Sara sent me this email last month:
Hi! My daughter is due at the end of June, and my husband and I can’t come up w/ a name for anything, so I would love some suggestions! Our 17 month old son is named Garrett Brian. We both loved the name Garrett because it sounds like a pretty strong name. Everyone knows the name, but it’s not that popular. Now that we’re expecting a girl, we want something like Garrett. We want something that goes w/ it, that everyone knows but isn’t super popular. I think I like more traditional names. I don’t want to pick a cute girly name but then have it be a weird, awkward adult name.
I like Anna, Caitlin, Leah, Bridget. I like Nora, but my husband thinks it’s too “old” for Garrett. My husband likes names like Layla, Lyla, Miranda, Paige. He really likes Abigail, but I think it’s too popular. He wants Christine as the middle name. I’m not 100% sold on that. . Any suggestions? Thanks so much for your help!
–
My thoughts:
For some reason, my first thought was Meredith when I saw Garrett. It has that same strength as Garrett but still a femininity.. but then it doesn’t seem to match the names you said you liked. But if you like Meredith at all, I think it would sound great with Garrett! As far as the names you said you and your husband like, I really like Anna, Leah, Nora and Lyla (my daughter is Lila, so I’m biased there)!
I think that you can’t go wrong with any of those, though with the exception of Nora they are on the popular end. I think Nora has that “specialness” of Garrett. Like I can imagine people saying, “Oh Nora.. what a pretty name… I’ve always liked it, but you just don’t hear it much”.. similar to what I’d imagine people saying about Garrett.
With that said.. Nora Christine would be really nice! But I totally understand when husband’s just won’t bend when they don’t like a certain name. Compromise is really hard sometimes! So I will try to suggest some that may appeal to his more trendy/popular tastes.
Names like Anna, Layla, and Leah (cute, short, kind of trendy but still classic sounding):
Just started reading your blog and love it! I especially liked this post since my name is one you suggested – Nora Christine! I have always gotten a lot of compliments on my first name and love that it never feels too old or too young. Looking forward to reading more posts!
Thanks Nora! You do have a lovely name, it’s definitely timeless!