Short Version:
DD - 1st name is my favorite girl’s name, middle name is a family name
older DS - 1st name is my favorite boy’s name, middle name is a family name
younger DS - 1st name goes well w/ DD‘s & older DS’s names, middle name is a family name
Longer Version:
Our DD is our firstborn, & her first name is my most favorite girl’s name & the name I have loved for years & years, even before DH & I were married.
Thankfully, DH liked the name too because our DD was always going to be named this.
It’s classic & has been around forever. It’s both a historical & a literary name. It’s 4 syllables, & she’s always been called by a shortened form of the name which fits her perfectly.
Her middle name is my younger sister’s first name & is 2 syllables. Looking back, I really wish I had combined my mom’s & DH’s mom’s middle names for her middle name.
For our older son, his 1st name has always been my favorite boy’s name, &, like w/ DD’s name, I have loved the name for years & years. So, again, thankfully, DH liked it as well.
It’s another classic & has been around forever. It’s a historical name, but, unlike DD’s name which has always been a standard classic for decades, his name was more popular in the 1980s & 1990s than it is now & in the early 2000s when he was born. It’s 3 syllables, &, like DD, he’s always been called by a shortened form of the name.
His middle name is my maiden name & is 2 syllables.
W/ our younger DS, we had a harder time coming up w/ his name.
I wanted his name to go well w/ DD’s & older DS’s names, so I even looked at sites where, instead of just baby names, good names for siblings were also listed.
Originally, a 2nd son‘s name was always going to be Craig, & the middle name was going to be Matthew. However, Craig didn’t fit well w/ BOTH DD‘s AND older DS’s first names, DH didn’t lIke it very much, & Craig can’t be shortened. Additionally, Matthew is not a family name.
In order to match DD’s & older DS’s names, it had to be a longer name which could be shortened w/o changing the spelling (i.e., I didn’t want something like ”Dave” for ”David” because you’re changing the initial spelling when you add the ”e” unlike, “Josh” for “Joshua” when you‘re just taking the “Josh” from the initial name, if that makes sense). (As an aside, I really liked the name Joshua, but DH has a cousin w/ that name already.)
It also had to be an older, classic name, &, after doing research & realizing both DD’s & older DS’s name have English origins, it needed to be primarily English as well.
We had 2 contenders - one was 3 syllables & one was 2 syllables. DH & I both liked the sound of the 3-syllable name better, but I liked the meaning of the 2 syllable name better. (Meaning was important to me, because I really liked DD’s & older DS’s name meanings.) But I could NOT decide! When decorating our babies’ nurseries, we always purchase wooden letters that spell out their names, paint them, & then hang them in their rooms. DH was painting the room, & I went to Hobby Lobby to get a few things. I strolled over to the wooden letters, &, as I was looking at them, I just realized that his name needed to be the 3 syllable one. I came home w/ the letters & gave them to DH who said, “So we’ve made a decision.”
Like DD & older DS, he is called by a shortened form of his first name. His middle name is DH’s younger brother’s name & is 2 syllables.
So, in summary, our kids’ 1st names are longer, classic, traditional names that have been around forever - but they’re not over-used either. DD’s name is distinctly feminine, & DS’s & younger DS’s names are both distinctly masculine. They have the standard spellings, & each go by a shortened form of theIr names. Their middle names are family names.
One of my all-time favorite memories was when we were in DIsney World. DD was 12, older DS was 11, & younger DS was 3. We were there for the Halloween Party & were dressed like Mouseketeers, so the kids had on white shirts w/ their names in black letters on the fronts of the shirts. They were standing in the middle of Main Street in front of the castle, & I was taking their picture. After I had finished, an older lady came up to me & told me that she just had to comment because she & her husband had named their 3 kids the same names, & their 3 kids were in the same order: DD, DS, & then a younger DS. Her kids were grown, & seeing our kids had made her smile. And, then she said, “Enjoy! It goes fast!” And, yes, it does! Our kids are 20, 18, & 10 now...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Oh, & my current 2nd favorite girl name is Claire. But, now w/ our “name rules,” I couldn’t use it. I’ve tried & tried to come up w/ a name that shortens to Claire. So I guess it’s good that we’re past the baby naming stage.