Choosing Beloved Family Name Angelica for a First Daughter

Name Help is a series at Appellation Mountain. Every week, we discuss reader’s name questions, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. We’re relying on thoughtful comments from the community to help expectant parents narrow down their name decisions. Thank you in advance for sharing your insight! To have your question considered, email appmtn (at) gmail. Looking for your own private #namehelp post? Order one here.

PUTTING THE NAMES TOGETHER

Mikayla writes:

We’re first-time parents and we’re feeling a little bit of pressure to honor my husband’s late grandmother, his yaya. She passed away about a year after we got married, and at a very emotionally intense moment, my husband told his mother that we’d name a daughter in her memory.

Part of me feels like we’re not bound to this promise, but I also know that it would mean a lot to my husband and his family, and they’re really wonderful people and love me like their own.

Her name was the Greek equivalent of Angelica, but everyone called her Koula. She was named after a famous Greek actress.

Our last name sounds like Pet-true.

Right now, we mostly agree that we will use a form of Angela or Angelica as our daughter’s middle name. We cannot agree on a first name. I think our last name is hard to work with, but it feels like having her middle name decided is making it harder, partly because of initials spelling things.

Here are the name we talked about:

• Willow – My favorite, and I really love Willow Angeline/Angelina, but the initials W.A.P. are a big no.
• Luna – Another name I really like, but don’t like the U sound with our last name.
• Lily – My favorite forever, what I named all of our dolls and even my cat. I’ve mostly moved past it, but I do like the sound of Lily Angeline.
• Mia – I know this is popular, but we never hear it. I think the initials M.A.P. are good, or at least not bad.
• Millie – A friend suggested it and I liked it immediately but everyone keeps asking what it would be short for, and that bothers me for some reason.
• Sienna – Husband suggested, and I think it’s very pretty, but I don’t like the initials S.A.P.

There are maybe a dozen other names that we’ve talked about, but these are the ones we keep coming back to without getting any closer to a decision.

We have also talked about naming her Angelica/Angelina/Angela but I think we’ve mostly ruled that out. I really don’t like the sound of Angie. Koula just doesn’t sound like a name to me.

Please read on for my response and leave your thoughtful suggestions in the comments.

FINDING THE RIGHT FIRST

Abby replies:

Congratulations on your new daughter!

You’re absolutely right – having a middle name set in advance does present a constraint. And yet, it sounds like this is one you’d probably like to use. It links your daughter to her dad’s family, and to someone beloved. That’s not a bad thing.

And because it’s a middle name? You still have plenty of latitude to choose a great first. Plus Angeline seems like a solid choice, related to your husband’s grandmother, while working with plenty – if not all – firsts.

From your current list, I do think Mia has potential. The family name Angelica works as a middle; I like both Mia Angeline and Mia Angelica with your surname. The initials M.A.P. sound adventurous. And you’re absolutely right – Mia may be popular, but even Top Ten names aren’t nearly as often heard as was once the case.

One other consideration: the initials are a known factor. In some ways, it might be better to choose MAP or DAP or LAP than, say XAP that might end up being a future acronym or slang term or multinational corporation. Then again, I’m not sure I’d rule out my favorite name just in case – but it’s another vote for Mia.

If not Mia, let’s see if we can find some more suggestions. We’re looking for names that are complete, without nickname issues (like Millie’s what-is-it-short-for), and avoiding awkward initial combinations. I think we’re also looking for a strong L sound, if possible, as that occurs in many of your favorites.

FRESH SUGGESTIONS

CLARA

Sweetly old-fashioned like Lily and Millie, but also very current.

CHLOE

Maybe leaning into all things Greek too much, but I do love the way Chloe ends with the EE sound of Millie, but is complete. I could suggest Daphne, Phoebe, and Zoe, too – but I’m guessing you might hear a lot of Greek girls’ names, so I’ll just put Chloe on this list for now.

DELILAH

The first name that came to mind! It has the lovely L of Lily and Luna, and some of the flow of Sienna, too.

IVY

Thinking about brief and complete names, Ivy almost always comes to mind. Like Lily, Luna, and Willow, it’s a nature name.

LYDIA

Another slightly longer, but complete and unlikely-to-be-shortened option, Lydia is classic, but not too common.

LYLA

If Delilah is too long, Lyla is another option. It’s also spelled Lilah and Lila – and that’s the order of popularity: Lyla is most common, hovering just inside the US Top 100, with Lilah and Lila following in the Top 200. Worth noting: all of these spellings mean that it’s tough to get a handle on Lyla’s actual popularity.

MAYA

There’s no real reason to choose Maya over Mia, but Maya ranks around the #50 to #60 mark in the US, and has for a few years. So if popularity becomes a hesitation with Mia, this small shift might change that.

TALIA

Thalia is a Greek name meaning “to blossom,” borrowed from one of the Muses. Talia is typically considered Hebrew, a name meaning “dew.” But I wonder if the Talia spelling is a little more accessible in American English? It’s also far more popular.

Overall, if not Mia, I think I’d put Lyla second. It seems like the best of Lily and Luna combined. And Delilah seems like another compelling option. It has that flowing sound your husband likes with Sienna, but with plenty of the qualities that seem to appeal to you, too.

Readers, over to you! What would you name a firstborn daughter with a middle related to the family name Angelica?