It’s springtime, which apparently means alllll the babiessss!!! šššššš Buckle up, cause we’re in for a couple of weeks of a lot of consultation posts! Woo!! I have two or three scheduled to post every week until the end of May, and they’re each just as fun and fabulous as the next.
Today’s is for Nury and her husband — they’re expecting their second baby, and second boy! He joins big brother:
Alec Michael
Which I love. So handsome.
Nury writes,
“Choosing the name of our first child was difficult, to say the least. Our last name … is long and difficult. All of the boys names in my husband’s family tend to be short and not too exotic (Michael, George, Steven, David, Daniel, Richard). My husband’s name is Sean and we do not want to use that. We also definitely do not want to use Michael. There are a large number of Michaels in both of our families, including Sean’s father and brother. We are open to relatively uncommon names, but they should be easy to say — we want him to have a name that people can recognize and say easily since [our last name] causes so much confusion!
We chose Alec as the first name for our son after months and months of discussion and debate. At the very end, we were nearly set on Thomas Michael (Thomas is the name of a dear friend and mentor to Sean and also two of my favorite saints). We settled on Alec after we met him and decided it would stand as a tribute to my grandfather (whose middle name was Alejandro). Michael was chosen as the middle name in honor of Sean’s father who passed in 2011.
The only name we have seriously considered for this new baby is Thomas again. But I also like the following names: Victor, Becket, George, Patrick, James, and Eric. We are also considering using my father’s name, Marcelo, as a middle name. He passed away last July, a month before we conceived this baby. However, that’s not a requirement.”
I was really impressed both with Alecās name and with the names on Nury’s list of those they’re consideringāthey all fit perfectly into her desire to have a name āthat people can recognize and say easilyā despite being all different styles! Nice job! I also love the idea of Thomas Marcelo, it sounds like itās full of meaning for them.
Iām going to guess that one of the reasons theyĀ had a hard time coming up with a name for their first son is exactly because theirĀ taste in names is all over the placeāand I say that in a good way! I love eclectic namersāthose who donāt fit into any one obvious style. It does make it hard to nail down name ideas though, since thereās no real āplaceā to go look for more, you know? Like, if a couple loved last-names-as-first-names, then I would know where to look for more. If theyĀ loved Irish names, I would know where to find those. You know? On the list of names Nury and her husband have used (Alec) and are considering (Thomas, Victor, Becket, George, Patrick, and Eric) I can see separating them out into the following categories: Scottish/English/Celtic (Alec, Becket, George, Patrick), traditional saintly (Thomas, Victor, George, Patrick), Spanish (Victor, Eric), last name (Becket), and Scandinavian (Eric). But even though I could see grouping a couple/few of them into categories, there was zero overlap in the suggested names in the Baby Name Wizard when I looked up all theirĀ names! (You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used/like/are considering in the BNW as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity.) This is so unusual, and extra challenging!
I donāt want any of you to think that any of this is bad though! And it seriously increases the fun for me, I love love a good challenge!! š One thing I did notice in terms of a theme or style that, once I noticed, became really obvious to me, is that they really like names that have the K sound in them: Alec, Victor, Becket, Patrick, and Eric. Even Alecās middle name, Michael. Out of the eight names that they’ve chosen or like, six have the K sound in them! I think thatās more than coincidence, and I used that idea to come up with a few names that I thought might fit into the various categories their names fall into:
(1) Dominic
Dominic has that K sound at the end, and can take nicknames that include it too, like Nick and Nico. Itās saintly, and I think it works well in Spanish as well as across all the European countries, including Ireland, the UK, and the Scandinavian countries.
(2) Nico
Speaking of Nico as a nickname for Dominic, why not Nico as a given name? Itās one of my favoritesāshort and snappy and masculine, and I like that it has four letters like Alec. I think itās easy to say in various languages, and St. Nicholas can be patron.
(3) Nic(h)olas
And speaking of Nicholas, I wonder if they would consider it as a first name? I like both the Nicholas and Nicolas spellings, and I think most people think itās easy to say.
(4) Cole or Colin
Still (unintentionally) continuing with the Nicholas theme, Cole is a traditional nickname for it, and it can also stand on its own as its own name. My husband and I actually considered it for one of our boys! Colin is also a traditional diminutive for Nicholas, though itās most well known as a name in its own right. It was actually listed as a style match for Alec in the BNW, though Iām not sure it fits Nury’s āeasy to sayā criteria well enough? Most people I know say COLL-in, but others are more familiar with Colin Powellās pronunciation: COLE-in.
(5) Kolbe
And jumping off of Cole, Kolbe is also inspired by Becket on their list in that itās a saintly last name (St. Maximilian Kolbe). Iām just not sure if itās as easy to say as they’d like? I mean, I donāt know if most people who see it know itās said KOLE-bee right away?
(6) Mark, Marc, Marco, Marcus
I wondered if they’dĀ be interested in using a variant of Nury’s dadās name as their sonās first name, similar to how they did with Alejandro –> Alec? According to behindthename.com, Marcelo is a variant of Marcellus, which was originally a diminutive of Marcus. In light of that, any of the Marcus variants seem like they could work to honor Nury’s dad, if she felt like they were close enough to her dadās name. And changing from Marcelo to Mark/Marc/Marco/Marcus pulls in that K sound that they seem to like. Marc was also listed as a style match for Eric.
(7) Kevin
Kevin was listed as a style match for Eric, but I would also say itās similar to Patrick because of being an Irish name, which also makes it fit in well with the UK/Celtic feel of Alec, Becket, and George. Itās a saintās name as well.
(8) Cooper
This is another one, like Kolbe, that was inspired by Becketāit was actually listed as a style match for it in the BNW. One of you readers knows a little Cupertino, for St. Joseph of Cupertino, and he goes by CooperāI think that’s so clever!
Those are all my suggestions based on the idea that Nury and her husband might prefer names with a K sound in them, but donāt worry, I have some other ideas too! Like:
(8) Andrew or just Drew
Though behindthename says Alec is an English short form of Alexander, babynamewizard and others say itās the Scottish form of Alex(ander), which is definitely the vibe I get from it (not the only vibeāAlec works well with lots of different kinds of names I think). James on theirĀ list is another name that can have a Scottish feel to it, and Iām not really sure whyāmaybe because of King James?ābut I have a friend who married a Scot and they named one of their boys James, which made so much sense to me. Anyway, all that to say, Andrew is another name that has a similar feel. St. Andrew is actually the patron of Scotland, and thereās St. Andrews University there, near the town of St. Andrews. If they didnāt like the full Andrew, I think its nickname Drew can stand on its own, and pairs really nicely with Alec.
(9) Charles, Carl(o)(s), Karl
Charles is a style match for Thomas, George, and James, and itās one of those names that works in all different languages and cultures. Carlo is a nice option as well, as is Carlos (which was a style match for Victor), and Karl has that Scandinavian feel that I get from Eric. A nice bonus is that all these names can take St. John Paul for patron, since his birth name was Karol, which is the Polish form of Charles. (There are also lots of other Sts. Charles, if they want to go a non-JP2 route.)
(10) Miles or Milo
If youāve been reading my blog long, youāll likely know that I love the name Miles and push it on lots of parents! š Itās used in Ireland as an anglicization of the Irish name Maolmhuire, which means āservant of the Virgin Maryāāso Miles is a Marian name! Itās also a style match for Alec, and is similarly nickname-proof. If theyĀ donāt love how the S in Miles runs into the S of their last name, but they like the idea of Miles, maybe they’d prefer Milo? It also has use as an anglicization of Maolmhuire (if thatās important to them). If theyĀ didnāt care for the double M of Miles Marcelo or Milo Marcelo, I quite like Miles Thomas and Milo Thomas.
And those are all my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Alec’s little brother?
Cole and Cooper are great suggestions! Mark sounds good as well.
Names that remind me of Alec are Austin, Reed, and Zachary. Benjamin/Benedict too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your idea of using Marcus for Marcelo!
Other names I like for Alec’s brother are David, Evan, Henry and Peter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My suggestions are Ian, Leo, or Paul. Short and sweet. š
LikeLiked by 1 person
What about :
Kyle >> St.t Kevoca of Kyle
Quinn >> St. Quentin
Kai – Ky >> St. Nicholas
Ian >> St. John Baptist
Dion >> St. Dennis / St. Denis – maybe Dion is too soft for you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love all of the suggestions! All of the names seem spot on! Of the names above, I really like these combos:
Marc Thomas
Thomas Marcelo
Colin Thomas
Milo Marcelo
LikeLiked by 1 person
How about Simon?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kolbe Marcelo gets my vote!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Miles would be great for them! I like their own suggestion of Victor too. A very handsome name. My suggestion is Oscar. Just to give another saint name option to them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My first thought was that Luke would tick all of the boxes for them. Luke Marcelo sounds really handsome! But Alec and Luke might be too similar. Luka could work as well (but maybe doesn’t solve the similarity issue?).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your suggestion of Dominic for them! It’s got the hard C sound they seem to like, and it can be shortened to Dom which makes me think of Tom/Thomas, which they like. I like the combo Marcus Dominic.
I’d also suggest Bosco, Crispin, Clement, and Conrad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Alec and Cole sound like brothers. A great suggestion! I also like Marco and Kolbe as possibilities. Perhaps Hugo would workā.
LikeLiked by 1 person