Looking for Boy Names With Double Consonants: Brett’s Boys

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NAMING A BROTHER FOR FINN AND WILL

Danielle writes:

We named our first son Finnegan Daniel, and call him exclusively Finn. His last name is my grandmother’s maiden name, and his middle name is for my dad. I’m also named after my dad.

Our second son is William Murphy, both family names from my husband’s side. We call him Will.

My husband’s name is Brett, and so we are Brett, Danielle, Finn, and Will – all names with double letters, and all the male names end with double letters.

We are now expecting our third and final child. If this baby were a girl, she would’ve been either Colette or Juliette, both names that I love that also have double letters.

Except it’s a(nother) boy. We don’t have any family names that we feel called to use, and it might be more of an issue to use a family name since it will be hard to even it out. Also, I’m sort of over that now.

My husband would love to stick with boy names that end with double consonants, but we keep coming up with nothing.

Names we like but can’t use:

• Flynn, Quinn – too close to Finn
• Jett, Rhett – rhymes with Brett

Names we could use but don’t love:

• Ross, Russ – just seem kind of 80s/90s
• Scott, Todd – same thing, but also we know people with these names
• Judd – just seems too country for us
• Maxx, Jaxx, Samm – not our style at all, we would want a name that is supposed to end with double letters, not one where we force it

I kept thinking the right name would come to us, like it did for Finn and Will, but my due date is getting closer and we still don’t really have anything.

Part of me wants to just choose a name we like, but I don’t want this kid to feel left out.

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

PATTERN PROBLEMS: IT’S NOT ALL OR NOTHING

Abby replies:

Congratulations on your new son!

We get a lot of questions about unintentional family themes. It’s easy feel like we’ve named ourselves into a corner, right?

But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. After all, your first two boys’ names weren’t chosen for the double consonants. They were meaningful choices that just happened to end with NN and LL, at least in nickname form.

If there were a third name you loved just as much that worked for your family, I think you’d probably embrace it. But there clearly isn’t a perfect solution, so I do think you’re wise to consider something a little different.

Your options break down like this:

• Choose a name that mirrors the pattern perfectly. Yes, even if you end up with a kid named Russell, called Russ. I’m sure you’d warm up to it over time. (I mean … Russell from Up!) But this only works if you take SO much satisfaction from the matching of it all that the name itself matters less.
• Drop the pattern entirely. Choose a name you love. This is always an option. While it might feel like a mismatch now, if you named this son Rowan, I suspect relatively few people would hear you say “Finn, Will, and Rowan” and hear any disconnect. Worth saying: Finn and Will sound like brothers for me without considering the double consonants.
• Re-define what it means to match. Something that strikes me: if there were a family name you wanted to use, then your sons would all match in that sense. Since that’s not the case, it might not be an option here. But could you match some other way, like incorporating an Irish surname that isn’t tied to family but still has meaning to you both?
• Tweak the formula slightly. It’s true that there aren’t many obvious names that fit this pattern. Naming your son Penndragon, Penn for short, or Kenneth, called Kenn, feels forced. But you could consider names like Wyatt, Beckett, and Everett that end with double letters. Or maybe something with a double EE: Reed, Reese, or Reeve?

Or maybe, just maybe, there are a few last options that do fit your formula.

Based on the information we have, I can’t help with the first three options, but that last one? I think you’ve got some options. Let’s dive in!

FRESH NAMES FOR FINN AND WILL’S BROTHER

BROOKS

Lots of names include double vowels. Brooks is a mainstream choice, a little more novel than classic Will or long-used Finn, but only a little. There’s something about Brooks that feels both strong and gentle at once, just like your older boys’ names.

EVERETT

On paper, Everett is three syllables. But I often hear it pronounced with two. You might shorten Everett to Rett/Rhett, which feels like it might work. But I like it in a full, one of those boy names ending with double consonants that almost exactly fits the established pattern.

GRIFFIN

On paper, Griffin called Griff could be perfect. Except unlike Finn and Will, I think Griff feels much more like a diminutive than a formal name. Still it’s a mainstream choice that sounds different from his brothers’ names. One drawback: Griffin also has a strong Finn sound, so maybe it’s out for that reason.

JESSE

A good midpoint between truly traditional Will and slightly more modern Finn, Jesse is a Biblical boy name boasting ages of use.

MATTHEW

I feel like you must have talked about Matthew-called-Matt, right? It’s a little old school, a Top Ten favorite from the 1970s into the early 2000s. Today it’s falling in use, but Matthew remains a solid Top 100 go-to, has never exited the US popularity charts, and is immediately familiar to pretty much any English-speaker. Romance language Mateo is more common in the US now, but that’s not necessarily a drawback.

MAXWELL

Like Everett, Maxwell ends with double letters. Shorten it to Max and it’s a perfect brother name with Finn and Will, even without the overpowering Maxx of it all.

REED

Another example of a name where the vowels are doing the heavy lifting, but it works nicely.

WYATT

Last, but not least, another name ending with TT that almost fits your pattern and would sound great with Finn and Will.

My top choice is probably Everett or Wyatt. The pattern is there, but you’ve shifted it just enough to give yourself some fresh options. And even if there aren’t any family names you’re considering, is there maybe something from your own personal histories – a place name or hero name – that might work for this son’s middle?

Readers, over to you! Can you suggest more boy names ending with double consonants, or more names that work well as a brother for Finn and Will?