still an all purpose nickname!)

I want to tell my child a story when they ask how we chose their name beyond just "Well, we were lying in bed one Sat. morning reading a baby name book and..."

And everyone is right - Niall IS pronounced "Neil" not Nile. My bad, so scrap that one.

Since we live in Hawaii I hear a lot of beautiful Japanese names. Is Aiko for a girl or a boy? I know Akiko is a girls name but it's a little too cutesy for me.

While I love Briar, I am starting to think it is rather hard to say -- (and just this moment I thought of "Briar Briar pants on fire!" Any one else remember that tease?)

Updated list (in current preference order)

Satchel
Finn
Leif
Shane


Isis
Segolene (nn Sego, like Lego)
Briar
(and a new one everyone is here guaranteed to hate? but that we both like) Tecla


BTW, what to people think of the name Lago (means "lake" in Italian and "rabbit" in greek) for either a boy or a girl?

My friend's daughter is Isis and I love it! Its such a simple but beautiful name.

For boys i like Finn.